It's him. Any sense of composure. Any sense of happiness. Gone. I run. I keep running. My breath catches in my chest, but still, I run. I pick a card out from my deck, ready. No, it's not just him. He's not alone. I still keep running. There's footsteps behind me. I don't know who it is, I don't look back. There's a bright flash and I'm on my knees. My knees burn from sliding on the ground. I don't get hit by the blast. I open my eyes. Trishula's icy wings spread out, protecting us from the blast. I stare at the card still in my hand. I look at my duel disk. How is Trishula here? Is this Kenta's Trishula? Light End Dragon is to my right, as well as Kaoru. Kenta and Takumi aren't in sight. This is my Trishula. It came without me using my Duel Disk. I turn to make sure he's okay.
Yusei stares right back at me. He's shaken, you can't see it on his face, but I can see it in his eyes. Aki's more visibly shaken. Her arms twitch every so slightly. Yusei goes to speak, but I stand up and look around for the attackers. No trace of them. The sight of Trishula and Light End probably scared them off.
"You're Yuudai, I assume?" Yusei asks. I had almost forgotten that I had my mask on.
"That's me alright." I put an effort into deepening my voice. The simple muffling of the mask won't be enough to fool Yusei. "It would be wise to stay out of these parts, Fudo. There's trouble stirring up in these parts nowadays."
"And you're the one causing it, aren't you?" Aki pipes up.
"That trouble started long before me, honey." Aki's gaze lingers on me. I can feel her eyes boring into me. She's analysing every part of me. What does she know? More importantly, what has she figured out? "I'd recommend getting out of these parts." I move closer to Yusei. "This is my turf now." I move again, I'm practically less than a meter away from him now. "It was nice meeting you, but I wouldn't recommend getting involved here."
"I wasn't planning to." There's a weight to his words. A doubt lingers inside me. He couldn't possibly know it's me. There's no way. I've been careful, I've left no clues. Yusei and Aki walk away from the direction of the attack. I stand there for a few minutes afterwards, waiting for any follow-up attack.
No one's coming. I hear Kaoru's voice in my head. I shake my head and start to walk away. There's a flicker of an aura. Raiden? It couldn't be. I start to move, only for Takumi and Kenta to join us, heaving and panting.
"You run too fast." Takumi manages to get out.
"You were jogging." It's a shame that Takumi can't see my pout and raised eyebrows. I start glancing around trying to find that aura again. Nothing. I've lost him.
"Takumi can't run, haha very funny, we know." I can tell he's giving me the roll of the eyes.
"Trishula?" Kenta asks.
"Yeah, it hasn't disappeared." I look up at the dragon. One of its three heads rests near me. "Didn't summon it with my duel disk either." Kenta stays quiet, clearly stuck up in his head again. I take off my glove and rest it on Trishula's head. Cold spreads throughout my body. It's familiar cold that makes everything go numb. I realise why it's familiar. Before I pull my hand back, Trishula fades away slowly. I stare at my hand, cold still lingering.
"Come on, let's go." Kenta moves and grabs my hand. He continues to hold my cold hand. The cold slowly starts to seep out of my hand into Kenta.
Kenta doesn't let go of my hand until we're near his apartment. The four of us go inside. I sit on the couch, waiting for Takumi to make us all a hot drink.
"Good job everyone! We did good today." He calls from the kitchen.
"What do you mean good job? I stood there while Yuuka did all the work." The snark from Kaoru is strong.
"You were there for support. You tried." I lay my head on the back of the couch to look at him.
Takumi brings out mugs for us. Kaoru and his tea, geez, he's practically an old man already. Kenta stares at me while holding his mug close to his face.
"Sasaki, can I talk to you in the kitchen for a minute?" Takumi turns and stares at Kenta. There's something in his eyes. I don't know how to explain. It's like he almost telling Kenta to stop. Kenta closes the kitchen door behind me. He stares at the door. I reckon he's trying to see if they're going to listen in on this.
"What do you need to talk about?" I keep my voice lowered.
"You need to keep your mouth shut." Kenta furrows his brow. "You talk too much. Keep quiet, you're going to give us away. All that Team Satisfaction stuff? Nobody needs to know." Kenta takes a deep breath. "Talk less."
"All that talking got us the Red Serpents' territory. I don't know what you're talking about."
"Sure, but we keep running your mouth. You're getting us into trouble." Kenta frowns. "Have you not noticed yet?"
"Notice what?" My shoulders slump.
"The moment you mentioned Team Satisfaction, Yusei got attacked. Wasn't he part of that? Did you not think about that? How could you not have noticed? Someone's figured us out, Sasaki. And I'm pointing my finger at you!" Kenta stands right in front of me, pointing a finger right in my face.
That was a coincidence, right? He was in the wrong place at the wrong time, surely. With Aki nonetheless. Why? Of course he would. Just on a regular walk with her. That's something they'd do, right? I shake remembering the flicker of Raiden's aura. Is that why they got attacked? That's why this is all just one huge misunderstanding. Raiden hated Yusei with a passion. That's why that happened. It must be. It's the only thing I can think of. Felix seemed too nice to purposely attack Yusei to get at me. No, he's too new to the City to know that Yusei was a part of Team Satisfaction. Saoirse wasn't from the Satellite, at least I think so. She wouldn't have done that, I know that at least.
"No. That wasn't my fault." I manage to stutter out.
"Oh okay, you're not taking the blame like usual. Who done it then Sasaki? Tell me." Kenta's shoulders are starting to shake.
"I felt Raiden's aura, before you arrived." Kenta stumbles back slightly. His eyes are wide.
"Sasaki, that's not possible. You know that. He's gone."
"I know what I felt."
Kenta sighs deeply. "You'd know better than I would, better than anyone." I'm surprised. Is Kenta actually saying that I'm better at something? I'm so used to him putting me down that I'm actually shocked that he said that. "I hope you're right." He mumbles.
"Honestly, each option is as bad as the other." Kenta pouts slightly. "Red Serpents know who I am, they spill to other gangs. They might find out who you are through association. Raiden knows." I shake my head. "We're doomed. You, me, Yusei, everyone."
"I hope you're wrong. For the both of us." Kenta holds his face in his hands, I spot the bags under his eyes between the gaps in his fingers. "That it's just a coincidence. Wrong place at the wrong time." He suddenly moves his hands down and stares at them. "Did I hide my skin enough? I have nobody they can use against me. So, they figured out who you are and attacked Yusei."
"Don't be silly. It was just a coincidence. It was probably some Cross Syndicate kids off their turf." I go to rest my hand on Kenta's shoulder, only to pull away.
"Yeah, it was." He says it like he's trying to convince himself. He keeps staring at his gloveless hands. He starts tugging at his turtleneck. "We're fine." Fear keeps flickering in his eyes.
"Go take that turtleneck off. You'll feel better." I go to move out of the kitchen.
"Keep your eye out, Sasaki. It could be someone on the inside." The volume of his voice lowers. I look back at him with wide eyes. Is he implying what I think he's implying? I nod solemnly.
"I have a question to ask you." Aki brings this up relatively soon into one of our little lunch dates that we seem to have quite often.
"Go ahead." I nervously sip my coffee, a little afraid of what she's going to say.
"How do you feel about Yusei?" There it is. Honestly, I've been expecting this question for a while. Since she most definitely likes Yusei at this stage.
"He's alright I guess." I'm not one to deter a fellow girl, no matter my own feelings. "Why do you ask?"
"I'm not sure how I feel." Aki holds her teacup near her face, staring deeply into it. She sighs so deeply that her shoulders slump.
"What do you mean?" Not sure how she feels? I'm definitely confused. To me, it was quite obvious.
"I thought that I liked him."
"Thought?" I think I exaggerate it a bit more than I intended to, because Aki gives me a strange look. "What do you mean by that?" I try to be a bit more subdued.
"Back when we were facing the Dark Signers and after that, I had all of these feelings for Yusei. I honestly thought that I liked him." She looks at me, I nod, letting her continue. "Then, suddenly it occurred to me." She looks up from her teacup. "I'm starting to rely on Yusei like I relied on Divine."
"Oh." That's all that manages to come out of my mouth. I honestly didn't expect that.
"Yes." Aki pulls this face like she's trying not to lose composure. "I realised that a while ago. I kept thinking about Divine, and it kept leading me to Yusei. And I just." She sighs and then pauses. "I just feel like I rely on Yusei too much. I always go to Yusei if I need help, if I need to make a big decision. I just can't but feel like it's Divine all over again. I know that Yusei is not like Divine, and never will be, but still, I can't help how I feel. I thought maybe you would understand."
"I haven't experienced that like you have, but I understand. You need to take control, you owe yourself that."
"I do." There's a look of determination in her eyes. "I want, no I need to take control of my own life." She sets down the teacup, "This is the first time I've been on my own, the first time I've been able to make my own decisions. I'm going to live my life how I want to." The air around Aki is so dignified. Prime example of someone taking control of their own life. Instead of someone hiding behind a banner of revolution to escape their problems.
"Yes, that's what you deserve." Aki smiles again, I love seeing a smile on her face after all she's been through.
"You're right." She nods, I smile too. I'm so proud of her. I haven't been talking to Aki for very long, but I am really proud of her and how far she's come since Duel Academy. Then, her face sombers. Almost like she had forgotten some terrible thing and it just dawned on her now. Something she pushed to the back of her head. "I need to tell you something." She looks down. "It's the real reason why I asked you here."
"What is it?" I'm starting to shake. It's not good news.
"They found Divine."