I take another deep breath. I look away from Yusei. I fear that if I look too long, my dream will come back and I'll lose control of my powers. I can't afford to let that happen. I'm going to be confronted by Kaoru and Yusei in the same day. I need to win this duel and run. Run so far that they can't find me. I could move to another city, change my name and move on with my life. I know that I can't do that. This marker keeps me tied to this City. They know what that marker stands for. I wouldn't get a job, hell, I wouldn't live.
"My turn. I draw." Fabled Ashenveil. This card can't help me defeat Judgement Dragon. Though, good news is that Kaoru's life points are low enough that he can't use its effect again and completely wipe my field. "I set a monster and end my turn." As long as he doesn't summon another monster, I'm fine.
"My turn, I draw." I'm trying to get a good read on Kaoru, he got something helpful I think. "Judgement Dragon attacks your set card! Then I activate the Continuous Spell Earthshattering Event! When a card is sent from either of our decks to the grave, I target one card in either of our graves and shuffle it back into the deck. Then, neither of us can send cards to our graves from our decks for the rest of the turn. Finally, I set a monster and end my turn. Judgement Dragon's monster effect activates; I send the top four cards in my deck to the grave. Then Earthshattering Event's effect activates, I choose a card to be shuffled back into my deck. I choose the Trap Card Call of the Haunted." Well, I've basically lost then. That lets him Special Summon a monster from the grave, which is good for him since I'm pretty sure that he has no more monsters in his deck.
"My turn. I draw." If I get a good draw, I can turn things around- Nope, Guarded Treasure. A Continuous Spell that requires me to have five other cards in my hand to activate, I have one. I'll guess I'll set Doppel Warrior then. "I set a monster and end my turn." Kaoru's getting frustrated, I can tell. This can go one of two ways. Either, Kaoru decks out and loses or I run out of monsters to set. Wait, he can't deck out as long as he has that Spell Card, damn.
"My turn, I draw. Judgement Dragon attacks your set card. I set one card and end my turn. Judgement Dragon's monster effect activates, the top four cards in my deck are sent to the grave." That's it, Kaoru has no cards in his deck. "Then, Earthshattering Event's effect activates, it allows me to shuffle a card back into my deck. I choose the Trap Card Mirror Force." There's only one card in my deck that can help me. A card that will make him deck out next turn. Can I draw it though?
"My turn. I draw." I take a deep breath before I draw. Nope, today's not my day, is it? At least I drew a monster, but that probably won't help. "I set a monster and end my turn."
"My turn, I draw. Judgement Dragon attacks your set card! Then, I activate Call of the Haunted. It lets me Special Summon a monster from the graveyard and I choose Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner!" Great. "Lumina attacks you directly!" The beam of light that Lumina sends towards me knocks me off my feet as my life points hit 0.
I have the worst luck, I swear. Though as part of my deal with Kaoru, I said I wouldn't run away. Kaoru starts walking towards me. He holds out his hand in an effort to help me up off the ground. Maybe if I just calmly walk away, I won't have to deal with Yusei or Kaoru.
"Don't get smart with me. Even if you walk away, that's still breaking our deal." I stare at the hand Kaoru holds out to me.
"I didn't say that out loud." Kaoru freezes as we both stare at each other. I can hear everything, the thoughts bouncing around in his head. He's scared. He's pushing thoughts back about Kasumi and the fear that she'll find out that he's a psychic. The fear that the whole school will find out about him and he'll end up an outcast like Izayoi. I grab Kaoru's hand and stand up. Shinji and Emiko run over towards us. They look between our faces, which are probably somewhere between fear and confusion.
"What's going on?" Shinji asks us, his tone is a bit hesitant.
"We can hear each other's thoughts." It's hard to talk with Kaoru's thoughts bouncing around in my head. I concentrate on the conversation in an effort to block out his thoughts.
"What? But that's impossible! We've met proper telepaths that couldn't read your thoughts." Shinji is understandably confused.
"I know that."
"Telepaths? But I thought psychics just materialised duel monsters." Emiko looks rapidly between Shinji and I. I glance at Yusei, he hasn't said a word.
"Most psychics." I look back at Emiko. "Some psychics have powers beyond that. Some can read auras, some heal quicker, others can talk to spirits and very few are telepaths." I feel like everyone except Shinji is staring at me. "What do you want to talk about?" I turn back to Kaoru.
"Well-"
"Actually, you should sit down." I made a gesture towards the fountain in the middle of the courtyard. "Using your powers like that tires you out, I don't want you fainting on me." Shinji, Emiko and Yusei hang back as Kaoru and I walk over. They start talking. Shinji apologises to Yusei, something about this not being planned. Does that mean Shinji called Yusei out here? I'm so confused.
"What's the deal between you and Yusei?" Kaoru watches my face. I don't need any of this in my life.
"It's complicated."
"I have all the time in the world." He squints a bit. "You like him, don't you?"
"Shut up!" This is top of the list called 'things I don't need in my life'. "What do you wanna talk about?"
"I need your help." I'm able to get a good look at Kaoru's face. I note the features that are similar to mine, same nose, similar eye shape. His hair is a darker shade of my own, much closer to light brown than my own sandy blonde.
"To control your powers?"
"Yes. I can't control them and when you go to Duel Academy, that's not a good thing. Wait, aren't you going to sit down?"
"Nah, don't need to. Been in this game too long for that." Restraining my powers hardly feels like work anymore. Using more powers take more out of me. I pace backwards and forwards. I'm trying to remember how Raiden got me to control my powers. I can almost feel Kaoru's thoughts bouncing off my head, I try to ignore them. Given the fact he's a guy, I probably don't want to hear his thoughts. I hear snippets of Shinji's voice. Something about leaving me until I've calmed down. I stop when I realise that I'm pacing and my brow is furrowed. I tend to do that. He's probably telling Yusei that.
"Who's Raiden?"
"Can you please stop listening to my every thought? I'm blocking yours out."
"Wait, how are you able to do that?"
"I don't know. I'm just focusing on my own thoughts."
"Huh. But seriously, is he your boyfriend or something?"
"Not exactly." I don't know if you count friends-with-benefits as dating. Hopefully he didn't hear that.
"Then, is that guy over there your boyfriend?" Okay, maybe he didn't hear that. If he doesn't react in the next few seconds to that, I'm good.
"Shinji is not my boyfriend. What's your obsession with me having a boyfriend?" I sigh, I swear that he's going to give me an aneurysm.
"I'm your brother, it's my responsibility to protect you from guys."
"Oh you think you have to protect me?" Nothing infuriates me more than someone trying to protect me, almost like I can't protect myself. It's mostly guys that do this, and given the fact most of the people I know are guys, you can see the problem here.
"It's my job as your big brother." I sigh again, I give up.
"Fine, but training to control your powers is a lot of work, are you sure that you're up for it?"
"Yes, I need to control them." Right, I need to remember what Raiden thought me. Considering the fact that I'm not talking to Raiden at the moment, I need to remember. Given that, I probably can't ask anyone from Black Flag for help.
"Black Flag?" Damn it. Kaoru starts raising his voice. "You mean the biggest duel gang in the City? How are you involved with them?"
"Well-"
"You see, here's the thing." Shinji approaches us. "You're looking at the leader of one of the biggest duel gangs in the City." He smirks. I feel like he's showing me off like a prize, I sigh. He's been listening in our conversation.
"I'm not the leader, so to say, it's more of a figurehead position."
"Yuuka, is that true?" Emiko speaks up.
"Yeah, but that's not important."
"Yeah right!" Kaoru's angry, oh boy. "Do you know how dangerous that is? What if you got yourself hurt?"
"I know what the job entails. Didn't I tell you that it's dangerous to be around me? Now, you know why." I glance over at Yusei, our eyes meet. My hands start shaking, but I cross my arms over my chest to hide it. I'm trying to read his aura. Then, I freeze. Why would Yusei have an aura to begin with? He's not a psychic, I know that for certain. Strange. Maybe it's because he's a Signer, and that's why I could get an aura from Kiryu. Just thinking about his aura gives me the chills. My duel with Yusei flashes into my head. Thankfully, Shinji and Emiko are getting on like a house on fire and keep talking. I ignore what they're saying.
You should probably talk to Yusei.
I look at Kaoru, wide eyed. How did he manage to do that?
I don't know to be honest. But from what I've heard in your thoughts, you need to sort things out with him. I'll distract the other two if you want.
Wait, now? No, I don't think I can deal with that right now.
"Hey, do you guys wanna go get food or something? It would be better than standing out here." Kaoru asks like he's saying it out of the blue. Shinji and Emiko agree with him, that's the typical for them. They love food, like a lot. I suppose they've got that in common. Kaoru's eyebrows are slightly raised when he looks towards me.
"Nah, I'm going to head home." I glance at Yusei and move my eyes to behind us. Hopefully he gets the message.
"I'll walk you home." Yusei cuts in almost immediately. I can see Shinji smirking from the corner of my eye. He knows that I can see him so he covers his mouth with his hand and tries to play it off as a cough.
"Right, I'll talk to you all later." I instantly turn on my heels and start walking away, with Yusei following close behind.
We walk in silence for a good while. I try reading his aura again. I feel like he keeps going to say something, but doesn't. I sigh and turn to him.
"We need to talk." It's now or never, I suppose.
"We do." He has that earnest look in his eyes. I imagine he wouldn't have let me go without us talking. My heart is starting to pound.
"I know the place." I don't think I could bear bringing Yusei back to my apartment. It's not clean enough for that, I'd be too embarrassed. The park should be fine. It's basically dark out now, so there should be very few people around. A part of me is dreading this. I'll have to face that guilt that I've been avoiding for the last three months. I'll have to look Yusei in the eye and tell him that I made a huge mistake and I'll probably never forgive myself. Admit the fact that a part of me actually wanted to kill him, that it wasn't a side effect of me being that close to the Gate of the Underworld. Then again, this is actually what another part of me wanted. Admit this and move on with my life. Let go of that guilt, because I've learned from my mistakes. I would have Yusei in my life again and attempt to have a shred of normality in my mess of a life.
A/N: Bonus chapter because today, November 1st, is Yuuka's birthday!