Disclaimer: We don't own Yugioh GX.
Ai's POV
I looked everywhere for Judai over the next two days, with no luck. Although I did see almost every friend he had running around the island as if they were on vacation. I was certain that wasn't why they were there, though, especially after that man had been flirting with me. I mean, surely, Judai would tell his friends that he was in trouble. And, knowing them, it would result in more people showing up.
During those two days, I saw Sho eating in a local restaurant, Kenzan fishing anywhere he could find a coast, and then some. Johan, Fubuki, and Ryo were playing volleyball with three people whose names I didn't know. One of them was the man who had been with Judai the last time I'd seen him, and the others were a blond girl and a tall man with blue hair. Not to get too off-topic here, but Johan's team was creamed, and it was mostly just the blond and the red-head doing the creaming. I decided not to mess with those two at all.
Meanwhile, I also saw Manjoume being a jerk to a woman—the first time I saw them, he was just trying to lose that poor girl. The second time, I had to step in because he was buying her drinks and trying to introduce her to random men in that bar! I had to save her from that!
I also saw Fubuki and the two volleyball pros shopping, with Fubuki looking rather disturbed by the woman's choice of souvenirs—she was looking at a pocket knife when I saw them. Yes, I was certainly going to avoid messing with her.
Now, there's a reason I went into such detail about that woman—by the time the second day ended, I was starting to think I'd have to find a way to lure Judai to me. On day 3 of my search, I headed to the beach, knowing full well that the last person I'd ever use to draw Judai out of hiding was that blond. I also knew I had to be sure not to mess with anybody she cared about too much because then she'd come after me, so Fubuki was out of the question.
I stood on the beach, annoyed, watching his friends Johan and Sho run for the water some distance away.
"Oh… Just you wait, Judai. I'll find you if it kills me! Even if I have to use one of your little friends…"
Either of those two would be good choices: They were both Judai's best friends, and neither seemed particularly close to that vicious blond.
However, before I could even decide which of those two I should use, I saw somebody else—another blond woman, this one with long hair and hazel eyes. Somebody who would work even better as Judai bait than even Sho Marufuji or Johan Andersen.
Dressed in tan shorts and a flower-print shirt, Asuka Tenjoin sat down on the beach with a sigh, staring at a picture. Now the only ones we were missing were Ed Phoenix, Austin O'Brien, Hayato Maeda, and Daichi Misawa. Granted, that last one would never appear here, all things considered.
Based on my research into Judai's life, I knew this girl was his high school crush. He'd flirted childishly with her, being so naïve in the subject of romance that he barely even knew what love was, but he'd never told her how he felt. However, even though he felt certain she hated him, he still cared deeply for her. That was part of why he was avoiding her, I was sure—he didn't want to hurt her again, so he vanished from her life instead.
Her head lowered, the woman looked pretty down.
With that, I had a perfect opportunity to go speak to her.
I walked over, as perky as I could possibly be—hey, no need to let my competition know I was onto her—and said, "Hello!"
Asuka didn't seem to hear me, staring at that picture of hers. She sighed. "Oh, Eric. Why can't you look at me the way I look at you…?"
Eric, huh? Interesting.
"Hey. Boy troubles?" I asked, trying again.
She looked my way slightly, tucking the picture away in her shirt as she did so. "Yeah, you might say that. I don't get it. I do everything right, and he still just sees me as a friend. Why is it always like this with the boys I like?"
Well, I figured that comment was aimed at Judai. After all, I had the feeling she had liked him, as well, just based off my research. And, if I said Judai was naïve, she seemed to be even worse in that a boy had to specifically say he liked her before she realized that he did. If I was right about her, then this Eric guy might have liked her, and she just didn't know it because he didn't go crazy like Sho and Manjoume.
Whatever. It wasn't my job to give the girl lessons on how boys think.
"Boys," I said, humoring her instead. "What are you gonna do? They can be difficult." I sat down beside her, adding, "Why, there's one I like right now, but he's just so stubborn."
"You don't say," she said.
Oh, this was just too good. I got to talk about the guy she liked and tell her everything she didn't know, and I didn't even have to tell her who he was!
"Uh-huh. He's just a runaway. Every time he finds a girl he likes, he runs away. There was this girl he liked in high school, but he took off without saying a word. I intend to break him of this habit!"
She sighed again, closing her eyes and hugging herself. "Well, at least that means he knows if a girl likes him, right? When I was in high school, there was this boy I liked, too. But he never acknowledged my feelings for him, so we went our separate ways."
Oh, how ironic that we were talking about the same boy!
"Like Eric, he only saw me as a friend… I don't know. Maybe I'm just not cut out for this. I mean, clearly, no guy's ever gonna realize I like them, if they're any indication…" She rested her head on her knees.
Aw, well, no reason to tell her we were talking about the same guy!
"Don't let them get you down! You'll find the right guy eventually," I said.
Asuka sighed. "Yeah. Maybe you're right. I'm Asuka Tenjoin. Nice to meet you." She lifted her head, shifting into a different position, and held a hand out to me, smiling some.
"The name's Ai," I said, shaking her hand. "Nice to meet you, too."
She started getting up, looking quite a bit better now. "Well, Ai. Guess I'll see you around, then. Good luck tying that guy down! I'm sure you can do it!" she said confidently.
I got up, too, thinking of that barrier of mine as I said, "Oh, I've got him right where I want him."
"Good to know. You hanging around long?"
"That depends on how long he wants to hang around."
Asuka laughed. "Point made! Well, then, you wanna meet up here sometime tomorrow, if you're still here? We can hang out, if you'd like."
"Sure!" I told her.
This was just too easy. Clearly she hadn't heard anything about Judai's situation. Hopefully she wouldn't be talking to any of the others before I could make my move.
"Great! I'll be here around ten. If you can make it, come find me, okay?"
"Alright. See you around, Asuka!"
"Right! See ya!"
With that, she ran off for the resort, waving goodbye as she did. Assuming she was even upset in the first place, she was feeling better after getting a little reassurance. Given her and Judai's history, who knew what the truth was about her emotions?
Ryo's POV
When Fubuki and Natsuko decided they wanted to go to the bar again, I decided it would be a good idea to follow along in case they got themselves in trouble. Natsuko's friend, Fuyuko, agreed, so we accompanied our party-loving friends to the villa's bar.
Of course, the two of them got completely smashed, much to mine and Fuyuko's mutual annoyance.
"I wanna sing a song about romance!" Fubuki shouted from on top of the bar. "A song for all the boys out there."
I sweat, sitting at the bar and watching my idiot friend dance, using a wine glass as a microphone. Some of the girls were watching and giggling. The bartender just scratched his head.
"Fubuki, will you please get off the bar now?" I asked, annoyed.
It wasn't like this was unusual behavior from him—ever since he became of age, he started doing this.
"Ladies, please!" Natsuko said, with seven women surrounding him. "There's plenty of Summer for everyone."
Did he seriously just say that? I know his name meant summer child, but did he seriously just use it as a pun? He and Fubuki had way too much in common.
Nearby, I saw a strawberry-blond waitress watching, apparently distracted by the drunkard's flirting.
Fuyuko put a hand to his face, clearly embarrassed. I couldn't blame him—I was, too, after all. "I hate when you do that, Natsuko…"
Apparently he frequently used his name for a play on words, the same as Fubuki did.
I swiveled around on my stool to face Fuyuko, feeling both annoyed and concerned for our friends. "See why I said it was a good idea to come along? Someone's got to make sure they don't kill themselves, right?"
At that moment, the distracted waitress was caught off-guard when Natsuko proposed to her. She had been heading back to the kitchen, just doing her job, when Natsuko grabbed her hand and went down on one knee. The other women were all giggling at the proposal. Apparently they were at least a bit tipsy themselves.
"Natsuko's proposing again…" Fuyuko sighed.
Well, at least Fubuki didn't do that.
"Ah, baby!" Fubuki sang just then. "I can't live without you. Won't you please be mine? You're all I ever wanted."
I looked back and saw that a crowd was gathering around Fubuki and having a blast, which was quite common for him. There's a country western song in America about him—One in Every Crowd, I believe it was called.
"And Fubuki's attracting another crowd…" I closed my eyes and got up, ready to drag Fubuki out of there by force, if need be. This was embarrassing. "Okay, Fubuki. Time to go," I told him, slightly exasperated with my wild friend.
"Aw, but, Ryo, I was just warming up."
I knew, and that was the problem. I grabbed him and started wrestling him off the bar as Fuyuko, looking relieved for an excuse, headed over to Natsuko.
"Natsuko, it's time to leave," he said.
"Aw, but, Ice Master!" Natsuko whined.
Ice Master? Really?
"No buts, Tokugawa!" He grabbed Natsuko, then turned to the waitress and said, "My apologies, ma'am, but we need to get back before his sister starts to worry."
The waitress blinked her blue eyes, still stunned. "Uh, okay."
As Fuyuko dragged Natsuko away, the other nine women—yes, two more had joined at some point—started booing and hissing at him, acting very immature. Or very drunk.
Fubuki's audience was cheering and laughing, enjoying the wrestling match I was having as I tried to get him off the bar. This was insanely embarrassing. Why couldn't he just cooperate, already?
"I said no, you cowardly, conniving, fun-stealing scum-bag! Let go already!" Fubuki said.
Finally I managed to pull my tantrum-throwing friend down. Holding him tight, I looked at Fuyuko. "R-ea-dy, Fu-yu-ko?" I said, struggling to keep hold of Fubuki as he squirmed around.
With a great deal of difficulty, I made my way for the door, wishing that Fubuki was as cooperative as Natsuko. What did Fuyuko do to make him cooperate?
Gripping Natsuko's arm firmly and having no difficulty keeping hold of him, Fuyuko said, "Ready," as he followed me.
I really had to ask him how he did that later.
The waitress stepped forward, her eyes widening. She held a hand out, calling, "Natsu!"
Wonderful. She knew him. Well, at least the proposal wasn't completely out of the blue, then.
Natsuko looked at her and winked. She pulled back, blushing nervously. That was the last thing I saw before we dragged both our friends out of that bar.
Seriously. They had had more than enough to drink.
As we dragged the two of them away, Fubuki continued his little show. Fortunately he was done struggling—now he was just happily waving his arms around as he sang, "Home, home on the range! Where the dears and the honey moms play!"
Yes, he said "dears." Yes, I know any English-speaking person will say that was grammatically incorrect. No, I don't think he meant the animal known as a deer. And I didn't even know what "honey mom" was supposed to mean, but I knew he was referring to women with both of those phrases.
I stopped and stared at him for a moment. Then, disturbed, I sweat and turned to Fuyuko. "Any idea where he got that one?"
Fuyuko closed his eyes and answered, "Yes, and I'd rather not say."
Seemed Fubuki might have been picking up some of his language from Natsuko. Well, that wasn't quite what I had been thinking.
We kept going, dragging them along, and saw Asuka, of all people. When had she gotten here?
All of us stopped, staring at each other. Fubuki waved at his sister, saying, "Hey, look. It's Sissy. Hi, sis, wanna come stripping with me?"
Oh, for the love of…
Asuka stared at him, obviously disturbed, then asked, "I don't want to know, do I?"
"No, I don't think you do," Fuyuko answered.
"Alright, then. See you around." Then she walked off, still very obviously disturbed by her drunk brother.
"Asuka! Wait!" I called.
She didn't. I would have gone after her, if not for Fubuki. As it was, I just stared after her for a bit, slightly concerned. I knew she had been called in, but what was she doing staying at the resort? I mean, that had to be the reason she was there. There was no way she had just arrived—no boats, choppers, or planes came in at this hour—and she hadn't shown up at the villa. Was she really planning on staying at the resort, where Ai was staying?
"Huh. Wonder what that was all about."
"Dude!" Natsuko said to Fubuki. "Have I ever told you that your sis is way cuter than mine?"
"You've already proposed once tonight, Natsuko," Fuyuko said. "Let's leave it at that."
Well, that effectively ended this conversation. We headed back home so we could tell the others who was here. Fubuki kept singing the whole way there.