ix. nine;
Asuka sips her coffee as she watches the miniature windows of Junko and Momoe on her laptop screen.
In her room with her brand new book at her desk, she is more than ready to dive into it—but, she also remembers that Junko and Momoe would video call her today as well. Sacrificing a good book is a small thing if it's to see her friends again, she believes. Besides, if Junko and Momoe are willing enough to sacrifice their sleep just to talk to her from the other side of the world, Asuka thinks she shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth. (Not to mention, it's a good distraction for her, given these past few days.)
"Momoe, you gotta send me a picture soon. I never got to see what your classroom looks like. Your school is so far from mine!" mentions a pajama-clad Junko from her screen, snacking on a late-night bagel and chewing lightly. "I've always wanted to see what your students look like too."
Momoe smiles in a very motherly way, talking as she ties up her hair in the same fashion that Asuka always remembers her wearing, "Oh, they're the cutest little kids! I wouldn't say complete angels, but they all try their best and have fun. I think that's what matters most for their age."
At this, Asuka remembers that Momoe is a primary school teacher. The blonde is used to seeing teenagers for a good chunk of her days, so it feels weird to mention children. Junko also works as a primary school teacher as well, but alas, fate decided to place Junko and Momoe in different institutions. It feels a little strange since it was always her, Junko, and Momoe—they were a trio. After Asuka had left, it had been just Junko and Momoe. Those two still live in Japan, but it still doesn't feel right to be just Asuka, just Junko, or just Momoe. Luckily, video calls are fairly popular despite the time zone differences.
"You said you took plenty of photos when you took them out on a school trip two months ago," Asuka adds idly, smiling as Momoe perks up.
"That's right, I did! We went to Kyoto—they all adored the deers!" she exclaims, brightly beaming at the camera. "I have a lot of other photos, so I sort of forgot about it."
Junko raises an eyebrow. "Other photos?"
Nodding, Momoe says happily, "I also kept the photos we took in our last year back at Duel Academia. I asked Rei-chan for copies of pictures with us in them, and also the ones from the graduation party since I wanted some memories to keep with me." She begins to rummage at her desk, next to her laptop, for a large chest-like box. "I keep them all in here!"
Nostalgia filling her chest, Asuka smiles warmly. "We could go through them today. It would be a nice trip down memory lane." She really misses those days.
Junko looks mischievous, glancing at Asuka and then at her partner-in-crime. "Momoe, did you also keep the pictures of Asuka in that dress?"
Asuka stops sipping her coffee, letting out a tiny cough. So much for a peaceful trip down memory lane. This month just isn't her month.
"Of course, I did," answers Momoe with an angelic smile, looking like the paradigm of an angel in her modest white nightgown. (Asuka inwardly scoffs. Yeah, right. Even Momoe has her moments of devilish intention.) "They're right here!" With a broad smile, the primary school teacher lifts up various copies of photos of Asuka in a maroon dress and serenely comments, "Dressed like a true queen, wouldn't you say, Junko?"
"Stop…" murmurs Asuka, hiding her face with the rim of her mug, her other arm curled under her chest to cope with firsthand embarrassment.
"But Asuka-sama," teases Junko mercilessly, using the old endearment term she and Momoe had associated with Asuka back then. "You look like the belle of the ball there. If it weren't for your brother, then we wouldn't have seen this!"
"Ah, Fubuki-sama!" squeals Momoe briefly with hearts in her eyes. "He was dressed as the prince! Personally, I think he could be a king! You two would be the perfect royal sibling duo. The photos say it all, Asuka-sama!"
Feeling regretful for even letting Fubuki convince her to wear the dress, Asuka sighs with pink cheeks. "Stop exaggerating. He was just being dramatic and wanted me to go along with it." Heavens know where her brother even got the outfits from. If anything, she agreed to it so that the endless begging would actually stop.
Momoe gives a placating smile. "Still, though. You looked beautiful in these. Do you still have the dress?"
"I gave it back to Nii-san," promptly says Asuka, sulking. It wasn't that great of a dress. It's just a dress. She takes a soothing sip of coffee again. "I never want to wear it or see it again." Though she has to admit, she did have fun that night. It was her graduation night, after all.
Junko looks outright evil, smiling. It's mildly frightening on the tiny screen. "That's too bad. I'm sure there are others who haven't seen you in that dress and would love to see you wear it."
"No there isn't," denies Asuka, swirling her mug around. It's bad enough that all of the student body saw her in it, including Johan and O'Brien. Johan probably dubbed her 'Princess' in his head or something just to laugh at her. Who else is there left that missed seeing the dress?
"Yes there is."
"No there isn't."
"Yes there is." Junko then casually proceeds to use dramatic enunciation in a louder voice for each word: "Isn't that right, Judai?"
Startled, Asuka hastily slams her mug against her desk, narrowing her eyes in a mixture of agony and misery.
Of course. Of course, Judai missed seeing the dress. How could she let that slip past her? Maybe the miserable thought of Johan mockingly calling her 'Princess' occupied her too much to think about it. It's like she can't catch a break.
She immediately hears snickering behind her, so she scowls and furrows her brow and she tries to menacingly turn around to give him the best glare she had ever given anyone in her life—
He looks unaffected and happy.
Drat.
Goodnaturedly, Judai smiles brightly past her shoulders from the door frame of her room and answers her friend with a merry, "Right, Junko!" He also waves, affably. Junko and Momoe both wave back, like they're all still back in school and they're exchanging a greeting in the hallways.
Great. Asuka rolls her eyes and slumps her back against her chair, feeling like she has lost this battle already. She directs a flat look at her two supposed best friends. "Why didn't you two tell me?" So much for solidarity. Then she looks behind her at Judai. "And when did you come in?"
Junko looks away and tries to shield her face with her half-finished bagel, fighting back laughter. Momoe looks amused, but is trying her best to not overdo it by amending it with a halfhearted, "We couldn't find the right time to tell you."
Asuka translates this sentence into, We're all accomplices.
"And I—" Judai speaks up right after Momoe, cheeky. "—got curious when I passed by and heard you talking about Fubuki-san placing Asuka in a dress that I never remembered her wearing!" Now that he's been exposed, he walks further into the room and leans forward a bit to scrutinize Momoe's photo. Smiling, she holds it closer to the camera for him very helpfully, and Asuka wants to bury her face in her pillow as this all happens around her. (She needs to talk with Momoe about picking sides.) "They're right, though. You look good in it," he kindly says, amusedly.
"I said she was beautiful in it," Momoe corrects him with a stifled giggle.
Junko bites into her bagel again with a raised eyebrow. "And I said she was the belle of the ball. You just said good." Dramatically, she closes her eyes in mock offense. "I would think that Asuka-sama is more than just good."
He sighs and mutters with a roll of his eyes, "Fine. Pretty." This is one of those times where she is grateful for his limited vocabulary. She'd accept this over being called Princess or some sort of other flowery adjective.
Clasping her hands in a peacemaking manner that she probably uses a lot with her students, Momoe coos an appeasing: "Much better! If I were there with you, I'd give you copies!"
"I'd take them and frame them!" he musingly jests, cradling his chin just to play along. Asuka is horrified as she sits there. It seems that he's already well-adapted in converting her own friends against herself.
Junko also decides to betray her by suggesting gleefully, "Hang them in the living room so she can see them everyday! Make a collage!" Judai looks even more intrigued by the idea.
There is a bad side to video calls, notices Asuka grimly. Video calls mean that she can't directly march up to Momoe and snatch the offending photos and shred them up. (Then she'd feel extremely guilty because Momoe would probably cry.) Video calls also mean that she can't do anything while everyone gangs up on her like she's some buttmonkey.
However, for her, one of the perpetrators is currently in her room. In which, she can do something about.
So with great purpose, Asuka bravely stands up and starts grabbing Judai by the back of his turtleneck shirt and drags him to the door, his feet stumbling across her floor as she does so.
Sometimes, she wonders how strong she is if she could lug him around with no problems—but at least it comes in handy if dealing with firsthand embarrassment and also ridding the source of the aforementioned firsthand embarrassment. He's a bit taller than her now, but it's nice to know that she can still hold something over him once in a while. (No pun intended, of course.)
"Not again!" wails Judai, face blanching.
She vaguely remembered lifting him by his collar when they were at a cliff years ago. He was gloomy and fishing and she was angry and worried, mainly indignant that he was angsting his life away and he couldn't even find enough energy to take a few pictures for the school yearbook as a favor to Rei. He was talking about how dangerous it was to lift him near a cliffside, but Asuka remembers not really caring because he worried her more than the cliff. She just never realized how much he apparently fears her strength. (Good. At least he'll know not to gang up on her next time.)
She gently pushes him out of her room. Knowing that Junko and Momoe are still watching, Asuka looks at him with crossed arms and sternly emphasizes, "Stay out."
Probably relieved that he's unscathed, Judai rolls his eyes. "You're not being a good roommate right now." Perhaps he's not aware that roommates have privacy boundaries. He already broke some boundaries yesterday with their hands—
Not responding, she slams the door on him; locks it this time for security measures. She walks back to her laptop with an obvious huff.
"Has he been here in your apartment for long?" asks Junko amusedly while finishing up the last of her bagel. "I didn't know he was here, so it startled me. Haven't really seen him around anymore, y'know." (That's what she says, but Asuka knows it couldn't have been that surprising if Junko still played along with him. Psh, accomplices.)
Sourly, Asuka wearily sits down at her desk. "Since the beginning of last week."
Momoe butts in, looking gossipy. "For what?"
Knowing how her friends are, she replies, "He just wants a place to stay. He does this with Johan and Jim too."
"Okay." Junko momentarily sips her bottled water after nodding. "I thought it was something else, honestly." Asuka wonders what this means. "But I can see it's also like him to go around crashing at people's places. He's weird like that."
The answer from Junko is enough to make Asuka content because there are no signs of prying from Junko, but it seems that Momoe won't give up. "What do you two do when he's here?"
Sometimes, Asuka would wonder how it was possible that she survived Duel Academia with Momoe, because Momoe sometimes seemed too different from her. For example, Momoe thrived on romance and gossip with Junko while Asuka favored studies and dueling. Opposites attract, she supposes. "We went fishing together a few times. I watched, he fished." It seems safe enough to tell. Asuka doesn't mention the trout because it's more trouble than what it's worth.
"What else happened?" Momoe leans closer to the camera, interestedly. Junko shakes her head.
"What would you like to know…?" If she knows Momoe by now—
Momoe smiles dreamily, "Anything between you two?"
Always the romanticist, Asuka fondly thinks, exasperated. Junko had been one too, but perhaps she grew out of it after becoming a teacher. If Asuka focuses hard enough, maybe she can conclude that Momoe thinks this is a giant romantic comedy to her. Momoe always did like to indulge in those with Junko before bed time at Duel Academia.
Junko and Momoe never really did like Judai in the beginning, but she did notice that they began treating him like any other acquaintance of theirs later on past their first year together. Perhaps they befriended him a bit during their second year, but Asuka doesn't remember much from second year. However, she did remember defending him and his name before, so maybe her two friends finally saw the good in him at some point. Asuka's not sure what specifically convinced them to change their perspective on Judai, but she's grateful that Junko and Momoe gave him a chance. The fact that they played along with him five minutes ago against her says a lot about how much they opened up to him, like they trust him with her—
Right. Back to the situation at hand.
She still isn't entirely sure of what her relationship is with him, so Asuka says delicately, "We're… roommates." He's the one who confirmed this anyway.
Her tone might have tipped something off because Junko casually asks, "So something did happen?" The brunette sets her bottled water aside.
Quietly, she sits there unsurely. Fifteen year old Asuka would've just said nothing. But she isn't fifteen anymore.
She's, unfortunately, still in love and still doesn't know what to do.
Asuka exhales softly. "I told him—" She doesn't sugarcoat it, she doesn't disguise it as something else. Because she's Tenjoin Asuka, and she acknowledges that these feelings are still here for a reason. And since these feelings are real, sugarcoating is unnecessary. "—that I love him. That's all."
Knowingly, Junko simply nods. "I see." Asuka wonders if she had been that obvious. Momoe squeals quietly, with much restraint, from her screen. "Momoe," Junko warningly hisses, wagging a stern finger.
"I'm sorry!" Momoe squawks, unable to contain her excitement, her fists balled up to her mouth. "I'm just very happy for you, Asuka! I know you aren't really big on love, so it makes me very thrilled to see that you finally have a chance to experience it once in your life. Falling in love is wonderful, like looking at shooting stars!" Momoe's eyes glisten brightly.
If only Momoe knew what really happened. Asuka just sits there, quiet.
"Enlighten us," Junko indulgently suggests.
"Stars are always in the sky, so people sometimes don't pay attention to them since they're always there. No matter what, they're still going to be there. Not shooting stars, though. A shooting star flies by super quickly and you might miss it if you didn't pay attention to it—but when you do see one, it's like being in a dream. They're a once-in-lifetime sort of thing, so you need to put in extra effort if you want to see them." Sighing dreamily, Momoe clasps her hands close to her chest. "Everything happens so fast. When that shooting star flies past you, it'll take a long time for it to come back—so it's important that you don't miss it if you want to see it."
The more she listens, the more Asuka can only think about her birthday: she and him sitting under the stars and the dream-like feeling vanishing the moment reality dropped on her.
"I think you need to lay off the romance novels and films for a while." Junko shakes her head. "But I guess I see your point, no matter how terribly cheesy that was."
Puffing her cheeks, Momoe pouts, "It's not that cheesy!" Her face begins to look painstakingly contemplative about the comment anyway. "Is it…?"
"Anyway, Asuka," Junko sighs, turning her attention back. Momoe keeps pouting quietly, putting away the graduation photos. "If you ever find yourself struggling about it, don't forget what you said during graduation. If we're ever in trouble, it helps to remember everything we've been through; let your bonds guide you. It's one thing to fall in love, but it's also another thing to act on those feelings. We can't read minds, so remember to be patient. I won't ask what happened, but Momoe is right in a sense. Be patient, but don't miss your opportunities."
Asuka mulls to herself. "I never said anything happened."
"You wouldn't look so bothered if everything was okay. You always make sure you know what you're doing." Offhandedly, Junko also mentions with a smile, "Besides, you've been waiting for years, right? I'm glad it's paying off."
She blinks. Then another blink. "What gave me away?" Not really the best reaction, but if she managed to deal with being rejected and managed to talk face-to-face with Yubel, then Asuka's pretty sure nothing can faze her anymore.
Junko makes it sound like she's known about it for years, but Asuka doesn't remember telling anyone. Although, if Fubuki and Johan know about it, then maybe she's not really as elusive as she had thought herself to be? Maybe their second year really did open Junko and Momoe's eyes about Judai? They talked to him a bit in first year, but she didn't have these feelings for him until after second year… How much did they talk with Judai in second year? Maybe it was third year that gave her away? Judai never knew about her feelings until now, so Junko and Momoe couldn't possibly know unless Asuka herself did something to give it away, but she can't recall anything that would—
Junko averts her eyes casually. Giving her a dull look, Asuka crosses her arms. "Your signs were pretty obvious to me," she admits reluctantly, poking her index fingers together. "You mention him a lot. You always hang out at the Osiris dorms when you're not with us. Unless there's more you're not telling me."
Momoe squints at the screen momentarily, like Junko betrayed her. "Junko, you didn't tell me that she mentioned him a lot back then."
"I got sidetracked by Fubuki-sama and then I forgot about it for a while," the brunette explains with a sheepish smile. Both Momoe and Asuka give her a look, respectively betrayed and exasperated. "What?! He was giving out autographs! Autographs! And handshakes! Photos!" (Asuka thinks that Judai is lucky that he isn't as dumb as her brother.)
"I visited the Osiris dorms a lot because that's where everyone met up at," mutters Asuka from the side.
Momoe smiles consolingly and chimes kindly, "You have good teamwork." She does remember both Junko and Momoe there for the tag duel, at least. Okay, so maybe it was third year that tipped them off? "You match each other."
Junko adds, "A sign that you're comfortable with each other."
Comfortable? She wanted to say something about how roommates are usually comfortable with each other, but the words die at the tip of her tongue. If only they knew about the tension she and him had after her birthday. Or yesterday with their hands. If Yubel is keeping track of her 'problems,' the list is probably long by now.
"Ah," says Asuka dully, knowing better than to retort. Besides, two against one isn't really fair anyway. It was bad enough that it was three against one earlier.
Junko takes a glance at Asuka's expression and quietly thinks about something. "By the way, did you ever get my birthday email to you? I sent you a gift in the mail too, but I don't know if it ever came."
"I sent you something too!" Momoe smiles along.
Knowing that the change of topic is deliberate, Asuka gratefully smiles and answers, "I got yours, Junko. I think yours might have been delayed, Momoe."
.
.
"I don't hear talking anymore, so is the coast clear yet or did you decide to ban me?" she hears Judai dryly ask outside of her bedroom door about three hours later, knocking twice.
Having long since finished with her conversation with her friends, Asuka had been diligently reading at her desk and periodically checking her email and the clock. She's tempted to tell him yes to banning him, but that'd be mean. Instead, she puts down her book, props an elbow on the back of her chair, and rolls her eyes. "No, you're not banned. The door is unlocked now."
She hears the door open as she goes back to her book. "Still mad?"
"No," answers Asuka flatly, flipping a page in her book. She offers semi-jokingly, "State your purpose or leave."
Judai plops on her bed, flat on his back. "I can't just come in for no reason?" Unconvinced, she raises an eyebrow. He folds his arms behind his head and tells her, "I need a break. I've been playing by myself for a while and there's nothing on TV right now, and I'm bored! Yubel keeps shooting down my jokes and Pharaoh is too lazy to do anything. You're my last hope, Asuka."
"What am I supposed to do?" she asks, amused.
He sits up and proclaims brightly, "Duel with me! You can even use that new Cyber Tutubon card you bought!"
Asuka mockingly thinks, "Hm, do I continue reading in peace or do I let you demand me to duel you like a barbarian?" She's admittedly lazy too right now, and she's enjoying her book.
Looking scandalized, he flops back down on her bed in feigned misery. "Not you too! Asuka, you disappoint me!" Almost endearingly, she smiles at him. "Fine, I'll just organize my deck on your bed," he mutters indignantly, whipping out his deck from his deck holder and scrambling the cards on her blanket.
She lets him, her smile lingering. "Go ahead."
Judai quietly muses to himself after glancing at her hunched over her desk, then he speaks up, "Asuka—" She looks up. "—sit here." He pats the free spot on her bed beside him as he leans his back against the wall. She blinks, blankly staring at him. "It's more comfortable than a chair over here."
Eyebrow raising, she becomes piqued. "Why?"
He manages a lighthearted: "Roommate bonding time?" Judai stops sorting his cards for a moment and shows her a grin, like he wants her to play along because they're roommates and roommates always play along with each other. Playing along with each other like a team. It makes her laugh a little. She remembers that he's much better than her at motivational speaking, but it was her trying to boost up team morale between them that day of their tag duel while he… brooded? Unenthusiastically participated? She could never really find one word to describe him that day.
She stifles a laugh, perking. "You say it like it's a game."
"Hm, alright," he replies, feigning seriousness and tapping a card against his chin. "Roommate Bonding Time is a game where I convince you to sit on the bed because it's bad for you to keep leaning your neck down like that." Asuka doesn't bother hiding her smile as he tries to pretend to look disappointedly at her and her book. "So far, I'm not doing so good."
Playing along, she pipes, "Even though you invented this game?"
He solemnly nods. "I can't help it if you're bad at this game, Asuka."
"Well, I wasn't aware we were playing a game to begin with, Judai." Shaking her head, she smiles as she finally decides to show him mercy by standing from her chair with her book in hand. Judai has some silly ways of looking out for her, but she can't deny that it's endearing. Settling herself on her bed, she leaves at least five inches between them and props her book on her kneecaps as she also leans against the wall. "Happy?"
From her periphery, she sees him scoot to her to inspect her book. "No, because you're still leaning and reading!" he whines, rolling his eyes.
Lazily, she inquires, "Then what should I do? It's pretty late to do anything." He opens his mouth— "I'm not really in the mood to duel either," she deadpans, fighting back a smile at his pout.
"Fine, keep reading," he dramatically sighs in defeat. "One of these days, I'll be able to tell you an I-told-you-so and call you Hunchback."
Rolling her eyes, she goes back to reading as he goes back to sorting.
She wonders if this is what Junko and Momoe meant when they said she and him were comfortable with each other because of their teamwork? This less-than-five-inches gap between them right now doesn't really bother her since she's used to being near him. They've sat like this before next to each other in the past too—like that night at the cliffside before she found out that Mitsuo stormed into Duel Academia.
Although, it's a little strange. She freaked out when he held her hand yesterday, but she is at peace with a less-than-five-inches gap while sitting on her bed. Ever since they had their talk about the Dark World, he went back to being normal again around her. But if things are really back to normal, then why would Yubel bring up her needing to rectify a 'problem' anyway? Asuka still can't decipher this, so maybe she misinterpreted the statement? He held her hand, but she isn't sure if that's a certified 'problem' to Yubel.
"By the way," he suddenly says, penetrating the silence between them. Once more, she looks at him. "Thanks for being such a star," Judai mentions with a goofy grin, stifling his chuckling as he continues to place cards down in piles.
Star? For a moment, Asuka is really confused— But then, it suddenly clicks. "You heard?"
Whatever happened to her privacy anymore? Maybe she should ban him...
He admits with a nervous chuckle, "I only heard the part about the stars because I walked past your room to grab a snack. It really did sound cheesy."
She frowns into the pages of her book and squares her shoulders as she sulks. Never again will she talk about this to Junko and Momoe. (At least, not while he's visiting.) "Roommates don't eavesdrop," she mutters embarrassedly.
"Well, in my defense, Momoe wasn't really being quiet!" She still continues to sulk. As Judai looks at her, he smiles and fondly taps her head with a card he's holding. "Y'know, the sky would look pretty plain without you there."
Huffing, she leans her head against the wall and looks up at the ceiling and imagines the sky and stars and them. Her gaze softens. "It would be plain without you too." (Momoe would squeal for days if she were here.)
He doesn't say anything, and she hopes this line means something to him like it does to her. So what if he had heard her conversation earlier? If he did hear them talking, it would only reinforce the fact that she loves him and he knows that already. There's nothing else for her to hide from him. She's pretty sure that they've discussed mostly everything that day at the lake.
And besides, roommates can't really hide things from each other anyway, right?
She won't make assumptions that he feels something back for her, but it's been another day and he's still here. The week is close to ending and he's still going to leave when it's over, but he's still here and he's not leaving early.
This still means a lot to her. It really does. He rejected her, but this friendship means something to him because he's still here. He's still learning to cope with his personal struggles, but he has found a semblance of peace for himself here at her apartment. He really is like a star in a way: one that's trying to sustain the shine it once lost.
Suddenly, she hears: "Asuka."
She stirs from her reverie. Her head turns questioningly from her book, and she notes the softness of his eyes. She doesn't know why his eyes look like that, and briefly wonders if it's just an effect from the light in her room. "Yes, Judai?"
He smiles, and she's confused. "Thank you."
There's a long silence. The world is quiet, she doesn't read the words off her book, he doesn't pick up a card, they both sit there on her bed in a peaceful stillness: reality freezes for a moment as she repeats the sentence in her head, wondering if there's a double meaning in his words like from when she and Yubel talked. She can't seem to determine a double meaning for either conversation.
So, she asks a tentative, "For what?"
"Just... thanks for everything," is all he replies, sounding tender before he goes back to his card sorting again. She sits there quietly, mulling.
There could be a thousand things he could be thanking her for, and she feels like she will never know why unless he tells her that himself. However, she does know that she does a lot for him. She cares about him. Of course, she would do many things for him. She respects that he can do things by himself, but she still helps because teammates do many things for each other—because they can respect that they can depend on each other's strengths to make up for what they can't do alone. Because he has her and she has him.
Yubel had told her that Judai was as confused as her about something, but he doesn't really look that confused anymore right now. So, since he's thanking her, she's glad that she was able to help him in some way. His thank you sounded truly genuine, very heartfelt, and it sent her heart lurching for a moment because it's always him who helps her.
Lips curling up, Asuka says a tender, "You're welcome," because even though she still doesn't know what he's thanking her for, she does know that it must mean a lot to him.
.
.
notes: last chapter will be released early, on the 31st! [heart]
