Author's Notes

Yukiko can...

Jonouchi...

Yuugi stays...

Yuugi's friends...

Chapter 26 - Jounouchi

Outside, Kisara, Nuru and Yukiko were sitting at the coffee table with their friend, congratulating him for putting together the item he had been trying to assemble for eight years, commenting that the Sennen Pazuru hanging around his neck looked great on him while assimilating the fact that he had no more injuries, with the twins believing they had misjudged the injuries suffered because it would be the only plausible explanation in the twins' view for their friend's painless, with Sugoroku absenting himself from counting the his suspicions about the item and that it could have been something other than Sennen Pazuru who had healed his grandson while smiling paternally at the young women.

The half dragon had managed to feign surprise at her friend's healing by following the twins' emotions and reactions.

They also commented on how cool he looked with the necklace around his neck and the tight-fitting vest with belts under his blouse that had matched the collar, making him blush, and then listening to them talk while he was immersed in his memories vague last night, to later come out of these thoughts without noticing, returning to have attention to what they said, making the young man not notice this involuntary and equally subtle change due to the influence of Atemu, who tried to intervene as subtly possible not to frighten your beloved host.

After all, he didn't want to see those beautiful amethyst gems immersed in fear or pain.

Then, they get up when they see that they should have left a few minutes ago, and after saying goodbye to Sugoroku, the group of friends heads towards the school.

When Yuugi and her friends arrive at the educational institution, Yukiko tries to subtly drag them away from the school yard, providing any excuse, so that they don't see a crowd of students who were near one of the yard's trees and who watched Ushio throwing leaves in the air along with the rubbish he had found and which fascinated him as he muttered the word money with evident ecstasy in his voice.

After all, for the ex-student monitor, it wasn't garbage or leaves, but money bills.

As she pushed them away, the princess of dragons noticed out of the corner of her eye, the headmaster approaching the students accompanied by one of the teachers. Following both of them, there was a medical team, as well as a man who showed concern on his face.

The half dragon confessed that she was eager to punish him for what he did to the one he saw as a son, deciding that she would visit him in the psychiatric institution when it was dawn to inflict the punishment she had chosen for him.

Nearby, Jounouchi and Honda had been happy to the point of celebrating when they saw Ushio's deplorable state, with students muttering that he must have gone mad for some reason, thus explaining the apparent madness he displayed, causing the headmaster to contact his uncle de Tetsuo, who in turn would commit him to a psychiatric clinic.

Then, Katsuya sees Yuugi with her friends, with Hiroto following his friend's gaze, then sighing as he keeps his hands in his pockets as he remembers what they had talked about earlier that day.

Even though he didn't agree with what his friend said, Honda respected his decision, although that implied that he wouldn't stay with him when the blonde was close to Mutou.

Hiroto remembered Jounouchi commenting that he would no longer bully the tricolor-haired young man and that he would be his friend, leaving him appalled by the unexpected decision, then shaking Katusya by the lapels of his school coat while yelling at him, aiming to remove the unusual idea in his vision while trying at all costs to make him revise his decision until he gave up his intent when he noticed in Katsuya's eyes a fierce conviction and as he knew him well, he knew better than anyone that no argument would do it change your mind once he displayed that look in his honey colored eyes.

Honda snaps out of his memories of that morning and comments, following his friend's gaze, "I'm not going to be with you when I'm with him. But I think you understand my decision."

"I know. But I won't be with Yuugi every day since he has his friends. So we can walk around, going to the arcade or punching some gangs."

Honda smiles, nodding, then sighs, putting his hands in his pockets.

"At least we'll be able to have fun when you're not with that bast…I mean, Mutou." He speaks, quickly correcting himself because his friend asked not to offend the young man in front of him, with Honda accepting the request. "Well, if you're so determined even though I can't accept your arguments, I'll let you have your way and I won't disturb you anymore. You have my word."

"Thank you friend."

Still with his back turned, Hiroto shows the thumbs up before leaving, with the blonde deciding to hurry because he wanted to find him and preferably alone. before leaving, with the blonde deciding to hurry because he wanted to find him and preferably alone.

After all, he didn't want to utter words that would make him too embarrassed, especially in the presence of an audience around him while he ardently wished for the chance to get closer, at some point in the future, to the beautiful tanned with crimson orbs that had stolen his heart.

In the meantime, with the half dragon knowing what was going to happen, she manages to convince her friends to follow her by giving some excuse, thus allowing Yuugi to walk alone to the classroom because Katsuya was behind a wall, the waiting.

After Mutou passes this wall, Jounouchi, who was leaning against the wall with his back and arms crossed over his chest, showing some bandages on his face, speaks as he sees him pass him, "What's up, Yuugi?"

"Ah, Jounouchi-kun!" He exclaims surprised to see him because he didn't expect to find him.

Initially, he was afraid of the reason for the other to approach him because he feared that Katsuya would hurt him, either physically or verbally, although it was strange that Honda was not with him.

After all, they both joined together to torment him, giving the lame excuse that they were lessons for being a man, with him knowing the real reasons and that they were common to all bullies. They just wanted to humiliate and harm him, either verbally or physically to enjoy his suffering.

Jounouchi notes the nervousness on the tricolor haired youth's face as he realized that the tricolor haired youth had unconsciously taken a step back, making Katsuya internally curse herself for being one of those responsible for bringing fear to the amethyst-orb teenager because the large, expressive eyes clearly showed the fear that gripped him when he was in her presence.

"How are your bruises?" he asked gently trying to make the young man in front of him relax in his presence.

"I'm fine. They don't hurt. How about you, Jounouchi-kun?" Mutou asked with sincere concern in her face because despite everything they did to him, Yuugi was incapable of holding hurt and hating someone, just as he was incapable of wishing harm to that person.

So his concern was sincere and Katsuya could see that sincerity in the amethyst orbs, making him feel more ashamed of himself than he already did.

After recovering from the unexpected surprise, Katsuya replies, smirking, "I'm great! This is nothing!"

Then he closes his eyes and prepares to say words he never thought he would say because he thought they were too ridiculous.

"Yuugi, I also decided to have a treasure like you. Do you want to see it?"

"Yes." He responds, smiling excitedly.

"It's a shame... My treasure is something you've seen, but you've never seen. So I won't be able to show you."

Yuugi becomes reflective and thinks to himself, trying to figure out what it was while Katsuya was relieved to see that Mutou had relaxed beside him.

"Something you see but never seen? What will it be?" The teenager with the amethyst orbs thinks to himself, trying to figure out what it was.

Katsuya has a smile on his face as he keeps his arms crossed in front of his chest, his back leaning against the wall behind him.

"It's friendship. We can both see it exists. But no one can see friendship itself." Jonouchi speaks as he smiles.

"Nice!" Yuugi exclaims emotionally, with tears in his eyes after recovering from the unexpected surprise.

Then, embarrassed at having said those words, he runs off towards the classroom, ending up losing one of the shoes the students wore inside the school as he exclaims, "Now, bye, because class is about to start!"

"I can't believe I had the courage to say something so corny." He thought to himself as he ran.

"Wait, Jounouchi-kun! You forgot the shoe!" Mutou exclaims as she runs after him after picking up the shoe that fell to the ground.

He manages to reach him before they reach the classroom and still embarrassed, the blonde accepts the shoe and puts it on his foot.

"Thank you, Yuugi."

"My pleasure, Jounouchi-kun."

Then, both enter the classroom and see Yukiko, Nuru and Kisara talking about something until the silver woman notices her friend next to one of the bullies and arches her brow, drawing the attention of her sister and Yukiko, who look closely at the blonde.

Katsuya notices that the tanned beauty he loved arched her right eyebrow while the silver one watched him with a curious countenance while the albino seemed to analyze him because the half dragon was forced to pretend she didn't know what happened.

So she asks in a cool tone of voice, crossing her arms against her chest, "Where's the bastard Honda? You guys never go near him when we're around."

The tricolor-haired young man moans and goes facepalm when he realizes that it would be difficult for his friends to trust Katsuya while he had momentarily forgotten the fact that there was resistance on their part and did not condemn them.

Jonouchi, who walked alongside Yuugi, stopped his advance because he was fully aware that he would need to face their distrust and considering what he did against Mutou, he didn't expect any further treatment.

However, even as he prepared to deal with the trio of girls who protected him, he confessed that it was too difficult not to be nervous around them as he was dismayed to notice that Nuru was looking at him as if he were mere garbage, being able to see, too, the flash of anger in her crimson orbs.

When the young man was about to say something when he noticed the tension in the air coming from them as he watched his new friend from the corner of his eye showing fear and sadness in his face, the teacher prepared to enter the classroom, making the young man not have time to talk about what happened because all students were required to sit in their place.

So he decided that he was going to tell his friends about Jounouchi at school break.

In the meantime, before the teacher entered, Honda entered the classroom and sat in his place, observing the tense atmosphere between his friend and Yuugi's friends, and then seeing his friend sit in his place.

"Get ready. It won't be easy." Hiroto commenting in a whisper as he remembered their suspicious face when they saw Katsuya with their friend.

"I know and am prepared to face them. Considering my past actions, facing their fury would be the least I should have expected." He speaks in a sigh.

"I am relieved that you are aware of the immense difficulty you will have in gaining their trust. At least, now, you have a chance with Nuru." Honda speaks, smiling.

"I hope. I dream of the day we can be together."

"It's good to focus on reality because it's going to go a long way for you to have a chance with it."

"I am solely responsible for my current situation. Therefore, I have to bear it and accept it with resignation, fighting tooth and nail to have a chance, even the slightest one, of her looking at me with new eyes."

"Well, brace yourself because it won't be easy considering the way she looks at you."

"I know." He sighs, and then they go back to paying attention in class.

In the meantime, Kaiba had arrived and sat in his place, picking up a book to read while he was surprised that one of the bullies, who tormented the smallest student in the class, had arrived with this same young man in the classroom. and while looking at the unusual scene, he watched Kisara out of the corner of his eyes and when he saw her, his blue orbs start to observe the silver that had risen with his sister and friend when they saw Jounouchi entering with their friend.

Seto couldn't understand why his mind always found itself thinking about Kisara at various times during the day, no matter if it was an important meeting. Her face came up on several occasions and he found it irritating. At least his mind thought so while his heart always sought it out in his mind and when concentrating on such thoughts about heart and feelings, he displays a frown on his face because feelings were an inconvenient thing for a person to have in the world of business, especially at the time he was preparing to overthrow Gozaburo Kaiba after planning his downfall for several years.

After taking him down, he would take control of the Kaiba empire, with him deciding that his first act would be to stop the development of weapons of war by using the technology for games and to create amusement parks that would be called Kaiba Land.

After all, his dream since he was a boy was to create amusement parks around the world and accessible to everyone, regardless of income, besides wanting to have a company dedicated to games.

Deciding that he should focus his mind on his hated stepfather's downfall, Seto breaks eye contact with Kisara as he goes back to reading his book, with him reminding himself that he had a secret meeting scheduled in the afternoon with the Kaiba Corporation's board.

While Yuugi paid attention in class, Atemu was pensive on his throne, trying to understand the attitude of Jounouchi when he said those words, as well as the desire to be friends with the one who was tormenting him almost daily and however much he kept thinking, trying to find a plausible justification for his unusual attitudes, he couldn't find it, making him not believe the blonde's words.

After all, it was too radical a change, considering the fact that he didn't find any reason at all plausible for him to change his behavior, leading him to consider the possibility of it being a plan of his with Honda, aiming for something that the Pharaoh did not understand at the same time he began to get worried about the young man who held his heart, deciding that he should pay attention to this unusual approach from Katsuya.

A few hours later, school break occurs and everyone leaves, with the exception of Kaiba who had opened her notebook and found herself looking intently at the screen while typing something.

Kisara found herself looking at him as she rose from her desk, trying to figure out why she dreamed of Seto, with some of these dreams being very strange because she saw him tanned and wearing Egyptian clothes while displaying some kind of weird golden scepter in hand.

She had told these dreams to her sister, with Nuru commenting that it might just be a dream, with the silver one reluctantly accepting it as a plausible hypothesis despite having the uneasy feeling that it wasn't just a dream.

Then, the young woman snaps out of her thoughts with Yuugi's anxious voice, "Jounouchi-kun has changed. He's my friend now."