Chapter 5: The stranger in a strange land
The bullet train was rushing along the tracks at an incredible speed. Almost like it was trying to catch up to the rising sun, as it was heading to its destination. The compartments were mostly empty, but the screens all over the wall where still displaying advertisement for the newest duel monster tournament or card set.
Inside Serena didn't notice much of the flashy advertisement or the trains great speed, except for the blur of landscape dashing past the window. She had other things to worry about.
Keeping her eyes open was becoming increasingly difficult, because she was still tired from the night before. But she knew she could not fall asleep now, because today would be important, today she would start to set things right, she had to.
She fought off her urge to fall asleep and tried to formulate a plan.
She thought hard, trying to picture meeting Yusaku again. She pictured what she would say to him.
It was vague in her mind. Something about how much she loved him and about how sorry she felt. It would be the right thing and they would… she would …
Serena let out a frustrated sigh.
No matter how much she turned the words in her head, she could never get them the way she wanted them to be.
She was never good at this, finding the right words. She knew a lot of people who were and when they did it, it seemed to come so easily to them, but both Serena and Yuri were never good at putting emotions into word.
She slumped down in her seat and sighted again. It had all been such a rush, she had watched a few more minutes of the documentary and then she left the apartment heading straight for the train station.
She was on the first train that morning just as the first rays of sun were coming out.
Serena's instinct was telling her that she needed to do something fast, that she had waited for far too long and that she could wait no longer, but now, sitting in that train heading to Den city, she realized for the first time that she didn't have a clue what she actually needed to do.
What was even different now? What could she do now when she had failed to do all these years?
The questions were spinning in her head and she couldn't help smile just a little through all the frustration. If Yuri were here he would say something sarcastic about her heading in head first without a plan like always.
Serena would try to sting right back, but this time it was true. She didn't have the slightest clue about where to even start thinking about a plan and after an hour of sitting in the train spend thinking, she hasn't gotten any further.
She supposed that a good start would be finding out why she had failed before.
It would be painful, but this was for her family so she did not hesitate.
The thing she remembers most about the years was the silence.
She would try to start a conversation or an activity or get Yuri to start one and it always ended in failure. Yusaku would sit in silence or give only a short quite answer while staring into nothingness. There were days when he did not speak a single.
In Yuri she felt the helplessness turn into frustration. Serena had watched Yuri pull himself out of the deepest pit one can imagine and now it felt like she was losing him again.
The same dark path she saw him go down could have been hers too.
Except she made a different choice. One night when the silence and pain had ground her down completely, when her son had been trying to hide in a corner and cry all day, she had wanted nothing more than to seeking revenge.
She was about to head out when she went to see if Yusaku was still sleeping. She had seen him there suffering through a nightmare many times, but in that moment, she couldn't understand why she had ever thought about seeking revenge instead of helping him.
That evening, Yuri god knows where, she had called Yuzu and asked her to come over.
That evening now nearly eight years ago was the first time she had let her heart out fully.
She and Yuri had tried to talk before, but it always felt like there was nothing to say, when the other felt the same thing. It was comforting to Serena sometimes, but it did not lead her forward in anyway.
That evening after crying in Yuzu's arms. She had helped Serena see a different path.
Serena decided that revenge could not help her and that she needed to focus on helping Yusaku get better.
That resolution was still standing to this day, but that does not mean anything became easier.
She still failed at getting him to talk or participate in anything a normal child would do.
There were still nights where he was fighting the nightmares even with her sitting next to the bed trying to comfort him.
It seemed like it was all for nothing now, there was still the silence that nothing seemed to be able to break, the invisible wall that separated him from everyone, even Serena and Yuri and it seemed to still grow every day.
Yuzu was a great help during that time. When ever the day had been hard she would be there for her. Yuzu often told her that things needed time and that the best thing to do was to provide comfort and make Yusaku know that she is there. Then a time would come when they would all be ready to change.
Was that time now?
The train was heading though a tunnel now and the compartment was dark for a moment.
She didn't know.
A look at one of the screens in the train revealed to her that she would not have much time to answer the questions she had.
She could only slum tougher in frustration for what felt like the hundredths time that train ride, not being one step closer to what she needed to actually do.
Then the train came rushing out of the tunnel and the light of the red sun rise over the ocean was blinding her.
Even in her distracted state she had to be awed at the colors of the sun rise.
Then she saw the city her son had spend the last two years in for the first time.
Serena saw the sun rise disappear behind the skyscrapers, the busy streets with automated cars even at this hour and the massive screens allover displaying advertisement.
The advertisement in her compartment also changed to something she thought was LINK VRAINS themed.
All of it was announcing a grand reopening.
The sun rise reminded her of a very specific sun set. Yuri, always one for clichéd romanticism, when he wasn't making fun of it, had invited her to see it. That evening he had shyly asked her if she maybe, possibly, conceivably ever considered having children.
Her son was somewhere in that big city and she would try to help him. Whatever end.
Serena left the train at Den city central station. It was starting to get busy and she had to fight herself through the crowd.
Once she exited the station Serena took a look around and felt like she had run head first into a wall.
Den city had millions of people and she had no idea of where her son even lived.
After the shock, frustration set in. How could she let it come to this?
She told herself to stay calm. She had just forgotten to look it up again before leaving. She had it somewhere.
For a few agonizing moments while Serena was looking franticly through the archive on her duel disk, she thought that her trip would just end with her having to go back home.
No. She would knock on every door in the city before giving up.
At last, she found it buried in the deepest corner of her archive. While looking at her duel disk she also noticed that Yuri hadn't yet answered her message and that Yuzu had sent her a message asking her if she got there save.
She ignored both for now as she knew that she could not let herself get distracted.
"Manjome street"
That was the address. Now she only needed to get there.
As she had no idea where to go she thought that her best shot was to take a taxi. She quickly found one, but to her surprise there was no driver inside as she opened the door.
"This is an automated vehicle driven by an AI that has past all mandated safety tests. Please take a seat as AI driving is the safest and fasted way to travel.", a robotic voice came from inside.
Serena would have been more skeptical, but this was pretty much her only option, so she got in.
The computer then asked her for a destination and she told it the address.
It felt very strange talking to an AI, let alone being driven by one. She came from a place were the primary transportation was boats on a canal after all.
"What a strange city." Serena muttered out loud.
During the drive Serena tried to distract herself by looking out of the window. She saw the busy traffic on the streets as more of the cars without drivers were heading to their destinations and the great skyscrapers, some had pictures of what looked like duelist being projected onto the sides.
It all did little to distract her. Serena constantly took glances at her duel disk to see if she received a certain message.
Yuri should really be here, she thought to herself.
Where was he? What was he doing?
She had her suspicions of what the answers to some of her questions were, but she could not let herself get distracted now.
Some part of her thought that maybe it would be easier without Yuri, at least at first. He would need to be here soon, but maybe it would be easier for her to lay the ground work.
Even while thinking that Serena remembered that she didn't know how to do any of that in the first place and another part of her was saying that she would really need him.
Which all brought her back to sighing in frustration and having no idea what to do while her drive continued.
This was insane absolutely insane, was the only thing Serena could think. How did it come to this?
Serena was sitting at a table in front of a hot dog truck on one of the central squares of den city.
When Serena tried to find her sons name on the doorbells she came up empty and after she asked the housekeeper she was informed that no Yusaku ever lived in the house. She then spend what felt like a long time looking at every doorbell of ever house in the street.
Serena felt like she should be shocked beyond believe. Her son had given her a false address.
But for some reason she wasn't. It just felt like another in a long series of things that kept them apart in the year and a half after he left.
She had tried to write a letter or get Yuri to write one. It usually ended in her ripping her letter in half. Yuri would say that he finished his, but she doubted that. A few times she actually managed it, but she never received an answer.
Leaving voice messages was easier as she had less time to think about what to say. She could see that he received them, but she never got an answer either.
She should be concerned by this, but she knew he did not reply on purpose.
She could never claim that she understood him after what happened, but him never answering her letters and the fake address just felt like an extension of that wall that isolated him from everyone.
So, she didn't feel anger or shock. She just asked herself again, how could she let it come to this?
"Here is your hotdog special." A light voice came from behind her. As Serena turned around she saw a man wearing a white apron that covered a black jacket. The man with purple hair and a small goatee was smiling at her.
Serena had almost completely forgotten. She had ordered a hot dog from him a few minutes ago.
"I don't know what is bothering you, but it's never good to brood on an empty stomach.", he told her, trying to sound cheerful.
Serena didn't quite know how to respond so she just thanked the man and took the hotdog.
She really had been starving, having not eaten anything all-day. She didn't notice before, but after she saw the hot dog truck, she could no longer ignore her hunger. Besides both Serena and Yuri had always liked hot dogs.
While eating, Serena's attention was caught by a massive screen above a stage at the other end of the square. It was showing footage of a duel in what she presumed was LINK VRAINS.
A girl dressed in a blue and pink dress with wings coming out of her back was surfing through the air.
Serena gave the scene a very confused look. That was the way people dueled around here?
The girl seemed to win triumphantly and smiled to the camera, blowing a kiss.
Then the screen transitioned to a still image. On the bottom it said "More action in the New LINK VRAINS coming soon!" in bold colorful letters. In the middle were three people, the girl from before, a muscular man in a golden wrestling outfit and in the very center there was… well…
Her son, or as he was called now Playmaker.
Serena almost choked on the final bite of her hot dog.
During all that thinking about her past and what she would do now she had almost forgotten the reason she came here.
After recomposing herself she looked at the image of Yusaku. He was wearing the same outfit he wore in the TV program. He was looking forward determinedly while holding a card in his hand.
Serena stared into his green eyes. He always had such bright green eyes. Serena remembered thinking that they were the most beautiful eyes she ever saw, after he was born and that she never wanted to see sadness in those eyes.
She didn't know what else to think. What he did was dangerous and reckless and she needed to stop him, but why was he doing it in the first place. Serena didn't know. Maybe he wanted to be a hero, maybe he needed to let out his anger or maybe it was something completely different.
She could only ask herself again, how could she let it come to this?
"He really is great, isn't he?", the voice of the hot dog truck owner startled her, she hadn't realized how much she had been staring.
"He is a bit of a legend around here. People from all over town used to come here to watch him duel.", the man said with a found smile.
"I… I don't know him. I mean I wouldn't know. I'm not from around here." Serena answered, trying to get her composure back.
The man was now standing on the other side of the table looking at the screen, what Serena thought was very fondly, while she was looking at him.
"I can tell. You were just staring, so I thought you could use a local to give you an explanation." He said giving her a smile.
Maybe Playmaker had brought him a lot of business, since the square was almost empty now.
"Anyway, can I bring you something else?" the man asked her kindly.
"No, I'm fine. Thank you.", she told him, but as the man was going back to the truck she got an idea. "Could you tell me a bit more about him. I mean Playmaker. Just … you know the local perspective."
She realized how little she actually knew about the situation so this might be helpful for her.
"Yes, of course." The man smiled and sat down at the table. "Where to even begin…"
He talked to her for what felt like a long time. He told her about how Playmaker just appeared one day and swore to destroy the knights of Hanoi who had been harassing the network. He told her about many great duels her son had won.
Serena could tell that he was very invested in the story, as he told it with great enthusiasm. She even needed to hold herself back a few times as the story got dangerous for Yusaku.
"… and so, in the end Playmaker defeated the knights. The network is shut down now, but I'm sure it will be back up." He finished his retelling. He then took a look back at the hot dog truck and excused himself for a moment, because another customer was impatiently waiting for his hotdog.
It was all a lot for Serena to process. Her son had been leading a one-man war on this group of villainous hackers, at who knows what risk to himself, and he actually won. But why?
Maybe he really just wanted to be a hero or maybe he wanted justice or maybe…
Serena's thought went to Yuri. Maybe her son was doing the same thing. The world stopped around her for a second. She tried to convince herself that the idea was crazy and that she had no evidence, but she could feel that it was true.
There was a whirlwind inside her.
She still had so many questions, but her mind settled on one. Had he really defeated the ones who had hurt him?
It was so reckless going out there fighting and she knew that thirsting for revenge wasn't good for him, even so he really did beat them.
Serena didn't know what to feel or if she liked what she would if she did know.
"This is really strange.", the man muttered as he returned to her.
Serena was ripped out of her thoughts and looked at him confused.
"I'm sorry. I will have to stop the story here. I have to get back to the truck, I can't seem to find my assistance anywhere.", he explained to her, apologetically.
"No problem." She told him, absentmindedly, and looked back at the screen, but the image of her son was now gone replaced by advertisement for new features of VRAINS.
"If you need a place to stay for the night, I would recommend the "King Fudo" hotel down the street.", he recommended, as he was walking away.
Serena let herself fall onto her bed as the exhaustion of the day was catching up to her. She had achieved nothing as the day drew to a close and questions were still spinning in her head.
She still hadn't gotten closer to finding out what to do when she found Yusaku even if she had any idea on how to find him now in the first place.
While she was lying on the bed trying to think of nothing and have her mind rest for a moment, her duel disk rang.
There were multiple missed messages on it. She slowly opened the phone application and decided that the first thing she needed to do was call Yuri again.
As predicted there was no answer and she left another message.
"Yuri… I don't know where you are or what you are doing, but whatever it is … whatever we fought over … you just need to call ok … it's about … it's about our son.", she left it at that feeling completely exhausted and not knowing what else to say.
They might have fought a lot during the years, but there was always comfort in having Yuri around it. made her stronger somehow and she could really use that right now.
Then she turned her attention to the rest of the messages. The first one was from Yuzu asking how she was doing and wishing her good luck for a second time.
She wrote a short message about what had happened that day and how she was doing.
The second message had been a missed call from Rin.
Serena had cringed earlier as the "King Fudo" hotel she had been recommended must have been renamed recently to the "Queen Rin and King Yugo" hotel.
Never the less, Serena had always liked Rin for her head strong attitude and she thought a distraction now wouldn't be too bad so she decided that she would call her back.
"Hallo, Serena?", Rin's voice came out of the duel disk loudly. Her face was a little too close to the screen, Serena thought that Yugo and Rin weren't to different after all.
"Yes, it's me. I just wanted to call you back.", Serena answer trying to sound normal.
"Ahh yes I called earlier I just wanted to … Listen are you ok because earlier I had this strange feeling and…"
"Yeah, I'm just… could we talk about something else … could use a little distraction, you know?", Serena told her, quickly.
"Yes of course." Rin answered, having understood the situation.
Serena knew that Yuzu would never tell anyone anything that was only between the two of them, but Serena had also talked to Rin and Ruri a couple of times, even if it wasn't as intensely as with Yuzu, so Rin probably had an idea about what happened.
Rin started to talk openly about her day and the adventures she had with Yugo and their children.
Yugo had been posing for a new marketing campaign and had proudly shown her the pictures of him heroically posing, Rin thought they looked ridicules, but she had complemented him anyway. Rin had also visited the commons, as Yugo and Rin often did, and she had helped out at one of their charity organizations.
Serena could not say that she was jealous for there fame, it was never something that Serena and Yuri wanted, but she liked hearing the stories sometimes. She was starting to feel a bit better.
"… and then Yugo that idiot let our kids ride the D wheel all alone.", Rin complaint.
"Didn't you two ride a D wheel alone too when you were kids?" Serena objected. She knew that Rin wasn't as angry as she let on and that she only pretended to because as a mother she sorts of had to.
"Yeah … that was totally different…", Rin answered weakly. "When I confronted him, Yugo said it was "all part of the growing up experience". Can you believe that? He and growing up. ridicules."
Serena had to smile a little bit as she listens to her.
"Oh, Serena it's just like that one time he let Yusaku and our kids ride with him when they were five."
Rin was suddenly silent, having only noticed then what she was saying.
"I'm sorry Serena I wasn't thinking.", Rin apologized.
"No, it's ok. It's a happy memory, excepted for the part where Yuri tried to kill Yugo afterwards." Serena said, trying to sound amused.
There was a small weak laugh from Rin too and then a long silence.
"I guess I should tell you what's going on…", Serena broke the silence.
"You don't need to, if you don't feel like it." Rin said, carefully.
"No, it's ok." and so Serena told Rin what had happened that day. It helped her go through it all again, but she left out the part were her son was a virtual vigilante. It just felt like something private to her son. She didn't have the right to say it to someone.
Serena noticed that Rin wanted to give her some advice, but didn't know what to say. She was tired so she decided she would make it easy for both of them.
"Rin. Thank you that I could talk to you, but I'm really tired and I need to get some sleep."
"Yes of course. Have a good night and if you need anything you can always call me.", Rin said, her expression worried while she hung up.
It really hadn't bothered her too much, she had been thinking about Yusaku all day and Rin mentioning one of the many happy memories she had, even if they felt far away, lifted her up a little bit.
It made her feel like there needed to be a way no matter what. She started thinking. Where would her son go, what kind of place would he visit in this city?
It felt strange. This city was completely different from him. Even in her hotel room she could see the flashy neon lights and hear the city's sounds from outside. There was technology everywhere she had seen automated stairs, vending machines and even cars and the only person Serena talked to all day was that hotdog truck owner. Serena couldn't understand it.
Maybe he liked how impersonal it all was.
As she turned it around in her head she had to sigh at how obvious it was. She would simply wait for him at his school tomorrow.
Feeling like anymore thinking in the dark would only make her head spin even more, she decided to try to sleep.
As Serena woke up from a short and restless sleep, she had almost forgotten why Yuri was not at her side and why she was lying in that small hotel room.
It dawned on her soon enough. She checked her duel disk again only to see that Yuri still hadn't answered. She started to slightly worry that something might have happened.
Other then that she just felt exhausted and not much else as she prepared to head out.
There were still so many open questions for her to think about, but for a few minutes after waking up she could ignore them.
After getting into the taxi and telling it to drive to Yusaku's school all the questions came crashing back down at her.
What was she going to do when she got there? How was she ever going to fix this mess? Where was Yuri?
She barely noticed anything from the car ride and as she exited the car, she tried to focus on the task at hand. Maybe what ever she needed to do would be clear once she actually saw him.
Den city high school was like any normal school with students flooding into it as the day was about to begin.
Serena always had a bad feeling about academic institutions, but that was only at the back of her mind as she carefully examined the crowd.
Serena had waited all morning at the school and found nothing. Later she went inside and started to look for someone who could give her information.
As she wondered through the now almost empty hall of the school she found a green haired chubby boy talking excitedly to a slim brown-haired girl, who seemed to be annoyed, and decided to ask them.
"Excuse me do you know were the computer science class is?", she asked them, awkwardly braking up their talk.
The green haired boy started to look at her first.
"Computer science. That must have just started. It's just down the hall." The green haired boy said, pointing in the general direction.
He then looked at her intensely and came uncomfortably close with his face.
"Do I know you from somewhere?", he asked boldly.
Serena tried not to sigh. This happened sometimes, sharing the face with so many celebrities and all, but it never ceased to annoy her.
"Isn't computer science your class?", the girl next to him asked.
The boy gave a surprised her look and then dashed off. Crying: "Yes, it is!" While running.
"I'm sorry.", the girl said giving her a smile. "but your hair really does seem familiar."
She probably noticed that her remark was inappropriate and looked down shyly.
"Anyway, can I help you with something else? You have that duel disk; do you want to come to our dueling club today?" She asked, straitening herself and smiling again.
Dueling club. Well Yusaku certainly wasn't in that. Serene thought.
"No, I'm fine. Thank you." She answered and quickly excused herself going down the same hall the boy had just run down.
After looking at the timetable in front of the room she decided to wait in front of the school for the class to end.
Sitting there on a bench in front of the school gave her more time to think, to her dismay.
Where any of the people here Yusaku's friends?
She really wished she could believe it, but she knew that he was probably all alone in this big city. It made her sad to think that her son was here with no one to help him.
Serena also thought about Yusaku's class. He had only really started to build computers and program after what happened. He never really cared about it before.
It was strange he seemed to be just as emotionless doing it as with everything else and they never taught him anything, as they didn't know anything about it. He just sorts of did it one day and seemed to be good at it.
Serena sorted it as just another strange thing she didn't understand and hoped it helped him cope somehow.
The class ended and she saw more students come out of the building.
She once again tried to look for her son, but she couldn't find him in the sea of students. She waited there until she was left alone once again.
For the second time Serena slummed down into the chair in front of the hot dog truck in frustration.
She tried to look at this optimistically. Maybe he was sick or she just didn't see him. Tomorrow she would go there again and find him. Maybe it would even give Yuri, who still hadn't called back, time to catch up to her.
The large Playmaker poster once again came up on the screen and caught her attention.
"Where are you?" she muttered under her breath, while looking in his deep green eyes.
"Once again, brooding on an empty stomach is always terrible, but eating it all up is even worse." the voice of the friendly hot dog truck owner came from behind her.
She turned around meeting his full smile with a halfhearted one as she took her hot dog.
"It's ok. thank you.", she answered, trying to sound sincere.
"If you say so.", the man said, giving her another smile before he went back to the truck.
Her eyes went back to the large screen that now displayed some different LINK VRAINS advertisement she didn't understand.
"I will find you. I promise. You and your idiot father both." She promised to herself quietly, thinking it had more meanings then one.
"There you are. Where were you yesterday? I was worried." Serena heard the voice of the hot dog truck owner say behind her. She was too focused on her thoughts to turn around.
Then she heard a foot step behind her.
"Is everything ok?" the man asked someone behind her, sounding worried.
Serena didn't really pay attention to what was going on behind her. It was none of her business.
A second slow and deliberate footstep.
"You have … You have been acting strangely these last few days. I know thinks can't be easy for you. We should talk inside the truck.", the man said with a caring voice.
A third step. It was close to her now and she could feel the weight behind it.
And then she turned around.
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!