I wake with a start. I look around me and take in my surroundings. My mind is completely blank, though I can imagine what dream I had. I feel better not having actually seen the dream. Though, my heart is racing and that fear has latched itself onto me. I look back at pillow in search of my phone, when I spot a patch of dried blood on my pillow. My hands fly up to my face in search of a cut, only to find nothing. I sigh. My hand travels back to my hairline to scratch an itch. Then, I find it, a small cut just behind my ear. It's only a scab now. It's very small, I must have scratched it while I was asleep and broke skin. That dream really needs to stop. Since this is not the first time this has happened, sure I've never broken skin before, but still. I've woken up before completely covered in bright red scratch marks all down my arms and back. I check my phone for the time, ten in the morning. Quite late for me actually. Then again, I couldn't go asleep last night because of all the thoughts flying around my head. I keep playing out how I'm going to tell Raiden that I'm leaving Black Flag. Each of his reactions being less likely than the one before it. It's strange, in each scenario, it keeps coming back to Yusei. I know that Raiden has a pretty low opinion of Yusei, but I don't know if that's what is affecting me or something else. Though, I lean towards the latter.
Sighing, I get out of bed to make breakfast for myself. I fry some bread that has started to go stale. I grab an apple from the fruit bowl. I hoped those bananas would have been ripe enough this morning, but no. I start eating the apple as I'm frying the bread. I should probably stop by the market on my way to Yusei's to get something for our lunch. But the question is, what do I get? Knowing them, they've probably been eating nothing but cup ramen for months. As much as cup ramen was my childhood, I think I can only eat it once a week without the fear of being ill. Cheap cup ramen is nasty. I could get some pasta, that'll be quick and easy to make. It also should be cheap to buy, which is always a plus. Then, I'll just add what's on special into the pasta. I eat my breakfast, just enjoying the silence. I wonder is it good enough just to go over with the food, I mean, it should be right? Then, I remember we're all from the Satellite, so I throw the idea out the window. Man, just the idea of being in a room with only people from the Satellite is such a refreshing concept to me. So refreshing, in fact, that I actually have the energy to clean up after breakfast.
Shopping in hand, I start walking towards Poppo Time. I keep taking deep breaths to try and calm myself down. I was excited this morning, but now I'm just plain nervous. I imagine that I look suspicious to onlookers. Wait, with my mark, I should probably tone it down. I can spot the top of the clock tower from a bit away. I need to calm down. I mean, what's the worst that can happen? Actually, it's best that I don't answer that question. Okay, I found their apartment door, I can do this. I take a deep breath and move my hand to knock. I move my hand back and sigh, fixing my hair and pulling down my dress so I look presentable. This time, I actually knock. My heart is pounding. I can do this. I jump slightly when the door opens sooner than I expected. Suddenly, I'm face-to-face with Crow. He's caught off guard, probably expecting someone else. It takes his mind a second to register who I am.
"Yuuka?" His eyes are wide. He scans my face in disbelief, his eyes rest on my marker. "Is that really you?" I force a smile and nod. I'm lost for words. I honestly expected Yusei to open the door, so I was prepared for that, but no. "Come on in."
"Hey Yusei, Jack, look who showed up!" Crow calls down as he walks down a slope into a garage. Didn't Yusei say it was an apartment? From behind Crow, I can see Yusei working on Jack's D-Wheel while Jack overlooks. They turn around towards me. Yusei smiles at me before turning back to the D-Wheel, finishing what he was doing. The butterflies are back in my stomach again. I manage to catch a glimpse at the genuine surprise on Jack's face before he steels up.
"Hm, I was wondering when you were going to show up." Strange, have other former Dark Signers appeared? I'm guessing so. I would have said that it was Kiryu, but something in Jack's aura is telling me that he's thinking about someone else. I think I was right when I said that the Signers have auras. I'm pretty sure that Crow is a Signer now too, since he has an aura now as well.
"Did you not tell them I was coming over?" I call down to Yusei.
"No, it was meant to be a surprise." He replies, without moving away from the D-Wheel. I give a light-hearted scoff, I should have expected that.
"Oh so that's where you were the other night." Crow is about to follow up with something else before I cut him off. I think he was about to make a joke about that.
"Yep, that was me." Crow looks at me like he's just figured out something. I freeze ever so slightly. Has he figured me out? If he has, that's not good. "Oh yeah, I got something for our lunch." I hold up the plastic bag. "Where should I put it?"
"Oh, you can just put it on the counter." Crow gesture towards the stairs. I walk up the stairs that I assume lead to the kitchen, as Crow continues talking. My hand is slightly sore from carrying the bag. "Funny, we were just talking about lunch before you arrived."
"Oh, do you want me to make lunch now then?" I walk back down a couple of steps, popping my head back into the garage. I get a chorus of positive responses with varying degrees of enthusiasm. Nodding, I scurry back into the kitchen. To my surprise, Crow comes back into the kitchen as well. I get a good look at the room. Their living space is a kitchen area with a couch and a deck. I'm amazed how big it is.
"This room is bigger than my apartment." I mutter it under my breath but Crow still hears it and laughs. "Wait, all this and a garage too? Okay, which one of you sold your soul for this place?"
"Pretty cool, huh? The landlady is an old friend of Martha's, so that was pretty handy."
"I can imagine-"
"Want any help with that?" He notices me glancing around the kitchen, trying to find what I need.
"If you want to help, sure." Crow glances at the pasta in the bag, and goes to take a pot from one of the drawers. "I assume you're the reason that Yusei and Jack haven't starved to death by now." A chuckle escapes me.
"Not exactly. They can make cup ramen, but I make everything else." Crow fills the pot with water before placing it on the stove. I look in the drawer that Crow took the pot out of, and I retrieve a frying pan and a chopping board. I start heating up the pan, and add a little butter.
"Geez, they still eat cup ramen?" I was right, they haven't changed at all.
"We eat it by the bucket load." I take the rest of the ingredients out of the bag. I managed to get some shrimps, leek and spinach on special. They'll go nice enough together I suppose. I start chopping up the leek.
"Ugh, have you seen the amount of chemicals they put into those things? That can't be good for you." I shiver at that thought.
"They're cheap, and also quick and easy to make. Can't beat that, can you?"
"That's true but, you should just buy what's on special and save the leftovers. Works for me." Once I reckon the pan is hot enough, I throw the leek and shrimp into the pan.
"Does that actually work?" Once Crow adds the pasta to the pot, I add a pinch of salt. Crow turns to me. "Wait, why the salt?"
"It does, I mean I haven't starved to death yet. Salt adds flavour." I turn to Crow and shrug my shoulders. Then I notice it. "Wait a minute, stand up straight." I burst out laughing.
"What? What's wrong?" I continue laughing and my sides start to hurt.
"I'm finally taller than you!" I try stirring what's in the frying pan, which is hard when you're shaking with laughter. I notice that Yusei and Jack have come up to see what the fuss was all about.
"No, you're not. Look!" He moves his hand out from the top of his hair that passes straight over my head. This only makes me laugh more.
"You don't count your hair in your height, dumbass!" I try to stop laughing and turn back to the food. It doesn't, so I stand with my head in my hands, trying to stop shaking instead. "I've never been taller than you, so please let me have my moment." It's true. While I may have been roughly the same size as Crow when we first met, that didn't last long. I was a literal runt when I was a child, I know. I look over at Jack and Yusei who seem amused by the whole situation. Taking deep breaths, I've managed to stop laughing. "This shouldn't take much longer, so if you wanna sit down." I gesture to the couch, which is not far from where I'm standing.
Crow asks Yusei something about their D-Wheels so I obviously tune out for a while. They mention the WRGP tournament that got announced when they finished Daedalus Bridge. Construction is underway to create duel lanes around the bridge, making use of the space between the City and the Satellite. It's supposed to represent the newfound 'unity' between the two. A load of bull, if you ask me. If they think that a bridge and a tournament will solve all the problems of the last eighteen years, they've got another thing coming. While we're now officially integrated, the City people are still going to hate the people from the Satellite. They'll be less likely to hire us, pay us less, charge us more. This entire City is built on lies.
I sigh, focusing my attention back on the food. I try to listen to the conversation around me. Okay, no, that's too geeky a conversation for me. I lean over and test the pasta to see if it's done, thankfully it is. I ask Crow to drain the pasta as I turn off the heat under the pan. I move back to the chopping board to roughly cut up the spinach. Crow moves to get out plates and cutlery as I throw the pasta back into the pot along with the contents of the pan and the spinach. I churn it together until it's evenly mixed. Then, finally, I start serving up the food on the plates that Crow had left out. Behind me, Crow moves chairs from a desk facing the couch towards the coffee table between them for us. I hand the plates to the guys and leave my own on the coffee table, before putting everything else into the sink. As I move to sit down, the guys have already started eating. Man, this pasta tastes better than I expected it too. Though, I wouldn't tell them that.
"Hey, I hear you guys talking about the WRGP. Are you entering?" I glance around.
"We are." Yusei answers me. "Were you thinking of entering?"
"No. I mean I could since I have my D-Wheel licence, but competitive dueling isn't my thing." What I mean by that is, I can't risk not being in control of my powers while me and the person I'm dueling are on machines going over two hundred kilometres an hour.
"Where on earth did you get a D-Wheel licence?" I'm surprised that Jack asks this. Then again, he's probably picked up on the fact that I got my licence before the Satellite became one with the City. Thus, it should have been impossible for me to get a licence because I'm marked.
"After I came to the City, I was forced into Duel Academy so I reckoned that I should make the best out of it." I'm trying to think if my licence is still in date, it should be.
"Wait, isn't Duel Academy where all the rich kids go?" Crow's comment makes me wonder if Yusei has stayed in contact with Aki, given their duel I imagine so.
"Yeah basically. As for why I was there, it's a long story." I think explaining the whole 'having a biological family' thing now is more effort than it's worth. I mean I will have to explain it eventually, as Kaoru is bound to show up sometime. There is a pause as we focus on our food. I wonder if they took that to mean that I don't want to talk about it. In all honesty, I'd like to avoid talking about it whenever I can. Though, with these three being who they are, they will need to know.
"This food is really good, Yuuka." Yusei breaks the silence. I stare at him for a split second before smiling. Does he know the reason I'm not talking about my family is more emotional than I'm letting on? I mean, the last time I mentioned them, I did start crying.
"Thank you. Though, I must admit Crow helped a lot." To which, Crow makes a response in way that can only be described as 'Crow'. The conversation moves naturally from there. We're just catching up on what's happened in the last couple of months. They tell me about how they were the ones who got Daedalus Bridge finished, and that Jack's savings from when he was King were poured into the project so it was finished as soon as possible. The conversation leans away from anything that happened immediately after the Fortune Cup. I wonder if Jack and Crow know that I remember what happened. I push that thought to the back of my head, those thoughts are for two in the morning when you can't go asleep, when any sort of guilt or embarrassment can't be shaken off. The conversation flows easily like it did back then. Almost like it hasn't been four years. We sit there talking long after the food is finished. It's strange, being here with them almost makes me forget what's happened since we last talked like this.
We're still talking by the time I start to get restless. It's not a want to get away from them by any means. I've always been like this. My legs ache to move, my lungs pain for fresh air. Something of a wanderlust really. In an effort to move, I take our plates from the coffee table and put them into the sink. My hand moves towards the tap in an effort to wash them, when Crow stops me.
"Oh no, Yuuka, you don't need to bother with that. I'll clean them later." I suppose Crow hasn't quite domesticated Yusei and Jack yet.
"Are you sure?" I push the issue, because I honestly have compulsions to clean sometimes.
"Yeah, it's fine." I sigh. I need to go for a run. "Right, I'm gonna head now then. I need to run some errands."
"Going so soon?" I scoff light-heartedly.
"Yeah, don't worry, you'll see me again." I wonder if they think I'll disappear for another four years. That won't happen. They're my friends, I'm not going to vanish on them again. At least, if I have a say in it.
After arriving back in my apartment with more food shopping, I thank whatever's up there that I'm getting paid the day after tomorrow because I don't think I could handle this much longer. As I put my bags down on the counter, my phone starts to ring. Raiden. I actually groan out loud, that's how much I don't want to deal with this right now.
"Hello?" I answer.
"Where are you?" Ugh, a 'hello' would be nice.
"At home." I start packing the food from the bags into the presses.
"Well, you weren't there earlier when I knocked." The one day, I swear. "Where were you?"
"I was at Yusei's." If I wasn't leaving Black Flag, I would have lied and said Takumi's, but I no longer care what he thinks.
"Yusei? Why were you there?" He's trying to hold back the anger in his voice.
"We had lunch." I'm actually tempted to hang up the phone.
"What? Why were having lunch with him? Do you remember what he did to you?" I hold my breath. "I know you ran into him in the Satellite. That's why you're like this. How could you go back to him knowing that?" He pauses, I let out that breath I was holding.
"It's not like that." I can't tell him that both of us were wrong about Yusei. He'll say that I forgave him too easily. "We're friends." He scoffs.
"Yeah right. He probably thinks of you like some stray dog and is only putting up with you because he feels sorry for you."
"You're wrong."
"What?" I remember how Yusei looked at me the other night in the park. There was no pity. He cares about me, his eyes told me everything. Then, there was something else in his eyes that I couldn't quite place.
"You don't know him like I do. You're wrong." There's a pause. He's holding his tongue, that's what his silence means.
"I'm just saying." He pauses for a beat. I can tell that he's trying not to explode on the phone. "He'll end up breaking your heart again. I want you to be careful." I scoff. Yusei didn't break my heart in the Satellite. I broke my own.
"You weren't there. You don't know what happened." I sigh. It hurts that I can't tell anyone what happened. "Right, I'm going to go for a run. I'll be in the base tomorrow. We can talk then. Okay?"
"Okay." Once Raiden says that, I hang up the phone.
I turn around to look at the mirror. I chew my lip as I notice how my body has slimmed down since the Fortune Cup. The muscles on my arm have started to waste away, causing my three-quarter length sleeves to be ever so slightly loose. The meat of my thighs has started to trim down, which is a shame to be honest, I had really nice thighs. It makes me a little depressed. I need to start going to the gym again. I sigh and change into something I can properly run in. Trying to run in a short, tight dress and boots with a heel on them isn't a good idea. I pull all of my hair back into a ponytail and pin up everything else that doesn't fit in. Happy with how I look, I go out the door. It's starting to get dark outside and my breath forms a mist in the air. But I still run. I run until I can taste metal and my body is on fire. I can feel myself letting off steam. After all, the longer I stay with Raiden, the more that a sense of frustration builds up inside me.