Chapter 9: The lost
Note:
Hi everyone!
It has been awhile again, but I didn't forget about the story. I will say more after the chapter. Special thanks to HeraldicEntertainment for beta reading. Without the help this wouldn't have been possible.
Enjoy!
"Zaizen! Watch this, I'm going to win!" Shima Naoki exclaimed triumphantly and carelessly slapped a card down on the table, resulting in a couple of other cards almost falling off.
"I don't think using that card now is a legal move Shima…"Aoi commented with a quiet sigh, having just watched Naoki's confused face as he had struggled to plan his move for a long time.
Aoi's explanation of why the move didn't work was only a distant and muffled noise to Yusaku, who was sitting across from Naoki, facing him in a dueling club training duel.
The cards in his hands felt like they had no weight, Yusaku needed to focus to keep them steady in his hand. It felt like floating, like everything around him was just rushing past him.
He just couldn't focus. It had all felt like that in the last few days, since…
"Of course, … I knew that was against the rules…"Naoki finally answered Aoi with an unsure smile pretending to be confident. "I just wanted to test you… dueling training and all…"
Trying to form a clear thought, Yusaku half registered that Aoi sighed and had an annoyed look on her face.
In the past there had been days similar to this, where he had glided through his day barely thinking about the people or places around him and using lists of three things he needed to do to get through.
But what had been happening in the last days was different. Yusaku tried to understand it by remembering three things that had happened in the past days, but he found he just couldn't get his mind to focus.
"There! If I do this and attack then I should win?" Naoki muttered, unsurely giving a sideways look to Aoi. She only weakly nodded, telling him that he could go ahead.
"Of course, I do! That was the plan all along!" Naoki cheered loudly, earning a few sideways looks from the people on the other tables in the dueling club.
Naoki slapped a different monster card on the table and equipped it with a simple equip spell. The monster was facing Yusaku's side of the field, that had no monster to oppose it.
"Now attack!" He almost screamed, closing his eyes. "The great Brave M… I mean… Naoki will win."
Yusaku registered his surroundings a bit more after the loud noise. The blur that had been the class room became a bit clearer and he saw Aoi giving him a concerned look. A quick observation of the board made him aware of the duel, he had been half-heartedly playing.
"I activate an effect from my graveyard…" Yusaku said emotionlessly, still not really thinking and only being able to half focus. Even though he wasn't playing his normal deck, he instinctively executed a series of moves that reversed the attack and caused his opponent's life points to drop to zero.
Naoki's face was one of complete shock, clearly having not understood the sudden turn of events or how the moves Yusaku just used worked.
Yusaku didn't feel any satisfaction in winning and he stopped thinking about the duel the moment it ended as he dwelled on his thoughts again.
There was a small moment between the three of them, were the only thing that could be heard was Naoki whimpering in disbelief that he had lost.
Yusaku was staring at the table aimlessly, out of the corner of his eyes he thought he could see Aoi looking at him before his surrounding became a blur again.
He struggled to put together his list of three things that happened.
He went to the hot dog truck like he usually does and then there was a nightmare last night, but it was all different…
"Ahh! I only noticed it now, I obviously forgot to put some very important cards in my deck!" Naoki proclaimed with a confident smile, after having regained his composure. "Otherwise I, Brave M… ahh I mean I, Shima Naoki, would have won, of course!"
Finishing his loud explanation, Naoki quickly moved to another table, away from Yusaku and Aoi, and started to frantically reorder his deck.
"That was a great move Fujiki Yusaku. I told you it would be good if you joined the dueling club again. You can become a great duelist." Aoi stated, giving Yusaku a small smile. "Is everything okay?"
Yusaku was snapped out of his thoughts, but not by Aoi's question.
It was wrong to duel the way he just did.
He knew what dueling meant and he could feel a connection to it beyond all the pain it has caused him or his fight with the Knights of Hanoi. It was something deep within him.
He had felt nothing while dueling, he had even stopped focusing on it for most of the duel. That shouldn't happen during a duel, dueling was meant to build a connection between the players, the cards, and anyone watching. It can bring joy, smiles and even hope. It shouldn't be something you do halfheartedly.
He should not have dueled like this, Yusaku concluded.
After making that note to himself, Yusaku noticed that Aoi was looking at him with a worried expression, waiting for him to answer the question.
Yusaku, not understanding what Aoi was worried about, was about to answer. Something meaningless, just to say something to avoid a longer conversation, but before he could the Dueling Club President addressed the class.
"Students, please finish your duels. I have something to announce before the class ends." The student with big glasses announced.
A few annoyed huffs came from students that had to end their duel early and a few students started to whisper to each other about what the announcement might be.
Yusaku and Aoi both turned with their chairs towards the Dueling Club President wordlessly and Yusaku noticed Aoi still sometimes looking over to Yusaku with a suspecting look.
"Our club will be doing a project on an important topic in the world of dueling." He stated, with Yusaku barley listening.
The president earned a few annoyed huffs from a few students, others were whispering about what the topic might be.
Yusaku didn't notice any of it. There were three things… three things that happened… three things about the past…
He just couldn't reach it…
"We will be talking about the Lancers and the interdimensional war. I want you all to read the chapter in your books and prepare notes until next week." The club president finally announced.
Suddenly everything in Yusaku tensed up and whatever thought he just had left him.
The world around him seemed to slowly become even more blurry and his breath became shorter. He carefully moved his hands to grip the table and he felt the first signs that his body was shaking.
"Is everything okay Fujiki Yusaku? Should I call the nurse?" Aoi whispered with a worried voice, looking over to him.
Yusaku couldn't think clearly anymore. He was sitting still, but it was like the world was spinning around him and a strange feeling of dread came from deep within him.
This happened before…
Yusaku now remembered. The white room and the game over screen had flashed before his eyes and he had felt the pain again.
"Ohhh come on! Do we really have to talk about boring stuff a bunch of old people did?" Naoki loudly commented from the back of the room, all heads except Yusaku's turned towards him. "They must be what now? 30? 40? I want to duel here! Their cards are probably totally out of date, I bet Playmaker or I could totally beat them in a duel!"
The club president looked at Naoki in confusion, not sure what to say before slowly opening his mouth to give a response.
Then Yusaku jumped out of his seat and turned to look at Naoki, three fingers pointing up on his hand determinately, though his expression neutral.
The feeling of dread and all the confusion about the past days was somehow gone. He knew the three things to say immediately and he knew he had to say them. Yusaku didn't understand why, only that this mattered for dueling and for something more.
"There are three reasons why you should care about the interdimensional war and the Lancers." Yusaku stated, his voice still calm, but determined. "First: The interdimensional war was an important event and the bravery of the Lancers saved many people, leading to the world today."
Naoki had a very stunned expression on his face by now, even the club president was also a bit speechless and Aoi was looking up at Yusaku with astonishment.
"Second: The Lancer's innovations have contributed to the dueling world today." Yusaku continued, not really knowing were the words came from, only knowing that they were true. "Duelists of all skill levels should learn from them and any amateur duelist should study their techniques to improve."
"Am-am-amateur?" Naoki stuttered, still completely shocked by Yusaku's calm, but determined explanation.
"Third: Their lessons and there k-kindness are an inspiration and they mean a lot to …m…" Yusaku spoke, but then suddenly stopped not knowing why. It was his third point and it was as clear to him as any other point he made, but it somehow felt like the most important and different…
While speaking the dread, that was gone during his speech, crept back in. Yusaku tensed put again and he couldn't finish his third point, but why?
This never happened when he listed his three points…
"They still mean a lot to a lot of people…" He finished, changing his original point and trying to keep it as calm as before, but it coming out a bit quieter. It took a long moment of stunned silence before anyone started to speak again.
"Ahh…Yes…there you have it Shima that is why we will talk about the topic…" The club president muttered still a bit unsure about the situation.
Naoki looked around the room in confusion for another moment before sitting down at his desk, letting out an annoyed sigh.
Yusaku was still standing as he remembered the feeling of wanting to run, the fear that the game over screen will come, it had been there often.
A bit of it was there in that moment, but he had promised to never do that again.
There was a different way, a different future.
And yet It had overwhelmed him, Yusaku remembered now. He had run away again and failed to keep the promise.
She had known…
"Fujiki… thank you for your … contribution … if you could sit back down please?" The club president inquired carefully.
He had failed…
He couldn't think of three things to somehow get a hold of, or even to understand, the situation. There had been fear and Yusaku had used the advice from his past to face it, but in the end, he had failed again…
The bell rang ending the lesson. As the students around him slowly started to collect their stuff, Yusaku quickly got his bag and rushed out the door.
Yusaku's feet carried him up the stairs quickly, without him having to command them, while he was trying over and over again to think of three things to find a logical solution. Three things that could help him categorize what had happened, they came out feeling incomplete.
First: He had fought against the abyss, like he had promised
Second: Something happened that made him fail.
Third: He had a nightmare again.
Yusaku suddenly remembered the nightmare. As he closed his eyes and he saw the images of that night painfully flash before his eyes.
But it wasn't the white room or the duels that terrorized him, like the other nightmares.
It was him trying to reach out over the abyss…
…towards the two people at the party, who he wanted to tell about his fun duel.
…towards the shape of a ship sailing off into the horizon.
…towards a woman sitting next to the familiar hotdog truck.
He gave it everything he had, like the duels he had with the Knights of Hanoi where he had fought to get his revenge.
Yusaku wanted to change the future because it wouldn't change on its own, he wanted to cross the abyss, but it grew wider then he could reach and the darkness swallowed any screams or hope he had.
Remembering made a rush of pain go through Yusaku, like the darkness from his dream was still around him. He tried to get further into the memory, but anything else was swallowed by the abyss.
Yusaku opened the door at the top of the stairs and a ray of sunlight hit him, making his eyes squint. For a moment he wondered where he was before remembering that he had made his way to the roof of the school.
It was empty at this hour, but Yusaku could hear the noises of the city coming from the streets and the countless sounds from students in the courtyard or in the school.
Yusaku slumped himself down on the ground against the fence of the roof overlooking the city.
His whole body ached and felt tired; he had barely slept last night.
Normally he would be used to ignoring pain, like he always did when he had fought the Knights of Hanoi, but his thoughts couldn't cling onto the Knights of Hanoi and his current thoughts led him nowhere.
Sitting there Yusaku closed his eyes and focused. There had to be a logical explanation for why he had this nightmare, what had happened in the last few days and why he still couldn't get a grasp on his past.
Finding out was part of his promise.
Yusaku tried to think. There had been the hotdog truck and then he had dinner with…with…
And then they had been in the park and she had said…
She had known…
Yusaku jerked his eyes open, suddenly feeling his heart pound in his chest and his body shake.
He still couldn't access that part of his mind, every time he would get close the abyss forced him to stop.
With a loud thud the door to the roof closed and Yusaku quickly looked up, snapping out of his thoughts.
"I'm sorry Fujiki Yusaku… I didn't want to startle you." Zaizen Aoi said, looking at Yusaku surprised because of his reaction. "I just wanted to give you your book…. You forgot it in the dueling club."
Aoi gave a small smile as she sat herself on the ground next to him and handing the book to Yusaku, who was a bit confused.
"Thank you..." Yusaku said, again giving Aoi a neutral expression.
Not thinking that he should say anything more, he begun inspecting the book as he had never actually read in it before.
On the cover there were pictures of all kinds of famous duel monsters from dragons to magicians and in bold letters at the bottom it said "A history of dueling. A text book about the greatest duels and duelist in history."
"You also missed the club president telling us about the assignment we have to do." Aoi explained to Yusaku, who was still looking at the book. "We have to do a project on the Lancers. We have to read the chapter about them in the book."
Yusaku froze up again at her words, despite trying not to. Without thinking, Yusaku started to slowly flick through the pages of the book.
The heading of the first chapter read "Mythological origins, archaeological discoveries and current theories." The picture on the page showed a stone tablet of three great monsters doing battle.
"I didn't know you liked to spend your breaks here on the roof, it is a nice place." Aoi commented trying to have a casual conversation like she often tried, now after her own battle with the Knights of Hanoi.
Yusaku didn't know what to say and his attention was on the book now anyway.
It all seemed so familiar to Yusaku. He had been afraid of those monsters once, long ago. It was a random thought and Yusaku didn't know where it had come from.
"I disagree with Shima too. I think what you said was very … important." Aoi said, looking over to Yusaku next to her, clearly meaning what she said.
Yusaku didn't hear Aoi, his mind was focused on the book, there was just something about it.
The second chapter was about the rediscovery of dueling and how it got popular in the modern day, which was still long ago. One picture showed a man in a pink suit, with white hair covering on of his eyes.
Another memory sprung to Yusaku's head and he almost flinched, expecting it to be a sting of pain, but it wasn't. When he was younger, he had once held a presentation on that man. It wasn't easy for him and he needed a lot of help from…
But in the end his teacher, a man with orange hair and a fiery red jump suit was very happy and excited about it.
It was a memory that Yusaku barely understood and couldn't place, as if it happened in another life. He didn't know how to feel about these flashes of memory. They weren't logical, he couldn't put them into three things…
Yusaku started to flip through the pages faster. There were a chapter about famous tournaments and the first ever dueling school… Yusaku somehow knew what some of it was about without reading the pages.
"When I was little, my brother used to tell me stories about duelists like the Lancers when he had the time…" Aoi commented, first looking over into the book and then turning away from Yusaku looking to the city. "I always loved those stories..."
The pages changed faster and faster. The invention of riding duels…more famous tournaments and people…A lot of speculation about what really happened during certain times… somehow Yusaku felt he was moving closer to something.
A chapter on the original dimension was now open and illustrations of what it might have looked like were covering the pages. A large white city with technology that wasn't even possible now.
Yusaku knew it was only one page more, he just couldn't turn it over. The determination he felt while rushing through the pages suddenly faded and he could feel his hand starting to shake as he tried to grip the page to turn it over.
A part of him was crying that behind the page was the white room, the dread and the abyss. He tried to keep his breathing steady, but failed.
He couldn't reach forward to cross the abyss…like in his dream…like the last few days…
"They were really brave and knew what they were fighting for…" Aoi muttered more to herself then anyone, still looking into the distance.
They were brave, Yusaku thought, Yes, they were. It had been one of his points earlier and had been clear in his mind.
A lesson about dealing with fear, came back to him. His hand suddenly a bit steadier, he flipped over the page.
It showed a massive colorful group photo in the center of the page, a mix of all kinds of different people.
Yusaku carefully examined everyone in the picture. There was a man with glasses and a red scarf in the center, a man larger than all the others with a red headband, a tall man wearing a long, dark blue jacket and many more.
It felt strange to Yusaku. A part of him wanted to close the book, to not risk anything happening again, but another part saw the faces, some serious some smiling and some annoyed and felt something different, he couldn't quite understand.
And then his eyes wandered just to the edge of the frame, where a pink haired woman, was almost dragging a woman with purple hair, who looked a bit annoyed at the whole situation, closer into the frame. Both of them wore matching Lancer uniforms, with a bracelet around one of their arms, and chaired the same face.
It was…
Yusaku couldn't finish that thought, but he remembered a calm voice telling him that one needs to learn how to fight and live with fear, he wouldn't think of the abyss now.
Yusaku studied the annoyed expression of the woman for a long moment. She didn't want to be in the picture, hating the attention and formality of it, but she tried her best for her teammates.
It was a strange calm that Yusaku felt, as he remembered the other part of his dream the darkness had obscured from him before.
For a long time, he had been in the darkness, but towards the end he had felt a warmth on his hand, a familiar voice that had told him so often not to be afraid, to keep going and to stay strong.
"I think we can do this." a voice had come, along with soft music from the darkness.
The darkness had been what Yusaku remembered, but towards the end he had a few quiet moments of dreamless sleep.
"Do you think Playmaker, Blue Angel and other heroes from Link Vrains will ever get a place in a book like this?" Aoi, who without Yusaku noticing had been lost in her own thoughts, asked him quietly and unsurely.
Yusaku looked up from the book at Aoi, almost having forgotten that she sat next to him.
"They saved the network from the Knights of Hanoi, but the Lancers…" Aoi explained with a contemplative look. "I know they must have had moments that were hard too, but in the end, they found their cause and fought for it until the end. They still do..."
Yusaku looked at Aoi not really understanding what she meant and continued to give her a neutral expression.
"I'm just asking myself if Blue Angel… and the others of course, will ever be like that. They fought hard against the Knights of Hanoi, but can they ever fight for something so absolutely?" Aoi finally contemplated, looking into the distance again.
Yusaku thought about that. Keep his promise, find the truth about his past and change the future. That had been the three steps to the future and with every one of them he had failed.
Next to Yusaku, Aoi abruptly stopped looking into the distance and jumped up, going a few steps towards the door back into the school, before turning around.
"I'm sorry, it was a silly question to ask." Aoi uttered, quickly, still uncertainty in her face that she tried to cover with a weak smile. "I will go back inside."
"I don't think it's a silly question." Yusaku spoke, in his normal neutral tone. They would tell him not to give up, to keep pushing forward until he reached his goal. "Not yet, but they could be."
Aoi looked at Yusaku in confusion for a moment, before her fake smile turned into a small real one.
"You're right. There is no reason to worry. The important thing for them is to not let a defeat or uncertainty let you down …and for us that is important too of course…" Aoi decided, in a light and relieved voice.
She gave Yusaku a firm nod, before heading towards the door. Yusaku had opened the book again, when she turned around one last time.
"We should compare our notes on the chapter sometime. Good day, Fujiki Yusaku." Aoi added, her voice calm, but happy.
She looked at Yusaku for another moment, who, not understanding the situation and his expression still bland, gave only a small nod as a response.
Yusaku stayed on the roof for a long time afterwards, looking at the book,only leaving when the last bell rang. All this time he looked at the pictures carefully, the thought of the darkness still in the back of his mind.
It was still distant, still unreal, still not three things he could understand, but it was a bit closer to the past he lost long ago.
It was already later in the day, the sky was a deep red from the beginning of the sunset. Only a few people visited the truck at this time, the square was nearly empty. The advertisement screens only a shimmering in the background and distant sounds of the city went unnoticed by him.
Kusanagi had greeted him in surprised, noting that he was both late and actually still didn't have to work for the time being. Yusaku had only neutrally greeted him like usual, not answering his questions.
His thoughts were on his next steps, his next encounter with…her…
With his…
With the woman from the picture, Yusaku decided.
She had known. Yusaku still felt uneasy thinking it. He never viewed it as a great secret, he had no one in his life he needed to keep it from anyway, but every time he thought about her knowing it made him feel sick and he didn't know why.
Despite that Yusaku knew that he would not give up trying to move forward.
The words he remembered at Stardust road, the words from the man in the purple clothing and the slogans of the Lancers never to give up ringing in his ear.
That was all clear to him, yet Yusaku still couldn't develop a plan on what to do, what to say when the time comes or how to access the past. Yusaku never did anything without a logical plan and it was clear to him that there had to be three things he needed to do.
That is the only way he could take a step to cross the abyss.
Yusaku hadn't noticed that Kusanagi had just come out of the truck to sit next to him. Kusanagi had been carefully observing Yusaku ever since he had come.
"So… how did things go for you in the last few days?" Kusanagi asked, carefully, but with a warm voice.
He didn't want to, Yusaku tried not to, but he flinched at the question. Kusanagi studied him with a long look, while Yusaku tried to order his thoughts.
"Anyway, I need to tell you about this new Hot dog recipe I have developed myself…" Kusanagi quickly changed the subject and starting to casually talk away about things happening at the truck.
Yusaku took that time to order his thoughts. Kusanagi was clearly wondering what was going on and Yusaku thought he should at least tell him something, but he somehow felt uneasy about it.
"You know something I noticed when I visited Jin recently?" Kusanagi said calmly, waiting until Yusaku gave him his attention. "Now that the Knights of Hanoi are finished, on some days I think I can see my brother getting back on his feet again. He is still a little shy, but he shows me things he likes around the hospital and whispers to me when we are alone."
Even Yusaku noticed that Kusanagi's eyes were filled with passion and complete honesty, that behind the words were heartfelt memories. Kusanagi's smile was very wide.
"Those kind of days used to be rare, but they happen just a bit more often all the time…" Kusanagi explained, closing his eyes for a moment and taking a deep breath before continuing. "But then there are days when he feels far away… where he won't even look at anyone or leave his room. During the worst days the doctor tells me that he isn't able to see me at all…"
Kusanagi's smile turned just a bit sad, but he wouldn't let it slip off his face completely. Yusaku was listening to Kusanagi's words intensely.
"And you know what I do on those days? It isn't easy, but I just think to myself that I will do whatever I had planned next time…that there will be another better day and eventually there always is." Kusanagi declared, his smile now back fully. "Our fight didn't end when Revolver was defeated, I know that now. Now every day is a little fight to make up for the time we lost, but I will never even think about giving up."
Yusaku jumped out of his seat, surprising Kusanagi.
"I have to go; I need to do something." Yusaku proclaimed, looking in the direction he needed to go, his voice steady, but determent.
Kusanagi observed him skeptically again, before an understanding look on his face appeared.
"Yeah, you do that Yusaku." Kusanagi called after him, smiling. "Oh, and one more thing. I don't just cook hot dogs you know? So, if you and… someone else want to come over for dinner sometime, I won't do a half bad job."
Yusaku was already walking as he heard that and he didn't understand what Kusanagi meant. Yusaku didn't stay to find out, he now had three steps for what he needed to do now.
There was one last blink from his duel disk, before Yusaku turned it back off. He let out a breath, before turning his eyes away from the duel disk and towards the open sea. Nothing but the soft waves from the ocean could be heard.
The railing felt cold in his hands and the light from the setting sun, made it hard to see. There would be no blue lights tonight, that was very rare anyway and his eyes didn't spot the boat they hoped to see.
His plan was in place now, he had three things he needed to say.
Calculating how long it would take, he concluded that it wouldn't be too long and decided to spend the time working on finding out more about his past and trying to remember new memories.
In the picture there had been a man, not far from the two women…
His hair had been a mess of spiky red and green and his clothing was also green and red, but his face was familiar. He had seen it in another memory, the one he had right here…
Yusaku knew that he could reach into the abyss that surrounded his past for more memories, if he only tried. He was more careful now then the last few times, letting the memory come back slowly, so he could control it.
That didn't mean he was less confident. No, this was what he had fought for, or like Kusanagi had said was still fighting for. Actually, reclaiming his past one memory at a time would be just as hard as any duel with the Knights of Hanoi, but Yusaku knew he would fight that fight till the end.
The words he had heard in his dream last night came to his mind and Yusaku closed his eyes. With the soft sounds and salty air of the sea around him, he remembered…
His steps were silent as he moved through the hallway of the house in the darkness and he kept reminding himself that they should stay that way.
Carefully, he moved past all kinds of colorful balloons, toys, garlands and confetti still lying all over the hallway.
As he was moving past an open door, Yusaku got a peek inside and could see that Uncle Yuya had fallen asleep on a couch.
Uncle Yuya's face was covered in a bit of confetti and he was wearing a party hat, in his arms was one of his children, also quietly asleep.
Yusaku had to keep himself from laughing and made sure to remember it, so he could use it to make fun of Yuya's child tomorrow.
Continuing, almost being to the living room, Yusaku froze as he heard voices coming from it.
"I think this might be my masterpiece, Serena." The voice of his father commented, pretending to be snobbish, but clearly amused.
Yusaku, realizing the origin of the voice, continued his stealthy walk, making sure not to trip over anything in the dark.
"You know that if he wakes up now, there will be a fight…" His mother's voice warned, sounding both annoyed and sarcastic.
Yusaku could see the light coming from the open living room door now. He stopped and leaned against the wall next to the door. That they were inside was a problem, as the goal of his nightly mission was also there.
"A fight I am likely to win, no doubt." Yusaku's father answered, with overplayed confidents. "But he won't wake up, if there is anything Fusion can do better than being a traffic hazard, it is sleeping."
With the words, Yusaku could hear a loud snoring. There was only one person, his father called that name and the snoring was unmistakable, this could only be Uncle Yugo, he concluded.
"Ok I give you that, but your lack of creativity really gives you away." His mother criticized.
Yusaku could no longer resist and carefully took a look around the corner.
What he saw was even better then what he had imagined. Uncle Yugo was slumped against the wall next to a sofa, clearly in a deep sleep. On the sofa itself was Aunt Rin, also asleep, her hand hanging over the edge entwined with Uncle Yugo's.
That however didn't stop his father from standing over Yugo, with a dozen markers in his hand, using the breaks between Yugo's snorting to paint on his face, to Yusaku's disappointment obscuring the view. His mother was standing a bit farther away, watching the whole thing very skeptically.
"There will be absolutely no evidence that I was the culprit…and besides I was with you the whole time, wasn't I?" Yuri noted, stopping his painting spree to give Serena the most fake innocent eyes Yusaku had ever seen.
"You really want to get into that kind of debt with me?" Serena answered, giving him a hard-no-nonsense look. Yusaku's father just casually shrugged like he often did and turned back to his work.
For a moment Yusaku thought how unfair it was that his father could get away with something like this while he never would.
"Are you done soon? Hurry up." his mother asked, in an annoyed tone.
"Perfection needs time, as I have often told you, but this should be it." His father answered, sounding quite satisfied. Serena sighed deeply.
"I know art isn't your forte, so you might not appreciate the depth I put into it, but is it to your liking?" Yuri asked, standing up and admiring his work from afar, next to Serena. "Anything I should add?"
Serena looked at the still sleeping uncle Yugo for a moment and Yusaku was also finally able to have a look at his uncle.
His face had a blue and orange spiral on it and the word "Fusion" was on his forehead in bold letters. Yusaku would have laughed, if it wouldn't have meant the failure of his mission.
"For how long that took and for how often you said that this is your masterpiece, I'm a little disappointed." Serena criticized, in a half mocking, half annoyed voice. The two exchanged a look, his father's eyes were mischievous, while his mother's eyes stayed hard, before she let out a sigh.
"Hand me the pencil." Yusaku's mother finally commanded, sounding quite annoyed that she let herself be convinced to do this. His father had a sly smile and handed her a pencil.
She added a few touches here and there and, in the end, Yusaku had to admit her parts also looked good.
"That isn't half bad, dear Serena." Yuri admired, sounding like the situation was very amusing for him.
His mother only went back into the center of the room and, with a frown, pushed the pencil flat against his father's chest, giving it back to him, but in the moment his father didn't look Yusaku could see a just the slightest hint of a smile on the edge of her annoyed look.
There was silence in the room for a moment, his mother going to a table to drink some water and his father making a few photos of Yugo with his duel disk and then starting to clean up the messy room a bit.
He stopped at one of Uncle Yuya's and Aunt Yuzu's flowers in the room, inspecting them, before frowning and muttering about how poorly they are kept. Yusaku thought that was quite typical.
This was his chance, Yusaku knew. In the darkness it was hard to see, but he thought the object he wanted was under a mess of opened wrapping paper and balloons on the floor.
It wasn't too close to his parents, if he was quick and quiet, he could get it and the dimly lit room was perfect cover.
Yusaku carefully took his first step in to the room.
"I Think Yusaku liked the party." Serena stated in a somewhat contemplative tone, still looking at the table away from Yuri. Yusaku immediately retreated back behind the door, only peeking into the room.
"You really think so?" Yuri said, surprised and quickly turning around, before noticing his excitement and steadying himself. "I mean…that is quite an obvious conclusion, Serena."
Serena also turned around and looked at Yuri for a long moment, who now had a completely neutral look on his face. Still Yusaku had the feeling that she was seeing something else, his father didn't want her to.
Serena then finished looking at him, turned around and put her duel disk on the table, wordlessly starting to type into it.
Yusaku watched Yuri, as he took a deep breath nodded and turned around, a contemplative look on his face.
Then he heard soft and slow music coming from Serena's duel disk and both he and Yuri immediately looked towards her.
"You want to try again after I was better than you last time?" Serena dared Yuri, holding one hand towards him, with a challenging smile. Yuri seemed confused by the sudden question.
"You…Last time…" Yuri said, with uncertainty in his voice, before he put on a sly smile. "That is disputable and last time we were doing one of your modern dances, you have no chance with something more elegant."
"We can dance whatever you want and I will still be better." Serena answered, confidently, moving towards him. "After losing against my Lunalights so many times you should know."
The two of them got into a position with Yuri giving Serena instructions on how to dance, which annoyed her very much. It took them a bit of time and Yusaku asked himself how long it would take before he gets another chance to move inside.
"From your many defeats against my deck you should know that you shouldn't underestimate me, dear Serena." Yuri commented, sarcastically. "Oh, and please try not to hurt me."
"Shut up, or I will and that will all be down to your distractions." Serena shot back, without missing a beat, like she always did and the two started to slowly move to the music.
In the dimly lit messy living room, Yusaku must have watched them for a long time that night, both of them close together, Yuri occasionally whispering advice in Serena's ear and Serena getting frustrated at that. Both of them were great, however Yuri maybe was a tiny bit better than her at classical dancing.
After a while the two got into a rhythm and danced quite comfortably. Yusaku saw another opportunity and tiptoed his way into the room.
He kept his eyes on his parents. It was only a few more steps, when Yusaku saw Yuri draw Serena close to him so that there dancing was more a swaying hug. The slow music and their footsteps the only sounds in the room.
"I think we can do this." Yuri, closing his eyes, whispered hopefully. Yusaku was shocked at how vulnerable he seemed.
"Yeah, I think we can." Serena answered, softly. "Everything will be fine."
Yusaku didn't know what they were talking about, but it felt like he had never seen them like this. A long moment passed between them in silence, it was as if time had frozen.
"And your footwork is still wrong." Yuri criticized, a wicked smile on his face, suddenly seeming a lot more like usual.
"That can't be right! It's not my fault if your foot is in the wrong place." Serena countered, the frustrated look she had at her previous mistakes back on her face.
Yusaku was afraid that they would stop and he would be caught, but they simply got back into the starting position and continued.
Now he only needed to find it inside this mess, Yusaku thought and carefully removed the pile of torn up wrapping paper. Yusaku constantly looked over his shoulders to make sure he was safe and searched faster and faster.
There! He found it, now he only needed to get back to the bed room.
"You shouldn't take so much inspiration from your father, you know?" His mother said, still slowly dancing.
Yusaku immediately turned around, hiding it behind his back. His parents stopped holding each other and turned towards him. His father almost as surprised as Yusaku that Serena had noticed him.
"Oh… hi, Mother. I just wanted… to… get something to drink." He lied, quickly, but his mother already gave the look that told him it was pointless. His father was smiling at Yusaku's vain attempt to get out of this.
"Ok maybe I was doing that, but I happened to also see my new duel disk…" Yusaku confessed with a big smile, hoping that it might seem like the most normal thing in the world.
"You do know that you have been doing nothing else, but duel with it all-day? Didn't we agree that you could duel again tomorrow?" Yuri questioned Yusaku with a knowing look.
"Yes… I guess we said that..." Yusaku answered, quietly, looking away and rubbing his neck nervously. He did duel a lot today and had a lot of fun with everybody at his birthday party, that was true.
"I just wanted to look over all the functions again, so I can show them all to Ryoken when he comes over tomorrow." Yusaku argued, thinking it was a perfectly good reason and besides just one more game shouldn't hurt too much.
His parents shared a quick look and clearly something was communicated between them, but Yusaku didn't know what. Yusaku anxiously waited for the response.
"You know that there is a reason for your bedtime?" Yuri questioned him, with an unsure look.
"I guess…" Yusaku muttered, weakly nodding, maybe that was true, but he was still too excited to sleep and it was just one game.
His father looked at the ground for a moment, thinking. His mother opened her mouth to say something, but before she could his father quickly looked up, now with a more confident expression.
"If you don't go to bed soon you will be too tired to duel with your friend tomorrow anyway." His father pointed out. "Or you will lose every time because you couldn't focus."
"Your father is right, dueling isn't something you should fall asleep by and tomorrow we can go through all the things your gift can do again, maybe we can even get Reiji to show you all the tricks." His mother continued without missing a beat. "But first you need to promise never to sneak out of bed again, or we might think that this new duel disk wasn't such a great idea after all."
Yusaku thought about that for a moment, they had their points. A duelist should be at full attention during a match.
Also, losing to any of the other children in his family or Ryoken tomorrow because he was tired was unthinkable and losing his new duel disk even more so.
"I won't anymore, promised." Yusaku concluded, standing up and looking straight at his parents so they knew he was serious.
"Great!" His father declared, giving him a comforting smile. "Then let's get you back to bed."
Yusaku nodded, putting the duel disk back on the floor and the three of them started to walk back to his room. On the way he noticed that his mother gave his father a quick reassuring smile, who shrugged like he didn't know why she smiled.
Back in the guest bedroom that Uncle Yuya and Aunt Yuzu had provided for him and the he shared with a few other children for the night, who were already asleep, his parents wished him a good night and Yusaku closed his eyes trying to fall asleep.
It felt like an eternity before his excitement allowed him to, but he dreamed about all the fun and duels he would have tomorrow.
When he opened his eyes again the sun had just disappeared behind the horizon. Yusaku felt the sea wind on his face and instinctively his eyes searched the open sea for a boat, that he knew wasn't there.
Yusaku couldn't quite categorize it, but after the memory he felt warm. It was another step to his past, but he hadn't even thought about how it might be unsafe, about how the abyss might overwhelm it.
And the memory was clearer than the ones before, he still couldn't place it and he could only vaguely say what it was about, but it felt a bit closer than the ones before.
Like there were three things he just couldn't name them yet, like the different life it had been from was his long ago.
It was another moment Yusaku thought about his dream in silence, before he heard the footsteps behind him. Yusaku straightened his body and got ready, he had a plan.
"Hello, Yusaku." She softly greeted him. "I got your message and it just marked this location on my duel disk…"
Yusaku slowly turned around and looked into her eyes, his face now completely neutral. For a moment his body tensed up, but he kept going, repeating the three steps in his head one last time.
"There are three reasons I wanted to meet you here." Yusaku explained, in a neutral voice and three fingers pointing up on his hand. At first, she looked surprised, but she quickly smiled and gave him a reassuring nod. "First: You asked me to show you a place I like in the city and this is one of my favorite places."
She had a quick look around and out towards the sea, before giving Yusaku another reassuring nod.
"Second: We should spend time together since you are visiting me." Yusaku said, calmly, having confidence in the words. "Third: You said that we could find a new future together and I wanted to say that I want to do that too."
Yusaku took a calm breath after finishing. The three points had been completely logical to him and his expression was still showing nothing, but it felt like he had taken this step in finding a new future and in keeping his promise well.
"That…That is great Yusaku. I hope we can do that together, find a new future." She answered; determent hope in her voice. She gave him another firm warm smile before standing herself next to him on the railing, still leaving a bit of space between them.
Silence set in and Yusaku could order his thoughts. He had made his three points exactly like he had planned them and it had been a good start.
He looked out at the sea and she was also looking into the distance, only occasionally giving Yusaku a quick reassuring look.
Yusaku hoped that he could one day explain three things to her about why he liked this place and what he irrationally hoped to see every time he is here.
She already knew that he was Playmaker, that she knew felt still strange, but not as bad as before.
One day he would tell her why he had fought, about AI and about the person who saved him and who he was trying to save now.
Not today, that day was still away and thinking about it made him feel both hopeful and sick at the same time, but Yusaku understood that it wasn't impossible.
"I think we can do this." The words from the memory repeated in his mind.
At the time he hadn't comprehended what the two people had meant and Yusaku still didn't know what they had talked about.
However now looking out onto the sea and being closer to his past and future then he ever was, the feeling the people had felt was something Yusaku thought he was close to understanding.
Note:
So that was the chapter. I hope you liked it.
I hate that I kept this story and everyone reading hanging for so long and I honestly can't promise that chapters will come faster.
All I can say is that I love writing this story and hearing what you think about it. Even if it takes a bit, I could never forget this story and all of you great readers.
As for my question to you for this chapter. I see Yusaku as the kind of kid that liked to get into trouble a lot, but who's kids from the Arc-V cast do you think were his partners in crime when getting into trouble? (=
Pls leave criticism and feedback or parts you liked in the comments. I love every comment and it always helps to make the story better!
Thanks again to HeraldicEntertainment for beta reading.
Special thanks also goes to: Unknown256 and PipeDreamPrayer
Preview: Yuri shows a new challenger some old tricks and reaches the end of the line.
Thank you for reading and stay frosty.