A/N: Words echoing in someone's head are in bold and italics.
Disclaimer: We don't own Yugioh GX.
Johan's POV
When I got to the beach, I found Judai. Yubel was holding him as I approached, but she dropped him and stepped aside with her arms crossed when she saw me. He was right there where the barrier was, and his shoes and jacket were missing. On top of that, it looked like there'd been some sort of struggle. Or was that just my mind running wild? I really hoped it was.
I ran over, worried. This did not look good. Had Ai finally succeeded? If so, she was dead this time! Judai had had enough a long time ago. Especially since I still needed to tell him the bad news about Asuka! I mean, if I didn't and he found out on his own, it would be way worse than if it came from a caring friend, right? Regardless, Judai had enough mental issues to deal with as it was! He didn't need rape to add to the mix!
"Judai," I said, getting down beside him and gripping his shoulders. "Judai! Are you okay!?"
Given that he didn't answer me, I thought for a second that he was completely out of it. But then I made him look at me. When I saw his face, I knew why he hadn't answered me. His eyes were red from crying, his face streaked with tears. And Judai wasn't one for upsetting his friends with his issues (which was one of the reasons his problems always got so big), so it made sense he wouldn't say anything.
But…what had Ai done to make him cry? Even worse, she probably didn't even care, the lousy—
I cut that thought off, turning back to the matter at hand. "Hey, hey," I said. "Come on, talk to me! What happened!? It doesn't involve Ai, does it!?"
Better safe than sorry, after all. I mean, sure, Ai was the most likely culprit, but, with Judai's abandonment issues, you never knew.
"A-Ai…?" he said. "N-no. I-it's not…"
So Ai wasn't the cause. I wasn't sure if I should be relieved or more worried. After all, the only one left that could hurt him this badly would be that traitor, and that was a wound that could kill him. It would also explain why Sho was so mad. But, wait… If Judai was this bad off, why wasn't Sho still here? Didn't he care that Judai was in so much pain? Oh, no, was this some sort of sick double-header caused by two friends' betrayals!?
I needed to get the story straight before I said something stupid. Better safe than sorry!
I kept calm on the outside even as a hurricane blew through me inside. Still holding Judai's shoulders, I said, "It's okay, pal. Deep breaths. Now, tell me what happened. If it wasn't Ai, then who did do all this?"
"A-Asuka… Sh-she…"
"What?"
Shit. This wasn't good. I pulled back a bit, trying to process that. Manjoume and Kenzan had said Asuka was mean to them all, but—
Yubel chimed in before I finished this thought, "I'll tell you what. She was being a flirtatious bitch is what. Why, she was—"
She was getting hot around the collar, so I knew where this was going. Asuka's hatred had reared its ugly face again, and Sho must have missed it! I mean, why else would he say that the first person to say Asuka dies while staying away from Judai himself? Now the only question was when last night's issue had ended…unless it hadn't ended and Judai had been pretending to be okay, like he was always doing.
"She h-hates me!" Judai cut Yubel off. "Sh-she told K-Kyle…she hates me f-for running off after g-graduation."
I looked away, letting go of Judai for a moment.
He knew. And, from the sound if things, he'd found out thanks to his enhanced hearing, a "gift" he'd gotten from that fusion with Yubel. But now wasn't the time to blame her for all of Judai's problems. I had a long, hard talk ahead of me…of course, I'd be leaving out the worst of it! I didn't want to break him even more!
"Yeah, I know," I said, keeping my gaze averted as I tried to figure out the best way to say this. "Fubuki told us."
How much should I even say? I mean, the story was painful enough for me to listen to, and I barely knew Asuka! On top of it all, Judai would probably blame himself for it, and only Asuka would be able to convince him it wasn't his fault. Since he was crushing on her and would find a reason why it was his fault, this would crush him to dust!
While I was trying to figure out how to do this without leaving Judai in such a poor state that I'd have to keep an eye on him 24/7, he demanded, "Th-then why didn't anyone t-tell me!?"
Oh, great, there was betrayal in his tone. I couldn't let him think that in a hundred billion years. I looked him straight in the eye, putting the surprise and hurt I'd felt at the story into my eyes and voice as I said, "We were gonna! But we just found out about it last night, so we haven't had the chance to yet! He said that she was in love with you and, when you left her, it broke her heart, and—"
"W-what? In love with me?"
"Yeah. Apparently. He said she'd had her eye on you since the first time she saw you duel and was saddened when you came back to this world a totally different person. She wished you'd go back to being you, like the rest of us did. But you didn't. You avoided the others and had them thinking that meant you hated them or something. And even before that, she said you never acknowledged her feelings. You two were just friends, and that's all you'd ever be. So, when she met Kyle, she decided to move on. To put the past behind her and look to the future. You were gone. He was there. End of story. Or so Fubuki says, anyway."
Okay, so I'd gotten most of that out of Asuka's diaries, which Fubuki had stolen. But I wasn't going to tell him the rest of what everyone had said last night! That was a thousand times worse.
I thought back to what had happened last night.
When Fubuki had said he knew why Asuka would betray us, we'd all been listening intently. I didn't know about the rest of them, but I'd been wondering what was up with Asuka for a long time. She'd been more bitter toward all of her male friends, and the last time we'd spoken before this whole mess, she'd accused me of "hitting on her like a pervert" after I said hello.
Manjoume moved to sit on the floor opposite Kenzan, looking at Fubuki with as much eagerness as he ever showed.
"Okay. Let's start with the facts," Fubuki had said. "Sorry, Manjoume, but you're with Momoe now, so hopefully it won't matter to you anymore!"
Manjoume just sat there, his arms crossed, acting like he didn't care even though we could all tell he was a bit annoyed.
Well, with that in mind, I knew where this was going. It was a good thing Manjoume had a girlfriend now. I mean, he hadn't stood a chance anyway.
"Yeah, yeah. Just get on with it. We've got bigger issues to attend to," Manjoume said.
"Like Judai's issues?" Akiko asked.
"Or Asuka's betrayal?" Jim added.
"Or the fact that Haruko is here stalking someone when we've already got enough to worry about?" Fuyuko tacked on. I guess he was basically saying that Manjoume's feelings were a minor detail with everything else going on.
While Fuyuko was talking, Manjoume glared toward the bedrooms. I can't say I blamed him. Haruko might not have been making any sexual advances, unlike Ai, but she was still almost as bad. I'd learned that on day one at Duel Academy's main campus. She saw Judai and me together and ran up, screaming about how "cute and strong" I was and how she could "tell with one look." Then she'd grabbed me by the arm and held on all day! When I finally lost her, some of the other guys on campus had told me horror stories about her and said I should start saying I had a boyfriend! Apparently being gay was the only way to get her to leave you alone. I asked about being bisexual, and they said that any man interested in women was in danger if Haruko liked him.
Besides that, Manjoume had Ai for a stalker for way longer than Judai, so having another one here after him had to be the worst.
"Don't remind me," he muttered. "Argh."
"Right," Fubuki said. "About that, Jim… Here's the facts. Okay, so we all know how Sissi and Judai felt about each other, right?"
I did! I'd heard and seen it. Judai talked about her endlessly, especially since the whole Dark World thing. He always said he'd love to be with her but added that she probably wasn't interested since she hated him. I just couldn't convince him otherwise, no matter what I told him. Every time I tried, Judai countered with Asuka's words about how he had "betrayed" her and "made her bear such sadness."
Incidentally, that was the sort of thing he did when I tried to convince him to talk to anyone that was involved in that.
"Yes," Kenzan said.
"Yep," Jim echoed.
"Uh, if I saw it, I'm thinking that should be a big, fat duh," Akiko said.
Well, that was good, at least. Looking around, I could tell that even those who hadn't spoken up saw it, so there were some things these guys knew about Judai! Or maybe it was just so obvious that only a braindead monkey wouldn't see it.
"Yeah, Fubuki," I said. "Jim and I were barely even there, and even we knew it!"
Manjoume got annoyed again. Apparently he was still jealous that he couldn't win Asuka from Judai. So even he'd known, huh? "So what? I've got Momoe now. Hmph!"
"Riiight…" Fubuki said. "Well, anyway, did you know it seems to have started in first year?"
Well, Judai had told me as much. He'd called it love at first sight (he'd also laughed and called himself corny for that) and said he'd tried for the first few months to win her over. According to him, though, all he ever managed was to make friends with her. You would think, though, after flirting with her, getting a picture of Fubuki for her without being asked and saving her from the abandoned dorm, calling her a tough duelist because it was true and she was obviously proud—Johan! Knock it off! Stop thinking of Judai's rants about Asuka and focus! This wasn't the time for that!
"I had a feeling," Kenzan said, answering Fubuki's question.
"Yes. Judai said so," I said.
Kenzan looked at me with envy. "Wha? He did?"
Apparently I was the only one he'd ever told. Great, was that because of what Yubel had done?
"Haruko and I had a guess, yeah," Akiko said.
"No guessing to it," the Kaiser said. "I knew it was there on day one. Right after that entrance exam."
Manjoume's eyes bugged out in horror. "W-w-w-what!? Day one!? But that's not—"
I couldn't blame him since that basically said he didn't even have a chance before those two met. But…Judai had said that he'd met the Kaiser later, after Asuka had mentioned him. Meaning he wasn't there when Judai and Asuka met, so what was he talking about?
"Wait a minute, Ryo!" Fubuki said. "How do you know that!? They hadn't met yet!"
Exactly, they—wait. Was he saying day one was earlier!? But, in that case, when did it happen, and why didn't Judai know it!?
"It's simple," the Kaiser answered. "Asuka was watching him duel Professor Cronos. And she liked the way he beat him. Easily and full of life. She started liking him about then."
Fubuki stared, stunned into silence. His eyes were the size of pinheads. "…She never told me that…"
Manjoume was gaping, his eyes wide.
The Kaiser shrugged, closing his eyes. "Well, she smiled at him and called him 'interesting,' so…"
…Wow. If Judai only knew. Asuka was interested before they even met in that arena! He hadn't messed up that day after all! Why, that laugh he'd mentioned was probably just because she thought he was being cute or something. He might have earned more points that day! Wait until I told him that! Not that he'd believe me, but he still deserved to know.
Fubuki snapped back to his senses, clapping his hands together to draw us all back to attention. He must finally have been ready to tell his story. "Okay! Right! The facts are clearly known! So, onto the part you all didn't know! Asuka tried to confess once!"
Manjoume stood up, his eyes wide. Clearly he still didn't like that. Either he couldn't believe how hopeless it had been for him to chase Asuka, or he was just settling with Momoe. "She what!?"
"When?" Kenzan asked, standing up, too. Good thing he was fully treated because, if he'd undone all of Akiko's work, she'd have thrown a fit for sure! Only his face wasn't bandaged, so that would be a lot to redo.
Granted, I didn't know why she cared so much, given how she usually acted, but…
"Right after the Tag Duel Tournament. She said Judai taught her a lot that night. And she realized he hadn't changed that much. But he'd gotten wiser. Or, as Kenzan puts it, 'evolved.'"
Right, right, Asuka's betrayal. Man, I needed to focus! Sure, Kenzan was a mess, but he wasn't worried about it so why was I? Asuka was our number 1 problem right then.
"That didn't look like evolving to me…" Kenzan said, looking stunned.
Yeah, no kidding, Kenzan. I didn't think being depressed and lonely all the time was "evolving," either!
"Well, she thought it was and wanted to 'evolve' with him so she could keep up. That's why she chose to study abroad in America for those four years. It was a step up from where she was, so she could get better. Anyway, she was so grateful for this that she went out and thanked him for helping her…and was gonna confess her feelings but felt he wouldn't accept them after all that had happened and chickened out."
So she didn't say anything because she was afraid of rejection!? What was with those two!? Judai had told me the exact same thing! Well, with the modification that she'd shoot him down because she hated him, but still, it was close enough.
Manjoume clenched his fists, mumbling through gritted teeth, "I've got Momoe. I've got Momoe."
Akiko rolled her eyes at him.
Yeah, I figured he was obviously just settling. Poor Momoe. If only she knew. But, more importantly, there was one thing wrong with Asuka's silence…
"What, pray tell, would make her think that?" Fuyuko asked.
There we go. That was it. Judai was clearly interested, and Asuka wasn't as naïve as him, so why doubt his feelings for her? She had to have known!
Fubuki shrugged, his eyes closed. "He changed. Who knew what he'd think of that? Might have messed up their friendship, even."
Okay, he sounded way too casual when he said that. Geez, did these people know Judai at all?
"T-true…" Kenzan admitted, looking down. "Aniki had changed some, at least…"
The Kaiser closed his eyes as if he was in mourning. Mourning! Manjoume turned away, doing the same thing.
Sheesh, people, what is your deal!? How can they call themselves his friends if none of them even bothered getting to know him!? Everyone here should have known why he had changed! For the love of all that is good, I wasn't there when it all went to hell, and I knew why!
Kenzan sat back down as the stupid moment of silence continued. What a naïve bunch of freaks they all were.
"Manjoume's an even lousier detective than he was first year. If he wasn't, he'd be able to figure out what the hell happened," Akiko muttered.
Hell yeah, he would have! Why were these "friends" of Judai's so insistent that he'd changed!? I knew the truth even back then, and I barely knew the guy! What did these guys do, mistake idolizing for friendship? That was stupid, too, since Manjoume and the Kaiser were his dueling rivals!
"But, anyway, when Sissi told me this, that gave me the idea to help her out!" Fubuki said. "That was, after dealing with Darkness, of course."
"Of course!" Kenzan agreed.
The Kaiser sat forward in his chair, his eyes wide with horror. It was as if he'd just seen a ghost. "No…you didn't…"
"Fubuki, you idiot!" Manjoume yelled. "Your love plans never—"
"Hey, it's not my fault the man ruined everything by not showing up!"
Oh, great, now he was blaming Judai for his crazy schemes failing! Like that was fair at all! I'd read Sho's whole dumb book series, and Fubuki's plan for Manjoume to win her over was so bad it was destined to fail! Why, as far as I was concerned, any plan Fubuki Tenjoin came up with would fail by his hand, not Judai's. When were these people gonna stop blaming him for their issues!?
Still, I stayed cool outside and decided to ask. I mean, I couldn't be sure Fubuki was a total idiot without knowing Judai's "mistake."
"What do you mean by that?" I asked.
"Are you talking about that stupid dress you made her wear at the graduation party?" Akiko asked. "The one that had every male in there going nuts?"
Fubuki's face lit up, and he gave her a thumbs up. Apparently Akiko was spot-on. "Correct! I told Sissi it would impress Judai so much, he'd be hers in an instant! She would have clubbed me with her textbook if I hadn't. She tried!"
At the end, he was still grinning, but it was more of a wary grin. Man, he was weird.
Ryo and Manjoume were staring, their eyes wide.
Akiko stared at him for a moment, a lame look on her face. Finally she said, "That explains it, then."
"Crikey, mate, you're devious!" Jim said.
Fubuki laughed. With pride. Everyone in the room was either disturbed by him or thought he was an idiot, and he was proud. See what I mean by he's weird?
The Kaiser slammed his eyes shut, smacking himself in the face. "Fubuki…you're impossible…"
Well, he was embarrassed.
But…that plan had only failed because Judai didn't go to the party. Now let's look at his reason for not going! He thought he'd be unwanted. He didn't think anybody would miss him if he didn't go. And who's fault was that? Oh, yeah, the people I was sitting there talking with! So it was everyone else's fault, Fubuki's included, that plan had failed! They all needed to stop blaming Judai indiscriminately. They never even stopped to think that it might be their fault that he'd pulled away. After all, Fubuki, it was the "anguish of a friend's betrayal" that was tearing your soul apart!
"Anyway, it didn't work because Judai didn't show," Fubuki said.
Yeah, thanks to you and the others, Mr. Anguish.
"Not long after that, Sissi left the party and never came back in!"
I nodded, remembering that. It wasn't a pleasant sight, either, because she was on the verge of tears when I found her. If I'd figured out what Judai's issue was by then, I would have told her right there. "I remember that. O'Brien and I met her outside, and we all had a talk about Judai. Agreeing he'd come back around again in the end."
Fubuki's eyes bugged out, and he had a mini fit. "Whaaaa!? She said that to you, too!?"
Too? But he wasn't in on that conversation! He'd been flirting with his fan club and saying goodbye to his friends.
"Wait. What do you mean, 'too?'"
Fubuki looked down again, getting all depressed. Or anguished. "After the party was over, I went and looked for Asuka…and found her staring out at the lake, saying something like that to herself…"
Well, that was surprising. When O'Brien and I had left that night, we'd figured Asuka had, too. But Fubuki was saying she hadn't? How messed up was she? And why did this whole group have to be a total mess, anyway? Everyone claimed they were fine, but they sure didn't act like it!
"Really? She was still there?" I asked, my eyes wide.
"That's…not good," Jim said.
"Ya think?" Akiko said.
"Oh, it gets worse, trust me!" Fubuki said.
Worse? Just what we needed. More messed up friends.
"First off, she looked like she'd been crying, and, when I went to confront her, she acted like nothing was wrong, put on a smile, and headed back inside to get her clothes!"
"That sounds like Asuka, alright," the Kaiser said. "Not one to show weakness ever."
Manjoume looked stunned, as if he'd just missed a golden opportunity. Not that it would have mattered if she was that upset, but he'd never admit that. "I never knew… Grr, I could've caught her on the rebound! That way, I could have—"
Fubuki cut him off, looking at him in annoyance. "Yeah, about that, Manjoume, thanks," he said, sounding bitter.
Now what had Manjoume done?
He looked surprised at the glare he was getting, so naïveté was clearly something this group just struggled with. "Huh? What did I do!?"
Fubuki stood up, glaring daggers at Manjoume. He looked about as annoyed as I was feeling. Granted, my annoyance was for Judai's sake, while Fubuki was probably upset because of Asuka. "Oh, it wasn't just you! Sho Marufuji got in on it, too! That's why Sissi hated men for a year, you idiot!"
Manjoume's eyes widened. He looked just plain confused. "What!?"
Good question. What did they do to make Asuka hate men?
"Care to translate that for those of us who are just meeting this group?" Fuyuko asked.
Fubuki clenched his fists and turned to Fuyuko, fuming. "Sure, why not!? About a year or so later, Asuka got the idea that Judai wasn't coming back! As did everyone else, including Manjoume here and little, dependent Sho!" He turned back to Manjoume again and pointed a twitching finger at him.
The Kaiser sweat, closing his eyes. "Don't remind me. He kept swearing on his grave he'd haunt that man til his revenge was served or he'd club him with a harp when their spirits met in the afterlife."
He sounded totally disturbed, and I started feeling sympathy for him, too. I mean, not only was his best friend a nut, but his blood brother was almost worse! Sho had such an abandonment issue that he'd done some crazy things those first three years. He'd made an Elemental Hero deck that he hid in the drawer of his nightstand; cut ties with me, saying I was the "world's biggest jerky thief of everything that mattered in life," whatever the hell that meant; and even started looking for a new "aniki" by holding auditions. These days, it seemed Kyle had taken that role, though he had yet to earn the title from either Sho or Kenzan. Though I only knew that much because, when Kyle showed up, Sho made up with me. What was that guy's deal, anyway? He held a grudge for five years, and I hadn't even done anything to him!
"Yeah," Kenzan said. "If anyone had a serious grudge against Aniki for leaving and never coming back, it was Sho."
The Kaiser and Kenzan both had lame looks on their faces. Apparently they'd had too much contact with the abandoned puppy known as Sho because they seemed just as sick of him as I was of Judai saying everyone hated him. I mean, come on! "Everything was fine as long as you were okay, Judai! You're not my aniki!" Sheesh!
Akiko smacked herself in the face and muttered, "Idiot."
"Glad he got that out of his system," Kenzan said.
"Yes. Good thing Judai got into this mess, or who knows what Sho would have done," the Kaiser agreed.
Okay, yeah, Sho had issues. Why was he so dependent on Judai that he couldn't live without him? Was he in love with him? But I thought he loved the Dark Magician Girl, according to that one book of his!
Manjoume stood there with his eyes wide in horror. "…Okay. Now I'm really glad I cut ties with him for years. That guy's way too nuts!"
Yeah, sure, look relieved to have ripped our group to even more shreds!
Fubuki sure didn't agree with him. He got up in Manjoume's face, glaring fiercely enough to make him cringe. "I'm glad you're happy you did that, Jun! 'Cause I sure wasn't!"
Fuyuko looked stunned. "…The more I ask for clarification, the foggier things get."
"Yeah, that's pretty much how it goes with this bunch, Fuyuko," Akiko said. "Don't worry about it too much."
Okay, she wasn't even in our group, and she knew that. How the hell did she know?
Fubuki turned his glare back to Fuyuko, much to Manjoume's relief. "Okay, well here's what's up, Fuyuko! See, at first, Asuka was blaming herself for not speaking up. Drowning in guilt 'cause of that."
Drowning in guilt? Did everyone in this group do that? The Kaiser hated his days as the Hell Kaiser, Fubuki was guilty over Fujiwara, Manjoume for turning Asuka into a member of the Society of Light, Sho for letting Yubel mess with Judai, Judai for every little thing he ever did wrong… Talk about a serious need for therapy.
"But, about three months into the year, Manjoume and Sho started hitting on my sister so much you'd think they were stalkers! And they both started doing it on the same day!"
So they both started stalking her on the same day? The idea that they were stalking her was news—the idea that they both started hitting on her wasn't hard to grasp, even if the timing was weird. I mean, Manjoume wasn't the stalking type. Sho, on the other hand…maybe.
Manjoume glared at Fubuki, defensive as he said, "Hey, I didn't do anything at all as bad as Ai or Haruko! I just sent her flowers and a couple of poems! What's so bad about that?"
Well, that was a good question. That would normally be seen as romantic, but Asuka called it stalking? What was her deal back then?
The rage fest continued, with Fubuki glaring at Manjoume and saying, "Yeah. And Sho sent her chocolates and rare cards!" Fubuki poked Manjoume in the chest, adding, "And you didn't approve, so you started fighting with him!"
Okay, so they were fighting over her. Still not stalking. She was supposed to be one of the more mature and intelligent members of our group, so why would Asuka say they were stalking her?
Fuyuko looked disturbed. "…Uh…"
As expected, Manjoume recovered quickly and raged, "Well, excuse me! It's not my fault that little shrimp was moving in on my girl! Why, with Judai out of the way, I thought I could—"
"First off, she's not your girl, and second, SHE THOUGHT YOU WERE PERVERTED JERKS, YOU DAMNED IDIOT! Couldn't you see that!? You were—"
Okay, this needed a better explanation! Everyone was just getting more lost and confused. Besides, this argument was distracting us from the point again. Why was Asuka on the wrong side!?
I held up my hands, signaling for them to stop. "Whoa, wait. Back up. She thought they were what? What did they do?"
Fubuki turned to me, sounding casual as he said, "Oh, just hit on her and lead her on when she thought they were just friends, that's all."
…What?
"But, wait. That doesn't make any sense!" Kenzan said. "Why would she—"
"Ah, pardon my asking," Fuyuko said, his tone giving me the feeling he didn't really want to ask any more questions, "but how does hitting on her make them perverted…? What, pray tell, was perverted about it?"
Good questions. I mean, from what they were describing, it sounded like normal, everyday stuff to me. So what was wrong with it? Was she afraid of them or something? Why fear someone like Sho?
Fubuki raised a finger high in the air, getting worked up with some emotion or other. "Simple! They did the exact same thing men always do!" He started counting off on his fingers as he said, "Hit on her, lead her on, make her feel special just so they could break her heart in the end." He stopped, a nasty look appearing on his face as he slowly turned toward Manjoume. "Or get her in bed with them in the case of some."
"Hey, I never had any intentions of—"
"You thought she'd look sexy in that idol costume, Thunder! Don't think I didn't notice!"
Manjoume sweat and started fiddling with his thumbs. "Well, I, uh—heh."
Okay, so where was all of that coming from? Hit on, lead on, make her feel—How many bad boyfriends had she had? And what about Judai? He wasn't like that…unless the broken heart part was… Oh, no. Was this all because he'd left? Was he the last straw or something? Why was his luck so bad?
The Kaiser closed his eyes in shame and said, "Forgive me, Fubuki. I had no idea."
Fuyuko was just staring, stunned silent.
"Yeah, I know the feeling," Akiko said.
"…This makes Natsuko seem normal…"
They were clearly lost. And right. This group of mine was anything but normal! I mean, why was the Kaiser feeling guilty for Sho's behavior?
"What are you apologizing for, Ryo?" Fubuki asked. "It was Sho who—"
"Not just Sho, actually. I tried to get Asuka to like me back then as well."
Well, that was news. When did the Kaiser start liking her?
Fubuki and Manjoume both cried, "Whaaaaa!?"
"B-but, Ryo! W-w-when did you—"
"Uh, as interesting as all of this is, can we try and get back to the point?" Jim asked.
"If anyone remembers where it is?" Akiko added, looking irritable.
…Man, this group. When they got sidetracked, they took me with them! What was the point?
"Oh! Uh, r-right," Fubuki said. "The point was Sissi was real upset with all the men she'd ever met, said all they cared about was sex with the hotties, deeming none of them trustworthy and decided to cut ties with all of her male friends."
Well, that explained her comment to me. But why was she so angry at all men? Didn't she know at least one decent guy? I thought I was fairly decent! I mean, I'd never once acted like a pervert!
"So that's why Asuka wouldn't speak to me for two years in a row!" Kenzan said.
Manjoume was standing there calmly now, his arms crossed. "Yeah. And I was so mad at Sho that we didn't speak to each other for years, either! I wouldn't even go near him in a duel." Muttering, he added, "Paid my manager extra to keep us out of the ring together, too."
Annoyed, the Kaiser said, "The feeling was mutual, Manjoume, trust me."
Yeah, no cooperation there, either. I'd occasionally tried to get Manjoume to ask Sho why he hated me so much only to get into a worse argument about that "good for nothing son of a bitch" than the arguments I ever had with Judai about "being a lousy friend."
"So Judai leaves, and you guys fall to pieces," Akiko said, her tone matter-of-fact.
"Sad what that says about our friendship, isn't it?" Jim asked.
Yeah, Jim. It was. Asuka stuck to all girls, Sho and Manjoume stopped talking, Sho hated me, Rei and O'Brien didn't even stick with the group at all…and I was sure that probably wasn't all, either. The glue that held this group together was Judai, clearly. Too bad he didn't know that and would never believe it.
"Exactly!" Fubuki said. "I still need to talk to him about that, too, by the way! Why, because of him, no one else—"
"The point," Fuyuko cut him off.
"Please?" I said. Seriously, Tenjoin! Judai's got enough problems! Don't go piling this on him as well!
I mean, sure, I could see what he was talking about, but I wasn't going to scold Judai about it, unlike Fubuki! I was just going to waste my breath for the thousandth time to try to convince him that these guys needed him around. Granted, he was probably better off without them—they'd blamed him for everything but puberty by now. He didn't need blamed for this, especially since it was their fault he left.
"Right. The point." He finally sat down again, saying, "So, anyway, after all that was over, Asuka avoided men like the dickens for the rest of the year. But, after realizing that most of them weren't interested in messing with her, she came to the conclusion that it was only friend men she couldn't trust. Don't ask me how three men out of a dozen gave her that idea, though. She made very little sense that year." He shrugged and shook his head, his eyes closed.
"Yeah, no kidding. I called to say hi and she told me she wasn't interested in perverts," I said. "I haven't spoken to her since."
Seriously, what was her issue with men?
Akiko burst out laughing at my little confession. Well, admittedly, it did seem comical now.
Shaking his head, Fuyuko said, "You people…have got some serious issues. Might I recommend seeking professional help?"
Good idea. I mean, we needed Judai to keep this group together.
"I did…" Kenzan said, looking down in shame.
Come to think of it, Kenzan hadn't lost touch with anyone aside from Asuka, which was unavoidable for any of us. It seemed professional help might benefit all of us.
"Anyway, moving onto the next year, thanks to Kenzan's persistence—and calling himself asexual around Sissi all the time—Asuka finally started putting blame where it really belonged. On the men that broke her heart only."
So I guess Kenzan helped convince Asuka not to hate all men. I wouldn't know—I blocked her number after that one time.
But something Fubuki had said was bothering me. A lot.
I stood up, not caring if this was sidetracking or not—it had to be addressed. "So, wait. Are you saying she went from blaming herself to blaming Judai? But that's not—"
"It's not really his fault she didn't say anything," Jim said.
Yeah, that's one thing! And, also, she had finally accepted some blame herself, then pushed it off on Judai!? How was that fair!? He already blamed himself for everything else they told him he'd done! Hell, he'd have been blaming himself for attacking me during that Darkness thing if I hadn't told him not to worry about it!
"But he can be blamed for leaving without a word," Akiko said. In a mutter, she added, "At least, until we figure out why he'd do that."
Okay, this blaming Judai thing had to stop! He wasn't responsible for his actions back then as far as I was concerned! He had thought they all hated him, and they proved it to him all the rest of that year! Never going to the Red Dorm, moving back to their own dorms to "get away from him," demanding favors of him just because he was "the only one they could trust," hanging out with each other without inviting him… These guys had caused him to leave! That was all stuff he'd told me they'd done after he'd come back! It wasn't his fault they were too dense to try talking to him about what had happened when he just might be feeling like shit, now was it!?
Still, no point blowing up at Akiko. She wasn't one of us, so she was innocent, especially since all she was hearing was their side. Besides, she was willing to admit that blame might need reassigned. "Akiko, sometimes you just don't know anything," I said. "But I can't blame you because you're not in our group." I shook my head, shrugging and wondering why I cared if these guys were miserable.
"Anyway, moving on, we've reached my favorite part of this tale!" Fubuki said. "Anyone else still remember Austin O'Brien?"
Of course. He also had issues. But his at least made some sense, given everyone else's problems. Besides, he was one of the few people I could talk about with Judai without him saying the guy hated him.
Aside from Judai and myself, I wasn't sure if O'Brien was in touch with anyone else. Most of us were too weird for his liking. Maybe he had the right idea, now that I thought about it. Why, if I didn't think it would make a bigger mess, I'd stop hanging out with them all, too!
"I do," Jim said. "We're still keeping in contact. If not for work, he'd be here, too, he said."
Good to know. I'd been wondering.
Kenzan's eyes bugged out, and he turned to Jim, looking either outraged or surprised. "You've got his number!? But that's no fair! I haven't seen him since graduation!"
Jim countered with, "I didn't see him then, so…"
Manjoume humphed. "No one has. He said this group's too stupid for his liking and cut ties then. Something about being tired of working with a bunch of irresponsible babies. Heh. I have to agree with him, really." He closed his eyes, grinning.
Apparently he'd forgotten his five-year fight with Sho over a girl! Or was that somehow mature in his mind?
Kenzan beat me to the punch, pointing accusingly at him while glaring. "Hey, with what you and Sho have been doing til last winter, I'd think he was—"
"Oh, just shut up already!" Akiko cut him off. "Let's get back to this stupid story before you guys make all of us forget why the hell we're even listening to it!"
Oh, boy, she was getting irritated. Yeah, it was definitely time to focus. Nobody's dumb enough to mess around when she's mad! Even some of the teachers at Duel Academy had been afraid of her!
Kenzan moved toward Jim, whispering a quick, desperate plea. "You've got to give me his number! We were way too close in high school!"
"Alright," Jim said. "Later, Dino-Boy."
Fubuki clapped his hands, smiling and sweating nervously. So there was a brain in there! "Now, then! Back to my sister and her sudden betrayal, for those of us forgetting why I'm telling this tale!"
Well, I didn't know about everyone else, but I was sure having a hard time focusing thanks to all the side conversations.
"I'm not forgetting! I'm just too busy being amazed at how messed up this group of ours is to focus!" I said, my eyes wide.
"Your group is a mess," Fuyuko agreed, for which I glared at him in annoyance.
"Makes you appreciate what you've got, huh?" Akiko asked, smirking.
Fuyuko closed his eyes and nodded, saying, "Tokugawas can't compare."
Jealous, I glared at him out of the corner of my eye. That wasn't fair! He had Natsuko and Haruko in his group! Yet mine was such a huge mess that it made those two seem perfectly normal! Why had I made friends with all of these guys!? Just because I'd met Judai?
Fubuki pulled me from my thoughts when he said, "Judai and O'Brien showed up on the news one night at the beginning of last year, fighting bad guys in Iceland. And, as some of you know, this did not bode well for those of us Sissi did still talk to."
For some reason, his attention snapped toward the Kaiser. He sounded even more exhausted than I had ever been trying to talk to Judai about Sho and the others.
The Kaiser closed his eyes, sweating. "I never want to see them there again…"
So what had happened? Was it really that bad?
Looking jealous, Fubuki pointed fiercely at the Kaiser, saying, "Yeah, well, you got lucky! You only had to put up with her complaining!" He pointed at himself, looking totally freaked, and continued, "I, on the other hand, had to listen to that and got my head bit off for everything I said or did the whole year after!"
He threw his arms up in exasperation.
Okay, so he was traumatized. What on earth had she done now!?
"What are you talking about?" Kenzan asked. "Asuka wasn't—"
Fubuki got up in his face, making him cringe away. The Kaiser stayed where he was, but they both said, "Oh, yes, she was." Well, okay, Fubuki shouted it, but still.
"Okay, so Asuka was a nightmare for you two," Jim said. "And this is connected to the point you want to make, Fubuki?"
Frantically, he turned to Jim, saying, "Yes! She was complaining about Judai endlessly day in and day out! And you know the best part about it!? I was her favorite victim!"
He got more worked up the more he said, and I couldn't blame him. Asuka was scary enough when she was mad, but it sounded like she was constantly furious.
"'I can't believe he's still seeing that jerk. I guess birds of a feather really do stick together,'" the Kaiser quoted.
Fubuki threw his arms up in the air, shouting, "'He left us all to go join some underground group of bounty hunters! Guess that's why he wouldn't stick around! And underhanded job like that wasn't the kind of thing any decent man would do, so he knew we'd all hate him for it!' 'The jerk! I can't believe he—'"
It might have sounded like quotes, but I still had to stop those two right that moment. I mean, if Judai ever got wind of those words leaving anyone's mouth, he'd never believe me if I told him they didn't mean them. Besides, for all I knew, they did mean it.
"That's enough!" I cut Fubuki off. "That's not true, and you know it!"
"Well, that's what Asuka was thinking back then," the Kaiser said.
Fubuki threw his arms up again, shouting, "Yes! And even on her birthday I was a bad guy because I gave her a deck of rare cards—to try and get back on her good side, that is—and she bit my head off for that, too! I couldn't win no matter what I did! It was a living nightmare!" He put his hands on his head and fell to his knees, where he stayed, whimpering.
"Fascinating," Akiko said dully. She looked bored. So crazy people wasn't entertaining?
I just sat there, my eyes wide. I was too horrified for words. I mean, Asuka had been raging for a whole year because Judai was seen with O'Brien?
I thought over everything I'd heard. Fubuki had said Asuka liked Judai but had never told him. Soon, she drowned in guilt over it because she never told him. Then she got angry at men because of it, changing it to anger at Judai later. So he broke her heart, and it just got worse and worse with time? Which meant she secretly hated Judai for hurting her. Asuka hated Judai, just like he'd been thinking!
Judai's gonna hate this… Maybe I shouldn't tell him…
"So…what you're saying is…" Jim started, looking horrified, too.
"Exactly! Because Judai hadn't seen anyone but O'Brien in the last 5 years, I paid the price in full for his betrayal! I was the bad guy on her side, against her, not giving a shit either way! I WAS THE BAD GUY FOR BREATHING, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!"
His gestures were all exaggerated right now, and his eyes were wide the whole time. Given how badly it had affected him, I wouldn't have been surprised to learn that Fubuki hated Judai, too.
"…Whoa," Kenzan said.
"Meaning she hates him," Akiko summarized. "I think that's what Jim was thinking of. I mean, your issues aren't that important."
Fubuki approached her, glaring. "Akiko, be grateful that was the year Kyle transferred to Duel Academy Island from North Academy." He jabbed a finger in her chest like only a lunatic would with Akiko. Come to think of it, that's probably what saved him—she doesn't hit lunatics. "That was the only thing that stopped her! He liked her, so I helped him get her by telling him everything about her and her torturous ex! Sure, it took him most of the year to do it, but it was worth it! I'm so glad the seas of North were 'too bitter cold to dive in!' Otherwise who knows what would have happened!"
"Hmph. I'll say," Manjoume agreed. "After Asuka hooked up with that man, he tracked me down and convinced me that blaming Sho for what Judai had done was wrong. He also got me to admit to myself that Asuka wasn't ever going to like me, so I met up with Momoe, who did."
"Yeah, Kyle's a good guy," Kenzan said. "Why, he even managed to get your sponsor's number so the rest of us could actually reach you without going through your fan mail process first."
Oh, don't remind me! Manjoume was seriously annoying to get in touch with! Why was it so hard for his friends to reach him? Didn't he want to be friends with any of us anymore? I mean, our stuff got thrown in with his fan mail, which often never made it to him!
"That was a relief," Jim said. "I mean, it used to take five months just to invite you to a party! Why, you wouldn't even know what was going on yet if not for Kyle! It was such a grueling process that we probably wouldn't even have tried to get in touch with you for this! I mean, some of us wanted to stay in touch and stay friends, but you would rather pull away from everyone."
Wow, Jim sounded mad. He was usually pretty easy-going. Maybe there was more to his anger than just Manjoume's communication issues. Maybe he was just as sick of the Judai blame game as I was! After all, Manjoume had no right, either! Why, from what I'd heard, he shouldn't even have been there since he thought "everyone was idiots for thinking Judai was their friend." So why the hell was he here!? Was he just here to blame Judai some more!?
I decided to kill two birds with one stone by complaining about how you often needed a lawyer if you wanted to see him while getting revenge on him for blaming Judai for everything that ever went wrong in his life.
I crossed my arms, looking annoyed, and said, "No, not everyone. All the pros among us could reach him quickly!" I threw my arms up in annoyance and finished, "How else would they ever get a chance to duel? Right, Kaiser?" I whirled on him in annoyance.
Seriously, that was the only time they could talk to him about anything else: during a match! And, even though Kyle had come along and gotten the sponsor's number, it still wasn't any easier. We'd call him and get through a whole list of ID numbers to make sure we were really who we claimed to be, get redirected to one of 19 different numbers thanks to Ed's training, write down any new numbers those people gave us just in case, and keep trying nonstop if you ever wanted to talk to him!
Needless to say, we only called him when it was an emergency. Most of us weren't close enough to him to justify it. And he thought Judai was a bad friend. Ha! We were all idiots for thinking of him as a friend!
The Kaiser stayed calm and changed the subject, asking, "Is this necessary at the moment? We were talking about Asuka, remember?"
I turned away with a humph. Asuka… Yeah, sure, this talk was about her and her betrayal, but everyone was blaming Judai for it! It would be nice to stay on track without the blame game, but only Jim and I seemed capable of it, so why not start blaming them for the things they did wrong!? Somebody had to since they would never accept responsibility for it!
"Right, her," Jim said, echoing my sentiments with his tone. Maybe it was somehow related to the fact that he hadn't been asked to contribute to Sho's books at all. But, hey, if the Kaiser liked Asuka—or just wanted this lengthy conversation over with already—who could blame him? It was getting pretty late.
"And, speaking of, not long after that, Asuka calmed down, and the three became friends again. But what's that have to do with anything?"
Good question. We all knew about Kyle. Manjoume liked him for his wisdom and his dueling skills that rivaled Judai's; Sho loved his courage, kindness, strength, and confidence; Kenzan admired his strength, too (fortunately neither one had started calling him "aniki" yet); and even I liked the guy! Hell, he'd met everyone in our group aside from O'Brien and Judai, and there wasn't a single one of us who didn't like him. When he came along, he'd managed to put our shattered group back together, but he didn't have anything to do with why Asuka hated Judai. All he did was help heal her, so why bring him up?
Fubuki sat down, exhausted. "It doesn't. I'm just glad someone came along to replace Judai in everyone's lives. Asuka got a boyfriend, Sho got a new idol, and everyone got back to being friends again. But all was not as good as it seemed."
Clearly. Also, I was never telling Judai that Fubuki had called Kyle his replacement.
"Yeah. Asuka still hated Aniki for betraying her, right?"
Oh, for crying out loud! They just didn't know when to quit, did they!? If anyone had betrayed anybody around here, they had betrayed him!
"He never betrayed anyone!" Jim snapped.
Well, at least Jim got it! So Judai had one true friend here other than me…and the super-needy, childish Sho.
"You guys don't know anything, do you!?" I demanded. "Judai didn't—"
Fubuki calmly held up a hand, cutting me off. "Quiet. The audience is getting restless," he said, looking at Akiko and Fuyuko.
I would have snapped at him if he hadn't made sense. But someday I was gonna have a serious heart-to-heart with all of them about Judai!
"I actually kind of want to hear what Johan was saying," Akiko said. "I mean, I get the point that Asuka, apparently, hates Judai."
"Which explains why she would betray him. But I still don't understand how any of this happened to begin with," Fuyuko added. "Weren't you all friends?"
I guess he wasn't a fan of Sho's books.
Fubuki reached over the side of his chair and picked up a book. When it got there I'll never know. "Here, Fuyuko. Read this. This book should explain everything you've missed." He dropped The Terrors of Haou on his lap.
Fuyuko stared at it for a moment, then said, "Okay?"
I didn't like that book. It made Judai sound like a criminal without putting in what the others had said or what Haou had done to Judai! I hadn't been there, but I could tell you word for word what they said.
"Judai, you damn idiot!" "You're not my aniki!" "It's painful." "To think I'll have to carry such a sadness." "I'll hate you until the day I die!" "I hurt everyone, and I couldn't—"
CUT IT OUT, ANDERSEN! This wasn't the time to be thinking of everything Judai ever said when you made him talk about that!
"And my question?" Akiko asked.
"I object!" Jim said, looking at the book. "I didn't get a chance to—"
"So, as I was saying, to conclude my story, Sissi hadn't truly let go of the past. Sure, she's with Kyle now, but, thanks to her abandonment at the hands of Judai, she can't fully trust him or love him. To this day, she's just waiting for Kyle to leave her the same way Judai did." Muttering, Fubuki added, "Which is a shame, too, because the man wrote the lyrics to an American song about not being afraid to fall in love to her when he began his pursuit of her." Louder, he went on, "It said right there in the song that not all men act the same way, so she shouldn't be afraid of being with them in a more romantic way, but—" He cut himself off with a shrug.
"Well. I'd say the reason for her betrayal is totally clear," the Kaiser said.
Yeah, I agreed to that! It was that stupid Yubel! She'd caused the biggest misunderstanding ever, messed up Judai, and torn the damn group apart! Most of our issues stemmed from Judai's "abandonment" of us, after all! Later, I was demanding a chance to get vengeance on that thing, whether Judai liked it or not!
"Yeah, it's all Aniki's fault," Kenzan said.
I started trembling with anger. Again!? Seriously, did these creeps have a Judai-blaming complex!? Surely at least one of them knew who was really to blame!
Jim growled. He glared at Kenzan and said, "I'm with Autumn-Girl, actually. You dingoes should take some blame on yourselves for a change."
Yep, Jim rocked! He was defending Judai yet again! No wonder I never had to talk to Judai about him. Why, for all I knew, Jim was one of those few people Judai was still in touch with! (The others were O'Brien, Ed, someone named Hayato, and me.)
Still, I thought the blame was Yubel's. Granted, the others could have checked up on him afterward, but Yubel had started it all by attacking Judai's friends for stupid reasons.
"Hey, it's not my fault Aniki left without saying goodbye!"
Those guys… I was gonna—
Manjoume cut my thought off before I went off the deep end. "Okay. This story's depressing. I'm going to bed. Tell me what the plan is in the morning." He got up and headed out of bed.
Well, at least the Judai blame game would, hopefully, end now.
But how was I ever going to tell him about Asuka?
Fubuki got up, looking gloomy, and said, "Yeah, me, too. I can't handle any more tonight. Later." And he headed out, too.
The Kaiser looked around, then asked, "So, if everyone's in a bad mood now, why are we all still here?"
Jim got up and stormed out. Clearly a good idea. We all needed time to cool off. I took a quick breath, hiding it from the others so they wouldn't know how close I'd come to exploding. Knowing this group, it wouldn't help anyway. I needed to focus on a bigger problem: telling Judai that Asuka hated him…and why. Should be fun.
I flopped down on a couch and hung my head.
"Good question," Kenzan said, sounding upset. I knew that tone well—Judai used it any time I brought up those he'd "betrayed." Jim had better make up with him in the morning!
I sighed. "Here we go again."
Akiko stared after Jim for a bit, looking confused. "What the hell…" she said before heading after him.
"Yeah, night, Akiko," I called, gloomy. "See you tomorrow!"
As usual, instead of addressing a problem, everyone chose to avoid it.
"Well, I feel much more fortunate now, at least," Fuyuko said, getting to his feet.
Yeah, jerk, rub it in. Your group was totally normal.
"Bailing Natsu out of jail once a month seems mild in comparison to…that." He headed out, saying, "Good night."
Stop rubbing it in! It definitely couldn't compare, no matter what it was!
"Yeah," I said. "Good night." I sighed again. Judai's not going to like this. How will I ever tell him?
The Kaiser got up, as well. Somehow he'd stayed calm for the whole thing, which was something I admired about him. I had to learn his secret—this group required it! "That's a good idea. Clearly everyone's worn out after a night like that. We should convene in the morning. Then we can focus our efforts on helping Judai first and then figure out what to do about Asuka and Ai."
Kenzan and I nodded in agreement. That was a good plan. No one would be blaming Judai (hopefully) if the purpose of a meeting was to help him. Maybe we could actually start being reasonable human beings again. Not that it was likely with these guys, but it was worth a try.
Lesson #1: Never try talking about Judai when if anybody was in a bad mood. Thanks, Kaiser.
He headed to bed, saying, "Night."
"Night," I echoed.
Kenzan got up and headed out, too, saying, "See ya."
I, however, sat there a bit longer, thinking about all of that. In the end, I got up and pestered Fubuki a bit, trying to get every detail I could out of him. What I got was Asuka's various diaries, stolen for the sole purpose of being an annoying older brother, I guess.
Still, I read through them, skipping any unnecessary stuff, and got every detail from Asuka's point of view. The more I learned, the worse the story got. I wasn't finished with those things until nearly dawn. Not that it mattered—those books were depressing enough to keep me from sleeping, anyway.
Yeah, as I thought about last night, I knew without any doubt. Judai did not need to hear all of that. It would kill him for sure.