Notes
Hi! This is the last chapter. Everyone, thanks a lot! And I mean a lot! For all the support you have given this story. I never expected this many people to actually read it, you all make me happy :D
Let's go on with the show!
Sorry for any mistakes.
Yu-Gi-Oh belongs to Kazuki Takahashi, Shueisha and Konami.
PS 16 – The Brothers
Yuzu knew Yuya's brothers lived with him and it was unavoidable to meet them. She just thought she was going to have a little bit more time for that idea to sit in her. What to say? How to react? With Yuya, the surprise was understandable because she had thought she was never going to see him again. With the other guys, she always thought her first reaction was going to be anger, even if it has mellowed after some years, and more during her talk with Yuya. Now… she certainly wasn't going to give them a free pass and she wasn't going to let them intimidate her, they were the ones who wronged her.
"Hello Yuri, thanks for receving me. I'll be staying with you fours this weekend," she said with a sweet smile.
Yuri's smirk disappeared, disappointed his presence didn't brought out a bigger reaction. Once upon a time, he managed to scare her enough to make a run for it. Bored with her, he went to receive his brothers. Maybe there he could get a better reaction, or at least one from Yugo.
"Then, you're staying the weekend?" asked Yuya.
"You know what. I think I'll," she said with a happy smile. Possibly her presence will bother the brothers more than theirs will her. "You still own me a duel."
"You're on!"
"Yuya! We're back!" shouted Yuto's voice from the door.
"Yuya! Did you miss us!" shouted Yugo's voice inmediataly after.
The two sounded completely normal considering her presence in the house.
"I'm at the living room!" Yuya shouted back.
The three brothers came to the living room, and it was obvious Yuri hadn't said anything about her. After giving a passing glance to Yuya, whatever they were going to say was cut off by their surprise. Yuto managed to hide it well, but his eyes gave him away. Yugo even jumped back from seeing her. Behind them, Yuri let out a little laugh under his breath. The other two still looked the same, as tall as Yuya and with their preferred hairstyles unchanged. Yugo was dressed in some blue mechanic clothes and Yuto was in some black jeans and a dark green three-quarter sleeve shirt.
"What—?" Started to say Yugo almost shouting.
"Welcome back Yuto, Yugo," said Yuya with a big smile, "Yuzu came to visit us, she'll be staying with us for the weekend."
"What!?" Now Yugo definitely shouted.
"I invited her to spend the weekend with us," explained Yuya. "She arrived some hours ago."
"Indeed," said Yuri, and like someone who loved to mess with his brothers, continued as normal, "What's for dinner, Yuto?"
"What!?" said Yugo again.
"Yuya! To the kitchen," said Yuto, "Yuzu, could you please give us a moment?"
Yuzu was enjoying their reactions so far, it was a pity she couldn't see Yuri's.
"Sure, I'll wait here."
"Excellent, come on guys."
The four brothers left the living room and went to the kitchen. In there, Yuto was going to speak when Yugo spoke first.
"Yuya! Why is Yuzu here?!"
"Explain," said Yuto next.
"Calm down, guys. It is exactly as I said back there. I invited her to spend the weekend with us."
"That doesn't tell us anything," said Yuri.
"You all know I'm a big fan of her and I noticed she wasn't giving her best in her most recent duel."
The brothers nodded. They knew Yuzu was their little brother's favorite dueltainer and he was right, even they saw the way she lost her last duel.
"You also know we're close to that day."
Yugo looked another way, Yuri averted his eyes and Yuto just gave a little sigh.
"Guys, you know I don't hate you for that, I'm grateful for this chance to live all together again. It's just… I guess I feel a little guilty, because I'm here at the expense of another."
The brothers didn't say anything and still couldn't look at their little brother. Yuya didn't want them to feel bad about their situation, so quickly said next:
"I thought I may help her to recover her entertainment spirit! I don't want her to lose the next duel. I don't want to lose our bet."
That managed to bring smiles to the other three.
"Oh? This is all a plot so you can win?" asked Yugo following his game.
"Yep."
"Keep dreaming Yuya, I still think Michio will win the tournament," said Yuto.
They all laughed.
With the atmosphere a little calmer, Yuya told them another of his reasons.
"I believe this will be good for you guys too." The three turned to look at him with questioning eyes.
"I still don't know everything you did to bring me here, what I know is you all feel guilty. This can be the first step to forgive yourselves. Also, we can't hide forever. Someday we'll encounter people who knew our counterparts or in your case, who actually knew you three," Yuya explained.
"Yuya…" said Yugo who didn't look conviced about that, and neither the other two.
"Let's look about it another way, do you guys regret bringing me here? Do you wish I was still in the other universe?" asked Yuya.
"No!" the three of them shouted without any second to think about it. They would never regret having their brother with them.
"Then, you don't have anything to be afraid of Yuzu," said Yuya with a little smile. "Let's enjoy this weekend with her. Not everyday you get to meet a professional duelist."
"Our dad was a professional duelist," said Yuri in a dull way.
"Not the same, he was dad."
"Yuzu was our mom back in our universe," now said Yuto.
"Still not the same."
The other three weren't going to win against their baby brother. They almost always complied with his wishes.
"Fine, you win," said Yuto, "she can stay, but you will have to help me to prepare dinner everyday of this weekend as punishment for not telling us beforehand."
"Deal! Thanks big brother Yuto!" said Yuya really happy. Helping his brother wasn't the worst punishment, Yuto may be a perfectionist while cooking, but that usually meant he was put to do the easier tasks.
"Let's start now or we'll eat by midnight."
"What about us two?" asked Yugo.
"You can go and entertain our guest," said Yuto.
"Cheater," said Yuri.
"You wanted dinner, didn't you?" said the oldest brother with a grin on his face.
Yugo and Yuri returned to the living room where Yuzu was still waiting. When they entered the girl turned to look at them. Yugo was going to say something, but in the last second he thought better about it and closed his mouth. No one said anything for a minute.
"Where's Yuya?" asked the girl.
"Helping Yuto with dinner," answered Yugo.
The silence continued.
Well, this is hopeless, thought Yuri. He was going to have to give his brother a hand.
"Did Yuya showed you where you're staying?" he said to break the tension.
"Not yet. We went right into talking."
"Yugo can show you your room," said Yuri.
"I can?" asked Yugo.
"Yes, you will," said Yuri looking directly at the other, "I don't want to carry any luggage."
"I can carry it myself," stated the girl, she just brough a medium bag with her.
"Now, what kind of hosts would we be if we let you carry your stuff? No way, Yugo here will help you."
Yugo still didn't move and Yuri gave him a push in the direction of Yuzu. That managed to break his brother from his frozen state. He looked at the girl and put his hand in front of her to receive her bag. Yuzu gave it to him and started to follow him to another section of the house. Yuya was definitely right and the house was bigger than it appeared from the outside. She saw the dining room on her way to the guest room with a table big enough for ten people and managed to faintly hear voices from another part of the house, probably Yuto and Yuya in the kitchen.
The guest room was like a hotel room, with two beds, a desk, a bureau, a television, two doors one leading to a closet and the other to the bathroom, and a big window with a view to a beautiful garden. It was bigger than her room back in Standard. Yuya also mentioned they had a greenhouse and garage.
"All this place is yours?" She couldn't help herself to ask out loud.
"Yes… well, it's actually Reiji's," said Yugo, "it's far away from people and big enough for the four of us. He made it for Yu— us, after our deal with Akaba Corporation. I'm pretty sure it's one of several houses he built in all dimensions." Well, he made it for Yuya, but I'm not going to tell her that, thought Yugo remembering the feelings she used to have for Yuya's counterpart. Hopefully, those were long gone for her sake, considering his brother's current interest.
"That sounds just like him," she said letting out a little laugh.
The silence started again.
This time she wasn't going to let it continue any longer.
"Look Yu—," started to say the other girl when she was suddenly interrupted by the other.
"I'm sorry, Yuzu!" shouted Yugo bowing at a ninety degree at her, "about your kidnapping and me lying to you when we were in the City."
There was one thing Yuzu wanted to know the most about.
"And Yuya? Are you sorry about him too?"
Yugo stood straight and looked her directly in the eyes.
"Yes, I'm sorry about Yuya as well. I know an apology will not mend things, will not be enough for everything I did to you. I just wanted you to know I'm really sorry. "
She could see how sorry he really was, which made it difficult to be mad at him. Why do the four of them had to have Yuya's face? In the end, she knew he did it for his brother and he wasn't a bad person by principle.
"It's okay, Yugo. I think I get it now. I suppose there's nothing we can do to change things."
Yugo still didn't felt like it was enough of an apology, until he had a good idea to make her feel better.
"Punch me!"
"What?" Yuzu wasn't expecting his outburst.
"Punch me, it will be like a little payback for you."
"I'm not going to punch you."
"Then slap me, whichever you prefer," he said closing his eyes to prepare for impact.
"I'm not going to inflict physical damage upon you!"
"Slap me!"
"No!"
"I can do it for you if you want," said a new voice surprising the two of them, "or I can lend you my whip?"
They looked in the direction of the entrance to the presence of Yuri. They didn't notice when he arrived. He had a grin on his face enjoying the show. Yuzu recovered first from the surprise.
"I'm not going to hurt him."
"You have to!" said Yugo.
"Please, if you want him to stop just do it. It's the fastest way," said Yuri.
Yuzu was getting irritated with the brothers.
Screw it, she thought.
Faster than they could react, Yuzu brought out his fan and hit Yugo in the head with it. He screamed in pain while his brother laughed at him. Yuri knew it was a good idea to listen to their conversation.
"You also want a hit?" asked Yuzu.
"No way, I'm not as noble as this guy." Yuri was still laughing at his brother.
"Damn! That hurt!" said Yugo who was patting gently his head.
"You okay, brother?" asked Yuri.
"Yeah, bro, I'll live. Unexpectedly, it felt kind of familiar…"
"Probably mom."
"Right! Like that! Exactly like mom."
"Okay, that's strange," said Yuzu. She still hadn't had the time to process that particular piece of information regarding the brothers.
"It appears Yuya told you quite a bit of information," said Yuri.
"Yeah, a little bit more than I wanted in some aspects."
"It's best you have all the information," explained Yuri, "and although an apology can't fix things, I suppose I'm also sorry for everything we did to you and the others. I'll admit it wasn't the most morally correct way to do things."
Yuzu was surprised to hear those words from Yuri. She didn't have the best opinion of this particular brother, taking into accounts all their encounters during the interdimensional war. He was very different from what she expected. From what Sora and Asuka told him and their own brief interactions, he was supposed to be a sadistic person who enjoyed turning people into cards. Maybe it was all just an act. She didn't say anything for a long time and her staring caught the other's attention.
"Nothing to say?" he asked.
"Sorry, thanks for the apology… from the two of you," she finally said looking first at Yugo, then at Yuri. "I'm just surprised by your overall character." She said this to the latter.
"Yuri's a good actor, the second best of us after Yuya," explained Yugo. "His starting dimension required him to be the bad guy, a part he certainly knows how to do. He's the evil brother."
"I'm the evil brother," confirmed Yuri with pride.
"No offense, but you certainly know how to do it," when saying this she thought about their duel in Standard and his intimidating presence when they were in the Synchro and Fusion dimensions.
"None taken," he said, not bothered in the absolutely.
"Now I'm curious, how different are you guys from the original Yugo and Yuri?" she asked. Their brother Yuya was certainly smarter and more flirtatious than her childhood friend, but at the core they were similar people. Thinking back on it, nobody who knew the brothers before the change mentioned being suspicious of them during the war, even Kurosaki was surprised of Yuto's betrayal and he caught all the spies from Academia. Probably only Rin had an idea because she told her Yugo was already acting strange since before the war, although not enough to think he was a whole different person.
The brothers looked at each other with thinking faces.
"Not sure, honestly," said Yugo first, "never met the guy. Whenever I did something which surprised Rin, I either never did it again or said it was a new thing."
"Apparently my counterpart was a proficient and scary duelist," said the other brother. "He never interacted with many people on a personal level so nobody said anything if I did strange things."
"Then, you don't really have any of their memories?" She wanted to confirm if what they said during their last encounter was true.
"No, nothing," said Yugo. Yuri just answered with a move of his head.
"Do you guys know why you ended up here?" That was another question which didn't receive an answer the last time. With the research they have done, maybe they knew something now?
"No idea," said Yuri disappointing the girl, "back in our universe, we died for good and the next thing we know we wake up in the bodies of our counterparts, except Yuya who didn't come. We never saw or heard anything about them. The only strange unknown feeling we all felt was Zarc whenever we dueled one another and when the dragons interacted between them."
"Eventually his presence grew stronger because even when we were not together, we connected. It happened to me and Yuya a couple of times during the Friendship Cup," explained Yugo.
Yuzu remembered Yugo's duel against Sawatari and how, at the time, she thought Yuya was the one dueling.
"You even saved us one time back in Synchro," said Yuri, "we almost united into Zarc when the three of us were together there."
That made Yuzu think about something else.
"So my bracelet did have strange abilities?"
Both nodded.
"Why is it no longer working?"
"We aren't completely sure," said the synchro duelist, "it was an accident. Yuto gave Dark Rebellion to Yuya and didn't notice your and the others girl's bracelets were no longer working until much later. After I gave him Clear Wing our supposition was confirmed."
"Reiji and Yuya developed a theory," started to explain Yuri. "When Ray divided the Original Dimension in four, the force was enough to divide Zarc as well. Each of his dragons along with a piece of him were sent to each dimension. We know Zarc still exists through the connection he has with his monsters and they think his soul was probably influencing ours. It wasn't stated if Ray managed to defeat him completely, and so to prevent his resurrection, she willingly divided as well to keep the parts separated. Because our souls are not related to Zarc, giving up the card with his soul was enough to circumvent Ray's will, meaning your bracelet and the ones from the other girls no longer work."
"But then isn't Yuya going to become Zarc?" asked the young woman, "From what he told me, Zarc isn't completely gone, even with this universe's Yuya gone, and he has in his possession all parts of Zarc's soul."
"The original Yuya also had in his possession all cards for a little while and managed to control him," said Yugo. "It's not enough to only have all the cards."
"Well… that's right… but…," said Yuzu not completely conviced. She was remembering the final duel against the Professor. Yuya and Reiji were against him and when Yuya brought out all the dragons, he almost lost himself to the demon duelist's influence. It was a combination of everyones's words (Yuto, Reiji, Reira, his dad and hers) that barely managed to prevent disaster.
"Our own brother is keeping him at bay, he's the same as us," said Yuri. "His soul is not related to Zarc's and with him not dueling, he's limiting the influence the demon duelist may have on him."
This Yuya certainly seemed more relaxed and least evil than the original one had been in his last moments, and has technically kept Zarc sleeping for 5 years. Even with the four dimensions uniting, he hasn't lost himself. However, that brought out a sad thought.
"Yuya—I mean this universe's Yuya—would have become Zarc, right?"
The other two weren't sure how to answer her. They definitevily thought their brother was stronger at keeping Zarc sleeping because of many reasons, the first and most important one being he wasn't a part of Zarc. But saying that to the other girl wasn't going to make her feel better. Many years ago in an abandoned construction site in the XYZ Dimension, they agreed to sacrifice the other Yuya with that specific thought in their minds, and until today, their bet had been the correct one. The demon duelist wasn't destroying the world.
"Probably," said Yuri in the end without sugarcotting it.
"Yuri!" said Yugo, "A little more tact."
"No, it's okay, tell me your real thoughts," said the girl.
"Honestly, there's no way of knowing. Maybe the original Yuya would have been strong enough, maybe Zarc would have been stronger and right now the four dimensions would be destroyed," said Yuri.
"Or maybe if Zarc had woken up, we would have defeated him easily in a duel, all Lancers against him and Yuya would have been saved," said Yugo.
"What? A 15 vs 1 duel?" She asked with bewilderment in her voice.
"Yeah, why not?" Said Yuri. "The point is we don't know how events would have progressed if we had never brought our brother here."
"Hell," continued Yugo, "you can even go way back and say we don't how things may have gone if we had never arrived to this universe. Maybe Zarc would have united faster because our counterparts didn't know anything."
"Too many what ifs," said Yuzu with a little headache thinking about all possibilities.
"Exactly," finished Yuri.
"I guess the only thing I'm sure is… Yuya would have hated himself if he had become Zarc," said Yuzu, "to be stopped no matter what, if the worst came to happen."
"He was a good guy," said Yugo thinking fondly of him.
"He was much too soft," said Yuri also thinking the same.
They couldn't speak more because Yuto and Yuya called them for dinner. Before going down, Yugo went quickly to change his clothes. Dinner consisted of hirekatsu with salad, miso soup and white rice. The food was simple fried pork cutlets and the staple everyday soup, but she had to admit it was delicious, amazing, a blessing from the heavens. She hadn't expected the boys to be good at cooking. Maybe living by themselves created the need for better prepared foods. If every meal was like this, at least she was going to eat great this weekend.
She wanted to let them talk more during dinner to observe how they interacted together, but Yugo and Yuya had many questions for her related to her professional dueling experience. In the end, she didn't get any new information about them, Yuto didn't even say a word. As the only brother she hadn't had the chance to talk one on one to, she found the perfect opportunity when she offered her help to clean the table with him. As a bonus, she managed to convince Yuya and Yuri to leave them alone by preparing the living room for their mini tournament, while Yugo was going to take a quick shower. Yuya let slip during dinner that he was going to duel her and everyone else wanted to try. She was also curious about their dueling abilities and so a mini contest was decided.
It appeared she wasn't as sneaky as she thought because the moment they were alone, Yuto said:
"If you wanted to talk with me, you would have say so. Now you're working when this is supposed to be your vacation."
She came out of her surprise quickly to answer.
"Then, it doesn't bother you to talk with me? You were quiet during dinner."
"I think I already mentalized myself enough to say what I want to say and I'm not the most talkative out of the four of us, with Yugo and Yuya at the table it's more than enough, don't you think?"
"Right… what is it you want to say?" she asked.
He put the dishes he had in his hands on the table and looked directly at her.
"I'm sorry Yuzu, for everything."
Déjà vu, thought Yuzu.
"You already said it," she said remembering the last time she saw the brothers back in Academia, seconds before they left, "I think you were the only one that apologized when it happened." With it meaning their betrayal and Yuya's final moments.
"I did, didn't I? Even so, it requires repetition. When we decided to do it, we only thought about saving our brother. We never thought the situation would escalate as it did. And we certainly didn't thought about all the people we were hurting or we were going to hurt in the process, or when our objective was completed."
"So, do you regret it?" she asked.
He took a minute to answer and finally said:
"No, I don't. The end result was worth it," he said and looked in the direction of the living room from where they could hear multiple voices talking/shouting. "To tell you the truth, I wanted to save my brother and I was selfish, I just wanted my family back together."
"Then, why just Yuya and not also your dad? He's here too."
"Because dad's dead," he said, "he wasn't the same as Yuya. When we decided to do this, we knew Yuya was still alive back in our universe and because the three of us had a dream in which we saw him asking for our help."
"A dream?" This was the first time she heard about the creation of their original plan.
"Yeah, when we first arrived here. Yuri quickly found us and told us everything about the incoming war, Projects ARC V and Revival Zero, Ray, Zarc, all of it. Because we were Zarc's reincarnations there was no way we would be left alone, and because of the dream, we decided to use the situation in our advantage."
"You never thought of a different way?"
"No, we didn't think people were going to believe our story. Also, when we first arrived, we weren't thinking about consequences, we just wanted our brother back. I think the threat of Zarc was also a big factor, since the beginning we could already feel him. He was a serious problem."
"In the end, it all comes back to Zarc," said Yuzu. The other two brothers also implied the same. When looking at things that way, she can understand better their motivations. Still doesn't like them, but gets it. Looking at the overall picture from a different perspective, they stopped the Professor from uniting her and her counterparts into Ray and prevented the reawakening of a demon. Almost everyone was saved and ultimately, the war was the Professor's plan, not the brothers. In some way, she owes them her life.
They finished picking up the dishes and went to the kitchen to wash them. Yuto was the one doing it and she was helping him to dry them. While observing the place, she noticed it was already in order and there wasn't a sign anyone had cooked before.
"Was the food ordered from some place?" she asked him, before she had thought they were the ones who did it…
"No, I made it with Yuya's help. I enjoy cooking. Was it good?"
Damn, she thought. She didn't want to admit to his face it was the most delicious hirekatsu and miso she had ever tried.
"It was really good," credit were credit was due even if it bothered her. "Do you all know how to cook like this?"
"Umm," he certainly thought his food was the best of the four, there had been some tragedies related to his brothers, especially Yugo. Although, in the last recent years his three brothers had been practicing a lot. "We all have our talents. I think Yuri and Yuya are okay at it, maybe Yuya's better, Yuri… likes to experiment every once in a while. Yugo's not so bad. He somestimes forgets to turn off the stove, and can get excited with the seasoning."
The surprise must have been obvious on her face because he just raised an eyebrow at her.
"Not what you expected?" said Yuto.
"When you think of a group of guys in college age living together, you don't relate it to good food and a well maintained kitchen."
That made him laugh out loud. This was the first big reaction she had ever seen from the other.
"Good thing we're not actually college age," he said after calming down.
"Eh?"
"We're technically older. Yuya's the one who is 19, Yuri, Yugo and I are 24."
She completely forgot about the age difference.
"Is it strange? To be younger."
"I think Yuya's the one who may see it as strange because we all now look a lot more like him. At least for myself I already got used to it."
"Get to relive your younger years," she said with a smile.
"Yeah, sure," he said with noticeable sarcasm.
They entered a peaceful silence and were almost done with the dishes (Yuto was quite efficient at it) when he suddenly said in a low voice:
"You asked me before if there was something I regretted. I think the only thing is that even after everything we did, my brothers aren't still completely happy."
"What do you mean?" The four of them have a comfortable life and are together.
"Should we have some tea and treats after we finish with this?" He said instead. "We can have them in the living room, for the tournament."
"Yeah, sure," she said, "but don't change the subject, what do you meant with that? Yuya told me he was happy, not the life he expected, but he's happy."
"Back in our universe, when our world was destroyed Yugo, Yuri and I died along with it. We never gave it a second thought to save Yuya, and it was certainly unexpected to find ourselves as spirits attached to him. Even so, we were already dead and we made peace with it. Whatever we wanted to do was no longer possible; Yuya came first. Now, imagine our surprise when after dying for good, we wake up alive again."
"It must have been like a new chance," said Yuzu.
"Yes and no, at the end of the day it wasn't our universe. All our memories, friends and experiences never happened here. We left people behind, important people who are no longer with us. We are grateful to be alive and together, but our present circumstances don't permit us to fulfill our original dreams."
Yuzu just looked at the other, expecting him to elaborate.
"Yuya told you he wasn't going to duel with solid vision ever again, right?"
She nodded.
"Originally, he wasn't going to duel ever again, in no capacity whatsoever. We all love dueling, is in our blood and was our favorite activity to do together. It didn't seem fair to us only Yuya was going to pay the price, when it was us who brought him here without his permission. So, all of us were going to stop dueling as well."
"But Yuya didn't completely stop, we're even going to have a duel tournament," she said a little confused. He probably changed his mind, she thought, because he loves it.
"The reason he still plays is because he knows we love it, and didn't want us to stop it as well," said Yuto with a little sigh, "especially Yugo, of the four of us, he was the one who wanted to make it to the pro leagues… even was on his way to accomplish that."
Yuzu was starting to understand. The two of them finished with the dishes and Yuto went to put a kettle for the tea.
"As long as Zarc is still a threat, Yuya can't leave this place, so we're not going to leave him alone. Yugo abandoned his dream of being a professional duel runner and now works as a mechanic in the only repair shop in town. The roads here are quite scenic, they receive a lot bikers and people on roadtrips. Last year, he managed to get his degree in engineering which is amazing… but not what he wanted in life. Not dueling has been the most difficult to him, and is the reason Yuya still does it every other time."
"Oh," Yuzu wasn't sure what to say. When you heard it like that, things sounded different.
Yuto didn't mention the people his brother lost. His best friend since middle school, Honda, who was part of his mechanic team, fellow duel runner Sherry LeBlanc and her own mechanic Bruno. The four of them had been friends and rivals who were just starting in the world of turbo dueling.
"Is Yuya the same?" When the two of them talked, he said he was content with his life, would it had not been the whole truth?
"Yuya was young when the world was destroyed, only 14 years. I don't think he was 100% sure what he wanted to do with his life, he's kind of a jack of all trades."
"Really? My friend always knew he wanted to be a dueltainer." The Yuya from this universe never had any doubt about his path.
"My brother will tell you the same because he looked up the most to dad, but I'm not sure dueltainer was his true calling. He loved to duel, like all of us, however, winning was never the most important thing for him. He always preferred to entertain even if it costs him the duel. The only exceptions were the life-or-death ones… and even then he would sometimes prioritize the performance or the happiness of the spectators or his opponent." Yuto sighed, remembering some of those moments.
"He's also smart, probably the smartest of us. He's taking a lot of different courses to keep himself busy. We all wanted to have his attention, so he spend a lot of time learning a little bit of everything." Reading and history with him, gardening and chemistry with Yuri, engineering and programming with Yugo, research and entertainment with dad and whatever new stuff he could find. Of all skills acquired, programming, magic tricks and history were some of his best developed ones.
"Hence the jack of all trades?" she asked. This must be the effect of having grown up with siblings who had different likes.
"Yeah, exactly," he said, "maybe when starting college, he would have changed his mind and decided to become a scientist, do programming or become a magician. He was still young… is still young. Right now, almost all options have been taken away from him, along with his freedom. He likes what he's doing now, but it wasn't a decision he made."
Talking about his brother's likes made Yuto think about his little brother's friends. Yuya always had a sunny personality and attracted people like bees to honey. His two best friends, Bakura and Rebecca, were always willing to second Yuya's plans. Depending on the activity, the voice of reason was on Bakura or Rebecca, never Yuya. His brother also had two penpal friends, the quiet and intelligent Yusaku, and the Kaito of his own universe.
At the time, he never associated the Kaito of this universe with Yuya's friend, it wasn't until they saw the XYZ duelist give a speech in an anniversary of the war that Yuya told him so. The Kaito here was older than his brother's friend had been and had a little brother, while the other one had been an only child. Another perfect example of the differences of the universes.
"What about you and Yuri?" Yuya told her the fusion duelist preferred plants over people and this town was the perfect place to pursue his hobbie. About Yuto, she was just curious.
"Yuri and me… I guess we had more simple dreams," explained Yuto, "back in our universe, we both were going to study business management and last year we got our degrees here. Yuri did a double major with his second one being botany and I did a second one on literature, I like to read. About our jobs… we have a coffee shop in town."
"Is it Other Dimensional Dragons?" The shop with the peculiar name she saw.
"That's the one, we call it ODD's, although it's actually more of a tea shop which just happens to sell desserts too. Yuri prefers it over coffee and we all acquired his taste. His teas are really good."
If the tea Yuya gave her was made by Yuri then yes, they are good, thought Yuzu, the brothers are more capable at cooking than expected.
"This one is also a creation of his," said Yuto. Opening the kettle a little, he brought it close to her so she could smell the tea.
It smelled great.
"So you both are doing what you wanted?" Asked Yuzu.
"Not exactly. Yuri wanted to open a flower shop, he loves to make flowers arrangements. In this town it's not a feasible option. Too much green and not enough people."
Yuri was definitely different from what she originally thought. Her expression must have given away her surprise because Yuto laughed.
"Yeah, you don't usually think a person with his personality will care a lot about his appearance and like pretty things. Don't worry, he's the one who likes horror movies and, although wants to appear polite, can be quite disrespectful. He's the evil brother, you see."
"I have been told."
These brothers' thoughts were too similar, she thought.
Yuto for his part was thinking about his brother's friends, Ryo and Fubuki. The three of them were big fans of horror movies and even though they looked scary, they were loyal and good friends. They respected his brother's interests. Also, the two were older brothers like Yuri. He never met the younger siblings, but knew they loved their big brothers dearly, so Ryo and Fubiki were good people in Yuto's eyes. In high school, everyone would call them "The Pretty Three".
The tea was ready and Yuto took out five cups to serve it. He also took out some treats and the last of the homemade cookies; Yuya's idea to pass the time, he and Yugo were the ones with sweet tooths.
"And you? You love to cook, right? Working at the coffee shop is what you wanted?" Following the previous cases, probably not.
"I love it, but not to make it my profession. I don't want it to become a job and desserts require lots of work and precision," said Yuto. "Back in my universe, I didn't have a set dream, I was content with taking care of You Show, considering the rest of my brothers were not going to."
Taking care of You Show had never been his wish either, it was hers, his dearest friend and secret love, Mizuki Kotori. She, along with Yusei and Aki, had been his friends in his universe. Of the four Sakaki brothers, he was the quietest and had problems making friends outside of his family. Once in middle school, the two upperclassmen, Kotori and he helped his grandfather in the school as a part-time job and became fast friends. Kotori came to love it much and if it was with her, he didn't mind inheriting the academy. His friends made him feel his age and relax every once in a while. He once dreamed about making a future with Kotori, however, that dream was no longer going to happen.
He has thought about becoming an editor, something he can do while in house arrest, but it wouldn't be fair. If his brothers couldn't do what they wanted, then neither could he. Helping Yuri with the coffee shop at least kept him busy and has made him improve in his preparation of sweets. Also, Yuri hated to get dirty when cooking.
"I'm sorry," said Yuzu.
"You don't have to apologize. As Yuya told you, we don't hate it and we're greateful to be alive and together. Those dreams were finished the moment we died or went back in time in Yuya's case."
"Still, I'm being empathetic, guess you guys don't have it as perfect as I thought."
The brothers were together, but not completely free to do what they wanted. No bad deed goes unpunished, although in Yuya's case… hopefully, someday Zarc will stop being a problem. Maybe then all of them can accomplish their dreams.
"Thank you, Yuzu." He gave a little smile which she returned with one of her own.
"Guys!" shouted Yugo from the living room. "What's taking you so long?! Are we going to have the tournament or not?" After finishing his shower, he went to help his brothers with setting the living room.
"If you're not bringing cookies then don't dare to come!" shouted Yuya.
"I smell tea, I expect a perfect blend!" shouted Yuri.
Yuto let out a sigh and Yuzu chuckled.
"Brothers," he said, "can't live with them, can't live without them."
Yuzu laughed again.
She didn't regret coming and spending the weekend with the Sakaki brothers. Their little tournament was exactly what she needed to feel better. Yuya was right and she didn't know anything about his dueling abilities, of none of the brothers actually. During the war, they had been holding back or using different strategies from their usual ones. She managed to win against Yuto and Yuri, but lost to Yuya and Yugo. The latter was the overall winner with most victories, only losing to Yuri. The eldest had been right and Yugo had the makings of a professional, it was a little sad he couldn't properly duel in a big stage.
As she had expected, the food had been great. She visited the brothers' coffee/tea shop, went out to the beach at night so Yuya would accompany them, and used one of Yugo's D-Wheels. Yuto, Yugo, Yuya and she had a racing competition, with Yugo managing to win again. At first she was a little reluctant, considering her last experience with a motorcycle, but it was more enjoyable than expected. Yuri showed her the greenhouse and some local plants of the area. Once again probing to be different from what she expected of him. Finally, the four of them put on a short sketch just for her, showing that they really were the sons of professional dueltainer Sakaki Yusho and talent hunter Sakaki Yuzu.
When the time came to say goodbye she promised to visit again, not to tell anyone of their secret (it wasn't hers to share) and to give her best performance in the following tournament. Now she knew Yuya was watching her and she didn't want to let him down. Hopefully someday the brothers would be free and don't have to hide from the world. She was sure they would fit well and all the friends and people they met would be excited to see them, it didn't matter they were from another universe.
Someday.
"What a wonderful performance! It's official, folks, Hiiragi Yuzu has become our new champion. Representing the duel academy, You Show, she's a fusion pendulum user who managed to defeat…"
"It seems you won the bet," said Yuto to his youngest brother. Michio had been eliminated early on in the competition by the girl.
The four brothers have just finished watching the Maiami tournament.
"I really wanted Yaiba to win," said Yugo, "what a bummer he lost against Dennis."
"What a bummer Dennis then lost to Masumi, pathetic," said Yuri.
Yuya just smiled.
"I knew she could do it," he said, "and I will enjoy my month without chores. Enjoy dear brothers!"
The other three just groaned.
They were finally at peace.
Author notes
My final thoughts! *Warning, it's long xD*
This may be something some of you will not like to hear, but this is my ending. Originally, the story ended in chapter 13 when this was still much shorter. After I read it all, I was like "where's the rest? Why didn't I wrote more?" xD and so, I wrote chapters 14 to 16 to fill the blanks.
For Yuzu, the brothers are the "original" Yuto, Yugo and Yuri, she never met the anime versions. Yuya's the only one who's strange for her, but is similar enough to unconsciously treat him like a friend. I like to think the manga and anime versions of the yuuboys are the same people, just some differences of personalities due to different upbringings and relationships.
After some years, she has rationalized her friend's death and is more calm about it. Some people have pointed it out and yes, the immediate moment after the betrayal, everyone felt awful. I kind of cheated my way out of writing that by going 5 years forward.
The way I see it, this is the punishment for Yuto, Yugo and Yuri for everything they did, and that's how things were going to end... even when it doesn't seem fair to mangaYuya. What better punishment than keeping your brother a prisoner? And it can be worst because mangaYuya doesn't hate them for it. Bittersweet till the end.
Also, Zarc is one my favorite characters. He was a final boss who actually backed up his duel abilities and was a threat for a big part of the anime, to just disappear after manga Yuya arrives to the anime universe wasn't good for me. He was so powerful he became a duel monster and prevented his complete destruction! He deserves better, especially considering how lame his defeat was in the anime (at least, lame to me).
Now, I'm a happy ending person and considering these two plot points (mangaYuya and Zarc) the second part of this thing is in the process of being written. Surprise! You haven't seen the last of me :D After all, for me the anime ending isn't completely satisfying either, let's see how I can change things.
Eat a cookie for all character references of other YuGiOh series. I honestly enjoyed writing that. We forget the manga boys also lost their universe and everything/everyone they had there. Regarding Yuya's future path... he said dueltainer, like in the anime, but he can be whatever he wants. Unlike animeYuya who I don't have any doubt will become a dueltainer, mangaYuya appeared to me more of a wildcard.
Finally, I said a second part was underwork. It'll take some time for you all to see it. I don't publish anything unless it's all written. The good thing is when I start uploading, you'll know it's all done. And... there will be two additional short fics for this story. These ones were always going to happen before deciding to write a sequel. One is almost done and the other one I have the first draft. These two are character focused like with Yuzu in these last chapters, kudos to anyone who can guess who they are :D
Thanks for reading! See you again!
