Chapter 33: Lost
The sound of the crows and other birds echo in the forest, the trees are tall, blocking partially the sunlight, their steps snap the twigs and crumble leaves under their feet. Rie is intimidated by that ambience, she had terrible memories related to it, her fingers unconsciously reaching out to Ryo's sleeve.
She pinches it with a few fingers, a mindless action, her mind lost somewhere else. He flinches feeling the weak tug on his clothes, looking back just a moment at her distant expression. His eyes also move on, towards the way ahead, not denying her that touch that gives her a feeling of safety.
"I hear the river, we should take a break," Edo disrupts the tense mood. "I can get us something to eat."
"Fish?" Rie's eyes raise in expectation, asking him curiously.
He nods briskly, following the sound of the running water, they tag behind until they can see it, the river crossing the forest.
"Ryo, can you start a fire?" he asks casually. "You can help him too, Rie."
"Sure."
His gaze lands on Rie, she still holds his sleeve, it reminds him of the time in the cave, even though she looks a lot more mature now, that part of her is still the same.
She flinches, noticing Ryo has been staring at her with a blank gaze for a few seconds, her fingers twitches and lets go of his sleeve, but he simply grabs her hand before it can fully escape, holding it properly under his palm this time, a smile flashes on his lips as he drags her.
"Let's get some wood."
They mount another campfire and Edo comes with the fish, she's surprised with how many talents the boy had for his age, he was a pro duelist even before she graduated. When they start frying the fish on twigs, a pleasant smell spreads through the air, but they are alone in that.
Rie covers her mouth and nose as if they'd been cooking poison, a chill running through her spine, she stands up in a second and rushes off to some bushes, disappearing from sight, they exchange a confused glance.
"Does she not like fish?" the silver-haired raises a brow.
"I don't know..."
They stare at each other, wondering what to do until Edo pronounces himself, breaking the pact of boring silence:
"Should you go check or should I?"
A heavy sigh comes out of the teal-haired man, he stands up accepting the task at hand.
"Okay, tell her we can get something different if she hates fish. There are fruits too."
He doesn't answer and follows the path she walked past, it takes but a few minutes to find her, supporting a hand on a tree, bent over her own body, her back turned to him. She quickly wipes her mouth and whirls around nervously.
"Rie, are you feeling sick? Why did you suddenly run?"
Her mouth opens on its own, trembling while searching for words to explain, but she ultimately averts her gaze from him, to the side, an afflicted expression, sealing her lips shut.
"You shouldn't go somewhere alone unless it's extremely necessary," his tone does not bear any hard feelings or harshness, it's too calm even. "We've talked about this."
A step close is enough for her to panicky gesture for him to stop, and try in many ways to convey he should not come closer, but doing so just makes her feel more queasy and in the next second, there she is turning her back to him again, throwing up.
"Why did you not say you weren't feeling well? We could've stopped earlier for you to rest," His brows furrow upwards, a sense of guilt for not noticing earlier.
She wipes her mouth again and shakes her head off negatively, biting her lips. He takes some steps closer, ignoring her protests.
"You don't need to feel uncomfortable, I've heard people doing more than just throwing up in the underground," he assures her nonchalantly, although that doesn't sound all that reassuring "You should wash your face and drink some water. And rest a bit before eating anything too." he grabs her wrist making no ceremony in dragging her back.
Edo smiles upon sighting them again, but it turns into confusion when they just waltz past the camp towards the riverbed, he sees the agitation on the girl's face, but Ryo coldly lets go of her wrist and points at the water, then he takes a dark-blue handkerchief from his inner chest pocket, giving it to her and crossing his arms as if giving an order.
She tries to complain, but gives up seeing the cloth, it's the one she gave him as a birthday gift, he kept it this whole time. Her fingers crease the handkerchief on hands, her eyes flickering while meeting his stern gaze, turning around, she sits near the riverside and washes her whole face and mouth, the blue-haired walks back and sits near the fire, giving her some space.
"What was the problem?"
"She isn't feeling well."
"You don't think she is on her-" He stops before crossing the borders of uncomfortableness "Forget it, if that is the case, we should stay a bit longer, one of us can go ahead and scout the area, the other one stays with her," He adjusts their plans quickly.
When she comes back, they are busy eating their share, she shyly sits by the side of the fireplace, trying to muster the courage to eat too, certain disgust on her face. With a quick glance at them, she takes another pill from her bottle and munches it, Edo catches a glimpse of it. His brows curl up, perplexed at the situation.
Hm… What was that thing she ate just now…?
They start walking on the road again before long, she tags behind, a gloomy mood hovering in the air around her, the two men exchange yet another glance, the grey-haired displaying a visible worry over her state. But what could they do to help?
At the duel academy,
Ryuu still can't believe his eyes, his son, the best student of the academy, graduated with the best grades registered in the whole history of the school, a pro duelist, having a criminal profile that even he didn't know about. What else is he missing here?
"What does this mean, Samejima? And why are those documents separated from his main profile?"
"These documents hold no weight on him as a duelist, he does have a short criminal profile for identification because he was involved in a very serious incident that took place in the academy, but he never committed any crime. As for why I never told you or Eri-kun anything… It was Ryo's wish. He personally asked me to not say anything, as a favor… Of course, given the delicate situation he had been involved with and the other part involved as well, I decided it's for the best to respect him."
"With 'other part' do you mean Rie Kinomoto? How is she related to his profile? It says here he is a witness, but witness to what exactly? Did this girl commit any crime? Family names aside, who in the world is this girl? What is her relevance in all this?"
"Hm… It wasn't a crime of hers, so to speak, but it's complicated."
His friendly smile vanishes, giving place to seriousness as he turns around to look through the window, his mind traveling back to the past, unable to look the old friend into the eyes.
"Your son was not only the honor student around here, but also a hero. He does have a criminal profile to identify him, but that is only because he happened to be at the right time at the right place and was able to save someone from a terrible future, unwarrantedly giving him status as a prime suspect."
"You don't mean… Rie Kinomoto, do you? It says here she was wandering alone when she was found but…"
"Those files had to be rewritten, someone burned down the original files, but I remember and can tell you the whole story…"
Ryuu gulps at the severity of the situation, it looks way more complex and dangerous than he imagines, burning documents down and criminal profiles? His lips seal shut in a line, a tense drop of sweat, he's ready to listen.
"It all started with the abandoned dorms."
"The one where the son of the Tenjouin disappeared?"
"Yes, it all started from there, when shadow powers were involved and unfortunately the academy would lose some of its most brilliant students for a whole year…"
"What does it have to do with the case? I don't see how it is related besides that Ryo would probably be shocked his best friend disappeared out of nowhere…"
He simply throws a faint, short smile over his shoulders and turns his gaze back at the landscape, telling the story as if it was a fairytale.
"Once there was a girl and her friends that were curious about what had happened to those students… She and a group of three other friends decided to investigate the matter on their own. That night, out of the four students, only one girl came out of the dorms and after that, when she was asked about what had happened, she couldn't speak, or rather, she lost her ability to speak."
Ryuu sighs deeply, tapping his feet on the ground impatiently and skimming through the files until his eyes get hooked into what he sees, at the same time as he reads it thoroughly, his friend continues.
"That girl who had been traumatized was assumed incapacitated to return to school and had to undergo therapy, her family insisted she stays in the school disregarding her unwillingness, she came many times to ask me to contact them and call them here, you can imagine it was hard for me to tell her it was not my decision to make. Abandoned by her own family, having lost her friends and unable to return to her normal life, I don't even imagine how much she must have felt trapped in here, sinking into depression… That is why she wanted a change, after a long time in therapy, with the hopes she could come back to her normal activities as a student, she went to the abandoned dorms again. Of course, it was against the rules, but she wanted the truth… That night, however, was even worse than the first..."
Before he listens to the continuation, his eyes are already trembling in astonishment, his fingertips sweating cold while holding the page, consuming its contents with his mind, a nauseating feeling.
"Don't tell me Ryo… Did he do something to that girl?" He risks asking, fearful he might get an answer he does not want to hear.
"Far from it, he never laid a hand on her, if anything he saved her life that day. A good deed that would cut off the shadows haunting her," he smiles briefly, but his expression dims "That girl must have felt abandoned by the world back then, having nothing else, emptied of dreams or expectations, seeing no choice, she jumped off a cliff on the island."
"So their daughter attempted suicide. I assume they'd not be happy about it, and it seems they hid it well. But how does Ryo connect to this? Did he see her at the time?"
"Yes. It just so happened your son's favorite spot for spending time was the lighthouse near that cliff. You can tell Ryo wouldn't think twice if he had seen someone drowning, thus that day he saved her life."
"How did something so awful happen here? What about her family? If it was me and something like this happened to a daughter of mine, no offense, but I'd close your whole school down and make sure you never get a job ever again."
"I told you, that girl had nothing. Her family is a complicated matter, they care about their image, regardless of how many pains she has to go through so they can keep pretending they are a perfect family. Obviously their biggest worry was to hide what happened to her rather than taking care of her mental health."
"What happened after that… I get it, he saved her life, this is something that would change anyone's perspective, yet… I don't think she was fine in being saved, was she? Considering all these troubles you listed and at such a young age too…"
He comments, but saves other thoughts for himself. Compared to the girl he saw in those other pictures, who was smiling so lively and having the expression of someone in love, her school pictures were the complete opposite, dark and melancholic.
"Yes, she had quite an impact on Ryo, and not only because he saved her life. He was the most prodigious student in our academy, had the best grades, was one of the most popular and the strongest among all the duelists here, his title Kaiser bore the image of a perfect duelist. Unlike him, she had nothing, neither family or friends or fame or even her own choices. It must have been truly a perplexing experience for him to meet someone like this. Of course, he got a criminal profile because he was the only one who saw her that night while the true perpetrators of the crime escaped, regardless of if he saved her life, he was the only one there to take the blame."
The teal-haired frowns profusely, meditating for a long minute. Not that he expected to hear every detail of his sons' school lives as his wife would often like to, but for such matters to be kept hidden from him. Just how much he missed? If Eri had heard such, she'd not take a second to call him and spill everything out, so she probably wasn't aware in the slightest either. Why did none of the boys mention this at any point, not even to their mother? Or was Shou also unaware of it? So many things he doesn't know…
"I figure she'd not want to have any memories of the incident. And shouldn't she be able to clean his profile by simply identifying the culprits?"
"She couldn't speak and due to the gravity of the trauma, she could not even recognize the faces of whoever attacked her. Naturally, after a few exams, the charges on Ryo were overruled, but the true culprits remained hidden. In truth, Rie-kun was also making efforts to avoid your son for some time even though they were in the same class and he'd not be the one who harmed her..."
"You said 'avoiding'? Why would she need to avoid him? Did he try to keep contact after the… Incident? Was he trying to help her?"
"I don't think help is the word, on the contrary, it was your son that required her assistance."
"Why?" he stops for a moment, massaging his temple again. "Let me understand this: he was seeking help from a girl that had her life destroyed, this after having saved her and possessing a full understanding of the depth of the problems she had and how traumatized she must have been under those circumstances?" he repeated while already preparing a mental monologue on how to berate his child. "Which type of assistance did he want from her?"
His voice came off exasperated, not at the friend, but thinking on what exactly his son has been doing during the school times.
"You know his best friend had vanished at the time and that girl he saved, she was the only one who came out of the abandoned dorms alive, on the same grounds where all the other students disappeared. Ryo was desperate to find any clue he could, even if it meant turning to someone who had been as desperate as him."
There is deep huff and a shake of disapproval coming from Ryuu, he skims more pages of the files. He knows he was young, immature and always tried to be autonomous, but could his son have been more stupid?
"Could she really help him find the son of the Tenjouin?"
The question seems to aim more at the doubt whether it was worth even trying that or a pointless effort of his son that just made the girl's situation worse.
"No. But for someone like her who had lost faith in others and her purpose, seeing your son's wholehearted attempts of investigating the case day after day, it moved her heart and she tried to help him. She could understand well how he must have felt after losing his best friend, after all, she had gone through the very same. In the end, they went to the abandoned dorms, got hurt, but came back alive, however something had changed for them ever since then. They broke so many rules that night, I almost had to resort to expulsion."
"Expelled? Why did you never talk about this? And how could he finish his studies here then?"
"Well, I personally know Ryo and I understand why he did what he did, professor Chronos also attempted to placate things, but the one who intervened decisively was Rie Kinomoto, she was ready to be expelled for his sake if it came to that, of course I couldn't just expel her knowing the truth of what transpired. You can guess having her life saved must have left her with a sense of an unpaid debt, and she wanted to pay it no matter the cost, even if it ruined her last chance of a normal school life here."
"Good to know you can keep secrets," he retorts in an annoyed mood. "But why did you decide to tell me this now?"
"You wanted to know which person Rie Kinomoto is, I'm giving you an answer as someone who has watched her grow since she was in this school. She was always a good-willed girl."
He pauses for a moment, smiling at Ryuu that just takes a deep breathe and continues the questioning, taking the chance to hear the full story:
"So, Ryo failed to find Fubuki Tenjouin, but later on, the kid came back anyways, wasn't it all just a waste of time and effort, and I'm not even getting started on how wrong what he did was."
"Indeed, Ryo felt the same way. For someone who has been called perfect by many people, to realize how bad his actions were came as a strong feeling of shame and self-guilt. But Rie-kun didn't think the same way. In fact, she could have done more if asked and she would do it again and again. She had nothing, but he gave her a cause to help and one she could empathize with, because she too would do anything for her friends that were no longer there. As for Ryo, to witness someone who had nothing but her own self to offer, everyday giving away a piece of herself for others, until there was nothing left of her, not saying a single complaint, but being happy she could help... It would turn the heart of any man upside down, would it not? It really touched him. He wanted to really help her the way she deserved and not ask for more, but to give instead."
Ryuu's eyes land on the picture of his son, wondering just what went through his head to have done all that, on top of it to hide it from his family and even disregard completely her family ties and her situation. He always thought Ryo was a very reserved and well leveled boy even for his young age, but it seems he was still very unprepared for life.
"That girl who had been crying and dying inside has found a sparkle of life in her that she didn't know existed until then, despite all the bad memories, she could smile again, find new friends and dream once more. Watching that was such a stunningly beautiful vision, not only for Ryo, but for all of us too. He was completely taken by that sight," his gaze shifts discreetly at the rough expression of the friend, as if testing him. "You know how this story continues…"
There is an involuntary angling in Ryuu's brows at the last part when Samejima calmly slides one of the pictures on the table near him. He observes the girl that smiles so brightly in the image and his son smiling back.
"Ryo was always a kid that would save his feelings for himself, he seldom expressed openly to others, but even he can have such a smile on his face. It's good to be young and in love, don't you think?"
"Save the romanticism for yourself, Samejima. If you knew all this, why didn't you tell me earlier?"
"They are grown adults now and should be telling you on their own. If they didn't, doesn't that mean you should talk to them about it? Though, now I do understand it might be complicated given the situation between both families involved…"
"Forget family issues, this is not the point… I don't care whose family she's from, that doesn't matter at all…"
"Then, you should be telling this to your son when he comes back. I'm sure he had his reason to keep quiet, especially how he became a public figure, but for him to let his family out of this, I could guess he just wanted to protect her from whichever bad reactions he'd expect from all of you."
"Samejima," his lips unseal for a very brief moment, his gaze trailing off on the pictures spread on the table "Yes. I ought to have a talk with him and Shou too."
"If you understand that, I am glad to have helped. Are your doubts about Rie-kun settled?"
"Sneaky as usual. You were always like this even when we dueled… Tsk," His lips curve in some sort of repugnance remembering their younger days. "That said, I am glad I can count you as a friend of our family."
"I'm elated to be a friend in times of need."
Ryuu's eyes stay on those pictures and files all over the office table, a meditative and distant expression, Samejima also occupies his mind thinking while watching the helicopters search every inch of the island.
Will he ever get to see his sons again? And if he does, then he has a lot of questions to ask and plenty to talk about, but it might not be as simple.
In the other dimension
The trio continues their adventures, now they climb a small mountain range, heading to the upper plains of the forest, closer to another waterfall. Edo seems like he is a seasoned professional in climbing, leading the way, Ryo also follows without difficulties as if he had experience with it too, always stopping and helping Rie out, an uncanny sight to the eyes of the other pro duelist, underneath the seemingly uncaring semblance, who would think he would find such gentleness?
Edo arrives at the summit first, the horizon is another maze of trees and bushes, the sky is as dark as when they started their climbing, the lack of a sense in time aggravates their impatience. Ryo comes second, looking down at Rie, she is about to grab the last rock until she can reach firm ground, her hand slides, she tries to grab anything on the way, but fails.
Her eyes almost pop out with the scene, luckily they both heard her sliding and reacted in time, each one of them grabbing one of her wrists, letting her hang while held by both. Edo and Ryo exchange a glance as if they didn't expect the other to do it, but they pull her up without many problems.
She wheezes while sitting on the ground, supporting her hands, her hair folding over her shoulders. The silver haired sighs deeply, crossing his arms. It was not even a big climb, but he can't expect other people to have the same physical conditioning as him, if anything he was impressed they could both keep up, she was even using some work clothes underneath her mantle, not the best attire to be doing an adventure, he feels bad for her.
"Maybe we should stop for a while."
"No. Stop." she glares at the silver haired in an almost demanding tone, gesturing an X with both arms.
"I don't think it's a wise decision. Look at you, we barely climbed but you are tired, if we keep up like this, you'll just end up fainting somewhere. Don't take me as a bad person, please, but this is not good for any of us."
"I. Fine."
She replies with firm gestures, but from all the sweat accumulated on her face and her reddened cheeks contrasting with the pale skin, he can tell there is nothing fine about her.
"Don't be so stubborn, we're all troubled here. I know we shouldn't be wasting time to find others, but taking care of ourselves is also important, it won't be good if we're all worn out by the time we meet them."
He tries to reason with her, but she is adamant about continuing, which makes him start questioning inwardly the reason for such a hurry. Does she hate this dimension this much? Is she running to get out of here as soon as possible? His orbs seek some help from the other man, in hopes he can say something to dissuade her.
"It's fine, we can continue right now."
"Ryo!" Edo gasps in a reproving tone. "You know this is not right! Just look at her, she will-"
Ryo squats down, looking into her eyes as she timidly wonders what lies beyond his frivolous, almost robotic gaze.
"Listen Rie, even if you faint, I will carry you. But that's not the issue here, do you understand?"
He declares in an indifferent manner, astonishing the other two. As she opens her mouth to protest, he sighs deeply at failed attempt of dissuading her. Yanking her by the back, he flops her body over his shoulder, standing up with no difficulty.
"Right, if you're fine in being carried like this, that works for me."
Edo gasps in shock at his ungentlemanly attitude and Rie flushes, tomato-red as she scuffles, hitting Ryo's back and flinging her legs pathetically asking him to stop in silent words.
"Ryo, I shouldn't need to tell you that, but you can't just take a girl like this, even if she's your girlfriend!"
"So what? Should I let her faint out of stubbornness? If she's wanting to be stubborn, then she'll deal with the consequences," he pronounces the last part louder as a remark to her.
"This is not the way to settle this."
"I disagree."
"Ryo?!" he opens his arms, the only answer he gets is a blank, but somewhat disdainful stare. "Wait, Ryo! Don't give me this look! Ryo, come back here!"
Thus, the pro duelist tags behind the other that walks ahead into the forest ignoring the insults and angry complaints darted at him. He casts a glance at the girl supporting her elbows on Ryo's back, her cheeks folding in a grumpy pout, by now she'd given up fighting him. Edo sighs, remarking inwardly.
Talk about clueless… That guy is really…
"Hey! Ryo, where exactly are you leading us?!"
"There should be another waterfall nearby, at the verge of these lands…" he answers without stopping.
"You mean the one we saw the last time we scouted the area, very far away?"
His lips open to answer, he casts a glance over his free shoulder, but they stop when a sound of something moving in the bushes startles them, alerting the two duelists that ready themselves for any threat by preparing their duel disks, Ryo slides Rie over to the ground gently tugging her behind him with an arm, as if bracing for the battle, a curve of contempt on her lips as she watches him scans the surroundings sharply.
Her eyes narrow, it looks as if something fell down there rather than an animal moving, without thinking much, she walks ahead towards the leaves that rustled, gulping, bending down and taking the object, turning around to show them: a duel disk.
They exchange a glance before approaching her, Edo takes the disk and analyzes it, definitely the model they use in the academy, but why would someone throw it here? He takes out the deck to check, his brows furrowing profusely, a drop of sweat running down his face.
"This deck… Isn't this…? You might want to take a look," he hands it to Ryo.
A sketch of a reaction occurs in his expression, his lips unsealing slightly, surprised to see the Vehicroid deck of his brother. Rie puts a hand to her chest, her heart feels cramped. Why did he throw away his deck like this? She has a bad feeling.
"Do you have any idea why he would do this? I mean, this world is absurdly dangerous, if he can't duel, then-" the grey-haired states concerned.
Ryo lets out a deep huff. Knowing his brother, how skittish and weak he could prove to be under pressure and certain circumstances, he had an idea, even so, to throw his deck like this, for someone that once tried to lecture him about respect, something must have happened. Admittedly, it worries him.
Shou has never been the most confident duelist, he wished it would be different, he never thought criticizing him as a kid would have such huge effects on his mentality. After befriending Judai, his brother has grown stronger not only he climbed his way out of the Osiris dorm, but he even built enough confidence to try and duel him with all his might, believing he could win. He even came to this world by his own volition, to help a friend, then why would he give up or be done with dueling in such a world in which dueling is essential for survival?
His distant mind drifts back to reality when he feels a firm pull on his sleeve, Rie's eyes flicker, some tears forming on the corners, her lips curving down as she gestures:
"Worried. Shou."
"If his duel disk is here, he might be still around, maybe it would be best if we try to search for him now and meet up," Edo suggests politely, reading the tension that exploded in the air. "I'm sure he must have had a reason to do this."
Ryo puts the deck back in the duel disk and kneels, opening his briefcase and storing the duel disk there, standing up again with a nonchalant expression and covering his head with his mantle.
"We should get going," his tone comes indifferent, as if he is again ignoring the dire situation.
When they are about to continue, a deafeningly loud sound roars in the air, the ground shaking like there is an earthquake, his feet skidding to the side as he tries to keep his balance, Rie almost falls, but Edo grabs her arm and keeps both of them standing while looking around perplexed.
It doesn't take long until they find out the cause: an enormous centipede-like monster came out of the ground, standing tall above the tree by an amount enough for them to not be mistaken where it is.
"Devildozer!" Edo gasps. "But what is it doing here?"
The creature raises to growl, the trees shake at the powerful shockwave from its echoing voice, they shield their eyes from the gust of wind carrying grains. It dives down, crawling and leaving a path of destroyed trees.
"It's chasing something!"
Edo grits his teeth, looking around for a better place to observe it and react, they see a small cliff, he immediately steps onwards to the slope leading to the cliff, they all rush there just to see a small figure running from the monster.
Ryo's eyes widen subtly, it's his brother, he opens his case, takes an object and throws it so fast they can barely see what it is until it hits the monster with an electrical current.
"Edo, take care of her for a bit."
He says, not looking back, amusing the grey-haired boy with how much more those words spoke about him than all the conversations they'd have so far. Standing up he walks ominously towards the edge of the cliff, Rie's feet move ahead, her fingers trying to grasp at his mantle, but an arm blocks her way, it's the other duelist.
"Leave him be. It's his brother, he might want to do this alone. We should give them some time, right? It could be dangerous to go closer."
Her tense shoulders drop. They step away, not letting themselves be seen by hiding safely among the trees in the forest, far enough that the impacts of the fight won't bother them.
The creature pays attention to the Hell Kaiser whose sharp eyes direct to his deck, drawing his first hand, like in a duel, after a glance at his cards, his starting move is aggressive as usual:
"I summon Cyber End Dragon! Destroy him, Cyber End! Eternal Evolution Burst!"
He declares stretching his hand to the monster that bites his dragon in an attempt to fight back. The explosion of the attack is so big it causes an after impact, throwing Shou against one of the trees around, his back bounces after hitting a trunk and he falls down, knocked unconscious for some seconds.
As soon as the fight ends, Ryo feels a fulminating pain run through his body, his heartbeats cease, his legs falter, dropping down to his knees, he clutches his chest, letting out groans, sweat dripping down his face.
"Not now… Rie is still…"
His thoughts start to become hazy, he can't die now, he promised to himself that he'd take Rie out of here, to at least help her and the others leave. Why is his body crumbling at such time? He grinds his teeth, refusing to accept it, then, the pain stops, he can feel his chest slowly pulsating again, from afar, he sees his brother sitting down on the ground, looking at him with a confused expression. He makes an effort to stand up, not demonstrating more signs of vulnerability.
"Why is my brother here…?" Shou's eyes narrow faintly, muzzy. "Am I seeing illusions now?"
"Sir Shou!"
The Ojama Yellow, the very reason Shou even engaged into a confrontation with the Devildozer, appears, crying long tears that cascade out of his eyes. He hugs Shou's face, rubbing himself on it out of joy.
Shou is stunned for a moment, his head is so hot, he ran and came here to save this amicable looking spirit, the only proof that Manjoume had been there, and then, his brother suddenly appeared to save him? His eyelids become heavy, the more he thinks, the more retired he feels, his eyes close fully and he drops to the ground, making the Ojama cry even more.
Soon, someone else enters the scene, Ryo sits on his own legs, bending closer, his fingers carefully checking the pulse of the younger one. He has seen it many times and done it a couple times himself after his underground duels, with the difference that there, people could often have heart failure and need immediate care.
"He'll be fine."
His voice is grave, cutting off his own reminiscence, perhaps what he is suffering is but a punishment from the gods for all he has done to others, a consequence of his own choices. The loud Ojama whines, catching his attention:
"With my big bro Manjoume dead, I wouldn't be able to live with myself if Sir Shou died too!"
"Huh?" he gapes with the revelation, pulling down his hood. "Manjoume is dead?!"
His eyes open wide, the outburst of tears and crying is the only sound echoing in the empty space left by the battle that took place there, the more they travel through those lands, the more dread consumes them. What happened to Judai's group? And what will happen to them if they can't find a way out?