By animeninjaNIPPON
I didn't see Insector Haga that day. Or the day after that. In fact, I didn't see him for a whole month.
Everything else in my life went pretty much back to the way it had been before I'd taken up pro-dueling, and it sucked. Nobody spoke to me, or I to them. I walked all over the places Haga and I used to go, staring into windows and peering around corners, just hoping to catch a glimpse of him. Needless to say, I had no luck.
How on Earth did I get so pathetic? I was a man, after all; I had to maintain some dignity. At this point in time, pride was all I had. Maybe a duel would make me feel better…
"Hey kid." I stepped in front of some small grade-school boy. "You play Duel Monsters?"
The kid looked up at me in terror. He froze there for about five minutes before running in the opposite direction, calling for his older brother. Right on cue, a similar looking kid the size of a gorilla stepped up to me. "Hey, I know you," he said contemptuously.
It didn't take a rocket scientist or a dueling prodigy to figure out that I needed to get the Hell out of there. I took off screaming.
"And stay away from my little brother, you got that?"
I ran away with all speed, pretty sure that I could outrun that oversized punk. I jumped a fence and wound up in a familiar- looking back alley. (How did I keep ending up there?) The best thing for me to do was to lay low until it got dark and that jerk went home, so I did. I crouched down behind a garbage can and pulled my knees up to my chin, and remained in that position for the longest time, just thinking about things. Most of my thoughts involved Duel Monsters and revenge on Katsuya Jonouchi for humiliating me in front of Mai, but every now and then I relived the moment I kissed Haga.
A few hours had passed, and the next thing I knew it was beyond twilight. I figured that cretin had given up on me, so I decided it was safe to go home. I was about to get up when I heard footsteps. Suddenly, a tennis shoe appeared next to my leg. I looked up, fearing that the punk whose little brother I challenged had found my refuge, but my panic quickly switched to a feeling of electric shock in the chest.
"Insector Haga!" I sprang to my feet.
"I thought I'd find you here, eventually," he said, adjusting his glasses. The sky had blackened and the moon behind him made him glow with celestial light.
All these weeks of looking for him so we could talk had passed by like millennia, and there I stood, face-to-face with my best friend, at a loss for words.
End of part eight