Author's Notes
Ushio shows...
Yuugi decides...
Jonouchi stays...
Chapter 19 - The Jonouchi's Surprise
He identifies the person as Ushio as he tries to figure out why he called him until the Student Monitor asks while smiling, "Can you join me for a bit?"
"Me?"
Ushio consents and even without understanding the reason for calling him, Yuugi leaves the classroom and starts following him through the corridors, while hoping it would be something brief because he wanted to go back to the classroom before his friends returned so they wouldn't stay worried because he forgot his cell phone at home and because of that, he couldn't call to let them know.
The young man did not know that Yukiko had purposely sought to move away, dragging Kisara and Nuru so that the timeline followed its original course, since the albino could not change those events no matter how much her maternal heart wanted to do it for her friend.
So, as he follows the older boy, with them heading towards the back, behind the building that housed the gym, the amethyst-eyed young man asks with obvious curiosity on his face why they've been walking for a few minutes, " What do you want to show me?"
"You'll see and I know you'll love it." Ushio speaks smiling after giving a giggle.
They reach a part behind the school with Ushio initially blocking the view of Mutou who tries to see what it was until it shows Jounouchi and Honda injured, with their backs against the wall, making Yuugi look horrified.
"Jounouchi-kun! Honda-kun! What happened here?"
The young man with tricolor hair is too shocked to see them injured and takes a long time to process what happened.
Ushio speaks, smirking, pulling the smaller male out of the stupor he was in, "Don't you remember what I said to you yesterday? That I would be your bodyguard? So I taught these delinquents a lesson, like this how I want to teach them not to bully others. What did you think? It's nice to see them hurt for a change, right?"
"This is wrong!" Mutou exclaims in despair as he looks at Ushio.
The young man runs up to them and kneels in front of Katsuya and Hiroto, asking with evident desperation in his voice as he sees the pitiful state they were in while he was afraid of hurting them even more if he touched them, making him keep his hands in the air, slightly apart from them, "Are you all right? Jounouchi-kun? Honda-kun?"
"What's up? Are you satisfied, Yuugi?" Katsuya asks, with Yuugi not being able to accurately decipher the expression on his face due to the blows he took to his face and body.
The young man becomes too desperate, displaying eyes moistened by unshed tears because he would never ask anyone to do something so cruel.
After all, he was incapable of revenge and wishing others harm no matter how much they made him suffer. It was simply something of his kind, selfless, and kind nature.
As a result of this fact, seeing them in that deplorable state was too horrible for Yuugi, who felt his heart restricted by Ushio's perverse act, in his view.
"You're wrong! I would never ask anyone to do such a horrible thing! I always tried to prevent Yuki from..."
Then, before he could continue talking, Ushio brusquely shoves the smaller one to the side, causing him to fall as he approached the pair.
"I'm not done with them yet!"
When approaching the blonde, he gives a violent kick to his chest, throwing him strongly against the wall, causing Yuugi to run towards them, getting between the pair and Ushio, stretching his arms while using his body as a shield, desperately begging, "Stop! Please!"
Ushio shows a mixture of confusion and disbelief at Mutou's unexpected act, in his opinion, considering what he researched about the young man and about the verbal and physical aggressions that Jounouchi and Honda practiced against him, whenever Yukiko, Nuru and Kisara did not they met with him.
"What is this, Yuugi? Do you want to protect them? You are someone strange, or should I say, bizarre. It's your chance for rematch. Hit them and get even with them for every time they assaulted you, physically and verbally . It's your chance for rematch. Anyone in your place would love to have the opportunity to take revenge on those who made you suffer."
"Besides being wrong, I would never do that to my friends!" The young man with the amethyst eyes exclaims in despair.
Jonouchi hears what he says after seeing him stand protectively in front of them.
Their act and speech leaves him appalled because Katsuya never imagined he would hear Yuugi refer to them as friends, considering all he suffered at their hands.
Mutou's attitude was practically surreal.
Then Ushio speaks, showing disbelief on his face after laughing at the words of the tricolor haired teenager in front of him, "Your friends?! Seriously! They bullied you almost every day when that Yukiko and the twins weren't with you. Did you by any chance forget their actions and what they were talking about?"
When Ushio thinks about the albino, he gets very angry when an unexpected feeling of fear arises about her because he had heard about her reputation and as much as he believed he could stand up to the young woman, sometimes a voice would come up in his head, questioning if in fact, he could defeat her along with the feeling of dread at the thought of her fury. These same feelings surfaced less intensely when he came to the image of Kisara and Nuru in his mind.
As he thought about it, he found that he wouldn't mind if she attacked him, with him smiling at the thought as he suppressed any feeling or sensations contrary to what he was feeling right now.
After all, if he defeated her, he could use that fame to heighten their fear of him.
As he imagined defeating Yukiko, the faces of Kisara and Nuru came to mind. When questioning why the faces appeared again in his mind, he was reminded that he knew them from somewhere, far from school.
So, he snaps out of his thoughts with Yuugi speaking in a small voice because he doesn't really believe the argument he intended to use to justify the actions that made him suffer, "It wasn't bullying. It was lessons in being a man."
Mutou was lying to the Student Monitor, in order to prevent them from continuing to suffer.
After all, it was his attempt to save them because he didn't want to see people hurt.
Therefore, as much as they humiliated him, in addition to hurting him physically and verbally, the young man would never want them to suffer and that is why he tried so hard to protect them from Ushio.
After all, seeing them in that deplorable state, he starts to want to do everything to save them from the Student Monitor.
In fact, he would have that attitude with anyone who found himself suffering at the hands of someone else. Yuugi would do anything to save this person, whether he was an enemy or not.
Ushio shrugs, absorbing the tricolor-haired teenager's unusual lines and reactions in front of him because he never imagined he would witness them in his life.
"Never mind. You're bizarre, really. After all, you defend those who humiliated you, as well as verbally and physically assaulting you. Regardless, Yuugi…," The young man with the amethyst eyes looks at him, "You have to Pay me for my work! Twenty thousand yen for being your bodyguard!"
"What did you say?! "Twenty thousand yen"?!" The young man exclaims after being shocked by the exorbitant value.
"For that amount, you can beat them all you want. That way, you'll have your revenge. I even think it's coming off cheap for you. Feel free to repay them for what they've done."
Yuugi shows that he doesn't want to do this by shaking his head vehemently while Ushio smirks because he realized he wouldn't do anything to those who were lying behind him.
He just said it to amuse himself with his prey's reactions.
After all, seeing the fear, terror and despair in their faces was too pleasing to him and so he was tormenting the younger teenager with his words, deciding he would have a little more fun seeing how much he seemed to want to defend them.
The Student Monitor confessed that this prey was being absolutely delightful and had he known he was so bizarre, he would have done it all some time ago.
At least, in his view, he had managed to find his source of fun and could hardly wait to start threatening him, getting a good source of money while he would delight, making him experience fear daily and his appearance just it added to their sick fun.
"Huh? So, would you prefer that I give them a better deal myself? I confess that my fists and feet are still not satisfied."
Yuugi was quiet because he assimilated everything that happened. He remembers everything that went through their hands and afterwards, his own feelings for the situation as a whole, including the fact that he didn't want anyone to suffer, and he didn't harbor any hatred for anyone, no matter how much he was tormented and hurt by that person.
Yuugi agreed that his actions were bizarre and when he thought about it, what he needed to do to save them, he questioned himself why he defended those who hurt him, knowing that he would end up suffering new pain.
However, as he reflected, he found that his heart would never allow him to turn his back or allow people to be attacked in front of him without him doing anything to save them and that he went out of his way to save anyone, even if that was the one that hurt him. He just knew he couldn't go against the kindness, altruism and kindness that took over his being. It was inconceivable for him to take any action other than to save the person, regardless of what she did to him or whether she was unknown to him.
Therefore, the amethyst-eyed teenager starts to feel a sudden courage taking him to face the man in front of him as he stands defensively in front of Jounouchi and Honda, defending those who tormented and assaulted him. As he recalls their deplorable state, any remaining doubts in his mind are brushed aside as he made his decision, which consisted of saving at all costs, Katsuya and Hiroto.
After being swamped by this sudden courage from his heart that wanted to prevent them both from suffering further, he exclaims with determination as he closes his eyes, preparing himself for the pain he would feel because he knew Ushio would fulfill them, like this let your mouth utter such words, "Don't do anything else with them! If you prefer, hit me!"
Jonouchi is appalled and widens at the words of Yuugi who was offering himself as a punching bag in his and Honda's place to protect them from Ushio, even after the treatment they always gave him.
"I don't understand you... But I'll do what you ask me to do," He grabs Yuugi by the lapels of his school coat as he spoke, smiling evilly, "You know? I don't like to mistreat anyone. So what am I going to do? now it's called warning. You'd better know what's in store for you if you don't pay me."
Then, he starts beating Yuugi several times, with Jounouchi seeing him take violent punches and kicks, making him look shocked at the teenager in front of him, as much as his wounded face would allow, assimilating the act of someone who suffered in his hands of them and that even so, he still stood up to defend them and nevertheless, he proposed to be beaten in his and Honda's place so that they wouldn't be more hurt than they already were.
That kindness, altruism and kindness left the blonde at a loss for words as a strong and overwhelming sense of guilt gripped him as he recalled everything he had done to him.
"Why are you doing this? Just be quiet like you always do. Just don't resist that none of this will happen to you. Are you doing all this to protect us, Yuugi?" He exclaimed in thought as he continued to stare in shock at the unusual scene taking place in front of him.