Chapter two: The dreamless sleeper
"Master, by my calculations it is time for you to wake up and prepare for your classes."
The high-pitched voice of Roboppy, Yusaku's maid robot, advised. Yusaku opened his eyes, after a long and dreamless sleep. He got out of bed and changed into his school uniform.
Yusaku's flat was almost completely empty, only his bed, computer desk, and a single cupboard filled the large empty space of the room. There also was a large window opposite of the bed overlooking the busy streets and other buildings of Den City. On the window ledge was a single flower blooming in Violet, however signs of neglect were showing and some of its blossoms had turned the same muted color as the rest of the room.
After putting on his school uniform, he stood for a moment in silence. In the back of his head he could feel a strange feeling, like he had forgotten something important. He took a deep breath and tried to think of the three things he needed to do before leaving the house like every morning.
First: He needed to go to the bath room to clean his teeth and wash his face.
Second: He needed to eat breakfast.
Third: He needed to boot up the computer and check for any activity from the knights of Hanoi.
He needed to follow the three steps and he would be fine, he knew.
So, he pushed the feeling to the back of his mind and headed for the bath room. Inside of the small room he leaned over the sink and splashed water in his face. Then he got his toothbrush and started to clean his teeth. This gave him time to once again ponder that strange feeling.
Was he getting sick?
His thoughts were cut short by the squeaky voice of Roboppy coming through the door.
"Master, by my calculations you need to double the current speed of your morning preparations in order to reach school in time."
This surprised Yusaku. He was never late for school and come to think of it Roboppy never needed to wake him before.
He quickly finished cleaning his teeth and then made his way to the kitchen. The kitchen was also small and lacking anything needed to make proper meals, mainly because Yusaku always eats at Kusanagi's. Almost without looking he made himself a bowl of cereals and sat down at the kitchen table.
While eating Yusaku noticed a few unopened boxes in the corner of the kitchen. They were still from when he first moved in and he had yet to unpack them. Normally Yusaku like to keep things clean in his flat and what few things there where had their proper place, but after a time the boxes just started to blend into the environment and he had never bothered unpacking them.
The amount of strange things this morning was starting to make him uneasy, but he kept to his plan.
With breakfast behind him he made his way to the last step, his computer. He moved to push the button to turn the computer on, when something suddenly made him stop.
He didn't know if it was a deliberate choice to stop or if he acted on impulse, but he was still standing in front of his computer, not having activated it.
It was as if something in his mind objected to this step of his plan. Was there something he hadn't thought of? No, this was definitely the third step. It had to be done, but why again?
The question over took his mind and he decided it would be best to leave now, so he grabbed his bag and moved to the front door of his flat, but when he put his hand on the door handle different thoughts kicked in.
He was leaving out something important. He needed to check his computer for Hanoi activity.
He took one step back, towards his computer, standing in the middle of the room in silence and then he turned around again and left his flat.
On his way to school his thoughts were running circles in his head. He couldn't shake that strange feeling and he had no idea why. Normally Yusaku's every day routine, Playmaker business excluded, was uneventful and he went through it without much thought, why was today so different?
He tried to order his thoughts and come up with three reasons why, but when he couldn't find any, he settled for three things that went wrong this morning instead, so he could hopefully find some solutions.
First: He slept too long and didn't wake up on his own.
Second: He noticed the boxes in the corner, despite not caring for them before.
Third: He, for some reason, didn't feel like looking up Hanoi activity.
The three had to be connected, but how?
He made it to school just in time for the bell to call him to his first class, computer sciences. He waited for all the other students to make their way inside before entering and finding himself a place in the very back of the class, as the teacher started to speak.
"Today we will talk about how innovations from the other dimensions allowed SOL technology to rework the old Kaiba corporation VR system into the modern day- "
He knew his teacher had nothing to teach him in any computer related classes, since he hacked into large secretive corporations on a regular basis and helped Kusanagi develop the tools needed to stop the knights of Hanoi. He could get away with not paying attention and still ace every exam.
This would normally be the moment he would fall asleep, because his sleep that night was cut short by nightmares, but he didn't feel like that today.
And then it dawned on him. The reason he felt off this morning. He had no nightmares that night, quite the opposite he slept through the night without interruption. He could not remember a single other night he had slept peacefully. He would usually have a nightmare about the lost incident and wake up drenched in sweat, or in better nights he would just be unable to stay asleep and wake up every few hours.
But why could he sleep last night?
Realization came to him for the second time that day and he felt stupid for not noticing sooner.
He defeated the knights of Hanoi.
For the first time in two weeks the full extent of it hit Yusaku, for 10 years he wanted nothing more than vengeance. He went from a scared little boy to an emissary of revenge, who defeated his enemy's countless times and brought justice to all those responsible.
Now there were no knights of Hanoi and Dr. Kogami was dead. All his victims and their families could live knowing that the ones responsible payed.
His revenge was over, but what did that make him?
The question rang in his head as the bell signified the end of the lesson. He could not even begin to understand it.
Like most days, after school, he helped Kusanagi at the hot dog truck. He would usually spend a few hours there working and then a few more looking at his tablet or having the odd talk with Kusanagi. He wasn't an official employee and Kusanagi couldn't pay him much, but it had just slipped in as another part of his day that he was not uncomfortable with.
As he was making hot dogs his thoughts once again wandered.
All this time he was only focused on getting revenge and stopping the Hanoi. He always thought everything would fall into place after he was done, or maybe he didn't think about it at all.
"Is everything ok?" Kusanagi asked with a worried look on his face.
Yusaku looked up from the hot dogs he had been turning for a few minutes without paying attention. Some of them had burned black spots on them.
"Everything is fine, Kusanagi-san" Yusaku answered, as he tried to quickly get some of the hot dogs off the grill.
Kusanagi frowned, obviously not believing him, but he decided not to push it any further.
After a moment Kusanagi started to look into the distance absent mindedly.
"I have gone to visit Jin in the hospital yesterday. He is getting better every time I visit now. This time he even said hello to me after the doctor left the room. For most of the visit he had a bit of a smile on his face. After lunch he proudly showed me a flower, he was taking care of in his room and a spot in the garden he liked to visit"
Kusanagi had a big smile on his face obviously being very fond of the memory.
"And that's all thanks to you, Yusaku" Kusanagi turned to look at Yusaku proudly.
Yusaku didn't really know what to say or do, so he turned back to his hot dogs. Still turning the questions over in his head.
It was getting late when Yusaku came back to his flat. Everything was precisely as he had left it and Roboppy was zipping out to greet him.
"Welcome back Master."
Yusaku ignored the robot and started to think of the three things he needed to do every day after coming home.
First: He needed to boot up the computer and check for any activity from the knights of...
…
There were no knights of Hanoi.
Yusaku felt like he had run head first into a wall.
He let himself drop on his bed, feeling very exhausted.
Frustration was rising in him. He had no idea what to do. Why didn't he feel better? Everything should be fine. He should be able to reconnect with his past and just pick up where he left off.
Think of three things, he told himself.
Three things to do now and then he would find what he needs to see things clearly.
He thought for a long moment. Three things new. Three things he never did before.
"House work always helps you get a clear head isn't that right, honey?" he remembered that from somewhere, it came along with a sly grin and a voice saying: "what's that supposed to mean!", from the other room. He didn't know where he heard that but it felt like good advice.
First: He would water the flower on his window ledge.
Second: He would unpack the boxes in the kitchen.
Third: He would carefully find a place for everything in the boxes and look for any other things he never noticed before in his flat.
He got the almost unused watering can from the kitchen and started watering the plant. It socked up the water greedily, clearly needing it. Yusaku also removed any of the unhealthy leaves from the plant and made sure the plant was standing in a good position to receive sun light.
While working on the plant Yusaku suddenly started thinking about Jin. He was doing a lot better than he used to, but why? If he could find the answer maybe it would help him with his problem.
Next Yusaku got the boxes from the kitchen and set them on his bed. They weren't too heavy but by the noise coming from inside he would guess there were lots of loose parts inside.
He opened the first box. The first thing he saw was a huge plush dragon, about the size of the box itself. The dragon was red and white and it had one red and one green eye. Yusaku thought it looked odd, but he stared at it for a long moment trying to remember why he had this.
He founded a few more toys of varies colorful dual monsters, he knew he had seen before somewhere, but then something specially wrapped in paper caught his eyes. Yusaku unwrapped it carefully and saw that it was a silver frame. He turned it around to take a look at it.
The picture was clearly painted by a child with a lot of colored pencils. On the left there was a woman painted with indigo hair tied into a ponytail by a large yellow ribbon. She was wearing a red jacket and a bracelet around her arm. On the right there was a man with purple hair and a purple suit with a cape extending outwards. Between the two was a small boy with spiky blue and pink hair and a brown jacket.
All three of them were smiling.
Yusaku now knew what he needed to do, why Jin was making such good progress. He knew how he would reconnect with his past and forge a new future and he didn't know if he could.
Notes: thank you very much for reading. If you have any questions or criticism feel free to leave a review. I always want to improve (=
Stay frosty!