The Last Reunion The First Semester

by Nyan Nyan Soup

It's been ten years since Judai and the gang graduated from Duel Academy. Every year Judai organizes a reunion at the academy, except this year no one can attend. With the only thing he has to look forward to in life now cancelled, Judai has a tough time accepting that maybe his life needs to change. (Post canon, minor Soulshipping)

3. Left Behind

(Just wanna say thank you for the reviews on this fic so far! And while I only planned for it to be three chapters, it's now going to be much longer than that. So please look forward to the extended story after the first arc is complete!)

Judai sat in the meeting room with the rest of the teachers and somewhat listened to what Samejima was telling them. He had to admit he found the staff meetings to be much more boring than he expected. He wasn't even sure what he expected to begin with. It was a meeting, meetings were always boring. Turns out there were some aspects of adulthood that Judai was glad he missed out on experiencing for ten years. Still, he ultimately did need to know what was going on so he had to try listening anyway.

"-and we don't need anyone breaking anymore bones like last year, so do try to stop it when you see it." Samejima finished up his current topic. "Moving on, the final decision has been made for this year's guest duelist."

"Guest duelist?" Judai repeated in confusion, not realizing he spoke out loud until everyone was looking at him.

"Oh, I thought you knew already, Judai-kun. My apologies. A few years ago we started inviting pro duelists early in the semester to hold an exhibition duel for all the new students to watch. Turns out seeing a pro in action gets them more interested in becoming pros themselves and doing better in their classes." Samejima explained.

"So, who's this year's guest?" Judai asked, making everyone else curious as well.

"Asuka Tenjoin, the Cyber Queen." Samejima announced.

Judai felt his heart stop.

A month had passed since Judai became a teacher. He fell into a simple routine of teaching, tutoring, and studying. He taught his classes everyday, had his tutoring session Kinozaki after classes, which Hana and Kiki liked to watch, cooked and ate dinner with everyone, and spent the rest of his time relaxing, grading papers, or learning more about alchemy as needed. He surprisingly never felt tired of it. Some days he really needed to head to bed early though, but he felt that was just him getting old, even if he was only twenty-eight.

Judai had grown closer with his students as well. He knew just about all the Osiris students by name and he was working on memorizing the names of all his students in his classes. Almost everyone came to him for advice at some point or another, which he still didn't consider himself good at giving out. Judai had to start wondering why the kids looked up to him in the first place. Sure he'd done lots of crazy things in his life, but he never really considered himself remarkable at all. It still astounded him Hana even idolized him. What was there to idolize? All he did was stay a part of the red dorm. Well, if it meant something to Hana then who was Judai to try telling her it wasn't anything important.

He did feel like anyone else would make a better idol though, especially Asuka. Unlike everyone else, she never signed on to any deals or joined Fubuki on the big screen or even put herself in front of the public that much. She only did maybe four interviews over the course of her career and tried to disguise herself whenever she went out shopping. The paparazzi absolutely loved trying to track her down, which she was often very vocal about hating at the reunions.

That's what made her the perfect person to look up to. Asuka didn't relish in the limelight. She didn't care about the attention and the celebrity status that came with being so successful. She just wanted a good duel and some respect from her opponents. Perhaps that's why so many young girls adored her. Of course there was the fact that she was a beautiful woman making her way to the top of a male dominated field, but Asuka hated when she was looked at like that. There was no need to pay attention to her appearance or the fact that she was a woman. She wasn't a beautiful duelist or a female duelist, she was just a duelist like everyone else around her. She didn't care for the way she was idolized, but since she couldn't do anything about it she at least wanted all the young girls out there to know that they should be treated the same way Asuka wanted to be treated. As an equal and not a female counterpart to the male default.

Maybe Judai found himself looking up to her too. Being a man, he never thought about those kinds of things. Then again, he was positive he never really cared about the specifics of who someone was. As long as they were a duelist that wanted to have fun in a respectable way, that was all that mattered to him. Asuka even complimented him on that a few years back, but he didn't understand why that deserved praise. Asuka herself even admitted that he didn't, but thanks to the way the world worked it was something that needed to be acknowledged. Even if he was confused by it, Judai admired Asuka's efforts. No one tried as hard as she did, not even Judai.

Regardless of all of that though, Judai was internally freaking out over seeing Asuka next week. He hadn't spoken to any of his friends in almost two months and apparently they were getting close to assuming he was dead. Even despite the news, Judai still couldn't bring himself to call or text one of them, not even Johan. Did he ever want to speak to them again? He felt like since he made the decision to return home he was beginning his life anew. Maybe that meant casting away everything from before, friends included. But he wasn't truly starting over as if he had been reincarnated… again. He could always pick up his phone at any minute and let one of them know what had happened. He had the opportunity, he just felt like it was impossible to do.

It had been so long now and he moved on from the pain of not having a reunion that year that in a way, leaving everyone behind felt okay. He knew it was wrong, especially since he already gave a speech to his class about holding onto bonds and never letting them go, but he felt like everyone else let them go instead. It was childish and selfish of Judai to think that since he was the only one that didn't have a job and responsibilities, but he couldn't just ignore the way he felt since it wasn't 'mature'. Perhaps it was okay to feel that way then. Perhaps the problem was in how he dealt with it instead. Feeling hurt despite the circumstances being understandable was normal, abandoning everyone in response to that probably wasn't.

Judai had to learn how to stop reacting so strongly like that. Sometimes it resulted in a positive outcome, but most of the time it resulted in him doing something incredibly rash and dumb. It made him start to hate himself. Why couldn't he just keep himself under control? Why did he have to be such an impulsive person? In the best situation it made him a hero and in the worst situation it got his friends killed. His impulsive decisions once destroyed himself and now they were making his friends worry that he would never be seen again.

He wanted them to forget about him. That had to be the only solution. He was certain he messed up and if they all thought he was dead then the only thing he could do now was fake his death so they would stop worrying over him. That way Asuka wouldn't be mad at him once she came to the academy either. It was obvious he was holding them all back anyway. Everyone had to take time out of their busy schedules to accommodate for the reunion he wanted to have. Judai never had to reschedule interviews or take time off work or anything like that. His refusal to get a life obviously just disrupted everyone else's. So they were better off without him. They were moving on and being responsible adults while he was clearly trying to keep his childhood memories alive through nostalgia.

He was stupid. So stupid, stupid, stupid for shutting everyone out again. He didn't even realize he was doing it again. He thought he would get over it in a few days and he'd let everyone know what he was doing, but no. He ignored them. He made them worry and question his safety all because he couldn't bring himself to respond to them.

He was falling into his depression again too. Did he ever really get out of it to begin with? Maybe he was only fooling himself the entire decade. Maybe he was just given some motivation again and used that to run away from his problems. What even were his problems? Feeling like a failure despite everything working out? How stupid was that?

Judai wanted to curl up in bed and just forget everything. Maybe even disappear too, he wasn't exactly sure. He never wanted the day to come where he had to face Asuka and the affect his actions had on his friends, especially now that he realized just how idiotic and rash it all was.

It all started getting to him. He was quieter when lecturing to his class and couldn't always keep up with what Daitokuji was telling him. He was forgetting names and mixing them up with his friends' names. He barely said a word during dinner, which concerned Hana, Kiki, and Kinozaki, and he couldn't focus during his practice duels with Kinozaki. He went to bed a lot earlier too. He really did just want to sleep everything away.

Forever.

In the middle of gym class Kiki and Kinozaki batted a tennis ball back and forth between each other at one of the courts while Hana stood to the side and watched them. Kiki ran around to hit the ball whenever it crossed onto her side and made big swings with her racket to hit back. Kinozaki on the other hand, stayed relatively still, but reached out to hit the ball as needed.

"Hii-yah!" Kiki exclaimed as she swung her racket.

The ball bounced into Kinozaki's court and he just reached a hand up to swat it back with his racket.

"C'mon! At least act like it's an epic battle to the death!" Kiki whined.

"I don't think I'm capable of that." Kinozaki stated.

"Still not able to have fun?" Hana wondered.

"Nope. And I don't think Judai-sensei can either." He responded.

Kiki hit the ball back and she and Hana shared a look with each other.

"What do ya guys think is up with him anyway? He totally isn't like how he was just a week ago." Kiki questioned.

"Maybe… maybe he got some bad news?" Hana suggested.

"Yeah, maybe a relative died or something." Kinozaki added as he swung his racket at the ball.

"Why don't we just ask him? Oh- hyah!" Kiki hit the ball a bit too late, making it go out of bounds.

Kinozaki walked off to go get the tennis ball, leaving the girls by themselves.

"Doesn't asking him feel a bit personal though? We're his students, I don't think asking him about his personal life is appropriate." Hana refuted.

"Didn't Han-chan say Sensei is a super duper cheerful person though? If Sensei's not being cheerful then something's gotta be wrong! There's nothing wrong with wanting Sensei to cheer up and be himself again!" Kiki assured her.

Hana stared at Kiki for a moment before looking down at the racket she was holding.

"I am worried about him. He's not the Judai-sensei that made me want to come here…" Hana muttered to herself.

Across the gym, Kinozaki stepped on the ball to finally stop it from rolling away. He bent down to pick it up and when he came back up, he found himself face to face with Hikaru, which made the taller teen flinch in surprise.

"Geez, Hikaru." Kinozaki said as he let out a sigh.

"Ehehe, sorry Hajime." Hikaru apologized as he rubbed the back of his head. "Hey, why don't ya play with me an' Rina? Ya know, like ya usually do?"

Kinozaki glanced back over his shoulder at the girls, who were chatting with each other while they waited for him, then he looked back to Hikaru.

"You have Sabrina though, you don't need me. I gotta go." Kinozaki refused before turning around and leaving.

"Uh, but-..." Hikaru reached a hand out after his friend. "I do need you…"

His red eyes watched for a moment as Kinozaki approached the girls and Kiki pushed a nervous Hana onto the court to trade places. Hikaru yelped as a tennis ball whizzed past his face and struck the wall a far distance away.

"Don't hit it that hard!" Ms. Ayukawa called out.

"Sorry! Didn't mean to!" Sabrina shouted in the politest voice she could muster. "Hikaru! Get back here! You're wasting time!"

Hikaru sighed and turned around to collect the tennis ball before returning to the court he and Sabrina were using.

"Just forget about Kinozaki." She said. "He obviously wants to be around that 'pretty little wallflower' now instead of you. I never liked him anyway, so I wouldn't consider it a loss."

"I like him though." Hikaru muttered as he haphazardly threw the tennis ball across the court to Sabrina.

The day went on as usual and, like he had been for the past few days, Kinozaki sat next to Hana instead of Sabrina in class. The three talked together like any other friend trio, except Kiki was the loudest and talked the most. Hikaru and Sabrina sat in their usual places and remained silent. Even when Kinozaki was with them they were still relatively quiet, unless something happened to set Sabrina off. But at least when Kinozaki was with them Hikaru didn't mind that they didn't talk. As long as he was sitting with his friends then Hikaru was happy. With Kinozaki sitting with his sister and the wallflower though, Hikaru didn't even care that he still had Sabrina. He wanted both of his friends with him at a bare minimum, otherwise everything fell apart for him.

When classes ended everyone walked out of the classroom to spend their time doing whatever else they wanted. Hikaru waited for a moment as Kinozaki walked by him with Hana and Kiki.

"Hajime…!" Hikaru called out.

As the trio walked down the hall, Kinozaki glanced over his shoulder to look at Hikaru. There was no expression on his face, and considering that was normal for Kinozaki, Hikaru couldn't tell how the other teen felt. Did Kinozaki want to ignore Hikaru? Or did Kinozaki feel guilty for ignoring Hikaru? Hikaru wished he had the ability to know. He never could tell what Kinozaki was thinking, no matter how hard he tried, which admittedly wasn't very hard.

"Hikaru, I'm gonna leave you behind if you don't hurry up!" Sabrina shouted from down the other end of the hall.

He looked over to see Sabrina walking away, then back to Kinozaki, who was already disappearing around the corner. He just stood there for a moment, completely stuck. One side of him wanted to go after Kinozaki, while the other side wanted to catch up with Sabrina. It felt just like junior high graduation all over again. With one last look in Kinozaki's direction, Hikaru reluctantly turned around and followed after Sabrina.

"Geez, you're slower than usual. What's with you today?" Sabrina questioned as Hikaru appeared beside her, but she couldn't really care less about the answer.

"I just wanna take a nap…" Hikaru said, but not exactly as a response to Sabrina.

"Ugh, you always want to take a nap." She grumbled.

Hikaru simply nodded his head in agreement as he stared at the ground. For a split second, Sabrina's eyes glanced over at him before she furrowed her brow in frustration.

Hana, Kiki, and Kinozaki approached the red dorms together in silence. They intended to finally do something about Judai's odd behavior, but none of them were sure exactly how to go about that yet. Kiki wanted to cheer him up at the least, but they needed to know what was wrong first. It could have been any number of things and they likely weren't equipped to help him at all.

"So what's the plan? Just ask him, 'hey why are you sad'?" Kinozaki questioned.

"That's one way to go about it!" Kiki responded.

"Shouldn't we be less direct? I know when I'm sad I don't like my family asking me why." Hana suggested.

"Your family asks you why you're sad?" Kiki inquired, looking genuinely confused.

"Wh- y-yes! And yours doesn't?!" Hana replied in shock.

"My mom's never asked me how I'm doing." Kiki said, not seeming bothered by her statement.

"Seconded. Looks like Hana-chan lucked out in the parents department then." Kinozaki added and patted Hana on the back.

Hana tensed up and stopped in her tracks before regaining her senses. "H-hey! D-don't turn it around to make it seem like I won something! All parents are supposed to-"

'Honk honk!'

The sound of a horn interrupted Hana and startled her enough to make her yelp. Kinozaki and Kiki looked over their shoulders to see a small truck driving towards them.

"'Scuse me! Outta the way kiddos!" Ms. Tome, who was driving the truck, shouted at them.

Hana was too frozen to move, so Kinozaki grabbed her by the arm and pulled her aside. Ms. Tome drove by and Hana found herself against Kinozaki's chest. Her face turned bright red as she looked up at him, his expression seeming slightly concerned, or maybe that was his usual expression. Hana couldn't tell, especially with how embarrassed she was. The snickering in the background from Angelica wasn't helping either. Hana attempted to back up, but Kiki suddenly pressed up against her and hugged her from behind, making her stuck between Kiki and Kinozaki.

"Yay! Han-chan's not dead!" Kiki cheered.

"She might be if you don't let go." Kinozaki refuted, noticing Hana looked like she was about to pass out.

"Oh, hehe. Whoopsie-daisy!" Kiki responded and let go of Hana.

She stumbled a bit as she backed away and shook her head. Angelica floated up beside her without a word.

"D-don't do that!" Hana exclaimed.

Kiki and Kinozaki looked at each other, not sure who Hana was talking to, but they felt like it could be equally directed at both of them.

"Kiki was just glad Han-chan's not dead!" Kiki responded.

"You were just standing there. What was I supposed to do? Let you get hit?" Kinozaki replied.

Hana gently patted herself on the cheeks and let out a sigh, her face finally returning to its former color. "I know, I know. I just- we need to worry about Judai-sensei! Not me!"

She abruptly sprinted off the rest of the way to the red dorms and Angelica flew after her. Kiki and Kinozaki simply stood there and watched her go.

"Han-chan sure does get embarrassed easily, huh?" Kiki noted.

"Embarrassed…?" Kinozaki thought for a moment before realization finally hit him and his blue eyes widened a bit. "Oh… Wow, I sure am dense."

"Hm? Kino-chan?" Kiki called out in confusion, completely bypassing the revelation Kinozaki came to.

Hana finally reached the red dorms and her friends eventually showed up behind her. The same truck that almost hit Hana was parked in front of the boys' dorm. Ms. Tome got out of the truck once the trio stopped beside it.

"Oh, you kids. Do be more careful walking around out here. Don't you know you could get run over?" Ms. Tome told them, making Hana feel embarrassed again.

"I think the bigger question is why there's a truck on the island to begin with." Kinozaki commented and Kiki nodded in agreement.

"I need it to carry supplies for the card shop in the school building. It's a lot easier driving everything up there once than going back and forth dozens of times, especially at my age." Ms. Tome explained.

"But then what're ya doing with it out here?" Kiki wondered.

"Poor Judai-kun was feeling under the weather so he asked me to make dinner for the red dorms in his place." Ms. Tome answered.

"Under the weather? So he's sick?" Hana questioned.

"Ah! He's got the flu! That's it! We're contaminated then, aren't we!?" Kiki shouted, scaring Hana.

"I doubt it. A sick person doesn't act like Judai-sensei has been." Kinozaki said.

"Oh? You don't think he's sick?" Ms. Tome wondered.

"Well, not with anything like the flu." Kinozaki replied.

Everyone took a moment to think on things. Judai definitely hadn't been himself for the past week and now he was lying about feeling sick so he wouldn't have to make dinner. He was already seeming distant so he was clearly trying to be alone.

"Do we… do we still try to do something?" Hana asked.

"Nothing has changed from our original idea, has it? So we still should." Kinozaki told her.

"Well if he wants to be left alone then I don't know about you kids trying to butt in. Judai-kun's been through a lot, so I'm sure every once in awhile he needs time to himself." Ms. Tome advised.

The three teens all looked at each other with slightly concerned expressions before something suddenly dawned on Kiki.

"Hey, wait a minute! Kiki can make dinner just fine herself! No one else needs to do it! Only Kiki!" She exclaimed, sounding a tad irritated in her own unique way.

"That's your priority?" Kinozaki muttered in disappointment. "Actually, hold on. Kiki-chan, why don't you help Tome-san with dinner and Hana-chan and I will check on Judai-sensei?"

"Ah, that's perfect! Kiki'll make sure it's perfect! Kiki'll show she can do it all by herself!" Kiki cheered.

"Well, if you think so… But I don't know about you two bothering Judai-kun." Ms. Tome responded.

"If he doesn't want to talk, then we'll leave him be. I promise." Kinozaki lied.

Ms. Tome stared at him for a moment and she couldn't tell if he was being genuine or had a perfect poker face. She eventually sighed and shrugged her shoulders though.

"Alright, I guess I can't stop you kids." She said.

"Yay! Cooking time!" Kiki shouted and ran off to the mess hall.

Ms. Tome followed after Kiki, leaving Hana and Kinozaki alone.

"W-wait… you and I are going to see Judai-sensei alone?" Hana repeated for clarification.

"Yes? Is there a problem with that?" Kinozaki replied.

Hana tensed up. "N-no…"

"Then I'll go see if I can find Yubel or that old guy!" Angelica decided.

"No, wait!" Hana protested, but it was too late since Angelica already faded away.

Kinozaki raised a brow and glanced in the direction Hana was looking, but didn't see anything.

"What?" He asked.

"Eep! Uh, n-nothing! Never mind! Let's just… go." She responded and quickly turned around.

Kinozaki just stared at the back of Hana's head as she walked to the dorm and he followed behind her. They entered the main room of the dorm, which was once the space renovated by Manjoume. There were a few boys that hadn't gone to the mess hall yet just sitting around. They weren't too surprised to see Kinozaki since he had been joining them for dinner everyday for the past month, but it definitely made them a bit nervous to have Hana in the room since girls weren't supposed to be anywhere in the boys' dorm except the mess hall. She had to admit she felt awkward being in there as well. It made her feel like she walked into the wrong restroom.

"Have any of you seen Judai-sensei?" Kinozaki asked the room.

"Uh, yeah. He walked by earlier and went to his room." One boy on the couch said, pointing to the door in the corner.

"Thanks." Kinozaki replied.

He immediately walked past everyone and Hana scrambled to stay close behind him. Standing before the door to Judai's bedroom, Kinozaki lightly knocked on it.

"Sensei, you in there? It's Kinozaki and Hana-chan." He announced.

They received no response.

On the other side of the door, Angelica fazed through the wall of the bedroom and surveyed the room. The lights were off so the room was pitch black. Despite not being able to see much, she could tell where the bed was. She started flying over to it, but a clawed hand gripped onto her tiny body. Getting forcibly turned around, she came to realize Yubel was her captor.

"What the hell do you think you're doing? Get out of here." They whispered in an aggressive tone.

"Woah, hey! Don't be so rough on a cute little fairy! I'm only trying to help Hana out! Her and the others are worried about Judai!" Angelica explained.

"I don't care. Judai needs to be left alone right now. So leave and tell them to not bother him or else I'll pluck your wings off." Yubel threatened.

Angelica glared at Yubel, but the two were surprised when a staff with a candle attached to it was pointed in Yubel's direction. Angelica looked over her shoulder and Yubel looked up to see Aromage Rosemary in front of them, armed with her staff like she was ready to use it as a bat.

"Let Angelica go and maybe we'll listen." She whispered.

"Oh great, more of you. I don't mind doing this, but not when Judai needs some peace and quiet." Yubel said.

"Then we can take this outside." Rosemary offered, the serious expression on her face visible thanks to the light of her staff's candle.

"Aw yeah, kick their ass Rosie!" Angelica encouraged her ally.

"Fine, I haven't been able to have some fun for a while now anyway." Yubel agreed.

There was a quick rustling sound and a creek from the bed that caused the spirits to suddenly look over. Rosemary's candle allowed them to see that Judai was now sitting up in bed, his head hung low and Winged Kuriboh floating beside him.

"Please stop." Judai muttered.

Yubel immediately released Angelica and went over to Judai, sitting down next to him on the bed. They unfortunately couldn't properly touch him in their current state, but Yubel placed a hand over Judai's anyway. Angelica shook herself for a moment before stretching her arms out, glad to be free before anything bad could happen to her. Rosemary became worried about Judai as well, so Angelica was a bit irritated when she realized Rosemary was practically ignoring her.

"We're sorry for bothering you, but Hana was just worried is all." Rosemary apologized.

Judai slowly shook his head. "It's okay, I guess I haven't been acting like myself anyway. Of course they would notice sooner or later."

"Should I knock again?" Kinozaki's voice was heard from the other side of the door.

"No, don't do that! What if he's gone to sleep? Maybe we should just try to talk to him tomorrow." Hana responded.

Judai moved to get out of bed and Yubel floated around him to get in his way.

"You don't have to answer them if you don't want to, Judai." Yubel advised.

"I know, but I wanna. They're worried about me… I don't-... I don't wanna make anyone else worry." Judai replied.

Yubel stared at him with a concerned expression before letting out a sigh and moving aside. Rosemary and Angelica shared a look with each other before fading away to return to Hana's deck. Judai walked up to the door and opened it, getting bothered by the light coming from the main room. Kinozaki seemed a bit surprised while Hana looked startled to see that Judai actually opened the door. Hana couldn't quite bring herself to look him in the face, so Kinozaki was the only one that noticed the empty look in Judai's brown eyes.

"Uh, hey you two. Sorry, but… I realized I must be pretty sick so I'm trying to quarantine myself. I don't need to be getting you kids infected too." Judai said.

Kinozaki's brow furrowed a bit as he figured out that Judai wasn't a very good liar. Hana backed up a step, not wanting to be contaminated by whatever she thought Judai might have.

"Now Sensei, you and I both know that's not true." Kinozaki stated.

Both Judai and Hana's eyes widened as they stared at Kinozaki.

"K-Kinozaki-kun! Are you accusing Judai-sensei of lying?!" Hana asked in shock.

"Ehehe… I see you're not one I should underestimate. You're right, I'm not really sick." Judai revealed, making Hana even more shocked. "But I still don't think I can do our tutoring session today. Or anything else today, for that matter. Maybe you could try practicing with Hana or Kiki instead."

"Ah, b-but… we wanted to ask-"

"I know, Hana." Judai interrupted the girl. "Thank you guys for worrying about me, but don't waste your time on me, okay? I'm an adult, I can take care of myself. Worry more about each other, alright?"

And without waiting for a response, Judai gently closed the door and returned to his bed. Hana and Kinozaki just stood there for a moment before looking at each other.

"Why don't we regroup and come back later?" Kinozaki suggested.

Without knowing anything else they could do, Hana simply nodded in agreement. The two returned to the mess hall and sat down at their usual table in the back. Once Kiki finished helping Ms. Tome cook, she joined her friends and they all began eating dinner together, along with the rest of the Osiris students.

"So- omph! How did- omph! It go?" Kiki asked as she ate.

"He's got himself hold up in his room." Kinozaki stated.

"He told us not to worry about him, but… that just means there's reason to worry." Hana added.

"Okaaay, so is there anything we can do?" Kiki wondered.

"Not very well until we know what the problem is." Hana said.

"I gotta be honest here. I'm not exactly a people person, nor am I good with the whole 'compassion' thing unfortunately. I doubt I can truly be of much help here." Kinozaki admitted.

"That's okay! I'm no good with people either, I'm just way too shy. But you're trying anyway and that's what matters." Hana told him.

"Kiki's starting to wonder if Kino-chan can even feel any emotions." Kiki stated.

"I have to question whether you and Hikaru are capable of feeling anything that isn't overtly positive or does that run in the family." Kinozaki responded.

"Well, Dad isn't like this, so it must just be us!" Kiki cheerfully replied with a big smile.

Kinozaki simply sighed.

"Oh, wait!" Hana exclaimed as something dawned on her. "Kiki-chan, you know a lot about philosophy, right? Do you think that could help us?"

"Mnn…" Kiki pressed a finger to her chin and thought for a moment. "Philosophy is more about asking those questions on life that no one has a real answer to and self reflection and whatnot. Unless Sensei's having an existential crisis or something, then philosophy isn't gonna help him."

"Actually, what if that is it though?" Kinozaki wondered.

"Sensei having an existential crisis? But why?" Kiki questioned.

"I guess we won't know unless he tells us or we can find something out on our own." Kinozaki said.

"Then we're just back at square one…" Hana muttered.

Kiki nodded and Kinozaki sighed again. There really wasn't anything they could do for the time being. They simply continued to sit there in silence and finish their dinner. Things really felt boring without Judai. Without him Kinozaki didn't have much of a reason to be there in the first place. He still wasn't sure if he considered Hana and Kiki to be his friends anyway. Hana did enjoy the other two's company since she didn't particularly like being lonely, even though she had her spirit companions, but her natural shyness made her unable to start a conversation with them. Being around others, even if they did view her as a friend, still made her nervous no matter what. Kiki, meanwhile, had no problems sticking with the other two despite Judai's absence. They were her friends after all, even if she viewed everyone as a friend. But thanks to the mood being down due to Judai's strange behavior, even she didn't feel it was appropriate to go off on one of her long rambling sessions.

The mess hall eventually cleared out and Ms. Tome stuck around to do the dishes. Once she took the plates off the trio's table, they realized they finally had to do something. It was Kinozaki who stood up first, making the girls look at him.

"I'm going back to the blue dorm." He announced.

"Huh? But… what about Judai-sensei?" Hana wondered.

"And you're tutoring session!" Kiki added.

"That can wait, I'm in no rush. But, I feel like if we push Sensei any further then he may clam up and we'll never be able to do anything. We should try again tomorrow." Kinozaki responded.

"Tomorrow. Okay! That sounds good." Kiki agreed.

Hana silently nodded, not really wanting to wait so long to act again.

"I'm gonna go now. See you guys in class." He said before turning around.

"Wait! Lemme walk halfway with you!" Kiki exclaimed as she jumped from her seat. "Bye Han-chan! Stay strong!"

Kiki gave her a quick hug as she ran by, which didn't surprise Hana as much as it usually would, and ran off with Kinozaki. Hana remained the only one still in the mess hall.

She didn't want Judai to stay down in the dumps for longer than necessary. She wanted to do anything she could as soon as possible. Judai already gave Hana so much help just by being himself so she wanted to do the same in return. She stood up and walked to the door that connected to the main room. Stepping inside, she noticed it was empty. All the boys must have gone to their rooms or elsewhere for the afternoon. It was just a few steps until she was standing in front of Judai's door again. She didn't bother knocking and instead sat on the floor and pressed her back against the door.

It was a long time before she gathered her thoughts enough to finally say something.

"Judai-sensei… if you're still up, will you listen to me?" Hana asked.

There was a short pause before a slight creak could be heard, followed by light footsteps. Hana realized Judai was actually going to listen to her when she felt something press up against the other side of the door.

"I… first heard about you from my brother." Hana started. "He's quite a bit older than me so we've never really been as close as normal siblings, but I look up to him a lot. He attended Duel Academy at the same time as you. I think… you were a third year when he was a first year."

Unbeknownst to Hana, Judai was struck with a sudden feeling of panic.

"Onii-sama attended a duel prep school before enrolling here and got into Obelisk Blue. Our parents were so proud of him, and so was I. His dream was to become a pro… so we were all devastated when he dropped out early in his second year. He never really explained why. He came back different too, like something happened to him here. I sort of remember something being on the news about the academy and my parents being super worried for a while, but I was too young to really know what was going on."

Judai wanted to tell Hana to stop, but he didn't want to be rude. He knew what she was telling him was important to her.

"I wanted to be a duelist too, since I could see duel spirits, but I've never been very good. And after seeing how different Onii-sama became… I started to lose hope for myself. My own brother worked so hard to become a pro-duelist and only ended up dropping out and never even getting a high school diploma. So what hope did I have to turn out better than him? And then I heard about you on the internet while doing research on Duel Academy. Former students were talking on forums about how cool you were and people were asking them questions about you like you were some kind of celebrity. I asked Onii-sama about you and if it was all true and you know what he said?"

Judai didn't respond, but even though he didn't want to know he knew Hana was going to tell him anyway.

"He said it was all lies. He said you were nothing but a troublemaker that got others roped up in your problems. I lost hope again until I did more research. At first I thought some conspiracy theorists got really interested in Duel Academy because there was all this stuff connecting the academy to things that happened in Domino City a decade ago, some satellite takeover, a cult, and the entire school disappearing at some point. Coupled with interviews of former students, the conclusion was made that you were the source of it all. I didn't believe it initially, but now… after meeting you, I know it's all real. You helped stop all that dangerous stuff, and that just makes me look up to you even more."

Judai wasn't exactly expecting that reaction.

"I was too scared to fully commit to attending Duel Academy. Onii-sama failed and talked down about the one person I still idolized, but it was still you that encouraged me to enroll anyway. Like I said, you started at the bottom and became the best despite staying at the bottom. So it's okay if I stay here. I can succeed even at rock bottom. Onii-sama could have too if he didn't give up. And because you're you… no matter how many times you hit rock bottom, I know you'll always succeed, Judai-sensei. Even if you stay there."

It was but a moment later that Judai strained himself trying not to cry. He really did feel like he was back at rock bottom. Maybe not legitimately since he was still in control of himself, but he didn't think he could handle feeling worse. It hurt to hear about Hana's brother and know it was Judai's fault that his life was ruined. But it made him realize there were two sides to everything. While the events of his life gave Hana confidence, it also destroyed her brother. There was no doubt there were others too. People on the forums Hana spoke of that viewed him as a celebrity and people that were at the academy the day it got transported thanks to Yubel and Cobra. He hurt so many people and helped so many others. And maybe that was just a part of life. He couldn't control the effects of his actions. He never imagined he could inadvertently help someone like Hana, so it stood to reason that he could inadvertently hurt someone without realizing it too. Anything could work that way and there wasn't much he could do about that. Perhaps if he ever met Hana's brother then they could talk and it would help them both, but it was unlikely he could meet with and help everyone he ever indirectly hurt. He would just have to live with the fact that there were people out there that he caused problems for that he couldn't rectify.

Like his friends.

It was true he continued to bother them and make them worry, but the fact they worried at all meant they still cared. They didn't give up on Judai. They were still trying to contact him even after a month. Kenzan still texted him nearly daily for a decade straight. Sho and Ryo still invited him to tournaments. Manjoume talked often about how he'd kicked Judai's butt in their next duel. Asuka called frequently to check that he was taking care of himself. Johan would call just to talk and hear his voice every once in a while. Even when O'Brien was swamped with work he would still pick up the phone immediately for Judai. Fubuki was always sending Judai updates on his own life. Rei still sent a message every few months asking if Judai wanted to go on a date if he was in the country, which he always turned down. The few times Judai came to Australia, Jim was overjoyed to have him visit. And despite how little he and Edo were able to talk nowadays, whenever they did Edo was always so apologetic about it. It solidified to Judai that even if he caused them problems and made them worry from time to time, they all still loved him. They worried because they cared.

But that didn't erase Judai's actions. It was still his fault for not responding to them. Even just a quick little "Hey guys, I'm okay." text to one of them could have solved everything. It wasn't too late to do that actually. At any moment he could pick up his phone and do just that. So why couldn't he? He would have to face Asuka soon anyway. So reassuring everyone before she suddenly found him alive and well as a teacher would be best.

But he still couldn't bring himself to do it. It was like it was impossible even if it actually wasn't. His brain and his body and every fiber in him told him it was impossible. Doing it wasn't an option, but he knew that wasn't true. He knew logically he could do it, but physically he couldn't. It made Judai want to scream at himself.

"Hana-san?" A serene voice called out.

Hana looked up across the room to see her two roommates standing in the doorway.

"There ya are! We've been lookin' for ya! It's gettin' late so we got worried." The purple haired girl said.

"Kanaya-san… Gōda… Sorry. I didn't mean to sit here for so long." Hana apologized and glanced back at Judai's door before getting up.

The three girls met in the middle of the room. Standing before Hana was Aria Kanaya and Miu Gōda, fellow first years, but Hana wasn't sure if she was close enough to them yet to call them friends. The two seemed to get along with each other rather quickly despite their drastic differences though.

Aria was a petite girl that was ever so slightly taller than Hana with porcelain skin and piercing yellow eyes that never seemed interested in anything. Her straight dark brown hair fell to her neck and the sides cupped her face just a bit. Her bangs were straight as well and parted a bit to the left. She wore silver studded earrings and a white hairband on her head. There was even a frilly white choker around her neck. The clothes Aria wore seemed the strangest to Hana since it didn't even feel like it was trying to be the school uniform. Still, she never appeared to get in trouble for it. Her white top revealed her shoulders and the edges were covered in frilly lace. There appeared to be a layer of sparkles or glitter over the front. The bottom was a short white tulle skirt with the same sparkly effect on it. The only thing that indicated she was in Osiris Red were her bright red ankle boots. Aria also wore a few silver rings on her fingers and her deck box was attached to the side of her skirt. Her hands were gently placed in front of her waist with her ankles crossed, giving off the impression that she would start dancing at any moment. The way she carried herself so eloquently made even Obelisk Blue girls turn their heads her way.

Gōda, on the other hand, was very much Aria's opposite. She was a tall, somewhat chubby, girl who was probably about the same height as Hikaru and was on the tanner side, which made the difference between her and Aria stand out more whenever they stood next to each other. Gōda's purple hair reached to her jawline and curved in a bit despite its messiness. A limp red bow kept all but one strand of her bangs pulled back and a bronze hair clip shaped like a cat head rested on the left side of her hair. She had short but big eyebrows and cheerful blue eyes. Freckles were splashed across her nose and cheeks as well. Gōda didn't wear the traditional uniform, but rather a red version of the gym uniform with red gym shorts and tennis shoes. She simply kept her deck in the pocket of her jacket. Her accent made it a bit difficult for others to understand her at times, but at least it wasn't as thick as it could have been. Her speaking rather loudly and quickly all the time didn't exactly help though. It often startled Hana, but somehow Aria never seemed to mind it.

"It was gettin' kinda late and ya hadn't come back to our room yet, so we decided to look for ya!" Gōda explained.

"You don't stay out this late. We grew concerned." Aria added.

Hana raised her eyebrows at her roommates. "You… came to look for me…?"

"'Course we did! We can't let precious lil' Hana get stuck out in the spooky darkness, now can we?" Gōda replied as she ruffled the top of Hana's hair.

"Why are you in the boys' dorm alone? It looks like everyone is gone." Aria questioned.

As Hana fixed her hair, she looked over her shoulder to Judai's door, wondering if he was still listening or not.

"I was… talking to Judai-sensei." Hana said.

"Oh! Sensei's seemed off lately, hasn't he? Ya know what's up with him?" Gōda wondered.

Hana shook her head. "Not really, no. He just wants to be left alone."

"Then it would be best to give him space, yes?" Aria suggested. "You seem close with Yuki-sensei, but sometimes giving someone room is better than pushing."

"I know, I know. I just wanted to say a few things then I'd be on my way." Hana said.

"Good, then ya can come back with us, yeah?" Gōda asked.

Hana nodded. "Yeah."

With a smile on her face, Gōda grabbed one of Hana's hands and pulled her to the door of the dorm, causing Hana to yelp a bit. Aria stood there for a moment before looking back at Judai's door, not noticing Yubel and Daitokuji floating in front of it. She then slowly walked away to follow after her two roommates. Once the room was clear, Yubel and Daitokuji shared a look with each other.

"She's really a sweet girl, nya." Daitokuji commented.

"She's trying to get too much into Judai's business." Yubel rebuked.

"Well, in an indirect way it does involve her. Judai-kun and her brother only turned out the way they did because- Eep!" Daitokuji cut himself off when he realized Yubel was glaring at him.

"That's not what this is about right now." Yubel stated before fading away.

Daitokuji let out a sigh and pressed the tips of his fingers together. "It's times like these I miss Pharaoh even more, nya."

In the bedroom, Judai got up from his place in front of the door and moved to sitting on his bed.

"She's only trying to help. I know that, but…" Judai tried to hold back a choked sob. "W-what do I do now?"

Yubel appeared behind Judai and placed their hands on his shoulders.

"You don't have to do anything you don't want to, Judai." Yubel said.

"But I should!" He shouted and covered his face with his hands. "I have to let them know I'm okay! I won't be able to handle meeting Asuka again if I don't!"

Yubel remained silent, not being good at giving out advice, let alone actually helpful advice. It wasn't a matter they really cared about anyway. They wanted Judai to be as happy as possible, but didn't particularly care about Judai's friends. If Yubel got their way, Judai's friends would be permanently out of the picture. Of course, Yubel did get that for a little while, but look where that got Judai. Yubel understood now that Judai's friends were important to him. He needed them a lot, even if he was rarely actually around them nowadays. Yubel still didn't really care though. They only cared about Judai, and Judai was hurting right now, but no one could help. Not Yubel, not Hana, and certainly not Judai himself.

Halfway across the island, Kiki and Kinozaki parted ways close to the yellow dorms. Kiki waved as she watched him continue on to his own dorm before heading up to her's. Upon reaching the entrances to both dorms, Kiki spotted a fellow dorm member up ahead. Once she got close enough, she realized she recognized them.

"Setsu-senpaaai!" She called out and ran up to them.

"Huh?! O-oh, Kiki-chan… How many times do I have to keep telling you it's Setsuna-senpai? And I would prefer you call me Ozawa-senpai anyway since I respect how you want to be addressed." They responded as Kiki stopped in front of them.

Setsuna Ozawa, a second year in Ra Yellow and stickler for formalities. They had a medium skin tone and silver, always serious looking, eyes with a small mole under their left eye. Their green hair just barely touched their shoulders and the front ends curled around their jaw. A bit of hair stuck outward on both sides of their head just above their ears. Their uniform jacket was in the traditional style other than being sleeveless and unbuttoned with a white untucked button up shirt underneath. The sleeves were rolled up to their elbows, revealing a black leather bracelet with metal studs on their right wrist. They had on brown khakis and the uniform standard shoes with their deck box clipped to their belt. A single thick book was held tightly against their chest, which was less than Setsuna usually had when coming back from the library.

"Nope! Nicknames only with Kiki! All Kiki's friends get nicknames!" She replied.

Setsuna just stared at her. "Riiight… Well we're not friends, so stick with no nicknames."

"Aww, but everyone Kiki knows is Kiki's friend!" She whined.

Setsuna sighed. "And that's how you get people to not like you. You need to be polite and formal with people you don't know very well. Otherwise you seem rude, and I know that's not your intention so you don't want that."

Kiki groaned. "But I've never been able to get all that formality stuff! I wanna be friends with everyone so I should start off super friendly! That's what makes sense."

"That only makes sense to you. It's not the way the world works either." Setsuna retorted.

"Well it doesn't make sense that everyone else can make sense of what Kiki can't make sense of!" Kiki exclaimed.

Setsuna's eyes widened a bit, trying to make sense of what Kiki said before a possible theory started coming to them. Setsuna let out another sigh.

"I think that's okay. Just make sense of what you can and ask for help when you need it." They stated in a softer tone.

Kiki looked confused for a moment before getting an idea.

"So I can ask you for help!?" She cheerfully wondered.

"No." Setsuna bluntly said. "I would prefer solitude. Helping others means no solitude. You have friends though. Ask them."

"Nnnngh! But it's a problem we all have together and we can't figure out what to do! C'mooon! Aren't you a super duper smarty pants?! Doesn't that mean you like figuring out problems?" Kiki shouted.

Setsuna looked a tad annoyed at Kiki's loudness for a second, but brushed it off.

"While I appreciate the compliment to my intelligence and the ego boost, I honestly doubt I would be able to help. But I suppose you can tell me anyway, just in case." They responded.

"Awesome, thankies!" Kiki took in a big breath of air in preparation for her long explanation. "Okay so, you have Alchemy class, right? So ya know Judai-sensei, so you've had to have noticed he's been acting weird lately, right? Well Kino-chan and Han-chan and Kiki, that's me, have been trying to figure out what's up with Sensei! So we were gonna do that today, but Kino-chan and Han-chan said he wouldn't really talk to them. But we kinda, sorta, possibly, maybe managed to figure out that he's just sad about something! But my thing is, I don't get why."

Setsuna stared at Kiki with wide eyes as if they suddenly became dizzy. Kiki certainly knew how to talk someone's ear off, that was for sure. Setsuna shook their head and groaned.

"O...kay… I think I got most of that. I have noticed Yuki-sensei acting differently, but I don't particularly care about why. It's none of my business anyway. I can assure you I don't know why he's being like that." Setsuna responded.

Kiko quickly shook her head. "No, no! I know no one knows why! I'm looking for why people get sad at all."

"How am I supposed to- ugh…" Setsuna rubbed their head, absolutely positive that their theory was right. "So what, you don't get sad?"

"Hm…? Uh, does Kiki get sad? I dunno. I'm always happy about everything and I'm never bothered by stuff."

"That can't be true. You have to have some things that bother you."

"Ummm… Okay well, I guess I am bothered by a few things. I don't like the way wool clothing feels. It makes my skin feel all crawly. The squeaky sound from markers on a white board bothered me sooo much in junior high! I can't stand mashed potatoes 'cause they feel way too smooth! Food should not be that smooth! Oh, and when my mom says bad things about my dad and my brother."

"...Uh-huh… the personalness of that last one aside, just like you have things that bother you, so do others. I don't like loud or crowded places. I don't like talking to older adults. And I don't like being interrupted when I'm trying to have my quiet time. It can bother me enough that I get angry over it. Some people get angry too, or they get sad. Everyone reacts differently to the things that bother them. Maybe Yuki-sensei had something bother him enough that it'll take time for him to be himself again."

"Something bothered him enough… that it'll take time for him to be himself again…"

"Maybe. Don't take my word as fact.

"Thanks so much Setsu-senpai!"

Kiki suddenly pulled Setsuna into a tight hug and they froze up from the contact.

"I have to go tell Han-chan before it's too late! Tell Kabayama-sensei I'll be back later!" Kiki shouted as she let go of Setsuna and started to run off.

"Uh, wait! Kiki-chan! It's getting dark out! You'll get cold dressed like that! There's a curfew too you know!" Setsuna called out.

Kiki didn't respond and instead disappeared once she was far enough away. Setsuna just sighed and pinched the bridge of their nose.

"I suppose as long as she's not struggling she can get up to whatever antics she wants." Setsuna muttered to themself before turning to head inside their dorm.

The rest of the way across the island, Kinozaki quietly approached the boys' blue dorm. Unlike the girls, he wasn't worried about the Judai situation at all. He knew everything would get taken care of eventually. Although, he did wonder why he was helping in the first place. He didn't feel he had any reason to. Whatever had gotten to Judai wasn't exactly his business, nor did he feel concerned at all. He wondered if he was even curious as to why Judai was acting the way he was.

Kinozaki looked down at the palm of his hand while he walked. Why was he asking in the first place? Did he want to help? Did he want to care about Judai being alright? Did he want Hana to not have to worry? He didn't think he'd ever feel those kinds of things. He still couldn't be certain though. He shouldn't worry about it until he was absolutely sure anyway. He never liked focusing on things he wasn't sure about.

"Hola! Hajimeee!"

Kinozaki stopped in his tracks, realizing he was right in front of the dorm. When he looked up, Kinozaki saw Hikaru jumping off his balconing right above him. Not even the slightest hint of emotion showed on his face as he stepped forward just a bit and held out his arms to catch Hikaru. The pink haired boy miraculously landed perfectly in his friend's arms and let out a chuckle.

"Hello." Kinozaki stated and gently let Hikaru down.

"No, you're supposed to say hola back. That's how we always do it." Hikaru corrected in a disappointed tone.

"Oh, okay. Hola. Me voy a ir ahora." Kinozaki responded as he began walking past Hikaru.

"W-wait, Hajime! Ya know I dunno that much!" Hikaru exclaimed and caught up with Kinozaki.

"I would think after living next door to each other our whole lives you would know that one." Kinozaki said and opened the front door to walk inside the dorm.

"Yeah, but ya know me. I'm as forgetful as they come." Hikaru gently knocked on the side of his head. "Plus I don't hear it anywhere else 'cept you an' your old man anyway. Hard to learn that way."

"True. But anyway, don't do that again. That was dangerous and reckless." Kinozaki scolded the other teen.

"Aw, but I got so excited when I saw ya out the window that I couldn't take the long way. Took less work too. Besides, ya caught me perfectly! Nice job!" Hikaru replied with a lazy smile and held up a peace sign.

"Were you waiting for me?" Kinozaki asked as he made his way up the stairs.

"'Course I was! I was uh… hopin' after your tutoring we could hang out for a bit. Ya know, if ya wanna." Hikaru suggested, trailing behind Kinozaki.

"You didn't hang out with Sabrina?" The taller teen asked further.

"Nah, I did. We didn't really do much though. She... left to hang out with some other girls." Hikaru muttered.

"Mn. Well, I can't. I have homework." Kinozaki said.

"Aaand… if ya didn't have homework?"

"If I didn't have homework I would study. Like you should."

"Mngh… What's the point though?"

"Of what? Me studying or you studying?"

"Of both! You're smart! I bet ya know this stuff already. There's no way I'd get any of it though."

Kinozaki stopped in the middle of the hallway and Hikaru almost bumped into the back of him.

"That's not true." Kinozaki muttered.

"Hm? Hajime?" Hikaru quietly called out.

"Why do you think that's true?" Kinozaki asked.

"U-uh… 'Cause I see you studying all the time. A-an' ya get perfect scores on, like, everything. I look at a worksheet an' get so confused that I give up halfway through. I don't pay attention in class either an' I don't really retain anything I learn for very long. Am I… wrong?" Hikaru tried to explain.

Kinozaki remained silent. He wasn't good at talking about feelings, let alone understanding them on the rare occasions that he thought about them. Hikaru was already talking down about himself anyway, Kinozaki didn't want to do the same and then turn the conversation into a back and forth between who thought less of themselves. Knowing Hikaru, he would never believe Kinozaki anyway. He wouldn't believe that Kinozaki working so hard didn't mean Kinozaki was a hard worker. Even though it actually meant Kinozaki was always pushing himself to his limit. It wouldn't help anyway. He just needed to push it all aside for the time being.

"I… gotta go." Kinozaki said.

Hikaru froze. Kinozaki said the same exact thing when he walked away in gym class. Hearing it again felt like a dagger through his chest. His friend really was leaving him. He was being abandoned. Kinozaki didn't want anything to do with Hikaru anymore. He moved on to Hana and Kiki, leaving Hikaru behind. Kinozaki took a step forward and Hikaru suddenly desperately latched onto his arm.

"Don't leave me!" Hikaru shouted, not caring about anyone resting in their rooms that might hear him.

It was Kinozaki's turn to freeze up. Hikaru had such a tight grip on him that he felt like his arm would go numb. He didn't know what to do. He wasn't one for taking action and he was never bothered by Hikaru, but his space was being invaded and he had no idea why Hikaru was reacting so dramatically.

"Don't leave me again, Hajime! Please don't! We're friends! We're friends… right?" Hikaru exclaimed.

Kinozaki just stared at Hikaru's red eyes. They looked so pained. Had Kinozaki done something to upset Hikaru? He couldn't imagine what. He didn't even know how to respond either. Were they friends? They knew each other for as far back as they could remember. But was that enough to count? Hikaru would come over to Kinozaki's house every chance he could get. He'd play in Kinozaki's room with him, have dinner with his family, watch Kinozaki duel, and show up to every single one of his tournament matches. Hikaru was always there, even when his time started to split up between Kinozaki and Sabrina. But did Kinozaki even want him there? He never once made the choice to spend time with Hikaru, it was all Hikaru's decision. If it were up to Kinozaki, he would live his life alone without anyone else around. Not even his parents would be there. Hikaru obviously considered Kinozaki his best friend, maybe even closer to him than Sabrina. But did Kinozaki feel the same way?

Were they friends?

"I… I don't know." Kinozaki muttered.

"What do you mean you don't know?! What was all the time we spent together then?!" Hikaru shouted, his voice cracking a bit.

"I don't know!" Kinozaki shouted back.

Hikaru's eyes widened, tears suddenly appearing in the corners of them, and his hands dropped down to his sides as he took a step back. He never once in his life ever heard Kinozaki raise his voice. Kinozaki didn't sound angry, or upset. He just sounded… confused. Did he really not know? How could he not know? Of course, Hikaru did know Kinozaki never seemed to feel anything. Maybe because of that he didn't feel anything towards Hikaru, so how could he like or dislike Hikaru? Then did he just… tolerate Hikaru all these years?

It took a moment for Kinozaki to realize what he'd done. He yelled. And at Hikaru of all people. That was never something he wanted to do, but also something he didn't think he was capable of in the first place. And Hikaru looked so hurt too. Kinozaki couldn't stand to look at the way Hikaru stared down at the floor. It made him angry at himself.

Wait, angry? Had he ever felt angry before? He was angry, but that anger was directed at himself. He clearly hurt Hikaru and that was something Kinozaki realized he never wanted to happen. He never wanted Hikaru to feel hurt. Kinozaki never wanted Hikaru to be sad or feel like he was being left behind or think he was stupid. He always wanted Hikaru to be happy and smile and just relax like Hikaru enjoyed doing. Kinozaki didn't know if he considered Hikaru a friend, but he did know for certain that he cared about Hikaru. And that was the first thing he was ever sure he cared about.

"Hikaru…" Kinozaki finally broke the deafening silence between them.

"It's okay, Hajime… I'll leave you alone." Hikaru muttered, clearly trying to hold himself together as he spoke.

"Don't." Kinozaki immediately responded, surprising both of them. "I… Before we came here… I intended to just do my own thing, away from everyone. But then you said you were enrolling too, and my intended plan got pushed aside, 'cause with you here too, I was-... I don't want to say forced, but… I had no intention to hang around you and Sabrina, but you know I don't exactly have a problem with… going with the flow so to speak. But when I saw the opportunity to leave, I took it. And now I realize some stuff. I don't know if I consider you a friend. I don't know if I can ever consider anyone a friend. I'm not really sure if I even know what makes someone a friend. But I do know… I know I care about you, Hikaru. I don't want to see you hurt or upset. Not ever. I want you to be happy and if being happy means being around me, then that's what I want."

"Ha-Hajime… b-but you were just saying-"

"I know, I know. You just… made me realize it." Kinozaki interrupted Hikaru.

"But then… aren't I keeping you from doing what you want?" Hikaru wondered.

"I am doing what I want. I'm here, at Duel Academy. It doesn't matter who else is here. Just the fact that I'm here at all is what I wanted. You wanted to come here too, so aren't we both doing what we want then? You're not… you're not getting in the way, Hikaru. I don't… exactly know how to accomplish my goal here, but you aren't keeping me from doing anything. You might even help, I don't know."

"So… me being here isn't a problem?"

"No, it's not. It's never been."

Hikaru wiped his eyes with his sleeve and slowly stepped forward until he was close enough to Kinozaki. He simply put his head against Kinozaki's shoulder.

"You're weird, Hajime." He said.

"I know. You're weird too though." Kinozaki responded as he placed a hand on Hikaru's back.

Hikaru chuckled slightly. "Maybe we're all weird."

"That's saying the least. I still have homework to do though."

"Does the homework really matter right now?"

"It always matters if you want to graduate. You don't want to get left behind, do you?"

Kinozaki felt Hikaru grip onto the front of his jacket with one hand. So that was what he was afraid of.

"I dunno how to do it though…"

"That's why you shouldn't sleep in class." Kinozaki grumbled. "Okay then, how about this? We can hang out by working on the homework together."

"Ugh, learning?" Hikaru groaned as he let go of Kinozaki.

"Would you rather do it by yourself?" Kinozaki questioned.

"N-no! We can do it together!" Hikaru quickly replied.

"Good. Maybe all of us could study together someday." Kinozaki suggested.

Hikaru got a small smile on his face. "That'd be nice."

Just across the lake was the girls' blue dorm and in her room sat Sabrina, staring down at a piece of paper and muttering to herself as she aggressively scribbled on it.

"This is so stupid. Why do I need to do this anyway? It's dumb. Dumb! Ngh, I could get it done with my eyes closed! Hmph, I bet Kinozaki hasn't even finished it yet. No doubt Hikaru hasn't even started it! In faaact… those two might need my help. Hah, of course they do. They can't do anything without me after all." Sabrina glanced out her window. "It's getting a bit late, but a quick trip to their dorm wouldn't take too long."

Sabrina quickly stood up and snatched the homework off her desk as she ran across her room to the door.

"She's talking to herself again." Dancer of the Ice Barrier grumbled as she sat on Sabrina's bed.

"And convincing herself of odd things." Medium of the Ice Barrier added and shook her head.

"Like always…" Geomancer of the Ice Barrier mumbled.

"Hm?" Sabrina stood still for a moment before quickly turning around and seeing nothing there. "Ngh, can't I go one week without hearing things? Thought the house was just haunted, but that can't be it if it's happening here too… Hmm… any ghosts that followed me from my house need to leave me alone!"

"Quite rude to always refer to us as ghosts." Geomancer responded.

"Shhh!" Dancer and Medium tried to shush her.

Sabrina showed no indication of hearing them, so she simply groaned and turned around.

"Maybe I need to try that sage burning thing." She mumbled to herself as she opened her bedroom door.

"Hello!" A girl on the other side of the door greeted her.

"Aaaaahhhh!" Sabrina screamed and slammed her door shut.

"Too sudden?" The girl asked.

Sabrina let out a big sigh and tried to catch her breath before realization struck her and she realized who she slammed the door on.

"T-T-Tanaka-senpai!" She flung the door back open. "Oh. My. Gosh. I am so sorry! That was so rude of me! I didn't mean to-"

"It's okay! I suppose it can be scary to open the door and find someone standing right there." The girl calmly said.

Katsuhira Tanaka, a third year and young lady treated like a big sister by all the other Obelisk Blue girls. She was a tall girl, between Hikaru and Kinozaki's height, with a skin tone the same as Setsuna's. Her long black hair was in a loose braid that gently rested over her left shoulder and a small portion on the right remained loosely held together by a yellow hair clip. Her amber eyes always had such a gentle look in them. Her uniform consisted of a white long sleeved shirt under a blue sleeveless dress that reached down to her ankles. The top of the dress had the same design as the traditional uniform jacket. Her shoes were the standard uniform ones in blue and she wore black tights under her dress. Her voice didn't quite match how it was expected to sound, but it was nonetheless calming to listen to.

"Uh, ah… right. Did you need something? I was just on my way out." Sabrina asked.

"Not exactly, it's just… I'm sure the walls are thinner than you think. I can hear you when you yell. Or even just raise your voice." Katsuhira answered.

Sabrina froze as her purple eyes widened. She let out another scream, but on the inside this time.

"I'm so sorry! I can assure you I was absolutely not talking to myself! Nope, definitely not! I was just, uh, working out my homework out loud!" Sabrina frantically lied with a fake smile on her face.

"With the ghosts?" Katsuhira wondered.

Sabrina felt herself shatter as she let out another inner scream, but kept the fake smile on her face as best she could.

"Oh, ahaha… That was, uh, just a joke. It's something my daddy used to say as a joke. That's all, hahaha…" Sabrina trailed off with a nervous laugh.

"Sounds like a fun man. Well, that was all, but where are you planning on going at this hour?" Katsuhira responded.

"Just to the boys' dorm! I thought a friend might need help with the homework so I was going to drop by for a bit! You know how boys are, always on the dumb side." Sabrina tensed up. "Oh! Uh, not that all boys are dumb, just most! Uh, but- I mean, not that-"

"No, you're right. But I would hate for you to go to the boys' dorm all by yourself at this hour. Wouldn't it be best to just text him?" The older girl suggested.

Sabrina was about to respond, but reality hit her and her fake smile disappeared as she let out a sigh.

"I doubt he would answer. That's why going over there is a better option." Sabrina stated.

"Oh come now, I can tell by the look on your face that it's more than that." Katsuhira pushed.

Sabrina turned around and put her hands on her hips. "He's probably busy with his other friend. The one he likes hanging out with more."

Katsuhira stepped inside the room and shut the door behind her. She walked over to the bed and Dancer and Geomancer floated away before she sat down.

"Tell me whatever you want about it, sweetie. I'm here to listen." She offered.

Sabrina sighed again and started pacing back and forth. "Kinozaki's hanging out with some other girl and Hikaru's sister now. And not that I care about that part because I couldn't care less about Kinozaki. He's always been an annoyance to me. But it's clearly been bothering Hikaru! And it's always annoying when Hikaru gets like that! Then he can't pay attention to me! And who else is supposed to pay attention to me when Hikaru doesn't?! I don't know anyone else around here! I mean, other than Kinozaki and I know you now and a few other girls, but I'm not close with anyone else yet!"

Katsuhira simply cocked her head to the side.

"Do you hear yourself?" She asked.

"What do you mean?" Sabrina wondered.

"Tsk. She doesn't even hear herself." Dancer commented.

"She never does." Geomancer added.

"Oh be nice." Medium scolded.

"I mean… you say it's annoying when a dear friend feels bothered and he should pay attention to you instead. Doesn't that seem a bit, hmm… narcissistic?" Katsuhira suggested.

"Narcissistic?" Sabrina repeated.

Narcissistic." Dancer, Medium, and Geomancer said together.

"I mean, if he's bothered by another friend then you should be worried about that rather than him not being able to pay attention to you. If he's your friend then you care about him, right?" Katsuhira explained.

"No, no. I don't care what's going on with Hikaru. I just want things back to normal. Without Kinozaki." Sabrina said.

"But… in order for things to go back to the status quo his problems will have to be solved. You can't just make him go back to normal as if that gets rid of the problem."

"But who cares about Kinozaki?!"

"He does, apparently."

Sabrina groaned. "It's always 'Kinozaki this' and 'Kinozaki that' with him. Never 'Oh you look gorgeous today, Sabrina' or 'What an amazing duel, you're the best duelist I've ever seen'. Maybe I want a little bit of attention sometimes!"

The three duel spirits shared a look with each other. Even Katsuhira looked a bit worried.

"Why do you want attention so badly?" She inquired.

"Uh, pssh, obviously because I deserve it. My daddy's business has connections to Industrial Illusions of all companies! I live in a mansion. I got synchro cards long before they were released. Everyone should pay attention to me!" Sabrina claimed.

"Hm, but do they?"

"Hmph. No. Only Hikaru and my parents do, and since I'm here it's only Hikaru now. But because he's too focused on Kinozaki, no one's paying attention to me now!"

"We are though." Medium stated.

"It's not like we can't." Dancer replied.

"I'd still rather not." Geomancer remarked.

"Have you ever considered that people don't need to pay attention to you?" Katsuhira asked.

Sabrina just stared at her for a moment before bursting with laughter. "Ahahaha! N-no way, no way! That's just not possible! How could people not pay attention to me?!"

"I guess it's hard not to when you're so loud." Geomancer said.

"Huh?" Sabrina stopped laughing and looked at Katsuhira.

Dancer and Medium quickly shoved a hand over Geomancer's mouth to keep her quiet. Katsuhira glanced across the room for a moment before looking back to Sabrina.

"I didn't say anything. But, I really don't know how to explain to you that you don't need to be the center of attention all the time." Katsuhira said.

"I do respect you, Tanaka-senpai, but that's just ridiculous. How could I not be?" Sabrina responded.

Katsuhira stood up from Sabrina's bed. "Sorry to lay it on hard, but… it's because you're not."

Sabrina tensed up and the three duel spirits grew worried that she would snap.

"Now, it's getting late and we both should get ready for bed soon. If you ever need a tutor to help you with your homework, I'm right next door. So you don't need to lie, okay?" Katsuhira said as she made her way to the door. "Goodnight, Sabrina."

And with that, the door closed, leaving Sabrina seemingly all alone. The three duel spirits stared at her, waiting for her to make a move. It shocked all three of them when Sabrina dropped to her knees. They floated a bit closer to her, genuinely concerned for the young girl.

"I'm… I'm special. I'm important, and cool, and- and…" Sabrina put her hands over her face, trying to hold back her tears. "So why does no one like meeee?!"

The sound of Sabrina sobbing filled the room. Medium reached a hand out to put on Sabrina's back, but it just fazed right through the girl and she didn't show any sign of noticing it.

"Just leave her be." Dancer said, not trying to sound harsh.

Medium looked at the other two with a worried expression, then to the floor. Together, the three spirits faded away to leave Sabrina to herself.

Back across the island, Kiki ran the entire way to the red dorms and finally reached the door of the girls' dorm. She practically barreled through the door, startling the few girls that were still up and sitting in the main room.

"Han-chan! Where is she?!" Kiki shouted.

The girls glanced at each other, both confused and worried over Kiki's sudden appearance.

"Who?" One of them asked.

"Oh. Uh, Hana Mitarashi." Kiki corrected.

"Second floor, third door." Another girl stated.

"Thank you!" Kiki shouted before running back out of the dorm and shutting the door behind her.

She ran up the staircase outside and passed the third door, but turned around and quickly grabbed the handle, pushing it, but only slamming her body full force into the door. She yelped and fell backwards. There was a moment of silence as the door clicked and Kiki lifted her head up with a groan.

"The hell was that?" Gōda questioned as she opened the door.

"An intruder?" Hana nervously wondered from inside the room.

Gōda looked down to see Kiki on the ground and Aria poked her head out to get a look at what happened. After a moment, it became evident to her what transpired.

"The door is pull, not push. And it was locked." Aria calmly stated.

"O-oh… ehehe, my baaad! Now where's Han-chan?!" Kiki responded as she nearly jumped to her feet.

Hana quickly got off her bed and ran to the door, squeezing past her roommates at the sound of Kiki's voice.

"Kiki-chan?!" She exclaimed.

"Han-chan! There ya are! Listen, I got somethin' super duper mega important to tell ya! It's about Sensei!" Kiki shouted.

"Judai-sensei?! Uh, uh, okay! Come in. Wait, she can come in, right?" Hana asked.

Gōda and Aria looked at each other before looking back at Hana.

"Sure, don't see why not." Gōda said.

Without another second, Kiki barged into the room and practically tackled Hana, who screeched in response.

"Okay, I was talking to Setsu-senpai, they're from Ra Yellow too, and I was talking about the Sensei thing and they helped me figure out that- oh hey! Those pajamas are sooo cute! Green is definitely your color!" Kiki interrupted herself.

Hana glanced down at herself to look at her light green pajama shirt and pants with a pink flower pattern around the edges.

"Oh thank you, my mom bought them a bit before I left- wait, Kiki-chan!" Hana focused back on the matter at hand.

"Oh, right, right, right!" Kiki grabbed Hana's shoulders. "Sensei just needs time!"

"Hm? Time? I mean, I suppose that seems kinda obvious. We were gonna check on him tomorrow, but if giving it a few more days is a better idea…" Hana trailed off.

"Wait, I didn't make some kinda mega ultra awesome breakthrough?!" Kiki questioned.

"Not… really? I mean it does change the plan a bit. I think it's a better idea, but on a small scale I think we were already doing that by waiting until tomorrow." Hana explained.

Kiki simply whined.

"Ah, but… thank you for coming all this way to tell me though." Hana said with a smile.

Gōda looked back out the door and up at the sky. "Ya know, it's gettin' real late. Goin' back to yellow all by yourself might be a pain. Wanna jus' stay the night?"

"A sleepover?!" Kiki exclaimed.

"Well, ya are Hana's friend, so it's up to her." Gōda said.

"I-I don't mind." Hana agreed.

"Awesome! My first ever sleepover!" Kiki cheered and tightly hugged Hana.

"First?" Aria repeated. "Well, I suppose this would be my first as well."

"Hey, she looks 'bout your size. Let her borrow some pj's, Aria." Gōda suggested.

Aria nodded and walked over to the closet.

"This is gonna be the coolest night ever! We can stay up and tell spooky ghost stories! Paint each other's nails! Do our hair! I bet you'd look adorable in braids, Han-chan!" Kiki exclaimed and gently grabbed some of Hana's hair.

Hana took a step back so her hair was free and straightened it out with her fingers. "I'm not going to be getting much sleep, am I?"

"Doesn't sound like it, haha!" Gōda said with a laugh as she sat down on her bed.

Hana sighed, wondering how Judai's night was going. If all he needed was time, then that time was running out. Tomorrow Asuka would arrive. There was only hours left and to Judai, it felt like a countdown to the end of the world.

The girls enjoyed a calm night of chatting and growing closer. Hana felt she was certain she could call Aria and Gōda her friends now, and the two got to know Kiki pretty well, since she wouldn't stop talking about her interests. They did find her extensive knowledge on the Blizzard Prince rather impressive though. Aria made sure to remember to give a listen to the songs he's appeared in while Gōda admitted to being a big fan of one of the shows he guest starred in. Aria shared the stories of the antique dolls she kept on her shelf in their dorm room, but Hana confessed that the oldest doll creeped her out and Aria promised to store it in the closet later. Gōda brought up the topic of her volleyball team back home and some of the crazy antics they got up to. Kiki thought everyone playing a game of volleyball together would be a perfect idea, to which Gōda agreed, but Hana and Aria owned up to sports not being their thing. As the girls laid down to sleep, Hana listed off a great deal of facts she knew about flowers and how to raise them properly, making Aria suggest they get some seeds from the greenhouse and grow flowers around the dorm. Once they drifted off to sleep, Kiki ended up taking up most of the space on Hana's bed, but she didn't really mind. Her brother had a habit of doing the same thing when they were younger anyway.

In the blue dorms, Kinozaki and Hikaru studied late into the night, but Hikaru ended up getting so tired that he couldn't stay awake any longer and eventually fell asleep against Kinozaki. Kinozaki didn't have the heart to leave Hikaru after their little incident in the hall, so he stayed in Hikaru's room for the night. It was uncomfortable though, since he didn't want to move in case it woke Hikaru.

Sabrina, on the other hand, spent her night seemingly alone. She laid on her bed wrapped up in her blanket as tight as possible and cried herself to sleep, not even caring about the mess she would be in the morning. Dancer, Medium, and Geomancer sat out on the balcony, discussing amongst themselves and a few other Ice Barrier spirits. It wasn't like it mattered though, since there was nothing they could do as long as Sabrina couldn't see them. Hearing them only ended up freaking her out too. She would just have to sort things out herself.

And as for Judai, well, he couldn't sleep. He'd been low on energy for the past several days and sleeping longer, so thanks to that he was unable to fall asleep. He only felt groggy and restless. He couldn't stop tossing and turning in his bed either. Each time he checked his phone another half hour had passed. Another half hour closer to Asuka arriving. Another half hour closer to the moment when everything felt like it would end.

He had to do something. He couldn't just lay in bed and be a sad sap until Asuka barged into his room and yelled at him. He couldn't let the kids stay worried about him. He couldn't let Asuka be the one to inform everyone that he was safe as if he had run away and gone into hiding. No, he couldn't hide. Not from his friends. Not from the people that loved him so much that they never forgot about him or left him behind. Not when he kept doing that very same thing.

They weren't Hana's brother. They weren't all the other students that he never spoke to that had to face the consequences he never expected to deal with. They weren't strangers that he could never rectify his actions with. They were his friends. They were the people he'd been friends with since he was a teenager. Even if he couldn't fix things with every person he ever inadvertently hurt, he could still fix things with his friends.

He was sure now that he wasn't in their way or a constant nuisance to them. He could always talk to them, given that they were available at the time. And if they weren't, that was okay. Because they would get back to him when they could, and that was normal. It wasn't a sign that he was getting left behind just because he didn't go down the same path as everyone else.

So Judai finally sat up in his bed and checked his phone one more time. It wasn't long before the sun would rise so he doubted he would be getting any sleep. He knew there was a lot he had to say, to everyone, but he wondered if it would be too much to say in one long text so suddenly in the morning. Judai wasn't the best at giving speeches, he felt putting down his thoughts in writing made it easier to sort out his feelings, but talking one-on-one in person seemed like the better thing to do. It was quicker too. So explaining things to Asuka face to face would be more appropriate. Still, she probably wouldn't take it the right way if Judai just suddenly appeared before her when she least expected it, so he opened up his messages on his phone. He made sure to avoid reading anything though, since he didn't think he could handle seeing his friends get increasingly worried about him just yet.

'Come to the school rooftop.'

His word choice probably wasn't the best, but that didn't occur to him at the time. Judai just wanted to explain things properly after Asuka arrived without shocking her and he felt like the rooftop was the best place to do that. It was always his spot anyway. The place he went to whenever he needed a quick break or some alone time to think to himself. The view was nice too. But just sitting in his room waiting would only make the tension worse. As Judai got out of bed, Daitokuji appeared and let out a yawn.

"Going somewhere, nya?" He asked in a tired voice.

"Yeah, to wait for Asuka." Judai answered.

"At this hour? It's cold out, you know." Daitokuji responded.

"It's not like it'll kill me. Besides, I think waiting in here is more likely to kill me anyway. I need fresh air and sunlight. Or, well, moonlight right now I guess." Judai replied as he opened his bedroom door.

Daitokuji disappeared as Judai walked out of the room and closed the door behind him. He was quiet as he made his way across the dorm's main room and slipped outside. There was a cool breeze in the air, but it wasn't like it was freezing outside. With a quick look out at the ocean, Judai turned to head up to the main school building.

Thousands of miles away, Asuka stepped out of her hotel bathroom in a towel and walked over to the vanity across the room to sit down in front of the mirror. She brushed through her hair for a moment until her phone vibrated on the nightstand. She paused and glanced over at it before groaning as she reached out to pick it up.

"For the last time Nii-san, I'm not-" Asuka froze when her eyes rested on Judai's name in her notifications.

"Tenjoin-sama! There's one hour until you need to leave for your flight!" A woman's voice outside the room announced.

Asuka flinched and her phone slipped from her hand, falling underneath the vanity.

"Uh, uh, okay! Thank you!" Asuka responded.

As she stood up and got down on her knees to look for her phone, she wondered if she just imagined it. None of them had heard from Judai in so long that it started to feel impossible that they would ever hear from him. Asuka had been so worried lately too that she wouldn't put it past herself to hallucinate his name for a split second. She was sure that once she saw it again it would turn out to be another text from Fubuki, or maybe even Manjoume. Anyone but Judai.

But did she want it to be Judai? If it wasn't, then it would just disappoint her and make her worry for his safety all over again. If it was Judai though, then it could be any number of things. From him explaining where he was, to some kind of final goodbye, or even his parents informing everyone in his contacts of his death. Why did her worries always go to him dying though? She never understood that. Fubuki and Sho usually seemed to jump to the same conclusion too. Of course, Judai was out there wandering the world all by himself. It wasn't out of the realm of possibility for his latest crazy adventure to end up killing him, or even him dying just by not finding anywhere warm to sleep at night. Asuka really was always worried if he was eating enough and sleeping somewhere indoors.

Picking up her phone from the floor, Asuka flipped it on and turned on the screen. The fraction of a second it took for the screen to light up felt like it lasted forever. Once she could make sense of what she was looking at, a loud gasp escaped her lips.

"Judai!" Asuka exclaimed and tried to get up as quickly as she could, but smacked her head on the underside of the vanity. "Ow! Gah, damn it! Even now he's still causing me problems."

Asuka rubbed the back of her head and backed up so she could get to her feet. She unlocked her phone and quickly read the message.

"School? What school?" Asuka asked herself.

She turned to face the wall of her hotel room, which was one large window and walked up to it to get a good look out at the city.

"I don't see any school…" Asuka looked back down at the text. "Is this even from Judai?"

It seemed so strange and cryptic to her. She knew Judai wasn't the best at explanations, but the text just seemed a bit too off to her. If it was Judai, was he in the right mindset? Maybe it was the start of some kind of final goodbye from him. Or potentially a kidnapper that was finally sending a ransom note. But in that case it would make sense for them to specify that was what it even was. It just didn't sit right with her. First the reunion had to be cancelled and then Judai goes off the grid for a month and a half, and now he sends a single text with no other indication of what was going on. Asuka couldn't even be sure it was Judai that sent it. She just hoped it was a sign that he was alive.

"Wait! School, does he mean the academy? Does he know I'm going to be there?" Asuka wondered aloud.

She didn't know who all at Duel Academy knew she would be arriving, but at least Samejima and a few others were aware. For the message to be sent just hours before she would get there seemed a little too perfectly timed. Either Judai was at the academy too, or at least his phone was. It was definitely his number after all. Perhaps he still showed up at the academy despite the reunion's cancellation and had been there the whole time. He was well known amongst the staff anyway so it stood to reason he might be told Asuka was showing up.

But then why did he never let anyone know? Initially they all thought he just needed some time to himself. The reunion did mean a lot to him, so a few days or a week of silence wasn't something she could really get mad about. But a month and a half was different. Fubuki really did start to think Judai was dead. Sho even mentioned potentially putting out a missing person's report on television during his league's tournament. She even heard through the grapevine that Johan called O'Brien while crying over the situation. Judai made them all worry so much only for him to turn up at Duel Academy probably having the time of his life without them.

But that wasn't the right way to think about it and Asuka knew that. How could she know the person that texted her really was Judai? She might not get another response again and just saying it was Judai didn't actually prove it was. For him to be silent for so long and finally reappear with a message for her to go to the academy's rooftop was so-

No. It was Judai.

It was Judai and he wasn't okay. The academy's rooftop was Judai's place. That was where he went for peace and quiet. He not only took naps up there, but it was also where he met Johan, and where he went a lot for a while after the GX tournament to think. If Judai wanted to meet Asuka there and not at the dock, or red dorms, or Samejima's office, then it wouldn't be a cheerful 'sunshine and sparkles' reunion. Judai wanted to meet somewhere he was sure he could think clearly. He had things he needed to say in person, Asuka was sure of it. She was just worried about what those things were.

"Tenjoin-sama, forty-five minutes!" The same woman called out.

"Oh, thank you!" Asuka responded.

She didn't realize she was wasting time just standing there. She needed to finish getting ready or else she would run late, and she didn't want to make Judai wait for her. Asuka took one more look out at the city skyline before glancing down at her phone.

"You really are always causing problems, Judai." She muttered.

Asuka turned around to toss her phone on the bed and picked up her clothes so she could start changing. She had to presentable for her reunion after all.