Rating: T (language)
#7 Superstar
He gripped the phone with white knuckles. He'd thought he'd psyched himself up for the possibility that she would answer the phone, but just the word "Hello" had sent him reeling. He was completely and utterly unprepared for how it would feel to hear the sound of his mother's voice after six years.
I love you, Katsuya, remember that. I'll always love you. Be good.
"Hello?" she repeated, sounding a little annoyed.
Katsuya?
No, Ma, wait!
"Is anyone there?" She was really irritated now, and if he didn't say something quickly she was going to hang up and Jounouchi sure as hell didn't think he'd be able to summon the nerve to dial the number again.
"Uh… hello… I… uh… is Shizuka there?"
There was a pause, and her voice sounded more relaxed, maybe even a little amused as she asked, "May I ask who's calling?"
"Uh…" Shit! He should've known she'd ask who he was before just handing the phone off to Shizuka. "Uh… I'm… my name's… uh… Tomoya. Yeah, Tomoya. From her school." Yeah, real smooth, Jounouchi. That didn't sound made up at all.
"Just a minute."
He heard her call Shizuka's name, but it was muffled, like she was covering the mouthpiece with her hand. After a moment, despite the muffling, he heard her say in a rather amused, somewhat teasing voice, "This one's name is Tomoya. He sounds very nervous."
He took a deep breath, mentally chastising himself for being so jumpy. He was about to become the hero, after all, and—
Wait. This one? Was it a common occurrence for Shizuka to receive phone calls from boys at school? The concept rammed into his brain like Kaiba's Blue-Eyes taking out Baby Dragon. She was only thirteen! His lip curled at the thought of a bunch of drooling adolescent punks even so much as thinking about his sister, let alone—
"Hello?"
He froze again. He'd heard her voice a million times over the videotapes she'd been sending and he replayed endlessly, but this was actually her, in real time, a live voice he could actually converse with. He swallowed, realizing she sounded confused and vaguely suspicious at the unfamiliar name.
"Shizuka, it's me."
She sucked in her breath. "Oh my God," she said, and then recovered so quickly it made him wonder how she was so practiced at deception. "Oh Tomoya, hello!" Then the phone was muffled again and he heard her say, "Mother, please! This is private!" There was some more background sounds, like shuffling around, and he imagined her cocooning herself into a coat closet to escape their mother's prying ears. After a moment of this, she returned, her voice clear again, but whispering. "Big Brother? Is it really you?"
"It's really me," he said, grinning and starting to relax a little.
"Have you gone completely insane?" she hissed. "What if Dad—"
"What am I, an idiot?" he interrupted. "I'm not calling from home. I'm at a friend's house." He looked around him, feeling out of place by himself in Yugi's freakishly tidy bedroom. Honda must've told Yugi and Anzu about his dad, because they didn't even question why there was no way in hell he could call from his own apartment. Yugi had merely offered him his phone, and then the three of them beat a hasty retreat to give him privacy. "It's all good Shizuka," Jounouchi assured her.
"Are you serious? You're calling me on the phone! Mom will have kittens if she finds out—"
"She's gonna find out soon enough," he cut her off again. "Sis, I have something to tell you. Something important."
She paused. "Is Dad… did something happen to Dad?"
He snorted. "We should be so lucky."
"Katsuya!" she scolded.
"What? You know everyone's lives would be better if—"
"Big Brother, stop, don't say such horrible things! Not even… not even about him."
He sighed. "Never mind that. I've got good news, Sis. Great news." He paused, savoring the moment.
"Yeah?" she prompted.
"I got the money."
Another pause. "What money?"
"For your operation. You can have the operation. You're gonna get your eyesight back!"
There was yet another pause, longer this time, and when she spoke again he was surprised at how dark her voice sounded. "That's not funny."
"You think I'd joke about something like that?" he asked, taken aback. "That I'd call you on the phone just to joke about that? I'm dead serious. I have the money for your operation."
"That… that's not possible. Do you have any idea how much it would cost?"
"Of course I know how much it costs! I've only been researching this stuff online at school ever since you told me about it. Did you know the best specialist works out of a hospital just a train ride away from here? I know Ma will hate it, but you'll have to come here and—"
"Big Brother, you couldn't possibly have that kind of money!"
"Wanna bet?" He then told her exactly how much money he did have and she sucked in her breath again.
"How did you get that kind of money?"
"I didn't steal it, if that's what you're thinking," he huffed defensively.
"Well of course you didn't steal it, I know that!" she cried. "You would never!"
He lowered his eyes, looking at the worn rug on Yugi's bedroom floor. He would, of course, and had, just not this time. But she would never think such a thing of him and it made him feel guilty for not having lived up to her expectations. He swallowed, reminding himself that he wasn't that person that she would despise. Not anymore.
"But come on, how on earth could you… did Dad win at the track or—oh never mind, that's a stupid question. Like any of us would see a single yen if he'd won that kind of money."
"No, and he doesn't know anything about this, all right? And he won't, at least not until I can get a cashier's check to you and Ma so he can't touch it."
"But Big Brother, so much! Where did it come from?"
"Ever hear of Duel Monsters?"
"The card game?"
"Yeah. I've been learning to play and gotten pretty good, too. Well, a lot of it is just dumb luck, I s'pose, but still… I just got back from this really big tournament on this island called Duelist Kingdom—"
"Duelist Kingdom?" she asked, sounding surprised. "You were at Duelist Kingdom?"
Jounouchi's mouth dropped open. "You've heard of Duelist Kingdom?"
"What, I live in a cave? Of course I've heard of it! Most of the guys and half the girls at school are talking about it, how some kid, Yoshi or something, came out of nowhere and beat the guy who created the game."
"Yugi, Mutou Yugi," Jounouchi corrected, then proudly added, "He's my best friend. Or one of my best friends anyway," he amended quickly, thinking of Honda and even of Anzu and Bakura.
"Get out!"
"I'm serious!" He paused. "But wait. If you've heard about Duelist Kingdom, you must've heard about me being there."
"Not hardly."
"Oh come on! You saying everyone's talking about Yugi but no one's even mentioned my name? Are you sure?"
"I think I would've remembered if people started talking about my own brother. Why would they, anyway?"
"'Cause I only won second place, that's all," he beamed.
"Second— get out!"
"No, really!"
"And… are you saying that's where you got the money? You got that kind of money for second place?"
"Not exactly," he said. "I didn't get nothing for getting second place, not from that lousy cheat Pegasus anyway."
"So then where did the money come from?"
"Okay, here's the thing," he sighed. "There were two prizes for the winner—there was the money for whoever beat all the other players and, well, sorta like a wish granted if the winner beat Pegasus. I needed the money and Yugi needed the wish, so we made a deal. We entered together, to increase our chances of winning, and if either of us won, I'd take the money and he'd take the wish. And, well, Yugi won."
It hadn't happened exactly like that, but close enough for his purposes. It was a given that Jounouchi would've asked for the return of Grandpa's soul, and even the souls of the Kaiba brothers had he won, but prior to his winning they'd never actually discussed what Yugi would do with the money and it never crossed Jounouchi's mind that his friend would actually just give it all to him. But after Yugi had beat him in the final, when Jounouchi had tried to return his card, the one that would let him claim the money, Yugi had refused, and he'd refused in that slightly confused way that was so Yugi, like it went without saying that he would give Jounouchi the money, that of course that had been the plan all along. Never mind that Jounouchi owed Yugi for getting him into the tournament in the first place and for giving him the card necessary for admittance into the finals. Never mind that he would've lost his very first duel had it not been for Yugi. No, in Yugi's mind it had been a foregone conclusion that the money would go to Jounouchi for Shizuka's surgery. And while Jounouchi was loath to take any credit for his friend's generosity, he had a fine line to walk here. No matter how much his mother hated him, she wouldn't refuse his help; he wasn't so sure she would accept help from a stranger, however.
And really, he had gone to Duelist Kingdom first and foremost to help Yugi. He'd dueled for his sister, yes, but he went for Yugi and he would've asked for Grandpa's soul back and they really were a team, so was it wrong of him to think that he really had helped win the money? That he really was the hero here?
He realized Shizuka was being awfully quiet. "Shizuka?" he asked. "You still there?"
"You're really serious, aren't you?"
"I'm really serious," he confirmed. "Tell Ma to start calling the doctors and schedule you an appointment."
"Oh my God. Oh my God, you're really serious, I'm really gonna…" And then he heard her start to cry. Not just sniffle, either, like he'd imagined she would, little tears of joy trickling down her cheeks, but great heaving sobs and he was alarmed.
"Shizuka! What's wrong?"
"Oh Big Brother, I don't know what to say," she wept softly.
"You don't have to say anything, Shizuka! I'd do anything for you, you know that! I've been trying for years to figure out how to get you that operation!"
"I know, but… I'm scared."
This threw him. "Scared? What, scared that it won't work? Everything I've read about it said it's almost certain—"
"No, Big Brother. Scared that it will."
Of all the possible reactions he'd imagined while envisioning himself riding up on his white horse to deliver her salvation on a silver platter, this had never even remotely occurred to him. "Say what?"
"You… you don't understand," she moaned, then started talking in a rush. "My whole life has been about my eyesight, you know? Doctors and procedures and then, eventually, just… just accepting it. Accepting it and learning to be blind. I go to a school for the blind! I never thought, never allowed myself to hope…. I don't know how to be anything else but blind. What… what will I do if I'm not?"
"What do you mean? You'll do anything you want!"
"But… what if I can't? What if being the Poor Little Brave Almost-Blind Girl was all I ever was?"
"What… you think that's all you are?"
"It's all our entire family has been about since the day I was born, and you know it! It's why Mom and Dad got divorced, it's why Mom left you behind—"
"No," he cut her off, grinding his teeth, his anger rising up from his stomach and burning his throat. "No, you're wrong. Don't you ever think that, Sis, not ever. Mom and Dad's problems are their problems. It was convenient for Dad to blame you because that's the kind of irresponsible bastard he is, but you didn't screw him up, believe me. I know I was only two when you were born, but I remember. Things were pretty f— uh, pretty screwed up before you were born. You made it better, okay? For as long as it possibly could be given what a selfish jerk he is, you just being here made it better." And I'm so gonna kill that goddamn son of a bitch for making her think it was her fault, so help me God, I'm gonna…
"But what… what if the operation works and all of the sudden I can see, I mean really see, then what? What will I be if I'm not 'the blind girl'?"
He gaped, staring at the phone, his mouth working wordlessly before he finally said, "Are you kidding me? Shizuka, do you know why I got second place at Duelist Kingdom? 'Cause I shouldn't have. I'm actually not that good, or I wasn't at first anyway. I shouldn't have gotten past the first duel. Hell, I wasn't even supposed to be allowed on the damn boat. But I did it because of you. Because you've always believed in me no matter how crappy I've been or how stupid. Anytime it seemed too hard or I thought I should just give up, I thought of you and how you always believe in me, and I just kept going, all the way to second place. If you could do that for me, Sis, imagine what you could do for yourself if you believed you could!"
She sniffed. "Really? Do you really think so?"
"Do I… You're Jou—you're Kawai Shizuka," he corrected. "You can do anything."
She was silent for a moment, and he could tell she was chewing on this. "Big Brother… will you come to the hospital?"
"Just try and stop me." He grinned. "Way I figure, if I'm paying for it, Ma'll have to let me come. Hell, I don't think she could even complain if I called or if we visited each other now and then. This is gonna change everything, Sis, just wait and see."
She giggled and it made his heart soar. "Wait and see, huh?"
"You bet."
"So… this is real? It's really gonna happen?"
"It's really gonna happen."
"And you'll be there?"
"I pinky swear, Sis."
"I… oh, this is just too unbelievable! You… you have to tell Mom!"
His heart sunk back down past its usual spot all the way to his feet and he started shaking his head even though she couldn't see him over the phone. "Oh no, I'm not talking to her. You tell her."
"But it's your money!"
"She… I… just… no. You tell Ma; I have nothing to say to her."
"Katsuya…"
"I'm serious, Shizuka. Do you have any idea what it was like the day you left?"
"I was there," she bristled.
"But you didn't get left, did you? I was calling for you, calling for her and she just turned her back on me and drove out of my life. I could forgive that if it were just her, Sis, but she drove you out of my life. And that I can't forgive."
"Big Brother," she whispered, her voice so sad it nearly broke his resolve.
"No, listen, don't be sad. This is a happy day, okay? We're gonna celebrate now. And here, do you have something to write with? I want you to take down this number."
"I'm in a coat closet," she said, and he smiled at himself for guessing right. "Where would I—oh wait, my school bag is in here, I should have my mini tape recorder I use for notes at school. Hold on." There was some shuffling sounds again, and when she came back, he gave her Yugi's phone number then listened as she repeated it back into her tape recorder, trying not to let the fact that she was using that instead of writing it down bother him. Soon she would have her operation and she'd be able to read the fine print on a used car ad.
"If you need to get a hold of me, or if Ma has any questions, you can leave a message here with Yugi or his grandpa so you don't have to worry about Dad, okay?" he told her. "Just be looking for a cashier's check in the mail, Sis. It'll be in your name. I'll call you in a few days to make sure you got it and to find out what's going on with the operation."
"It'll be a while yet," she told him. "There's a whole bunch of treatments that have to happen first, so the actual surgery might not be until next year, but… oh Big Brother…"
"Aw man, please don't cry again," he begged her.
"I… I'm not, really. It's just… thank you," she whispered. "Thank you so much. Not for the money, although you'll never know how much I appreciate that. But for… for everything. For saying you'll be there. I couldn't do it without you. You're my hero, you know that? You've always been my hero."
When Jounouchi emerged from Yugi's bedroom to find the others downstairs in the game shop helping Gramps straighten up, he was so full of exuberance that, much to their chagrin, he picked up Yugi and swung him around like a rag doll, hugged Honda like a girl, ruffled Grandpa's hair, and even grabbed Anzu and kissed her full on the lips, earning himself a slug in the jaw for his trouble. That girl could hit. But aching jaw notwithstanding, he just couldn't contain his joy. His sister wasn't going to go blind and he really did get to be the hero even if Yugi had won the money and not him, because at the end of the day, when she finally would go in for the operation that would change everything, he was the one she needed to have by her side.