Didn't get the chance to reply to all of the reviews from last chapter due to exams and whatnot. Sorry about that.
Everyone should find out what the late phone call to Yusei was about in this chapter.
And yes, there will be Scoopshipping. ^^
The geographical separation of Satellite and City in this story will be explained near the end of this chapter.
Anyways, please enjoy the next chapter of A Ruckus of Leaves.
Chapter Four - Ghost
"Mikage-san, is it? …I didn't expect her to be up so late."
Yusei flitted through the list of messages left on his phone. He was a morning person by habit and today, like usual, was up at first light of dawn. To his surprise, his inbox contained an unusually late message, sent after he fell asleep last night. It was from Mikage.
The more he read, the more Yusei felt the unease with which she must have composed it. Beneath her usual concise and measured language there was an underlying concern, or perhaps even fear, that seeped out as she recounted how there had been an incident last night, and that Goodwin had requested Yusei to go into the Public Security Maintenance Bureau early in the morning. As for what incident, where, and why Yusei had to be present at the Security building, she did not say. Presumably, he would have to find it out himself.
While he got himself ready to leave for the Security headquarters, he briefly wondered if Jack was still at the hospital he had left him in. He decided to file that certain issue to the back of his head. After sending Carly a sincere apology via text messaging – she was one person that he was sure would not be up and about so early in the day – he got out of the house on his D-Wheel, heading towards the overwhelming tall tower that served as the heart of Neo Domino City's policing force.
When he got there, to his surprise, Mikage was already waiting for him down at the reception. Afraid that she may have already waited for a while, Yusei rushed up.
"King." Mikage's attitude toward him was reverent as usual, but within her large bronze eyes there was more than one shade of concern. "How are you feeling this morning?"
Yusei knew she must have meant the party from last night. "I'm fine, Mikage-san. I just wasn't feeling too well. I'm alright now."
"Is it so?" Mikage lowered her head. Yusei sensed that something was definitely wrong.
"What is it, Mikage-san?"
Heaving a heavy breath, Mikage looked at Yusei, her mouth twisted with hesitation. "I'm not sure if this morning's meeting with Director Goodwin is a good idea for you after last night, King."
Yusei was puzzled. "Please, speak what you have in mind, Mikage-san."
"But I can't do that," Mikage bit her lips. "As much as I'd like not to let you know certain things, I can't drag you away against the Director's wishes… I'm sorry, King. As your assistant, I can't even shield you..."
"Mikage-san, you're doing more than enough already." Yusei said gently. "Although you're my assistant, you're still a Security officer. I won't force you to disobey orders." He gave Mikage a reassuring nod. "I'll go up and sit through whatever Uncle Goodwin has to say. Don't beat yourself up over it."
"If you say so, King." Turning around, Mikage closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "This way please. We're going to the top floor, to the Director's office."
The elevator hummed its way up to the topmost floor, leaving Yusei plenty of time to wonder about what could be waiting for him. When he saw Ushio, sitting uncomfortably in Rex Goodwin's office and casting uneasy glances all around, he thought he had figured out what the problem was about. Goodwin must have found out about Jack.
"Yusei, welcome," Rex Goodwin greeted Yusei warmly. Yusei stopped the apology that he was about to voice. Nothing seemed to be out of place. Despite Ushio's unease, it didn't appear that he was being scolded. The wall-length screen facing Goodwin's table was active, the video currently being played paused on a blurry and dark scene.
Mikage bowed towards Goodwin, and the old man nodded in return, gesturing towards two empty seats. Rather gingerly, they took the seats.
Goodwin sat down too and crossed his hands on the table. "Yusei, I believe that Mikage-san had told you to come here this morning as early as possible. Is that correct?"
Yusei nodded in affirmation. He felt that this may not be about Jack and waited for Goodwin to continue.
"Yusei." To the blue-eyed young man's surprise, it was Ushio who went on. "You probably don't know about this, but there has been an attack on a D-Wheeler in the City late last night."
"An attack?" Yusei queried. That was weird. Most other vehicles find it hard to keep up with D-Wheels, let alone the notion of attacking those duelling machines.
Ushio coughed. "Yes, attack. Yusei, do you happen to remember someone called Kageyama? A guy in the Security Fourth Cohort who used to work under me?"
Yusei sought for the man's image for a little while in his mind. "I do… was he the one who's a big fan of me? I heard he even got a D-Wheel that looks a lot like mine."
There was an awkward look passed between Goodwin and Ushio. The other Security went on after a small pause.
"Kageyama was off duty yesterday, and he was riding back home on his D-Wheel late last night," Ushio explained. "On the way back, he was attacked in a most brutal manner. He called for help via the Security internal line, so we now have footage and some recordings that we've retrieved from his D-Wheel." He motioned towards the giant screen.
Yusei simply nodded again. He still didn't know why he had to watch this, though.
Ushio started the video from the beginning. Kageyama had obviously made the call in a hurry. The camera, positioned just on top of the D-Wheel's screen, showed a large shot of the man's face. Yusei almost smiled when he realised how similar the other man's helmet was to his own, but the smile faded from his lips when he registered the man's panicking expression. Moreover, behind Kageyama, something was looming near. Something large, reddish, and sharp… for example, a red dragon's wingtip.
"Security, calling Security Emergency Line!" Kageyama was literally screaming into the camera despite the strong wind blowing into his face. "I'm Kageyama, under attack on duel lane 2A-7 from an unknown D-Wheel. My opponent is not normal –"
His voice ended abruptly here. In the blink of an eye, the entire screen was awash with red. Kageyama was in the middle of the duel, and he had just taken a direct hit that got his life points to fall to zero. But this image wasn't normal. Holograms were not supposed to be this powerful. Just as those thoughts were racing through Yusei's head, the screen spattered and went completely black.
"At this point, the camera on Kageyama's D-Wheel broke," Ushio muttered.
Evidently, the microphone lasted a while longer. There were sounds of another D-Wheel stopping beside Kageyama. Then, silence. A long while later, so long that Yusei almost thought the footage was finished, there came a simple sentence.
"My mistake. This isn't Yusei."
Yusei jolted in his seat.
"The footage finishes here," Ushio commented.
"Play that again." Through gritted teeth, Yusei practically ordered.
Was that… really her voice?
Ushio obediently replayed it. Yusei ignored all of Kageyama's screams, all the fire, and waited for that voice.
My mistake. This isn't Yusei.
Goodwin sighed. "We were hoping to see if you could tell us whether this is a synthetic voice, Yusei." He looked straight at the younger man's face. "What do you think?"
Yusei's fingers dug into his seat. Synthetic? Never. He would always recognise Aki's voice. It wasn't fake. It wasn't fake.
"It's genuine." He managed to squeeze those words out of his mouth.
Goodwin nodded solemnly. "As I thought. It seems she isn't dead after all."
"May I speak to Kageyama sometime soon, Uncle Goodwin?" Yusei asked softly.
"No, Yusei." Goodwin's voice became particularly grave. "Kageyama is already dead."
Ushio gave a nervous look at Yusei, and Mikage bowed her head. Yusei bit his lip and tried his best to avoid the eyes of everyone else in the room.
The Director took all of this in at a glance." Thank you, Yusei," he nodded to the young man. "I'm sure you've got many other things on your hands as the King. You can go now if you wish."
Yusei pushed himself out of the chair and stood up. "Then, excuse me, Uncle Goodwin."
As he walked out of the room, Ushio narrowed his eyes. "Would be it be a good idea to let Yusei go off on his own now, Director?" He asked as soon as the door closed after Yusei.
Goodwin grimaced. "The boy was dying to get out. Mikage-san," he stopped Mikage, who was about to get up and follow Yusei out, with a look, "let Yusei stay by himself for a while."
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Yusei rapidly traversed the corridor leading toward the elevators, his steps matching his quickening heartbeat. He almost bolted out of the elevator when it reached the ground floor garage. The short sojourn in Goodwin's artificially-illuminated office felt so long that the warm sunlight he felt on his hand right now was almost like a mirage to him.
"What's wrong with me?"
The King sank into his D-Wheel. He never ran from problems. He never felt such a strong urge to escape from any situation. Was this all so different because it was about Aki?
No, it was not just about Aki; a small voice in his mind answered. This was different because it was about a Psychic Duelist going about the City at night beating Duelists who looked like Yusei and a killer who had taken yet another life and a murderer who sounded like she had no remorse…!
He forcibly stopped his thoughts from going down that lane but her voice, the words said so coldly and mechanically, echoed in his head. This isn't Yusei This isn't Yusei This isn't Yusei This isn't Yusei
What if it was Yusei? And what would she do once she found Yusei?
"A… ki…"
He should have felt happy, elated, exalted. He had finally confirmed that she was still alive. While he did feel relieved, there was also sorrow for Kageyama, rage for her action, guilt for being its cause, and most of all an overwhelming terror. A terror so completely enveloping that he could feel himself shaking all over. Like the cold fingers of a ghostly hand, the freezing tendrils of an evil chill slowly climbed up his spine.
He would soon ride out – soon have to ride out to meet her, but right now Fudo Yusei simply stayed on his D-Wheel trying to fight this fear. A fear that he had never known before. The fear of knowing that a Psychic Duelist was on the hunt.
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Jack just had to be up and about and walk into the sitting room as soon as Carly got up herself.
And he just had to greet her in a most surly manner first thing in the morning. What a great way to start the day.
Facing Carly, who was busy reading texts in her phone with a smile on her face, Jack plonked himself down on a chair beside the dining table. From Carly's happy expressions, Jack didn't even need to guess who sent the message to her. Without even looking at her, and while admiring the clear sky of the City that provided such a stark contrast to the constant gray of Satellite, he asked.
"So, are you the King's woman?"
Carly, shocked, glaring at him, momentarily at a loss of what to say. Jack paid no attention to her and started to chew on the jam and toast that she had prepared for herself.
"O – of course not!" The yell she managed to voice at last didn't disturb any of Jack's nonchalance. "What made you think that? And why did you have to say it so rudely? Did – did no one teach you manners as a kid?" She managed to utter the worse insult she could have thought up at the moment.
Jack's purple eyes looked down and fixed coolly on Carly. The reporter involuntarily recoiled, but gritted her teeth and steeled herself to continue facing him.
"No," Jack growled. "Unlike you civilised people in the City, I didn't have that privilege."
He turned away from her, toast in hand.
"And you – you haven't even thanked me for bringing you out of the hospital and away from Security!"
"You decided to do that yourself." Jack's voice was cold. "I didn't ask you to do it, so I won't thank you."
"What – you – you –"
"What?" Jack spoke when Carly continued to try to get words out of her throat. "Is Yusei so unhappy with you taking me in?"
"He – he wasn't going to send you to the detention centres anyway." Carly bit her lip. "He wouldn't have done that, even to you."
"I knew that," Jack glanced down at his right arm. "I knew he wouldn't."
Although Jack's tone didn't change in any way, Carly felt as if she touched upon the thing that was bothering Yusei last night. How was Jack certain that Yusei would leave him alone? Carly didn't think it was because Jack knew about Yusei's gentle nature.
"Where's my D-Wheel?" Jack abruptly changed the topic.
"In the garage." Carly crossed her arms.
Jack turned back to look at her. This time he was genuinely surprised. He had assumed that his vehicle would be kept at the Security headquarters to prevent him from escaping.
"I'm not worried about you running away at the moment," Carly went on. "You've got nowhere to go in the City. You don't know anyone here, and you aren't even fit to drive yet." She gestured towards the bandages that still covered Jack's arms and hands.
Jack narrowed his eyes and regarded the young, bespectacled woman in front of him carefully. He had thought her to be one of those typical female reporters, obsessed with the latest gossip and jumping at every chance they can get to get a good story out. This one, however, dealt with objects of potential scoops a bit differently.
"You trust me that much?" He sneered at her. "You aren't bothered about having me in your house?"
Carly pouted, briefly. "I believe you're not dangerous."
Jack laughed inwardly and continued eating. In front of him, Carly was staring at him. When Jack finished his toast, Carly pushed a plate over to him with more bread. Jack accepted it without any expression of gratitude.
He knew how well his body can cope with things. For now, he would stay put a while longer. The most important thing right now was that he was currently in the City and at least, for now, a free man. It was good that Carly's got his D-Wheel close. Jack suspected that Security would still be monitoring Carly's house, but that can't keep up forever.
He'll soon be leaving.
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Later that day, Ruka happily waved her friends goodbye as they left the front gate of the Duel Academy. The young girl couldn't help but smile even as she turned and walked away. Today had been the school festival, with each class coming up with wondrous themes and each student dressed up in anything but their daily uniforms. Ruka giggled to herself, remembering the naughty antics of his brother and his friends, which was the reason that they had all ended up staying behind at the school to clean up the resultant mess of their pranks. Wearing a large hood that completely covered up her green hair, Ruka could have skipped along the road had she not been concerned about accidentally dropping her Duel Disk that she carried on her back along with her bag. Taking her deck out of her skirt pocket, she grinned at it. "Wasn't it such a fun day?" She said to no one in particular, at least in appearance.
She expected her deck to pulse in agreement and delight. However, she could feel no such response. Ruka's olivine eyes widened in concern.
"What's wrong…?"
Something was definitely wrong. The aura that her deck gave off was defensive and full of apprehension. Quickly, Ruka looked around her.
She found the problem easily. It stood out as incongruously as a bad smell or a stain – not so much a stain she saw with her vision, but a stain perceived with her mind.
In fact, anyone else apart from her would have dismissed that D-Wheel driving slowly away from her as nothing more than an ordinary D-Wheeler taking his beloved machine out for a ride. The pose of the rider was casual and relaxed. There was no apparent reason for anyone to suspect anything. With his back to Ruka, she couldn't even determine what he looked like. Nonetheless, she was rooted to the ground, watching that black D-Wheel getting further and further from her toward the direction where a few of her friends were heading home. Ruka could still glimpse the green wig that one of them had put on.
Unable to dispel this uneasy feeling, the young girl frowned and looked down at her deck. "Regulus", she whispered. Although she had kept her voice low, a few high school students that happened to walk past her gave her odd glances, obviously wondering why a girl would stand in the middle of the pavement speaking to her deck.
She paid them no attention. The fact that Ruka could see and communicate with card spirits was a secret to begin with.
Ruka had been a card game genius as a young child. She mastered Duel Monsters when she was only three years old. She would probably become a junior champion had she continued that way. However, she had collapsed for no apparent reason during a junior tournament when she was four, and fell straight into a coma. Her parents were puzzled, her brother was terrified, but it just may have been the best thing that happened to Ruka in her life so far.
Ever since her miraculously reawakening from that causeless coma, Ruka had been able to perceive the world of Duel Monster spirits, although it would seem that such communication drained her of her strength. She had been constantly weak ever since then, prone to fainting spells and dizziness, and sometimes it was hard for her to even stand through an entire duel, especially not when she could hear and see all the spirits around her. Understandably, she had disappeared from junior tournaments since then, content with just duelling her brother once on a while. Even when she entered Duel Academy she had, at first, tried to avoid more duels than necessary. Her body and mind seemed to get stronger as she grew, though, so now Ruka can finally trust herself to duel continuously without any physical symptoms.
Her secret ability was known only to a few. Even her parents, perpetually away on one trip or another, remained oblivious to it. The only people who knew it probably only consist of Rua and Yusei. Rua, because he was her sibling, her twin, the person she spent most of her days with. Yusei did seem to be a strange choice of a confidant, but Ruka found it to be fine since he had grown up with Aki, whose powers were equally strange compared to her own. Ruka supposed that she herself could count as a Psychic Duelist too, although she rarely used the power of the spirits. After all, Duel Monster spirits could interfere with the physical world much better than holograms ever could.
I'm here, Ruka. Did you sense that too?
Ruka didn't need to turn around to confirm the presence of the spirit named Regulus that stood behind her. A lion-shaped Duel Monster spirit, Regulus was the one who had protected Ruka the most and conversed most often with her, being one of her favourite cards in her deck. She walked to lean against the brick wall of the building next to the pavement, so that the passers-by would only think of her as a small girl muttering to herself as she watched the afternoon sun.
From what Regulus said, it seemed Ruka's concerns were not unfounded.
"I sensed it," Ruka whispered an answer, looking up at the armoured lion looming beside her that she alone could see. "What is it, Regulus?"
Regulus's brow furrowed above his big brown eyes. That man forebodes danger to you, child. I feel as if he was waiting for you. Be glad that he moved away. He probably mistook you for someone else with your hood on. The spirit nudged on Ruka's hood as he said this.
Ruka peered past Regulus at the D-Wheel that was receding out of her sight like a dark ghost fading into the approaching night. "Probably mistook me for – oh!" She suddenly gave a small cry and put her hand to her mouth to mute it. Regulus looked at her with increasing concern.
"Regulus, Patty – Patty's wearing a green wig!" Ruka looked up at Regulus, the horror of the realisation coming over her. "The D-Wheel went after Patty and everyone else's direction. Regulus, do you think –"
The spirit's leonine face was grave. But before he could say anything, however, Ruka was already running down the street.
Ruka, wait! The spirit caught up easily and ran beside her. Where are you going?
"I can't let him hurt Patty!" Ruka said breathlessly as she ran.
He has a D-Wheel, Ruka. Regulus voiced.
"I know, which is why I need… to get my Riding Duel… deck and my… Duel Board from home… Fairy Archer!"
A small fairy spirit emerged from Ruka's deck at her call. Ruka gestured behind her. "Please… follow that D-Wheel."
With a nod, the spirit flew off. Regulus stayed at Ruka's side. Are you sure about this, Ruka?
"My friends might get hurt…. because of me," Ruka panted. "I can't let… such a thing happen, Regulus." She looked at the spirit pleadingly. The lion finally nodded.
Thankfully, Duel Academy wasn't too far away from her home in Tops. She raced home, adjusted her deck, grabbed her Duel Board, and put on the protective gear of red knee guards, elbow guards, helmet, and gloves. Different to the D-Wheels, which were literally duelling motorcycles, the Duel Board allows its user to link his or her Duel Disk to a specifically designed skateboard and was very popular among young duelists. Just as she had finished strapping on all the gear and ran out of the front door of the apartment building she lived in, Duel Board in hand, she almost bumped into Rua.
"Ru – Ruka?" Her brother, confused, was looking at her with a confused expression. Ruka lost no time in connecting her Duel Disk with the Duel Board, barely pausing to speak to Rua.
"Sorry Rua, gotta go save Patty." She left those words behind as she started the Duel Board. "I'll be back soon!"
Rua, looking at his sister's rapidly repeating figure, was quite dumbfounded. "Gotta go save Patty?" He repeated to himself. "What did she mean…? Gotta go save Patty… wait, save Patty?"
Rua blinked in the setting afternoon sun that was gradually sinking beneath the horizon. Why would his sister need to save one of their friends? He could not imagine his frail and gentle sister as a heroine of such kind.
Nonetheless, she had taken her Duel Board in what seemed a great hurry. Rua had no idea what was going in, but he could tell Ruka wasn't acting normal. Something important must be up, and Ruka may need his help whether she realised it or not. He wouldn't allow his sister to get hurt.
Rua quickly got on the elevator and pressed the button for the top floor, which was where they lived. Within moments, he was out of the door with his own suit of blue protective gear and Duel Board, using the GPS system provided for all duelling vehicles to track down Ruka through her Duel Board's registration number. Before he left his house, though, he left a message for the one other person whom he thought may need to know about this as well.
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Darkness had already firmly enveloped Neo Domino City in its lightless cloak when Jack stirred awake. He had slept away most of the afternoon. Groaning, he rubbed his eyes, and caught the sound of Carly speaking on the phone outside in the living room.
Yusei was calling. Carly was glad to hear from him. He sounded like he was back to his normal self, calm, composed, quietly confident. At least, that was what she thought at first. The words he spoke were worrying.
"Carly, have you seen the twins around?" Yusei quickly cut to the point after some greetings.
"Twins?" Carly repeated. "You mean… Rua and Ruka?"
"Yes." Yusei sighed. "Rua left a message on my phone about half an hour ago, saying he's going to help his sister to save a classmate and that they're gonna go on their Duel Boards."
"Oh? That sure was a weird message." Carly gave a soft laugh. "Are you sure they didn't take their Duel Boards to duel their classmates?"
On the other side of the line, Yusei fell silent. "I don't know," he said in a low voice, suddenly preoccupied. "Rua sounded it was more serious than that. Moreover, it's just not safe for the twins to be roaming around at night while that person's around… "
Carly didn't understand all that he said. "'While that person is around'? Yusei, what do you mean?"
"Nothing." Yusei replied so quickly Carly was sure he was covering something up. "Carly, can you please have a look around your area? I'm using my GPS to track them, but it seems they've gone quite far from Tops and are closer to where you live. They're still children. I don't want them to be in danger on the night streets, however safe Security claims the City to be."
Although she knew Yusei couldn't see her, Carly nodded out of habit. "I'll do that, Yusei. I'll call you back when I've been around the area."
"That'd be great. Thanks." She could hear genuine relief in Yusei's voice.
After the phone call, Carly hastily rummaged through her apartment to take out a few things that she thinks may be useful, such as torches. When she's got them all and was ready to head to her car, she left her apartment quickly and locked the door behind her.
When he had made sure that Carly's left, Jack moved out of his room and went into the living room. Traces of Carly's untidy search were evident on the living room floor. Jack was about to turn away when something metallic, glittering in the weak light of the streetlamps outside, caught his eye.
The blond man bent down. There was a small key, which had obviously been resting in the drawer until a few moments ago. Jack twirled it in his fingers. His body had proved itself good at recovering from wounds, just like it always had while he lived in Satellite, that little patch of desolation connected to the City by a very narrow isthmus. Frowning a little, an idea suddenly struck him. Walking to the front door, he placed the small, unadorned key into the key hole. It fitted; and at a small flick of his wrist, it also turned.
A satisfied smile crept up Jack's pale face. He hadn't expected his luck to be this good.
Ruka and Rua's Duel Boards are exactly as they are presented in episodes 77 and 78 against Lucciano.
I'll be on holiday for about a month, so no updates till then… see you all again at around Christmas!