Chapter 32: Gathering
Edo casts a glance at the Hell Kaiser after recognizing the girl, there is dread in his expression. For someone so cool and standoffish, that's quite the reaction, but if the reason Ryo challenged him for a duel is true, he can understand why. His voice disrupts the tense atmosphere:
"Hey, It's you again. Are you alright?"
There's but a simple nod as a confirmation from her in a short nod, but a grave, strong voice interrupts:
"What are you doing here?!" Ryo's brows wrinkle his forehead subtly.
Walking a step ahead, his feet stagger when she threads closer in a speedy second, opening her mouth in a silent sentence that none of them could make sense of, past the part calling his name.
Her hands almost reach to his face, but she hesitates, her expression contorting in pain, her orbs tearing up seeing the bruises, his lips unseal partially to speak for himself, but before he knows, she yanks him in an embrace, his feet almost tumbling a step backwards, his arms open on the air, not knowing what to do, the other boy as stunned as he is.
Unlike the other times she has held him, her warm tears soak his skin directly, her sniffing sounding in the air and her shoulder shaking. His hands find a place to rest on her back, her mantle flops over his fingers. Her hands are so warm and quail while trying to hold him close. He corresponds to that embrace for a few seconds, bending gently over, in an attempt to calm her down.
A long second of a dense and awkward silence occurs, Edo closes his eyes, turning around slightly to give them space. Ryo lets out a heavy sigh, a blank expression stamped on him, his hands move away from her, his fists clenching tightly.
"Rie."
His voice is authoritarian, despite his aloofness. A single call is enough to acquire her attention, her eyes blink strongly, wavering with the tears on the corner threatening to drop, her brows twirling up even more looking into his face, her hands accommodating on his chest. Until she notices he has been staring at her for a while, as if he is expecting she will recompose soon.
"Huh… I'm sorry to interrupt the reunion, but can you explain how you got here?"
Her blurry vision slowly moves towards the grey-haired teen, focusing more when she blinks, his folded arms can't fully cover the fact he is missing a lot of clothes. A soundly gasp, her face turning to Ryo's.
She risks looking slightly down, her fingers touch the freezing bare skin of his upper torso, her eyes lift immediately and she almost jumps back, looking at the silver-haired that had been silent: he has a calm, but bothered and faintly flushed expression. She finally notices Ryo is using the same amount of clothes too.
Her breath is stuck on her throat, her cheeks blushing, she spins around. Almost losing her balance after gesturing aplenty in denial and some sort of apology, then runs off into the woods again.
"Wait! Don't-! Ugh… This is embarrassing," he grumbles a low complaint, hitting his forehead lightly with his own fist.
"I wouldn't suggest chasing her like this or she will think you're a pervert."
"She probably already thinks that," he retorts sharply, putting a hand to his forehead in shame.
"Heh, you're such a kid," he smirks smugly as if he is the only adult in the area, Edo's eyebrows angle in irritation. "That was a joke, she wouldn't just assume things like this."
"I'm just glad she's okay, all things considered," he shakes off his head, crossing his arms and feeling even more pissed off at the muffled chuckle he hears from the side. "But can you really not be more considerate to her feelings? Especially if she means a lot to you."
"Well, you could say 'it's destiny' in a sense," he wears his duel disk and casts a glance at the silver haired, his lips filled with provocation.
Despite the mockery undertone, in fact his memories led him to the day he met Rie, she was also in underwear and ironically, now their roles were reversed. How her tears soaked his chest and how she ran away shyly, a faint smile fills his lips with nostalgia, it is exactly as it was in school times.
"Did you go to the school of assholes to learn how to be one after I defeated you or what?"
"You flatter me."
"That's not supposed to be a compliment."
The younger one has a scowl, his blood starts simmering and not surprisingly, now he doesn't feel that cold anymore. The teal-haired has a lofty smirk, his muffled dry laugh just strikes more nerves on the other duelist that snorts and tries to keep at least a bit of his cool headedness.
They sit down and watch the flames crackling, the impatience growing at each minute for Edo Phoenix, that tension was not tolerable for him:
"It's been around half an hour, do you think she will be coming back? I'm worried. Shouldn't we check on her?"
"She seemed to have a purpose in mind, or perhaps she is just giving us time until the clothes are dry..." he replies, uninterest written on his face.
"I don't get you, first you duel to have her win, now you're just gonna ignore her?! She's your girlfriend, and she's alone in those woods, even in the normal world this would be a big red flag, especially in this one where dangerous creatures inhabit!" he scolded in the hopes of awakening some common sense inside the other.
"Rie isn't a kid, if she came here at the same time as us and survived this long alone, then I trust she knows what she's doing."
It's the natural confidence to which he says those words that catches Edo by surprise the most, he's calm because he believes she will do well without him around too.
"Ryo…"
Before the conversation continues, they hear sounds from the forest bushes again, the pink haired appears on their sight, running slightly out of breath, coming closer with some sort of clothing on her hands, she then quickly threads near them both, they exchange a glance when she stretches her arms one to each to handle them the pieces of garment.
Ryo gets a dark mantle and Edo gets a white mantle, she gestures for them to dress it on, then makes a gesture for cold before looking at them worriedly.
"You're giving this so we don't get cold?"
She smiles briefly and nods vigorously at the silver haired boy, some sort of relief in her eyes when they put on some clothes.
"Thank you. That's very considerate of you," he smiles back.
Ryo's expression becomes blank when he stares at the pink-haired woman. She takes a seat on a tree stump across the bonfire and almost jolts, noticing both of the boys look at her in some sort of thoughtful stance.
"Rie, what are you doing here?" the Kaiser starts just as Edo opens his mouth to ask. "No... How did you get here? Don't tell me..."
His intense gaze puts pressure on her, wondering if she was only at the place because they agreed to talk late at night. Was it his fault?
"Days ago. Judai. I. Follow." she stops the gestures, her eyes drifting off with the dancing flames on the fireplace. "Strong. Light… I. Wake. Here," she lowers her head.
"I see, so you also got caught in that light while following Judai..."
Ryo answers with a deep sigh, startling Edo slightly about the fact he completely understood the sentence in signs, though with how far he went to duel him, it shouldn't come as a surprise.
"I'm amused that you can speak sign language too."
The man replies to that with a faint smile, concentrating on Rie again, she still seems shaken and confused with the whole situation.
"Did you see Judai and the others?"
Edo continues the questioning. She opens her mouth, but shakes her head off saddened, her gaze landing on the ground.
"Wait, does that mean you've been here alone this whole time? For all those days we have been here?"
His brows curl upward in pity , not that he rejoiced in having Ryo as a partner for adventures, at least he was not alone, but someone like her, lost in this dangerous world.
"Don't worry, we will all tag along now," he said in a soothing tone, to comfort her. "How did you find us here?"
"I. See. You. Falling." she points at them both. "River. I. Follow."
"So you knew we'd been washed by the river somewhere and kept searching?"
His eyes almost waver at the thought, was she hoping she'd find them alive? She nods many times in a row.
"Rie, you helped us back then against that Dark dragon, where were you this whole time and what were you doing?"
"Investigating. Traveling. Many. Villages."
"Did you find people in those places?" the expectancy on Edo's eyes dims out as he hears the answer.
"Yes," her eyes waver, her lips curving down. "Now. Dead."
"Right, you are that blue traveler the monsters were talking about, aren't you? Were you dueling monsters too?" she nods weakly, his brows frowning. "You should avoid dueling, in this world if you lose a duel you will..."
"Die," she completes the sentence, causing astonishment on both of them.
The silver-haired blows out a tense air, combing his hair back with hands. Not only has she been there alone, but she also witnessed the cruelty of this world, it seems they're all very aware of that. A moment of quietness occurs as they all settle their thoughts.
"You said you were investigating. What exactly?"
"Judai. World. Gate." She throws the words in some sort of list.
"Have you found something interesting or any clue, I mean, besides how duels work in this world?"
"No."
They are crestfallen again, until she raises her finger as if realizing something, without a second delay, she rushes off to the woods again.
"Wait! Don't go in there alone!"
Edo shouts, but it's too late, the forest consumes her whole figure, he can't understand why she keeps running off somewhere and where she is going. His eyes land on the Hell Kaiser again, he seems more than just lost in thought, his gaze is transfixed on the way that girl ran off to, a subtle hint of consternation in him.
"If you're so worried, why didn't you follow her?" he can't resist that question tickling on his tongue anymore.
"Why do you ask?" he doesn't spare a glance at the silver-haired, his tone grave, but collected.
"Just curiosity. You seem rather… Disconcerted," he hears a low huff coming from the other, in part, affirming his suspicions. "Sincerely, what puzzles me is the part where a girl like her would be going out with a mean guy type like you."
"We were classmates," he's short, letting out all the important details. "We met in the duel academy under certain circumstances and we have been together ever since then. I helped her and she helped me, we fell in love, end of story. Are you happy now that you got to hear it?"
"Right… She did say she was a student at the duel academy and a duelist," he supports his arms on the tree trunk, in fact that was one of the most lax conversations they'd had so far ever since they arrived. "And I can conclude from this that you're not only bad at conversing but you're also terrible at telling romantic stories. That's the most boring cliché ever."
"Cliché?" he scoffs as if defying Edo's claim. "She jumped off a cliff the first time I saw her."
"She… What?"
"She jumped into the sea from the cliff at the lighthouse. You know that place, right?"
"Yeah, but," he casts a probing glance to the side, ascertaining if he could fish out some more content filled answers. "Did you catch her in your arms or something?"
"No, she actually fell into the sea, so I just jumped without thinking and took her out."
"Well, that's a more romantic story. Though, I fear to ask why she'd be doing that…"
"It doesn't matter. Just don't mention any of this in front of her."
"I wouldn't," he lowers his head, "But if you like her this much, why don't you ask for her hand already?"
"And what makes you think I didn't plan to?"
"Uh-oh," he blurts out in shock. "What happened?"
"We've agreed to move in together, I planned to ask her hand officially then, fast forward a few hours and we got dragged here…"
"What an ill timing. That sucks. Well, congratulations, I guess. I hope you can have a better time once we get out of this hole."
"Are you satisfied now?"
"I guess even the Hell Kaiser has such worries, huh. That's surprisingly normal of you."
"Is that so?" his lips curve slightly up, but in some sort of irony that he cannot understand.
"I'm sure not everything was so dramatic, you gotta have some happy memories from school too."
"I do."
"You should cherish those memories, then, I didn't get as many of them as I'd like and I will never have the chance to," he trails off, silencing.
Rie comes back with some things on her hand, a few leaves and what seemed to be a bowl. Where is she finding those things? She takes a rock and starts grinding the leaves until they become some strange green paste.
"Is she going to eat that?" the younger pro-duelist raises his brows a bit grossed out at the idea.
"I have no idea."
She finally comes up to them showing it, Edo gestures a stop, refusing it, she sighs, swaying her head and gesturing as if they're silly.
"Medicine."
"Medicine for what?"
She sits down in between them, putting the bowl on her lap and adjusting her direction to Ryo, startling them both as her hand inadvertently touches his face, pushing it gently to the side, to inspect the bruise, grimacing after seeing the purple color.
He's stunned for a moment, but averts his eyes to the side almost abashedly when her eyes seem fixed on that wound. She spreads whichever concoction she made, it prickles on his skin, a slight twitch occurring on his mouth, his eyes squinting briefly.
"I hope you really know what this is."
Once she is finished with his face, she adjusts herself again offering it to Edo, he casts a glance at Ryo as if asking for help, he just shrugs off indicating he also has no idea. He also feels a burning sensation on his wounds as she spreads the paste without his consent.
It doesn't take long, she just quickly checks them both and stands up, going back to her tree stump, putting the bowl aside for a moment.
"How do you know how to make this?" Edo asks, calling her attention.
"Villagers. Teach."
"Villagers?! Are you saying you met some villagers? But when and… Where are they?"
Her head swings softly to both sides, her gaze wavering while meeting his orbs, in angst. He closes his mouth. There's no need for more words. They know well how it must have felt, all the villagers they knew also died before.
The three of them are silent again, the two boys observe as she bends over her stomach, using the medicine on her own legs, there are some bigger and smaller cuts, a gift from journeying through the forest, they conclude.
"Perhaps she also got hurt during the burst of light from the dragon… But if she was this hurt and as tired as us then why did she not stop for a moment?" Edo's eyes squint discreetly.
His immersion is broken when he hears a deep, grave grunt of discontentment from his side, it seems his partner was as unhappy as him with the whole situation.
"This is an open field and the bonfire could attract monsters. Don't you think so too, Edo?"
"We can take turns watching over the area while the others sleep. Of course, I wouldn't ask our lady here to take a turn, but I wonder if she will agree with me," he confides half disappointed.
Ryo huffs and stands up, nonchalantly reaching out to his clothes and starting his dressing session right there, it takes but a moment until Rie notices and fidgets, turning around.
"I'm up for the first shift of watching," he fastens the coat and walks towards Rie, tapping her shoulder once, "Rie, do you know anything about that dark-dragon summoner?"
She's confused at his sudden approach, but denies, stopping to think only after answering, then replying by scribbling something on the ground with a twig.
"They call him 'lord of the land'."
She looks up to match his eye level, he sighs, his feet crackling some rocks along the way when kneels down in front of her, stunning both her and Edo with the abrupt gesture, now it's her eye level that is a bit high for him.
Her legs glue together, her hands gripping the clothing of her mantle covering her knees. They are even more flabbergasted when he uses signs to communicate with her instead of words.
"Know. More?"
"Leader. Fallen. of. Albaz" she tilts her head in dismay, spelling letter by letter.
"You. Hurt?"
She creases the clothing between her fingers even more, a tinge of pink on her cheeks looking into his intense, but deep green eyes, a shy shake of her head as an answer.
"Sure?"
He insists, looking down at the cuts she was treating not long ago, she covers it with her mantle as a response and nods nervously.
"Good."
He supports his hands on his knee, standing up in a second, continuing with the gestures, a severe and serious tone to his words:
"You. Stay. Near. Me. Near. Him," Edo flinches after being pointed at, his eyes widening slightly in amusement. "Understand?"
Her eyes flicker for a moment, her brows furrowing up bemused on why he was suddenly being so attentive before she bobs her head slowly and lost. It was unlike him to be asking questions like this, it reminded her of when he confessed and was asking a million times about her wounds from the cave.
The assertiveness of his gestures and intonation also pointed out to her how concerned he was while asking those questions. Is he worried because she's there in that world? Did he not want her to be with him?
"I'll take the first shift of the night watch."
He declares bluntly, finishing his conversation. His cold voice is directed towards the other duelist that raises a brow at him, wondering what he's doing. He throws his mantle over the wooden log, disposing of it for the time being.
"You two should get some sleep while you can."
He walks off close to the borders of the river, folding his arms and watching the water and the surroundings silently. While his back is turned to them, he grabs the clothes around his chest, a pained sensation spreading on it, he kills those groans that want to come out before they escape his throat.
Edo and Rie exchange a glance, trying to figure him out, unaware of what is going on, but the former gives up and also dresses his clothes on, covering himself with the mantle and sliding down the tree trunk, sitting on the ground to sleep.
His eyes cast a last glance at the pink-haired miss, her lips curved down while she stares at the man near the river, an afflicted glint in them.
"You should sleep too, Ryo can take care of himself."
The voice brings her back to reality with a snap, she blushes hurriedly gesturing some things until he waves a hand to cut off her shame.
"It's fine, we're all together in this, we should look after each other. But you don't need to worry too much, give yourself a rest. This looks like it's going to be a long journey."
He closes his eyes with a heavy flux of thoughts. She accommodates herself to sleep too, but casts another glance at the Kaiser standing proudly, he seems busy with his own mind, staring idly at the river.
Hugging herself, she also slides down the tree stump, using it to lean her back on, meditating on all that happened ever since she arrived and how this changed her plans. From the pocket of her skirt, she takes a bottle of pills and quickly eats one of them, crunching it slowly while observing if it woke Edo up, he's soundly asleep.
She tries to follow him into the realm of dreams, but every time she closes her eyes, the sounds of every possible cricket and other natural ambience noises bother her, a couple times switching positions until she figures she won't be sleeping anytime soon.
Trying not to wake him up, she stands quietly, her feet guide her under the moonlight to the river, Ryo stands still, but he calls out to her in a low tone when he senses her drawing close.
"Rie, can you not sleep?"
Her lips open in astonishment, her feet hesitating before she stops beside him, he casts a glance at her, there is something in his eyes she can't quite pinpoint, as if he is trying to hide it very deep in him how he really feels but it's just overflowing. She replies with a no using her mouth.
"Are you scared?"
A faint, but fond smile plays on his lips, his arm stretching behind her back, pulling her close, surprising her when he wraps his arms around her figure in a hug, caressing her back and head tenderly.
"You don't need to be."
Her head finds rest on his torso, her eyes closing, those words had been a big relief to hear, her shoulders relaxing a bit more, her head adjusting to the lines of his chest as if it belonged there, he allows her to stay like that, gently fondling her hair and standing straight, his eyes trail off to the flowing water of the river.
"I can't say I'm happy you are here. We're really unlucky when it comes to adventures, aren't we? Always stuck somewhere dangerous…" he stops there, saving a few words in his mind.
Her grip on his coat strengthens, it's true both of them could have died in this world, those were the words he held back just now, even though he's prepared to die at any moment, but she isn't, she also doesn't want to see him die and even more, she knows he'd not want that for her.
"We always have been meeting under strange circumstances. I think we have a talent for it." he jesters in a dry, regretful tone. "You have been dueling in this world, haven't you?"
"Duel. Life."
"Yes. That's true, Rie," he pats her head, "In this world, winning means living and losing means death. I can't ask you to never duel here, you might be forced to, but I would like it if you avoided doing it as much as possible and let all the dueling to me."
She lifts her head to look at him in a distressed mood, he gazes back into her eyes for an unnecessarily long and pensive moment, his fingers sliding on the smooth strands of her hair before continuing, catching the answer along the way.
"I'm glad we met here at least. This means I can spend more time with you."
"Ryo. Wound." her hand glides on his cheek, stopping before she reaches the bruise on his face.
"Don't worry, this is nothing."
He envelops her hand on his, gracefully taking it away from his face, planting a kiss in her palm before letting go of it, his cold fingertips stroking her face affectionately.
"I want to protect you, so just stay close, right?" he bends over her again, closing the rift between them, kissing her warm lips, startling her, it ends as fast as it started, but she then pulls him in for another kiss, longer this time.
Suddenly, they don't feel cold anymore, in between short kisses, her hands sliding calmly to his back, going up to his hair, engraving the shape of each strand in the process. His hands also bring her waist firmly close, slowly ascending to her upper body, stopping on her nape.
She missed this contact, the proximity on all those days and ever since she arrived, she'd been alone there wondering what happened to everyone else, to him. Now they finally met again, and he's alive, although bruised, just the sight of his face made her heart beat as if it would burst out from her chest out of happiness.
His lips elude hers, landing on her forehead, then going to her neck, her cheeks flushing until she jolts, realizing they're in the middle of an open area and looking around.
"He's sleeping."
He affirms in a joking tone, reading her perfectly, she blushes harder. A muffled laugh comes out of his throat, he bends in for another kiss to her lips, then makes a trail of kisses on her face to her forehead.
"Mm. Rie, you're distracting me from my watching duties…" once her face is as red as blood, he stops teasing, his fingers nudge on her face tenderly. "You should try to sleep or I might just embarrass you more."
She snuggles her head on his chest for a moment, appreciating his caring touch and tranquil tone even when his expression stole from her sight all the feelings he could have expressed clearly besides the fondness coming from his gestures. With a firm nod, she turns around, looking back over her shoulder a last time, to his back standing there unchanged by the cold breeze or the eerie sounds of the night.
After she is back to her sleeping position, dreams finally grace her mind, she never knew it would be this easy to sleep just by being comforted by him and knowing he is fine, she felt some peace in being there together.
At the duel academy
The buzzing of helicopter propellers makes gusts of air swirl, shaking the trees. Many of them are flying over the whole island. At the ruins, a group of scientists study the area, collecting samples and trying to figure out the mystery of the missing students.
From afar, through the glass windows of the main building of the duel academy, Ryuu looks at the outside, an unfazed glare. A deep sigh before he whirls around to look at the wife that had been awfully silent.
"Eri, did you talk to the Tenjouin again?"
"Yes…"
Her fists close tightly, her hands near her chest, she doesn't raise her eyes from the ground. A light tap on her shoulder brings her attention to her husband's face.
"Did they say anything?"
"The same… They didn't expect Fubuki-chan would vanish again. And that Asuka-chan would go along this time. They're on their limit too, especially given what happened last year and after they found out Same-chan has been hiding it from all of us. They've been having many problems in their marriage because of that…"
"You should go rest, Eri," he massages his temples, adjusting his glasses in the process.
"How can I? I don't know where they are, if they are safe or if something bad happened and I have this terrible sensation that I won't see Ryo or Shou ever again," her brows coil in angst. "Are those people really able to find out anything about what happened at all? I don't know how the Tenjouin could live with this sensation on their chests, not knowing what happened to their son for such a long time…"
"I've talked to Samejima, but the story is a bit more… Complex than I'd wish and due to that, it's hard to understand where they are…"
"Do you think they will be back? Or are they lost somewhere forever?"
"Don't say this," he rubs her shoulder in a reassuring way, brushing a finger on her face to comfort her a bit.
"I know Shou is the most sensible of them, but Ryo is a sensible kid too. I can't imagine them surviving well in a strange and dangerous place…"
"Ryo is a grown man, Eri and I'm sure they will take care of each other even if they are somewhere unsafe, furthermore, they have been living in the academy for a while, you have to admit they know how to live on their own."
"You're right," she sighs with a small amount of relief.
"You should rest and I will talk to Samejima, I'm not done questioning him yet."
He threads his way to the main office, a scowl and heavy footsteps, the wife just watches his back, a saddened wrinkle on her face, looking outside in a glum mood. What is happening to that school?
Ryuu Marufuji slams the door of the office open, closing it behind and crossing his arms in an intimidating manner, Samejima finishes a call, and puts the phone back on the holder, before sighing.
"Ryuu, you look unsettled."
"That's a pretty word for anger, Samejima."
He sits down on the chair in front of the other man, taking a bundle of pictures and putting it on the desk between them. Samejima looks at the pictures, they feature Ryo and Rie, his brows raise at some of them that he hadn't seen the last time, he can comprehend why the other would be worried, then he places them on the desk again. Ryuu continues:
"I know you already filled me in on the details of the travel between dimensions, but you're yet to tell me more of both the past of this academy and about what I asked you before! You're yet to explain to me who this girl truly is!"
"No matter how furious you are, my hands are as tied as yours. We are investing efforts into tracking where the kids are, unfortunately this is as far as my power goes."
The irritated teal-haired man pulls some files spread over the desk in front, skimming through them, they are all profiles of the missing students, he stops on Ryo's file and Shou's, then skips a few more papers until…
"This girl, Rie Kinomoto, why is she also counting as a missing student? I know Ryo is not a student anymore, but for identification purposes you used those… Right?"
"She's been missing ever since that day, just like all the others."
"Why was she even on the island? I can't imagine what the daughter of the Kinomoto would be doing here… Don't tell me she came because Ryo is here," his eyes narrow a bit with the thought.
"No, no, she came before him, she's an investigative journalist and came here to check what happened with the students when the whole academy building disappeared mysteriously… We had to call Ryo here because we needed his abilities as a duelist to ensure a safe return of everyone. It was all but a coincidence."
"So he came here to help bring the students back?" his eyes land on Ryo's file again.
"Yes, well, he did his job, but we didn't expect this would repeat, and with a smaller group of students too, of course, some other people who were not students are also involved, even one of our most esteemed professors, Chronos."
"What about the families of the students and people involved, besides Eri, me and the Tenjouin I haven't seen angry parents around."
"Some of the students don't have contact with their families, plus some of the families don't care. I am glad to see at least a couple of revolted parents at the door of my office, though."
"They don't care? Hard to imagine it. What about the Kinomoto? Knowing them, I'd think they would strangle you with legal actions for letting their daughter go missing on the island under your watch."
"Believe me when I say that I'm more worried about the parents that aren't complaining than the ones like you that come here to my office," a troubled and feeble smile plays on his lips, his eyebrows furrowing upwards in a subtle consternation. "Well, I did receive enraged calls, and I doubt the tale about other dimensions pleased the Kinomoto. You see, currently they think Rie-kun tricked everyone and eloped with your son and that I'm helping them."
"I can't say I'm impressed they would think they eloped. If I didn't believe you, I'd have considered the possibility myself," he blurts out, a hint of annoyance in his tone. "They were probably the ones who took the pictures and I understand perfectly why they'd be enraged and blaming everyone in sight for what is happening. I don't think anyone who'd be happy to find out their daughter is in a secret intimate relationship with the son of their enemy."
"Do you have an enmity with the Kinomoto? I know your company is quite famous, but I didn't expect such a big conglomerate like Kinomoto to be rivals with you."
"It was all fine until around a year ago. My company was offered a contract with the Kaiba Corp, at that time, the Kinomoto already had contracts with them, but they wanted more so they offered to buy my company," he adjusts his glasses, huffing. "I refused and they were angry at me, but it didn't stop at that. Because they were unhappy with my decision, they started harassing my company workers and played all sorts of tricks to change my decision. As a result of that, they also lost other contracts with the Kaiba Company and it ended badly for them. I can certainly see their frustration in finding out their only heiress is in any sort of relationship with Ryo, none less than the son of their nemesis."
"I didn't know that, but it seems they have even more reasons to be furious. If only the problem was that Ryo is your son," he sighs dejectedly. "I believe the issue lies elsewhere. Did you know they were planning to marry Rie-kun to a business partner's son?"
"Are you saying she is using Ryo as leverage to ruin her family's business plans?"
Ryuu's brows twitch for a moment, remembering the words of defamation in the letter his family received. The steps of the principal are the only sound in the office as he comes closer and takes a bunch of files from a folder, offering it to the other man.
"Have a look, Ryuu."
"Ryo's school files? More of them?"
"Yes. I take it you came here to understand more on why this all is happening, nonetheless it's difficult to explain it without telling about the past and other convoluted, strange occurrences that took place in this academy in which your sons were involved."
He skims through some pages, uninterested, all he sees are grades, statistics and a bunch of praising and recommendations as well as profiling on Ryo as a duelist, some basic information about him, until…
"What is this?! Ryo has a criminal profile?"
He gasps, his gaze dazed by the sight of the pictures of his face and profile in different angles seemingly taken to make criminal registers. There is a stern expression on his son's face while he holds a black sign with his full name and a number in white letters in front of his chest, he isn't even using the full uniform, but only the black undershirt they'd use under the white coat.
He'd never seen so many wrinkles in his son's forehead before, looking like a true rebel teenager, he could sense the annoyance and bitterness coming from Ryo's eyes through the picture.
"Why does he have a criminal profile? And many infractions of school rules too," he sways his head, quickly reading. "Visiting an off-limits area; breaking curfew rules; wandering on the precincts of the island after curfew alone and with a female student… What?! Why is this the first time I hear about this?
His eyes squint even more, he skips to the next page, just to be even more surprised, there is a mention of the name Kinomoto and his eyes are mesmerized by a small picture of Rie.
She looks younger than in the other pictures he has seen of her, but not only that, something about her seemed very off, her eyes looked completely empty and her expression visibly worn out. How exactly does this all connect because he has no idea of what to expect here anymore.
Under the cold night,
Inside the dark dimension,
Edo opens his eyes, he didn't sleep much, but he knows he was out for at least a couple hours from the atmosphere and chilly wind. His turvy gaze gains focus after he looks at the side across the bonfire.
Ryo is sitting on the ground, a pink-haired head resting on his lap, he flaps his mantle over her silhouette, landing his hand on her head, his thumb discreetly sliding in a strand of her hair, tucking it behind her ear.
If the other duelist had not seen it with his own eyes, he wouldn't believe it, the subtle care in that gesture and underneath that callous expression of his comrade. Even the man known as Hell Kaiser that harmed his own brother, has people he cherishes.
"It was about time you woke up for your turn," his sharp eyes dart towards the silver-haired teen.
"You could have woken me up like a normal person. But I suppose you were too busy taking care of someone again," he says before thinking too much. "Will you not sleep?"
"I don't feel like it."
"Really? What was the point of taking turns then? Are we both going to watch the surroundings? You should also get some sleep, assuming you're really a human and not a machine like your cards."
The last part holds a more friendly tone of joke, unlike the other times he worded a few insults. Ryo sneers, Edo's brows twitch at his provocation:
"I see, so you're worried about me?"
"No, I'm worried that you'll collapse in the middle of a duel and I'll need to save your royal ass," he retorts, averting his gaze and trying to convince both of them that what he said was not true. "So, what do we do? We found her, but we still have no clue about Judai and all the others."
"We need to keep going, Judai and the others can't be very far, assuming they were transported close to our locations..."
"Can we afford to keep going without a hint?"
"We can scout, anyone, anywhere we can find. Our monsters can materialize in flesh and bone here, it shouldn't be hard to make use of that."
"What about her? Do you think she can keep up with us?" his eyes falter for a second, a compassionate feeling boiling inside him as he takes a peek at the asleep woman.
"She will have to. We don't have a choice. This is how this world is," his tone, albeit harsh, came along with a deep sigh.
"Right, it shouldn't be a problem to bring her along, we're pros after all," he smiles confident of their skills, "We can always find a way."
They look into the eerie forest, their next step would be crossing through it and exploring the lands beyond it to search for their friends. Which perils await for them inside there and when will they meet the others?