Disclaimer: Like I could ever own Yu-Gi-Oh. Pfft.
"Hey. Hello." My ears perk at the unexpected call. "Hello."
A nudge in my side pokes me repeatedly, each time harder than the last. My hand swipes at it, the only reflex I'm capable of having when in sleep limbo.
"Martha, I told you I didn't have to work this morning," I grunt, rolling on my other side to face her. "Let me sleep just a bit more."
"I don't know if that's such a good idea," she laughs, and I quickly notice a difference in tone.
I shoot up but cower back down at the sight of the sun.
She laughs again and I peek up at her through the openings between my fingers. "Nayla?"
"Morning, sunshine." Her eyes crinkle with a bemused look.
"I'm sorry but why are you in my room?"
"I think a better question is,"—I can tell she's trying not to laugh again—"why are you out here on my lawn?"
"I'm sorry but…" This time I turn to gesture beside us and see a tall tree right where, if I were in my room, a nightstand would be. I look the other way and see her rickety fence hanging ajar. "Obviously this is your lawn."
I jump to my feet and shout a thousand apologies.
"You got lucky. I came out here intending to water my flowers." She wiggles the watering can in her hand. "I was this close to watering you until you started swatting me away."
"And," she says, "if I hadn't caught this one meowing by my door." Nayla sidesteps to point back to her front door where Annie sits on the porch banister watching.
It was no surprise. In fact, the only reaction I can find is to sigh. I've been trying to get used to this ongoing cycle of 'weird thing happens then Annie shows up' but let me tell you, it's getting old.
And even worse, it's becoming my life. Not just a blip that screws up all the normal, but a vacuum sucking up any trail of normal I thought I had left.
"Can I use your bathroom?" I say to Nayla.
"Of course."
Annie follows me inside.
After a few tries of wandering in random rooms I find the bathroom behind the third door on the right. Immediately, I rest myself on the toilet seat and bury my face in my hands.
Nightmares and hallucinations. Those are what I've gotten used to. But sleepwalking? Sleepwalking, Maria!
I step in front of the sink and let the water run, cup my hands and splash myself twice.
I thrust my head back up and slam my hands against the sink. "Is the universe out to get me?
"Wait…what is that?"
Ever since I can remember my eyes have been only brown. Not chocolate brown or doe brown but the mud you trip in when it's raining and you're in a hurry type of brown. So why are there rings of gold highlighting my puddles?
"Huh."
I want to stare at them more but decide against it. Nayla will get more suspicious if I'm in here any longer. And don't even get me started on the major pain my head is in right now. What did I do last night, assault a wall?
Before going, I rifle through the mirror cabinet and shake two pills from an ibuprofen bottle. I put them on my tongue and cup my hands under the faucet to take a gulp.
I go back on the porch and notice the absence of a certain cane-wielding lady.
"Nayla?"
A few seconds pass before hearing an answer somewhere behind the house. I walk the wrap around porch and stop when I'm in the backyard. From the far corner I see her wave from the open mouth of a garage.
I'd never noticed it before. Then again, this is the first time I've come out here. And the garage is shadowed by a lopsided willow, like it wants to be hidden.
A pickup truck positioned itself inside.
I feel eyes look my way and as I meet Nayla's exultant stare, she says, "She's a cutie, huh?"
I've seen many pickups while in the outskirts, but this one is different. Most noticeably, with the way the front and the back are so close together, it's an older model. Yet its paint is strikingly blue and the silver bumper has little rust from what I can tell.
"Have you been fixing it up?" I ask.
"Just new paint and tires. I don't know how to do much else."
Nayla pats the front door. "It's taken some odd months but I did it."
My jaw hangs. "By yourself?" She nods. "Why?"
"Oh, those big city mechanics 'll schmooze you before you can say please." She clicks her tongue. "Don't trust 'em one bit."
I laugh, and as she inspects the driver and passenger seats, I can't help but think of three spikey haired duelists.
"What are you waiting for?" she says, head popping out the window. "Hop in."
It will be quicker than walking.
I tug on the passenger door and yank it closed. I strap the seatbelt over my chest. Annie curls up on my lap.
Nayla's hands remain on the wheel. A clip of keys dangle in the ignition, unturned.
"Nayla?"
"Hmm?"
"We aren't moving."
"Nope."
"Why aren't we moving?"
We turn our heads toward each other, my brows furrowing and her eyes blinking.
"You thought we were going somewhere?"
"Th-that's the point of getting in the car…"
"Well yeah," she responds, "if the car has an engine."
Even Annie eyes her when she says this.
"Here, come take a look."
We get out of the truck and she pops open the hood. Wires, tubes—I don't really know what to make of it but nothing seems out of place.
"Looks like an engine to me."
"No, it doesn't work," she puts it simply, shutting the hood in one downward smack.
Then she exits, stepping in front of the garage entrance with her cane raised. I join her side and she starts pulling down the door. I grab another handle and it shuts heavily.
"Why do you take such good care of it then?" My hand swipes the air, as if crossing out the question and starting over. "For that matter, why do you keep it at all?"
Nayla keeps walking, cane tapping up the porch stairs, until she stops and turns at the top. I catch a trace of annoyance in her eyes, a dejected annoyance that tells me this conversation won't last much longer.
"Because it's not mine to throw away." Then she shakes her head to recover from the outburst. "I'm sorry. I don't think I'm feeling my best today."
Saying nothing would be all the more uncomfortable for both of us, so I nod, "I understand."
And I do. What she meant was: You should leave. Now.
Not like it's the first time I wasn't wanted around.
I cut through a few front yards and walk the side streets. While I'm thankful my unconscious self was awake enough to find shoes, I have no money on me for a bus ride back to Martha's, meaning I'll have to tough it out over the bridge.
I'd like to save myself any semblance of dignity, but it's a difficult thing to do since paw print pajamas aren't as in style is I'd like to think.
As my feet pound across the concrete, I can't shake my worries about Nayla off.
It didn't bother her I appeared out of the blue; she asked why, but not seriously, not like she cared much. Something else bothered her. I wish I had enough courage to ask her what.
I shut the door, gently pressing it to the doorframe.
Stomping up three flights of stairs with my head being so clouded would be wishing too hard, so I make a beeline toward the living room and lay on the couch. Annie leaps on to my stomach and puts her head down, glowing eyes staring wide.
Gold. Gold like the mark. Gold like the rings in mine.
…three cursed ones…be prepared…will shine a way…
"Were you at work?" Martha ask, suddenly appearing in the doorway.
"Huh?" I rub two fingers on my eyelids, then look up at her. "Uh, no. I went for a walk."
She eyes me skeptically, and I try pushing myself further between the couch cushions. "In those pajamas?" She chuckles lightly. "Just leave a note next time."
When I glance back at Annie, her eyes are closed.
—
My dreams are tangled in grey fog, skimming the floor of my brain, mostly empty.
—
Laughter squeezes through the living room window and I can tell the kids are outside. I scan the room carefully, mostly to make sure I am still at Martha's and not turned over on woodchips in a school playground.
I sit up. Annie's scampered off somewhere, probably one of her various napping spots around the house. The phone rings and I hear sturdy footsteps. No more ringing, but Martha's voice comes to my ears, muffled by the walls.
I'm mid-yawn when she emerges.
"Rua's looking for you."
My head cocks to the side. "Did he say why?"
She grins with an eyebrow raised. "He can barely sit in one place for two minutes. You really expect me to have a conversation with him for more than five seconds?"
—
The elevator stops on the twins' flat. The automatic door dings closed behind me and I slip off my shoes, take two steps then stop.
To say the least, things are a bit…different. Not smashed or ripped, but moved. Moved frantically, in a way that didn't necessarily scream feng shui.
"What happened here?" I say to the empty room.
"You're here," Ruka says, causing me to jump. She's seated at the table with papers spread out in front of her.
I turn to the uneven couches, the coffee table on its side, and back to her. "Did a tornado hit this place?"
"No," she replies, sweeping the papers together. "Just my sugar high, ultra jittery twin brother."
"Yikes. Where is he?"
Ruka steps next to me and stares down the hallway. She grabs my hand and leads me to a door; we don't go in just yet and Ruka puts up her hand.
"If you thought the living room was a mess…" She doesn't finish the sentence and pushes on the door.
Posters. Textbooks. Bed sheets, action figures—if they weren't normally on the floor, they are now. The desk chair is upside down, the bookshelf is inched from the wall.
Half of Rua is hidden under his bed, throwing out trash or a toy or card to the middle of his room.
"Rua," his sister calls, "Maria's here."
He bonks his head on a beam and crawls out. His eyes focus on me and they widen. The scene reminds me a lot of Annie and a can of tuna—Ruka could be a great cat with the way he pounces on me, though I don't know if I'd quite fit in a can.
"You're here!" he yells after we hit the hallway wall. He jumps up and stands over me: "Do you have it? Do you have it?"
"Have what?"
He takes me by the shoulders and shouts, "The card! The one I've been looking all day for—Do you have it?!"
I mouth to Ruka, "What card?" and she mouths back, "In the deck."
Deck? What deck?
And then I remember.
"One minute."
Rua steps to the side, springing up and down on the balls of his feet. I slip off my jacket, take it upside down by the edges and give it a good shaking. A bitty pile of old receipts and spare change fall until the deck case hits the floor.
"Found it."
I raise the deck case for Rua to see. He swipes it from my hand and spreads the cards immediately. A moment later he punches the air victoriously (is he sparkling?) and fumbles over his droopy sock onto the floor (still sparkling…).
He rubs his cheek after and grins wide.
"What card were you looking for?" Ruka asks.
Rua holds it out to us. Mage Power. The equipped monster gains 500 ATK and DEF for each Spell/Trap Card you control.
"Is it for the test tomorrow?"
"Yup! Sensei said I should have balance between my monsters and spells so I've been looking for this one all day."
"Just that one?" Ruka raises a brow.
"Yeah. Why?"
"Rua, that's not balance. You're going to need more than just one spell." She sighs and walks out in to the living room. "First, we should clean this up. Then I'll help you."
—
"I was gonna clean that later, you know?" Rua says to me.
I point a finger at the action figure, demanding it to stay in place before glancing over my shoulder.
"I like cleaning."
"Your definition of cleaning means shoving everything in the closet, anyway," says Ruka, looking up from her duel mat.
Rua gears up to protest but settles with a nod. The room grows silent without much effort.
Rua sighs. Another time. A third, and a fourth time.
"I know you're trying to distract yourself, Rua." Ruka frowns slightly, "But you want to do well, don't you?"
"Of course I do," he pouts. "It's just that I know what I'm doing, sis. I don't want to change my game plan."
I keep at fiddling with the movable limbs of Rua's toys and when he says my name I accidentally knock one down.
"Hm?"
"You didn't hear did you!" he says, more like a notification than asking. I give him a look after picking up the toy, one to tell him to continue sharing what I may or may not have heard. "About the duel with the Ghost!
"Ushio went after him and they dueled it out, but I guess the Ghost was too strong for him and he made him crash."
Unconsciously, I clench the action figure tightly.
Ushio's an officer, one you don't know well.
But that is the problem. The fact that I know him at all is enough to make my stomach drop.
"Don't worry. He's okay," Rua says hurriedly.
My mouth parts to let out a breath. "And the Ghost?"
"Yusei, Jack and Crow went out after and it turns out the Ghost has been a duelbot the whole time."
Duelbot? I didn't know those existed, but I'm not surprised. Technology wise, New Domino's always been at the top of the pyramid.
"Everyone's okay, right?"
"Uh-huh."
I nod. The toy in my hand stands perfectly on the ledge.
"I should get going."
Both take their eyes away from lines of cards.
"You're not staying over?" says Rua, cheeks puffing out. "I wanna have a sleepover with you too!"
The urge came so suddenly. Before he started talking about the Ghost, it hadn't crossed my mind and now something is pulling at the edge of my sleeve toward the door.
"She has better things to do, Rua," Ruka says.
No, I don't. I don't have anything at all and yet I'm choosing to leave.
Makes complete sense, huh?
"The shop," my mouth spits out. "Come by the shop tomorrow. I'd love to hear how your tests go. Bring friends if you want."
I back into the closet door, hip check it open, and scramble to find a spot to set the boxes.
The teeny bell above the door jingles out front.
A squealing Chiyo thunders over not a moment later.
"You won't believe it," she squeals more. "There is a celebrity in our café. A celebrity."
Her hands tugs on my wrist and we come to the open space that looks out in to the dining area. Before we get to it, she makes me slouch down so we can peek our heads over without being seen.
"Right. There," she says dreamily.
Right there. I've seen those Duel Academy uniforms plenty of times. And that crab-shaped head of hair.
I'm surprised that the entire group isn't here, actually. Other than the twins and their school friends, it's only Akiza and Yusei.
But a celebrity? Whoever that is is nowhere in sight.
"Who exactly are you talking about?" I ask.
"Duh. The king, of course."
Right. He won some tournament thing and stole the title from Jack.
"Hey," says Asura as he bursts through the door. He directs his eyes to me. "I didn't know you knew the king. So not fair!"
Mako enters while saying, "Those kids are looking for you," and goes straight to the back.
"What's his deal?" Chiyo hisses. "He should be happy. You know the king! You can introduce us."
She shoves me out the door and when I look over my shoulder Chiyo waves, only visible from forehead to eyes. Asura gives me two thumbs up.
The twins introduce their friends to me. Akiza waves and Yusei nods.
I gesture toward a table.
"Why's it so empty?" one of the kids questions.
"The morning is our busiest time. Most of our customers are a bit old."
A dark haired boy says, a flicker of disgust in his eyes, "No wonder it smells."
Ruka mouths a "Sorry," as the rest of the kids elbow and shush him (Sly, I think) to where the only response he can give is an indifferent fold of his arms.
"Hopefully our food smells better," I say, trying to force a smile. "What would you guys like?"
They don't give the menu so much as a peek. I scribble down what I can decipher of the jumbled orders.
"I'll see what we have."
I speed-walk away and ram in to Chiyo on the way to the kitchen.
"Children can be scary," I mutter.
Asura strides up beside us. "Yeah, that's why no one like 'em. Now go on."
Ignoring the first part, I ask: "Weren't you two eavesdropping?"
"No, we were spying. Two totally different things," Chiyo defends. "Now spill."
"He nodded at me."
"And?"
"And nothing. He doesn't talk much."
"Damn that brooding silence of his." Asura pounds a fist on the counter, but then grins at Chiyo. "That's what makes him so awesome."
"So awesome!"
Chiyo and Asura keep the giddy conversation up without me. Not that I want to be apart of the gush-fest, they can keep it all for themselves.
For almost a second, I think about asking them for the food but toss it. Instead I say (though I doubt they will hear me), "If you want to talk to him, talk to him."
I go to find Mako. He's further in the kitchen by the storage closet, unpacking the boxes I left out.
"Hey," he says when he sees me.
"I could've done that."
"You would've if it wasn't for Superstar out there." Something in the way he says it sounds angry. But his smile betrays it. "Though, I'd still offer my services. I mean, c'mon, look at this."
He flexes, striking pose after pose.
"I can barely resist," I deadpan, and laugh anyway. "Do we have any of this?"
He eyes the list. "The cake should already be prepared in the fridges. I'll have to make the sandwiches myself."
"Want help?"
"Sure."
He stretches gloves past each wrist and hands me a pair. I set out plates and grab a bag of buns.
"Sorry about my bro and Chiyo, by the way."
I look at him from the corner of my eye. "What did they do wrong?"
"They can be overwhelming with this kind of stuff. Probably should have warned you."
I shrug. "People like what they like."
"They don't just like him. They're googley-eyed." He laughs a little and adds: "You don't seem like the googley-eye type. I don't think I can picture that."
We make eye contact, and before I get to look another way, my face flushes. Mako only laughs more.
"Oh no. You're definitely the flustered type." I can feel his gaze still hovering. "My type."
I clear my throat, "I-I…should get the cakes since these are almost finished."
Luckily, the fridge is on the opposite side of the kitchen. I rush to the silver doors, take what I need, and go back to the tables.
"The sandwiches should be out in a minute."
"What's wrong?" asks Akiza. "You're red."
"I…I couldn't stand the heat. Had to leave the kitchen."
Her, and practically everyone else within earshot, groans at the joke.
"Tell me, though," I say while pulling up a chair, "how did things go today?"
The kids can barely hold the day's tale in, so as it gets told, it is broken up and blurted out between them all.
The vice chancellor, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer or other, apparently threatened an entire class with expulsion. Not even the teacher knew what to do, but by some strange occurrence, Yusei appeared.
When we get to the part about him using the class' cards to duel the vice chancellor, I see him tense. It's the tiniest bit of movement—one that no one else notices, one that he tries to cover up with a sip of his milk.
I pretend like I don't notice too, but keep it in the back of my mind and smile because of it.
The story ends predictably—the vice chancellor loses the duel, no one gets expelled. Happy endings all around.
Once story time is over and everyone's done eating I take the dishes into the kitchen. Chiyo's the only one around, still spying over the counter.
"How do you do it?"
At first I don't think she's so much as realized I'm beside her, yet I glance her way and see she's turned towards me.
"Do what?"
"Talk to him."
I don't know what to say. I thought we already covered this.
"You think they're dating?"
Yusei and Akiza—she's referring to them. Another question, an answerless one.
I think of every rom-com I've ever sat through. The ones that didn't make me want to bludgeon myself, at least, and critique the two based on them. Lunch at a quiet café—rom-com gold for sure.
Chiyo puts her back to the scene, typing briskly at the holographic screen of her phone.
"What are you doing?"
"The one thing I can do at the moment—blog away my frustration."
"Hey," Rua calls from the register. "We're gonna go to the apartment. You're coming, right?"
"We'll lock up," says Chiyo. She stashes the phone in a pocket and grabs the dishes from my hands. "Go with your friends."
I hang my apron on a hook and let Rua drag me out the door where everyone else waits.
On the way to Poppo Time, the kids ask me about life outside the city. The topic is rather short since the wonders of farmland pale when compared to enticing city streets. Not talking proved better, anyway.
My mind was elsewhere.
Go with your friends.
Friends. Hm. What a funny word.
Somehow this chapter, which is 95% filler, came out to be 13 pages exactly so...
I hope you little nuggets enjoyed it. I got so many ideas in store for you you'll have whiplash when it's over!
TTFN