"Morning." I'm surprised that Kaoru acknowledges me when he comes into the kitchen. I respond while taking another sip of my coffee. He doesn't seem too bad this morning. This is the friendliest he's been all week. I suppose that he has to be today. Kenta called us yesterday, telling us that we're going for the Cross Syndicate today. The second-to-last gang. That's what I keep telling myself. I'm nearly there. Soon, I won't have to lie about all this.
"You were there when Izayoi dueled the Vice Principal, right?" He starts making cereal, surprising, considering he normally goes straight for a cup of tea. I mumble some sort of a response, not really awake. "Thought so. Someone I know has a brother in the class that nearly got expelled." He doesn't sit down, but leans on the counter as he starts eating. "That's all the entire school can talk about. The opinion of her has pretty much changed. Good for her. Some people are right assholes." His brows furrow. I imagine he feels more strongly now than he did before. If people knew, that could have been him. I'm sure that's what he's thinking.
"Yeah." I say. "She needed it. The better she does, the more the opinion of people like us will change." I stare at my coffee. "At least, it should." Kaoru says nothing for a while.
"Maybe." He mutters.
"We cool?" I ask after a while.
"Yeah." He sighs. "Just don't touch my D-Wheel again." I laugh, but I know that he's completely serious. "Are you sure that you're ready for today? You said you were last night, but I just want to be certain."
"I should be fine." I shrug my shoulders. "I want to handle this like we did the Red Serpents. Go in, talk for a while. Come out with their territory. I shouldn't need to do any hardcore stuff. Key word, shouldn't."
"Are gangs really that malicious?" Kaoru says. I stare at him, then at my bad leg, and back to him. "I take that back." He sighs. "It's a shame that I couldn't be the one to get back at that guy."
"Who? Saitama?" He nods.
"He hurt my little sister, I can't stand by and watch him get away with it."
"He didn't, I beat him in a duel."
"You didn't hurt him back though." Kaoru says, putting the bowl in the sink. "It's not enough."
"It doesn't work like that." I shake my head, sighing. "If I hurt him, someone else would have hurt me. And it just keeps going. It's not the real way to deal with these sort of things."
"Suppose so." Kaoru mutters. "Wanna start getting ready?" I make some sort of noise in response before downing the rest of my coffee.
We find Takumi and Kenta sitting on a wall. They don't have their masks on yet. I spot the bags under Kenta's eyes. He twists the ends of his black wig. I don't think he even notices Kaoru and I until we're standing right in front of him. Takumi, meanwhile, seems to be in a great mood.
"So, when are we going to Psycho again?" Every conversation I've had with Takumi since the Saitama incident involves this question.
"Isn't Psycho that one psychic bar?" Kaoru asks. I've mentioned it a few times to him, since I want to bring him there after all of this gang stuff is done. Takumi and I nod. "Why would you go there?" Kaoru looks at Takumi, who frowns.
"I'm allowed to go. I support psychics, nothing can stop me going."
For some reason, Takumi hates people bringing up that he's not a psychic. I think Saitama hit the nail on the head. He's insecure. One of the few non-psychics in the gang scene, and a big part of it at that.
How can you lead when you can't instill fear?
That's what Saitama said. That's been plaguing his mind, I can tell. He's hasn't had anything to do with the decision to go for the next gang. It was all Kenta. Could he be doubting himself? Or is his mind focused on something greater?
"Some non-psychics go there." I say. "It's a fun time. I'll probably go back once this whole thing's blown over."
Takumi stays silent. I think Kaoru struck a sensitive nerve. Kenta paces throughout all of this. He's anxious, with a hint of restlessness.
"Come on." Kenta says. He almost growls it while looking at Takumi. He then puts his mask on, with Takumi doing the same. Something is wrong, my gut says.
"Maybe we should wait." The words fall my lips as soon as everyone starts moving.
"Why would we wait?" Takumi asks, then looks to Kenta.
"I think we should too." Kaoru stares at me. He's reading my thoughts. He agrees with me, something feels off. That's what his thoughts tell me.
"No. There's no point in waiting. We're walking in, talking and walking out. We don't need to wait." Kenta clenches his fists. There's something wrong with him.
Someone who normally takes their time, tells people to calm down. Suddenly turning around telling to everyone move as fast as they can. What happened to taking your time, Kenta?
Kenta starts walking, Takumi following. Kaoru looks at me, and shrugs his shoulders. He asks me what we should do, mentally. I shake my head. I fiddle with my duel disk. I'm going to need this, a voice in my head says. Kaoru puts his mask on and follows them. I have no choice but go along with this. Since Kaoru is just going along with what they're doing. I stare at my mask, the red teardrop shapes coming from the eyes. Soon I will have no use for this mask. No more gangs, no more Fabled Bitch.
"Ah." I cover my chest using my hands. "I've been binding for a solid half an hour, and I'm already in pain."
"What are you using to bind?" Kenta doesn't turn to face me.
"Ace bandages." I pull at the top of the bandages through my hoodie at an attempt to loosen them. The bandages are starting to fall around my ribs. If they continue to fall, I'll be in trouble. I'll probably pass out, it's happened before.
"Don't do that. You'll hurt your ribs."
"What should I use then?" I try hooking my fingers underneath the bottom to try lift the bandages off my ribs. Kenta doesn't respond, but keeps walking.
We reach the gang's entrance. I sense auras densely packed into that building. I move to tell Kenta, but he ignores me. Kaoru catches on, but still, nothing.
"We're Team Liberation. We demand to see your leader." Kenta shouts at the guys beside the door. One of them, who is even taller than Takumi, walks over to Kenta, towering over him.
"So, you're inviting yourself in, are you?" This deep voice booms out. "You do realise that you're showing up uninvited?" Kenta doesn't move or back away. He just stands there as the other guy leans down to look at him.
"Bring me to your leader." That's all Kenta says.
"And what if I refuse?" He's baiting him. The leaning and that smirk on his face.
"Then, I'll duel you." Kenta holds up his duel disk. I feel the auras flare inside. Kaoru flinches beside me.
"Now, Kevin." Takumi grits his teeth, using Kenta's gang name. "Let's not cause a hassle."
"Well now, I'm not a duelist." The guy guarding the door says. "But since you're looking for a fight, we'll give you one." He points up to the building. The aura start to shift one by one. Without thinking, I activate my duel disk, a card in my hand ready. Kaoru follows my lead. We step back at the same time. The guy guarding the door pushes Kenta back, who falls on the ground. He jumps in the door, locking it behind him.
The first attack rains down. My sleeve gets ripped from something that resembles a lightning arrow. The skin stings. I barely miss a fire blast. It leaves some soot on my hoodie. Takumi pulls Kenta up, and hides behind a nearby dumpster. People start jumping out the ground floor windows. I start running. Avoid fights in small alleyways. Attacks from above can't be blocked as easily. Kaoru splits off from me pretty quickly. Takumi and Kenta run off a different way, I lose track of them pretty quickly.
I'm backed into some sort of courtyard. The attack stops for a few seconds so I try finding people's aura. Kenta is too far away. Kaoru is a matter of minutes away. More and more auras follow me. I cartwheel to dodge the attack of a spellcaster. Which turns into a backflip to avoid a blast of light. My back touches the wall. I throw another monster on my duel disk, and dash away from the wall. The Fabled Unicore and Valkyrus stand in front of me. They send attacks out in all directions. The edges of the building start to crack. One duelist, followed by a monster I recognise as Daigusto Eguls, manages to get into the courtyard, despite my best efforts. He moves his duel disk like he's going to duel me. An attack hits the duel disk, ultimately smashing it on the ground. I spot Kaoru giving me a thumbs up from the other side of the courtyard. I tear the left sleeve of the hoodie off. It's hanging on by a few threads now, and the fabric is mostly scorched. I spot the tail of Light End Dragon creeping into the courtyard. I get some peeks at his other Lightsworn monsters.
I'm so distracted that I almost get knocked in the head by another attack. All of a sudden, the thought of Kenta comes into my head. Is this what he wanted? An all-out fight. I can't imagine. Takumi and I are all for talking our way around things, rather than a brawl. Is this what Kenta wanted to do from the start? Fight our way out. Or did he make an honest mistake? Not listen to that big head of his, and ruin everything for everyone.
I barely miss another attack. Everything starts slowing down. Blood runs down my arm and on the inside of my mask. My wig is fine, but my mask is cracked. I feel myself starting to give out. Maybe I wasn't ready for this. I have three monsters out. Unicore, Valkyrus and now, Ashenveil. Why did I do that? I can barely cope with one monster on a good day. Why did I think this was a good idea? Kaoru has moved closer to me. He yells at me, but I don't understand him. My vision blurs over for a few seconds. My monsters move on their own. I think it's Kaoru controlling my monsters through our telepathic link. Eventually, Kaoru stops shouting at me out loud, skipping straight to the equivalent of yelling at me mentally.
Cold suddenly seeps into my feet. Kenta must be nearby, I think. Kaoru moves further away from me. To Kenta. I hear Kenta's name in his thoughts. My vision completely blacks out for a second. I spot a dragon fly through an alleyway, coming right at me. A lightning arrow comes from another direction. I do nothing. My body won't move fast enough. I can't even move my arms to shield myself.
"Come on, Ancient Sacred Wyvern!"
I hear a voice call as my body slams against the wall behind me.
I open my eyes to spot my mask sitting in front of my face. I try to sit up. My wig slides down the side of my face, falling to the floor. I stare at the gold mane of a dragon. I slide backwards towards the wall. Am I going to die? That thought passes through my mind. It has been there too many times. The dragon moves, attacking. A beam of light blinds me, but I'm fine. Someone stands a few feet in front of me. They look back, eyes wide.
"Felix!" His name spills from my lips. He stares at my face. I realise that he's looking at my actual face. The makeup has long since worn off.
"Put your mask back on!" He shouts at me. His dragon doesn't move, he's waiting for me I realise. I scramble to fix myself. Once I'm ready, he commands his dragon to attack. He brings out another monster. Watt. I hear that. That's what kind of deck he has, I figure. I try to stand up, but my legs won't move. My back aches as I hold myself up off the ground. My hoodie is even more torn now. I have concrete dust all over me. Parts of my hoodie are stained red with blood. I can taste it too.
"Yuuka!" Kaoru runs over to me, running past Felix. Light End Dragon behind him keeps fighting. "Are you okay?" He moves to help me up, but I refuse. Kaoru shakes his head before commanding his dragon. He stares at Felix, but says nothing.
He said my real name. I realise. Felix definitely heard that. He knows now. He knows who I really am. A Yuuka who belongs to a gang. There's only one of me out there. I'm doomed, ruined. This is the end, I think.
I start heaving. My head starts feeling light again. The taste of blood feels my mouth again. My monsters disappear from in front of me. Felix runs towards me, but I still fall.
"A chilling roar echoes across the entire world! Become the symbol of hope and revolution! Synchro Summon! Come forth, Dewloren, Tiger King of the Ice Barrier!"
A roar echoing across the courtyard is enough to shock me into consciousness. Someone has moved me against the wall. I try moving my arms, they ache. T-shirt fabric is wrapped around my wounds.
"You're awake." I look around. I've been moved into an alleyway. I spot Kenta dueling in the middle of the courtyard. Felix sits a little bit further down on the opposite wall. I note the few tears in his hoodie, and the charred spots at the shoulders. I nod. I feel for my mask and wig, they're still there.
"Thanks for back there." I say.
"No problem, I heard all the commotion from my apartment so I checked what was going on. He smiles. "Hey Yuudai, I saw you without your mask and wig there." Oh no. "What are you exactly?" He asks.
"A gang leader." I mutter, not answering the question directly. I'm not wrong.
"But, what is your gender?" I know what he's asking.
"A duelist." I shrug my shoulders. Even though I look like a female, I don't really know how to answer that question. I just accept whatever people see me as. Felix sighs, shaking his head.
"I'm guessing you're somewhere between boy and girl then?"
"Something like that. I don't really care what people see me as. My boyfriend doesn't care what I am, that's what matters to me."
"Oh, you have a boyfriend? What's your deal then? Straight, gay?"
"No." I answer.
"Lemme guess…" Felix trails off. "Bi?"
"Damn straight I am. Wait, that's a lie. I'm not straight." I laugh at my own joke. Felix merely shakes his head and sighs, all the while having a smile on his face.
"I just wanted to know if you look feminine most of the time." He says. "I recognise your aura from somewhere, I just want to know where. It limits it down if I know more about you." I stare at Felix's face. I get that feeling too. Maybe I saw him at the club once.
"Do you know Raiden Kimura?" I say. I don't know where it comes from. "If you've ever met him, then you've met me."
"Yeah, actually." Felix's eyes widen a little as he remembers. "Got me kicked out of Psycho once. He just randomly came up to me and started beating me up because I was dancing with this random chick." I start fiddling with my hands. "It was you, wasn't it?" His words taper off. His eyes are wide. I nod.
"Raiden was always cautious of other guys being around me. That's why most of my guy friends are gay, or at least aren't straight." I shrug my shoulders.
"Sounds terrible. Were you with him?" Felix raises an eyebrow. "I mean, you should never treat a lady like that. But especially, if you're dating."
"Kind of." I say. "It wasn't official."
"He didn't even need to worry about me." Felix chuckles in an awkward way. "I'm not really into that kind of relationship."
"Understandable. Are you aromantic or asexual then? People don't normally about being in between genders without being one of us." I laugh.
"Both." He answers. We share this knowing look and nod.
"Yuuka!" I hear Kaoru screaming in the distance. I tell him where I am mentally. He comes running down the alleyway to me. I feel his aura flare up when he sees Felix, who stands up to meet him.
"Kaoru, it's okay. We can trust him."
"You're from the Red Serpents, aren't you?" Kaoru straightens up. Felix is still taller however.
"I am." Felix throws his duel disk to the ground, lifting up his hands. "Don't worry. I'm on your side."
"How do I know that?" Kaoru slowly moves the card in his hand, almost daring him to make a wrong move.
"He protected me." I say. "We can trust him." Kaoru looks at me for a split second before lowering his duel disk. He keeps the card in his hand, ready. His aura is coming off really strong right now. I look at him now. I see a true threat, someone worthy of carrying a gang on his shoulders.
"Fine." Felix relaxes. I see him unclench his fists. "We're still fighting, I suggest you get your act together."
I hear a scream, then a thud. There's panicked voices, then everything falls silent.
"Not anymore." Felix says. He stares in the direction of the courtyard. We can't see anything, maybe he can get something from the auras. Kaoru runs back to the courtyard. Felix helps me up off the ground.
Kenta walks towards someone on the ground. Frost covers the ground in places. He starts talking but I can't hear him. His aura flares, then flickers, probably since he just finished a duel. Kenta Morinaga is truly terrifying. His eyes glow slightly, head cocked to the side. Their leader screams, throwing his hands up. Once the words I surrender leave his lips, Kenta is already walking away. Their leader scrambles, along with everyone else who was left. Felix and I stay silent, staring. He felt it too. The power in his aura. The terror it inspires. If Takumi doesn't instil fear, then Kenta more than makes up for it.
I hear Takumi laughing. He pats Kaoru on the back. Kaoru juts forward, not expecting it. His thoughts are a jumbled mess. One more. That's what he says.
Kenta has completely disappeared. What is wrong with him? I run after him. I follow his aura. It hangs in the air. Static that brings a shiver to your spine. That's how I'd describe it. Cold, but alive. I find him, hiding on the other side of a dumpster. Knowing that I'm coming, he hides his face from me.
"What's wrong?" I ask. Kenta's shoulders shake.
"Nothing." I pause for a second. He's lying. Everything in his aura tells me that.
"Kenta."
"Everything's all wrong." He shakes his head. He rips his mask off, panting. I spot the tears building up. "It's only getting worse." My hand moves towards him on instinct.
"Kenta, what's going on?" I lower my voice. He shakes his head violently, ripping himself away from me. He holds himself as his entire body shakes. I can't make out most of his whispers. Kenta starts sprinting. His mask drops. I pick it up. I don't follow him.
I spot blood on the inside of the mask. I stare after Kenta. I hear Takumi's laughter echoing through the alleyway, and Kaoru's nervous laughter following. A feeling of uncertainty washes over me. Takumi claims there's one only gang left, but somehow, I don't think that's the end of our problems.