Outcasts
Chapter Eight: The Library
The weeks turned onwards, shifting into months until Aki had long lost any ability to keep track of just how long she'd been living at Martha's House. She mostly spent it inside, playing cards with the boys and getting to know the rest of the orphanage while they waited out Security. As it turned out, the other children were just as good to her as Yusei, Jack and Crow were. The younger kids were delighted to have another face around, a new person to read old picture books with and play at make-believe. The older girls marvelled at how pretty she was, pulling her into hairdressing sessions and gossip circles. The older boys were just happy enough that there was someone new to distract the former two groups, so that they could get on with the very important business of being teenaged boys without being disturbed.
For someone who'd struggled to make many, if any friends at her old school, the constant swell of movement that came from being passed from group to group and the endless bounty of companionship that came with it was rather overwhelming at times. But as time went on and the novelty of her newness wore off, those same groups were satiated by a simple wave of greeting as they passed by in the hallways of the orphanage, and she found herself able to pick and choose her company more freely. Which typically meant she found herself playing cards alongside her first friends, their usual hobby. Today's events were taking a bit of a deviation from the usual, however.
Jack stood across from her, fully armoured. An old Riding Duel helmet swallowed up his head, salvaged from the park. She was hoping that the crack down the side wasn't wholly indicative of its defensive ability. The rest of him was less professionally protected, thick cardboard tubes shielding his arms and legs, an old sandwich board hanging from his shoulders to guard his torso.
She looked to Yusei, as she always did when it seemed things were going too far. Half the time it ended up with Crow and Jack calming down, but she had a feeling he wasn't going to be able to deescalate the situation this time.
"I don't know if I'm okay with this."
"We don't have to if you don't want to."
"Come on Aki, I'll be fine! Jack Altas takes all challenges head-on! I'm not afraid to die!"
Jack's bold words were rather undercut by his current lack of mobility. With his limbs locked up in the tubes, simply making it back to his feet after being shoved over was too much of a challenge right now, as proven by both times Crow had pushed him for a laugh. Yusei sighed, folded his arms.
"Let him have one or he'll keep bugging us until we do it. Why don't we start with something with low attack, and go from there? Based on the duel you had before, something that only does 100 damage should scuff up his outfit at best."
Aki nodded, shuffling through her deck until she found a suitably low attack monster, placing it on her duel disk.
"Glow-Up Bulb!"
The cyclopean plant faded in, blinking dully at Jack, who braced himself for impact.
"Umm, attack, I suppose."
In what had to be a world-first event, the gang bore witness to Glow-Up Bulb's attacking animation as the floating plant drifted towards Jack and threw its body against the sandwich board, returning to Aki's side just as slowly.
"How was that, Jack?"
"I didn't feel a thing!"
"Okay, let's try kicking it up to 500."
Lonefire Blossom was next, the head of the plant swelling up before spitting out a miniature fireball. The arc of attack wasn't as gentle as before, fire slamming against the sandwich board, causing Jack to stumble and Aki's heart to catch in her chest. But as the fire washed away, he sprung back, triumphant.
"Ha! Did you see that? Took it like a champion!"
"Jack, you're on fire!"
Jack's pride lasted only a second as he noticed the slowly growing fire on his arm, one of his cardboard tubes ignited by a spark from the attack. A drive-by dirt clod from Crow quickly killed it, but that was enough for Aki, powering down her duel disk and taking it off.
"Oh come on, I could have kept going!"
"Jack, that's enough."
Jack looked as though he was about to protest further, but after a few seconds of unspoken glaring between him and Yusei he gave up with a huff. With the armour disassembled and hidden away lest Martha ask them exactly why they had a suit of armour, the gang assembled back inside and went over Yusei's notes.
"Okay, so despite the fire, there wasn't actually any damage to the sandwich board from either attack. Which is a bit odd, because I'm sure the same attack value scratched up that Security guy's clothes. So based on what Aki's said before, I think what determines whether or not her powers hurt is how upset she is at the time. Of course, it's hard to tell how much of that was her and how much is the hard light projection from the duel disk."
"I think we can safely say that the fire was all her." Crow said, lounging across three dining room chairs. Yusei shot him a look, sighed.
"How did the fire feel Jack?"
"Uh… hot?"
He paused, tapped his chin in thought.
"Actually, not that hot. Like being next to the space heater when it's winter. The attack itself was more like… a warm breeze and a hard shove. It wasn't painful at all."
"So what?" Aki huffed, head in her arms. "If I think happy thoughts, maybe I'll be able to duel like a normal person, except with the chance of random effects? Great."
"It's a step forward. At least we know that you can duel without intentionally hurting the other player."
Yusei made a note with his pencil, folding up his papers and drawing the room's attention with a clap.
"Right, let's start working on figuring out where these powers came from in the first place."
"About time. I'm ready for mine!" Jack declared, springing to his feet.
"This your library idea again?" Crow asked, sitting up.
"Yup. And let's be honest, we've all been inside for too long. Security's finally decided to let up on their patrols, so we can show Aki around Satellite at the same time."
"But they're not gone completely." Aki said, trying to put on a less melancholy face. "If a random policeman sees me…"
"Don't worry, they won't see you."
One quick rummage later, and they were all covered up in old waterproof coats, clearly made for larger children than they. The hood was so big on her that her face was only just poking out, her hair hidden completely.
"It looks like it's going to rain, so no-one'll think twice about us." Yusei declared, clearly pleased with his logic. "You should probably leave the duel disk here though, it'll stick out too much."
She was absolutely on board with that idea, leaving it safely with Martha. Their caretaker didn't seem mad on the idea of them going out into the city proper, but she allowed it regardless, seeing them off with a warning to be careful, to be back before it got dark, and another one to keep their noses clean and avoid Security. As if they needed to be told twice.
Compared to their previous forays, this journey was far less dramatic. It was only the late morning after all, not early enough to get lost in the wandering crowds heading to work, too early for those same workers to temporarily escape the drudgery of their mandated work days and hit the streets for some duelling. They easily made their way through the concrete jungle, only deviating from their path to avoid rough looking people or the occasional glass-eyed vagrant. Despite having friends by her side, she couldn't help but feel those same fears she had on her first day in Satellite.
"What's wrong with him?" She whispered as they crossed the road to avoid one such man, lying splay-legged on the pavement, tongue lolling out of his mouth.
"Drugs." Crow whispered back.
"What's drugs?"
"Dunno, but that's what Martha says. If you take them, you end up like that. The place I used to live in had a lot of people like that. I think they make you feel really good for a bit, but you lose a piece of yourself every time."
"Why would you do that to yourself?"
"Because he's given up." Jack grunted, following Yusei's lead as they turned down a new road. That was the end of the discussion, and she was rather glad for it, doing her best to put the haggard man out of her thoughts.
"You used to live somewhere else Crow?"
"Yeah, before Martha found me. I lived in a lot of places. Well, it wasn't really living. I was just wandering around, looking for things to eat, sleeping wherever wasn't taken. I was hungry all the time, and I didn't know anything, other than my name. Couldn't even read or write or nothing."
Aki felt her stomach tighten, memories of her first day in Satellite pushing through. Crow looked down and saddened for a moment, but before she could offer her sympathies, one of his broad smiles broke out and he nudged her with his shoulder.
"But it all worked out. Martha found me, and it's all been peachy ever since."
"What about you guys? When did Martha find you?"
"I was only a baby, or so I'm told." Yusei said, pausing their trek to check that they were still on the right track. "Abandoned in a pod of some kind. Jack was a bit older, but we were both adopted around the same time."
"It's unconfirmed, but Yusei might be an alien." Crow said without missing a beat. "Would certainly explain the hair."
Yusei rolled his eyes, clearly having heard that joke before.
"Come on, we're almost there."
The Domino Library was as run-down as everything in Satellite, the statues of intelligential spellcaster-type monsters that flanked the stairways as battered and graffitied as Graceful Charity in her lonely park. Unlike that park, the library was rather more populated, a number of older men stationed outside, keeping eyes up and down the roads with duel disks ready to activate.
"Well, looks like the rumours about the place getting taken over by a gang were on the money." Crow said, the group looking out from around the corner of a building. "What do you wanna do Yusei? They're probably not gonna let us in."
"And we almost got in serious trouble because Security thought we were working for a gang. Do we really want to actually go up and talk to a real gang?" Aki asked.
Yusei stoked his chin, thin-lipped.
"Okay, here's what we'll do. I'll go in alone and talk to them, see if they'll just let us in for a bit."
"That's an awful lot of trust to put in them." Jack growled.
"That's why I'm gonna do it alone."
"Hang on, we're a team. No man left behind. No girl left behind either."
Aki nodded, simultaneously pleased to be included but not crazy on the idea of potentially entering a gang's hideout. Yusei's face went a bit wobbly, and he scratched the back of his head.
"Everyone together then? We're probably just overthinking this, they'll probably just tell us to go away at worst."
They nodded as one, and made their way out, approaching the library. They'd barely climbed the first step before someone called out to them.
"Oi! What do you kids think you're doing?"
"Easy Jacob, easy."
There were three men upon the steps, two younger and one a bit older, sitting down and smoking a cigarette. One of the younger ones had prepped his duel disk for a fight. Yusei flopped his hood down, looking up at them.
"Excuse me, is this the library?"
The older gentleman looked up at the overhanging stonework with a wistful, faraway expression.
"Aye, it is. Or was, rather. Once upon a time."
"Now it's our place. And the Toxic Stacks don't want kids sniffing around." The man identified as Jacob snapped, jutting his chin out.
"For God's sake Jacob, take a walk, clear your head. They're just kids. Ain't like Security's hiring them these days."
"The Puppeteers have been picking up a few kids to run errands for them lately though." The third man said thoughtfully. "Dunno what they do to them, but they're right creepy buggers."
"The Silver Fists got kids passing messages too." Jacob countered. "They could be working for anyone."
Aki couldn't help but sigh at hearing the same accusations as before. But least no-one was threatening to arrest them this time.
"We're not working for anyone, honest. We were just hoping to look at the books here. It's for an important project." Yusei said. The older man rolled the cigarette around his mouth, eyebrows raised.
"Well, I hate to let you kids down, but this hasn't been a real library in a long time. Not many books here these days."
"I see. I don't know if you'd know where they went, would you?"
"Most of 'em? Burned for warmth I imagine. Place was a haven for bums before we either kicked them out or had them join up."
"Really? All of them?"
The cigarette took another trip around the man's mouth, before he withdrew it and let loose a plume of smoke overhead, watching it get scattered by the wind.
"Well, the rest of them… we had to clear out a lot of rooms but… you know, I don't think we ever emptied that room out. Didn't really need it at the time."
"You can't be serious." Jacob said, flat-faced. The older man drew his cigarette down to a sliver, breathed out the last of it and snubbed the remains out on the highest step.
"What can I say? If there's even one child in this hellhole who still has an interest in learning, who am I to stop them?"
He rose up, cracked his back.
"Stay here kids, I'll see what I can do. Jacob, seriously, take a walk around the block, you paranoid scamp."
Jacob shot them a glare, but made his way down as the older man went inside, turning around the corner and vanishing out of sight as well. Aki released a breath she hadn't known she'd been holding onto.
"Well, it's better than nothing." Yusei said, looking back at them with a shaky smile.
"Now we just hope he's not lying and this isn't a trap." Jack said, arms folded. He glared up at the last remaining guard, who gave them a wave before returning to his watch.
"I don't think so. That guy seemed nice."
"Is that your powers telling you that?"
"No, I think he's just nice."
"Shame." Crow said. "I was kinda hoping you and Jack could 'just a feeling' our way through this problem too."
They waited on the steps, watching the world go by and chatting. A Security patrol went by, nearly giving Aki a heart attack as she buried herself in her waterproof coat, but the two lady officers didn't even spare the library a glance as they marched past. Otherwise, Satellite was as peaceful as it got, a couple more people starting to filter out onto the roads just as the older gentleman from before reappeared.
"Right, who's ready to read?" He said, rubbing his hands together.
"Really?"
"Yup. Bossman says you can take a gander. Gonna have to be a flying visit though, so I hope you know what you're looking for."
Jack grabbed them by the shoulders, pulling them into a quick huddle.
"Keep your eyes down and don't stare at anyone. We'll be less suspicious that way, and people get annoyed when they think they're being watched. But stay alert. We still don't know if we can trust this guy."
They broke apart, sharing a nod. Cautiously, but optimistically, the children headed up, Crow taking the steps two at a time.
"I'm warning you all now, it's probably not what you were expecting." The man said as he led them inside, holding the door for all of them.
Immediately they were hit by the smell, thick and caustic, following them through the halls as they were guided through. The place had probably been quite nice back in the day, but now, much like Charity Park, it had seen the worst of years of Satellite. Rubbish was piled up in the corners, the carpets dull and faded from constant footfall and various stains, the walls not faring much better. All around was strange noises, an ongoing medley of bubbling, chopping, dripping and burning. Keeping to Jack's advice, they didn't look around if they could help it, following their guide as he led them through hallway after hallway. Aki only caught a glimpse of one room by accident, two men standing over a large round-bottomed glass flask, dipping liquid from a needle into it and talking to each other as the mixture inside went blue and shiny.
They walked for longer than expected, finding themselves right at the back of the building, brought before a rather unassuming door. The older man pushed it open a crack, letting it swing. Already they could see the promised books, all piled up and stuffed haphazardly inside. Despite having found what they were after, Aki couldn't help but feel her heart sink. There were so many, and they didn't really know what they were looking for to begin with.
"No lock on the door." Jack muttered to them. "They can't trap us inside."
"Well, this is the lot of them. Everything we cleared off the shelves we crammed in here. I dunno what you're looking for, but this is everything that's left."
"We're looking for history books… we think." Yusei said, making his way in.
"History? What kind of history?"
"Quite far back. The kind of people that would build ziggurats."
"Oh, so Mesoamerican then. Geez, you sure have a strange project in mind, huh little fella?"
"Does that ring any bells?"
"Not a one. I couldn't even tell you what's in here. But if that's the sort of thing you're after, then I guess you want books about Mayans, Aztecs and Incans. There might be more, but those are the ones I know about."
"I see. Thank you very much for all of this sir. We really appreciate it."
The rest of them mumbled thanks as well, the older man scratching the back of his neck, looking embarrassed.
"Don't thank me too much. You've only got a little while, and then I've got to dig you out of there and chuck you out. And just to let you know, this is a one-time-deal, okay? We can't keep letting people in willy-nilly to rummage around. Not even kids."
With a time limit put up, they gave more rushed thanks and bundled into the room. It wasn't a fun task. The books had no rhyme or reason to them, thrown in without thought at worst and stacked up without organisation at best. Cookery books met romance novels met scientific journals met graphic novels met high fantasy doorstoppers, and before long they were simply judging books by a quick glance at the cover before throwing them over the shoulder and moving on.
"He wasn't lying about this not being what I expected." Yusei grumbled, placing a travel guide of the British Isles to one side.
"No kidding. Doesn't help that everything I've found about magic powers is fiction." Crow noted from behind the pile of comic books he'd amassed from his burrowing. "Still, everyone's gonna go nuts when they see this haul. Been a while since we had anything new to read back home."
"You think maybe they'd let us borrow a bag?" Aki asked, wincing at her own stack of reading material.
"Let's work on the assumption that we'll only get to keep one each."
"I think we're wasting time talking when we could be… wait, I think I've got something!"
Jack yanked a book free, the rest of them huddling around him.
"Mysteries of the Nazca Lines." They read out together, Aki's eyes going wide. The picture on the front wasn't exactly the same as her own marking, but it wasn't hard to draw a comparison between the condor on the front of the book and the lines on her arm.
"Okay, that's a good start. Let's see what else we can find."
They kept shuffling onwards, picking and discarding with greater speed now. They couldn't really place a word to it, but they had a feeling that their time was growing ever-shorter. There was a small balm in the finding of an old plastic bag, filled with pamphlets about various subjects. They were poured out behind a tower of animal dictionaries and covered up. The bag's contents were quickly replaced by Crow and Aki's haul, Jack's find sitting securely at the bottom.
"Anything else we've seen so far that we like? We've got a bit more room." Crow said, jiggling the bag.
"I'll borrow your comics." Jack grunted, disposing of a physics textbook.
"Yusei, you seen anything?"
"No, I'm fine."
He said that, but Aki couldn't help but notice a little pile of engineering manuals by his side, topped with a history book about champion duellists.
"We've got room, you know. It's not too heavy yet."
"It's fine. Save the space for if we find something else useful."
"Fine, guess I'll take them for me then. But you can read them if you want."
And before he could say anything to the contrary, she'd already made her way over, collected the trio and handed them over to Crow. Yusei went to complain, but shook his head instead.
"Okay, but get rid of them first if need be."
"Got it." Aki promised, fingers firmly crossed behind her back.
They were about to dive back in when there was a knock at the door.
"Oi, you kids alright?"
The door tried to push open, only to stop, held up by the mass of abandoned books that they'd chucked aside.
"Oh, sorry! There's some books in the way!" Crow called, ushering them to keep searching as he went to the door, shifting the blockage about and slipping new blockages in the way of the door, taking time to overly apologise to their host. The other three threw themselves into a frenzy, picking through whatever they could as fast as they could. But nothing else came up for all the borrowed time, Crow finally opening the door with a pout. The older man was there again, leaning against the frame.
"Sorry kids, time to go. Hope you found what you were looking for."
"I think we've got- "
Yusei was cut off by a tremendous slam, and raised voices. The older man frowned, turned about, his hand going to his duel disk.
"Jacob, talk to me."
The duel disk responded with a crackle of static, more intermittent voice fading in and out of the mess of noise. Then it shut off, replaced by a rougher voice.
"We're being raided by the Dragon Busters! All hands, drop what you're doing and push towards the foyer! Kaleb, quit dicking around with those kids and get back to the front!"
The older man went to say something, but then a door slammed open nearby, bringing with it a new rabble of voices.
"Crap. Sorry kids, but you'll have to make your own way out. Follow the hall down, make the first left you can. There's a fire exit near the toilets."
"What about you?"
That question was answered as a large man barrelled around the corner; his face tattooed as if to give the impression that he had scales instead of skin.
"About time! I was starting to think this shitheap was unprotected! Let's party old man!"
He swung his hand, a cable lassoing out and binding both duel disks together, forcing a duel.
"Run!" Crow yelped, grabbing Aki's hand and dragging her behind him, Jack and Yusei shortly behind as the familiar sound of duelling rang out behind them. Their promised exit wasn't far away, but as they came up to the turning, another scaled-up man emerged, looking about. Crow put on a burst of speed, pulling Aki away from the man before he could say anything in his confusion.
The library was quickly filling up with the sounds of combat, monsters roaring and spells going off which such ferocity that they could hear it all through the walls. Joining it, glass smashing and things breaking, the kids having to hold their breath as they scurried past a room, blue smoke billowing out the door. They had an unspoken back-up plan, although it wasn't a good one – make it back to the main foyer and out the front door.
True enough, as they came out of the tangle of hallways and into the main part of the library, the turf war was in full swing, the foyer packed full of monsters as many interconnected duels slammed up against each other. But the main doors weren't blocked, and so the back-up plan continued, Crow crouching down and leading them around the edge of the room, crawling around the back of old shelving units and under broken coffee tables as they made their way around.
As they were about to stand up from their position behind an old bookshelf, Crow paused, Aki bumping into him as something slammed down in front of them. A defeated duellist, passed out from where he'd hit the wall, his duel disk hissing gentle smoke. Another shape hung over the unconscious man for a moment, before crouching down and plucking the loser's deck free. As the victor turned away and reengaged with the battle in progress, Crow bolted for the pillar by the front door, holding his hand up for a second, then ushering Aki over as he broke cover, rushing the door and holding it open. Aki followed suit, throwing herself flat against the pillar, trying to keep her breathing steady.
As a zombified dragon hit the ground screeching, she indicated for Jack to follow, running out and joining Crow by the door. Jack didn't bother waiting, making the trip in a single burst of speed, leaving just Yusei inside. The last member of their crew waited for a second, then picked his moment, darting to the pillar. But as he did, a head turned, and one of the attackers locked eyes on them.
"Yusei, go!"
Yusei didn't hold up, bolting to them as the group took off as fast as they could down the steps, not looking back as they ran out into the promised rain. Across the road and into an alleyway they ducked, rushing through and out the other side, crossing over again and running into the empty shell of a former restaurant. They threw themselves under the first table they saw, cramming together shoulder-to-shoulder in the hollow of a family-sized booth, puffing and panting and trying to get themselves together.
"Anyone… following?"
Crow dared to stick his head up first.
"Can't see anyone. Oh crap, Security!"
He ducked back down, and punctuating the rain came twined steps of two officers on their beat. The children kept their heads down, steadying their breathing and hoping that they hadn't been spotted. All but Aki, who began to shuffle out.
"Aki, what are you doing?"
But she was already free and away, taking cautious steps towards the entrance of the restaurant, watching the steady bob of the two helmets out the window. Gathering up her courage, she exited out the door, coming out in front of the pair.
"Umm, excuse me!"
She kept her head down, her heart pounding both from the escape and how stupid this idea was. Two pairs of polished boots came to a halt, all she could see under the shroud of her raincoat's heavy hood.
"Umm, over there, at the library." She stammered, pointing the way they'd come. "There's a gang fight going on. The… the Toxic Stacks and the Dragon Busters. Umm, I know it's trouble, but the toxic people weren't doing anything bad before the dragon people started attacking. And- ".
One pair of boots turned, a low voice murmuring something to the other pair. Then a hand fell on her hood, her heart seizing up in terror that she was going to be exposed.
"Thanks for the tip-off kid. We'll make our way over."
And with that pat on the head, the boots started moving again, walking off to her left and trailing out of sight and sound. She let out a sigh of relief, making her way back inside.
"It's okay, they're gone."
"Are you mad!" Crow half asked, half shouted as he pulled himself free of the booth. "Security's still looking for you, you know!"
"I know."
"More than that, you're not supposed to snitch anyone out to Security. They aren't gonna pick a side in that fight, they're just going arrest them all, no matter what you tell them." Jack followed, coming out next.
"If they can be bothered to go over at all. They'll probably take one look at that mess and decide it's not worth their time. Not when the two gangs can take care of each other."
"I know! But… that man was so nice to us. If there was anything I could do to help them, then I thought…"
She trailed off, sniffing.
"It was a nice thought." Yusei's voice cut in. "And if nothing else, those two will have to report that a fight has broken out. Maybe they can keep those dragon guys from taking over anywhere else in the future."
"Fat chance of that." Jack huffed. "Well, at least we're safe."
"And we did get a lot of books out of it. You guys wanna chuck those two in as well?"
Crow held the bag out to them, Yusei and Jack looking at him quizzically before realising that they were holding onto a pair of books.
"Huh. In all the excitement I didn't think to drop… this."
Yusei trailed off, turning his book over and scanning the front cover. Wordlessly, he cracked it open, running his finger down the table of contents, mumbling titles to himself.
"Er, Yusei? Earth to Yusei?"
Yusei snapped the book closed, holding it up to the group. The title 'Legends and Myths of South America' reflected back at them in glossy black letters.
"Yo! Lucky find dude!"
"Well, it's certainly a start." Yusei said, tucking the book in with the rest. "What about you Jack? Pick anything good?"
Jack turned his own book over, cocking an eyebrow.
"One Hundred Recipes for Nettles."
A round of snorts and chuckles went around the group, Aki finding her smile again.
"Well, they couldn't all be winners. Let's give that one to Martha."
"Yeah, we should probably be getting back before she starts worrying. Shame the weather's gone bad though."
The rain wasn't heavy, but it was constant, puddles already forming in the cracks and potholes of Satellite's roads.
"Hey, at least we're dressed for it. Come on, let's get out of here before Security comes in or those dragon guys hit the streets."
The footfall was slightly heavier as they made their way back, the gang slipping between the legs of the men and women grimly heading back to work after their lunch breaks, ducking and weaving through the crowds as they made their way home. Just as they were on the home stretch, Aki noticed a mischievous look enter Crow's eye.
"Hey, hold this for a second."
That was as much warning as she got before the book bag was handed off to her, Crow taking a running start and jumping, feet first, into a puddle that Jack was walking by. But as the water lurched up, the older boy skipped backwards, the dirty water leashing past harmlessly.
"Nice try, but I keep telling you that you're- ".
He was cut off by a splash of rainwater to the face, caught in Crow's cupped hands and thrown straight into his face. As Crow's name was screamed, the redhead was already running, Jack giving quick chase. Yusei sighed, but couldn't really keep the smile from his face.
"Honestly, those two. Still, I think we needed that after that mess earlier. You feeling okay?"
"Yeah." Aki nodded, holding the book bag close to keep the rain off. "It was scary, but it wasn't as bad as the last time we got in trouble."
"I'm just glad we all got out safely, books or no books."
"Yeah. Do you think we'll find anything in them?"
"No idea, but it's a start. I'll start reading them after dinner."
There was a rumble from above, the clouds starting to darken.
"And I think we need to hurry home."
On cue, the rain began to thicken, coming down faster and heavier. With a squeal, the two took off, Yusei grabbing onto one handle of the bag and Aki with the other, holding onto their hoods as they sprinted back to the orphanage. At some point, Jack and Crow re-joined them, Crow looking thoroughly soaked already. It was a look they were all sporting as Martha's house came into view, tumbling through the front door and collapsing on the mat in a sodden heap of raincoats, giggling uncontrollably for no reason whatsoever, if only because they'd been forced to run so hard over nothing.
"Well, I was wondering who'd come crashing in. Picked a fine time for it, we just finished cleaning the floors." Martha scolded, but not unkindly. "Right, showers, all of you. Raincoats in the corner, I'll take care of those."
"Aww, come on Martha, aren't we wet enough?" Crow joked, earning a gentle swat from the mop Martha held. But they made their way up anyway, marvelling at way their clothes had gone all sticky against the skin.
"Honestly, what am I to do with you lot? Did you have fun at least?"
On balance, it was probably one of the more fun days Aki had had in a good while, even with all the chasing and running and worrying about setting Jack on fire. They still didn't have any clue about her powers, but they were closer than she ever thought they'd get.
"Yeah. It was a good day."