Yusei goes to get groceries since it's his turn again. I don't go with him, instead opting to take a nap on the couch. I hear the garage door opening and closing.
"Hey Yuuka, look at this." I hear Crow's voice so I sit up cautiously, not knowing what he's planning. I honestly don't know what to think, or say, or react honestly. "What do you think?"
Crow shows off the Security uniform that he's wearing. I pout a little, trying to come up with something to say.
"Just why are you wearing that exactly?"
"I'm Neo Domino City's newest highway patroller. Do you like the uniform?"
"No."
"What? Why? Ladies love a man in uniform. Speaking of which, where is Aki?"
"You're a member of the Security team that made our lives hell in the Satellite." I stand up, looking him in the eyes. "Crow, these are the same people that oppressed us and gave us markers. Did you forget the pain those markers gave us? Crow, we spent our entire childhood running from them. How did you even join them anyway? Don't you have to go through like a bootcamp or something?"
"Calm down, Yuuka. I ran into Ushio a few days ago and I don't know, he just offered me the job because I needed money for the kids. I'll be making more money than I ever did with Blackbird Delivery."
"Even if you wanted something different than the delivery, Crow, you could have chosen any other job in this City! What was so hard about working at a till, really?"
"I think you're forgetting something, Yuuka." Crow points to the markers on his face before pointing at my own. "I can't get a better job, and neither can you. You've been unemployed since you got fired from the little boutique around the corner, and you haven't been able to get a job since. I need to make sure my kids are fed. I really need that money, and I want my kids to be provided for. It's bad enough I can't keep them under my own roof."
"But it's Security, Crow." I feel my face warming up from the anger. "They oppressed us for entire lives and now you're joining them? You're ignoring everything we've been through, like it's in the past and it doesn't matter. Don't forget you were thrown out of a shop not even a year ago because of a mark they put on your face for trying to keep yourself alive."
"If I'm remembering right, your brother is trying to sign up for Security. They're recruiting a new wave of officers, if you must know."
"Kaoru is?" I ask.
"Yeah, he wants to make sure gangs won't be a problem anymore. That's more than you're doing. You're always like this. You have these great ideas, but do you ever actually try to do anything with them? All you do is talk about how everything is unfair, well maybe you should do something to change it. You're wondering what to do with your future, well there you go, there's an idea for you." Crow sneers at me.
I don't respond to him at all. I admit, he's got me there. I've been busy, trying not to let my boyfriend die. Now, I'm dealing with the consequences of that. I've got a lot of things to deal with right now. I don't exactly have the time right at this instant.
"What's all the yelling about?" Jack starts walking down the stairs into the garage. "Why are you wearing that godsforesaken uniform?"
"Excuse you." Crow starts. "She's yelling at me because I'm betraying our people or some shit like that. I joined Security because it's the only job I can get, cause this City is fucked up."
Jack looks between the both of us, as the room is deathly silent. I know why he's not answering. He used to be Godwin's lapdog, the director of the Public Security Maintenance Bureau. He knows he has no right to say that Crow is betraying us, because that's what he did. He glances at me, and I can't read him at all. The door opens revealing Yusei with bags of groceries. I go to speak before Crow does, but Yusei beats me to the punch.
"I don't know what you're arguing about, but please leave me out of it."
There's a pause as we all just stare at each other. Yusei closes the door, coming into the garage. Is no one else seeing what I'm seeing? Am I just preaching ideals with no hope of achieving them? There's a bang, and a slow beep sounds upstairs.
"The power's out again? That's it, I'm calling our provider."
"Crow, they can't fix it." Yusei's eyes settle on me. Hold on, is he saying that I'm the reason for the power going out?
"You know what? I'll make it easier on all of you." I sigh, walking up the ramp to the door. I look back at Crow for a split second, before going out the door.
"I've never heard of someone's hair growing that fast from their powers." Anako says, making a lot of noise as she searches through her makeup bag. "Then again, if your powers are stronger now like you said, I suppose it's not off the table." She starts applying powder to my face.
"I'm just worried that I'm not able to control my powers now."
"You've always been good at controlling your powers, so I don't see why not now?" Emiko hums, doing her own makeup.
"Yuuka's an anomaly. I don't think normal rules apply to her." Anako chuckles. Oh just wait til they see my Crimson Dragon brand, that one's gonna be fun to explain. "Hey babe, pass me the brush beside you, will you?" Emiko passes the brush to Anako, only to get rewarded with a kiss.
"Wait, hold on." I put my hand up. Anako and Emiko both grin at me.
"Surprise!" Emiko's face practically glows.
"I'm sorry, when?" My eyes move between them.
"During the WRGP." Anako answers, while using the makeup brush. "Not that you would have ever noticed. It took you five minutes to realise that I chopped all of my hair off."
"That's true." Anako's hair has been reduced to a nice little bob, instead of her old hair which went down past her chest. "But-"
"Yuuka, it took you years to learn Kaoru was gay." Anako gives me this look, and she knows that she's got me. "Like, honestly… You're the only person who ever believed him when he said he was straight."
"Speaking of Kaoru-" I start.
"No." Emiko interrupts me.
"Please." I put my hand up. "I just want to know how you went from liking Kaoru to Anako."
"Oh I love that story." Anako chuckles.
"Fine." Emiko rolls her eyes. "You know I liked Kaoru for years, like bam there's puberty and romantic feelings. He kind of liked me back. We skirted around the idea for years. We technically went on like a few dates, the Fortune Cup, skating, y'know. Nothing ever actually happened. One day, Anako appears saying that she's helping him control his powers." Anako grins. "I thought she was after Kaoru herself, and I was really jealous. Honestly, I hated her."
"Me? After Kaoru?" Anako bursts out laughing. "More unlikely than you think."
"Then, one day, out of nowhere, Kaoru wants to tell me something, really serious. He likes this guy, Takumi, and he's really confused. He never even considered dating guys until then. I knew my chance with him was completely gone. I thought I could give Anako a chance, since y'know, neither of us were getting him. Then, surprise, Anako's a lesbian."
"Lesbian?" I turn to look at Anako who's rooting in Emiko's drawers for more makeup. "I thought you were bi."
"Raiden Kimura made me a lesbian."
"That's fair." I respond.
"I'm convinced you'd be a lesbian if it weren't for Yusei."
"You come into Emiko's house and drag me like that." My eyes widen a little, knowing she's probably not far off the truth. "How dare you."
"Anyway," Emiko continues, "on with the story. I was like, okay, we're gonna be on a WRGP team together, so I might as well clear the air. So, I did. Now, we're dating." She lifts her arms up in praise.
"I want details, woman."
"She kissed me after we lost that match against Team New World without thinking." Anako chuckles, going back to applying even more makeup to my face. Anako has this soft look on her face that I've never seen before. "Most adorable thing I ever saw. We start talking. I mean I had liked her from pretty much the beginning, but she fell big time and then that happened. We made it official when we were running from the Ark Cradle. Nothing like the threat of death to spark a romance."
"It's so cute and gay, I love it." I blurt out.
"Yep, it's gay alright." Emiko chuckles to herself.
"What do you think about all of this?" Anako asks. "I'm curious. Like Yusei being given the key to the City, I know you'd definitely have an opinion about that. You'll take any opportunity to complain about the higher ups."
"I don't know what to think, but you are right there." I sigh. "I actually think it's coming from the right place, but still, it's not good enough. It doesn't change anything for the Satellites in this City."
"You're right there." Anako hums as she starts blending.
"Now, my question is why are you two going to the ceremony?"
"To support you, obviously." Emiko slaps my shoulder with the handle of her makeup brush from the other end of her desk. "It was my dad's suggestion, actually. Y'know, since he's a politician, he told me about it before they even told Yusei." I try to count back the days to figure out how that makes sense. I suppose it's been like three weeks now since the Ark Cradle fell. That's enough time to organise something like this, right?
"Thank you for doing this." I say.
"We're your friends." Anako raises her eyebrows. "As much as you neglect hanging out with us to cuddle your boyfriend."
"I'm feeling personally attacked right now."
"You should." Anako goes digging in the makeup bag again. "Okay, it's eyeliner time, shut your trap."
I stay silent as Anako applies eyeliner, doing as she says. She uses some mascara. Then, she steps back. She puts some lipstick on me, then nods. She grabs the mirror in front of Emiko, which scoffs putting her eyeliner down. Anako puts the mirror in front of me. I actually to conceal the gasp. I'm not terrible at makeup so to say, but I'm definitely not a makeup artist. Having your makeup done by somebody who actually knows what they're doing is a completely different thing altogether. I feel beautiful. Most of my hair is pulled back into a high bun, courtesy of Emiko, while my bangs are left out. I look soft and elegant somehow.
"Oh I look gorgeous, thank you so much." I mutter.
"We can't have you going to a party in your honour not looking your best, can we now?" Emiko laughs, turning to look at me. I notice that her makeup is finished now.
"I guess so." I chuckle, feeling oddly embarrassed. The party is hardly in my honour, but I am his plus one. "But really guys, thank you for doing this."
"Don't worry about it." Anako puts her hand on my shoulder. "You need it after everything that happened." She meets my eyes. There's an understanding there. I never went into detail about what happened, nor did I mention Raiden. I think she's been there herself, no supernatural bullshit, but she's felt it alright.
"Nothing makes me feel better like putting on some makeup so I look pretty. Putting makeup on for boys, who?" Emiko chuckles. "I put makeup on for myself, maybe a pretty girl but that's it."
"That's me, I'm the pretty girl." Anako says, starting to finish her makeup. She only has to add the last finishing touches.
"Such an ego." I comment, which gets a laugh.
"Yuuka, you can go put on your dress in my bathroom if you want." Emiko tilts her head in the direction of her ensuite bathroom.
"That would be an idea." I say, retrieving my dress from where it's hanging in Emiko's wardrobe, covered by a bin bag so I could transport with no issues. I close the bathroom behind me. I struggle getting the bag off the hanger, but eventually I do, folding it and putting it on the counter. I sigh, taking off my t-shirt and jeans, putting them in a pile on the floor.
I take my time putting on the dress. A floor-length red chiffon dress with a high neckline. I saw Yusei's eyes go straight to the material when we were in the fabric store, so I, obviously, bought a lot of it. It felt weird making clothes after so long. I made the pit crew jackets for the twins, but aside from that, it's been a while. Sometimes, I swear I forget that I used to be a seamstress. It feels like a lifetime ago, not literally. The other Yuuka didn't have my flair for sewing. She didn't have Martha teaching her how to sew. That's one thing that separates me from her. I like to list everything like that. For example, scramble eggs aren't my favourite kind of eggs, and I don't think dark chocolate is as bad as everyone says it is.
I fiddle with the zip for a while, trying to pull it up myself. This doesn't work, I put the zipper too low for the length of my arms. You think I would have thought of this when making it, but no, life can't be easy for once. I sigh, pinching the dress over so it doesn't fall down. I open the door again. Anako and Emiko, who are already in their dresses, look at me with raised eyebrows. Emiko, realising my problem, helps me with the zip.
"Here, you're allowed to kiss in front of me." I roll my eyes as Emiko finishes zipping up my dress. I look over my shoulder and don't see my Crimson Dragon brand scar in the mirror, which makes me feel relieved. "You don't have to wait for me to go to the bathroom, y'know."
"She's still shy, leave her alone." Anako chuckles. Emiko, meanwhile, looks flustered. I take a good look. Emiko went for her usual silky straight hair with a deep purple, off-the-shoulder dress. While Anako curled her now-short hair, paired with a tight trumpet-style black dress with an open back. Surprisingly, I don't feel over or underdressed.
"Should we go over now?" Emiko looks over to the alarm clock on her nightstand. I slip on my silver kitten heels. "I don't want to be late."
"I'll text Yusei and see what he's doing." I go over to the desk and pick up my phone. "Oh." He's already texted me, saying that him and Crow are heading there. Jack was taking too long getting ready so they left him. That sounds about right. Aki should be leaving soon, she's helping the twins get ready. "Yeah, they're on their way there."
"Alright." Emiko starts shoving lots of things into her clutch bag. Just in case, she says. I'm pretty sure she won't need half of that, but I don't say anything. Neither does Anako actually. I pull on my white evening gloves, that rise up above my elbow. "My dad ordered a limo for us. He gave me the number, he just said that we have to call them when we're ready."
"Limo?" I whisper to Anako as Emiko tells the driver that we're ready.
"Apparently, he only got it once he heard that you were getting ready with us." Anako raises her eyebrows. "Don't know what that's about."
"I'm an old friend of hers, I suppose." I'm not wrong, but I know there's more something more than that.
"Okay, he'll be at the door in a few minutes." Emiko leads us out of her room, down the long corridors of her house. It's deathly silent, I realise. It reminds me of Aki's house that way. Horribly lonely.
By the time we get to the door, the limo is already there. We slip into the limo. I spend most of my time looking around the limo, ignoring the conversation. The drive is relatively quick, I imagine there's not much traffic. Then again, I'm nearly certain there's not much distance between Emiko's house and the venue, the City Hall, to which I've never been. The limo pulls to a stop, there's a pause and the driver opens the door for us. Emiko and Anako get out first, then I follow. I look up at the City Hall, towering up over me, casting its shadow. I follow behind Emiko and Anako, who are linking arms and chatting away. We walk up the stairs to the entrance. I look around for anyone that I know. I feel relieved when I spot Yusei's hair in the crowd, just outside the door, not that it would be hard to miss. I catch his eye and he smiles. I pick up my pace a little so I reach him quicker.
"Hello, are we waiting for the others?" I greet Yusei and Crow.
"Yep, Jack is supposed to be on the way now too." Yusei says. "Finally." He mutters under his breath.
"You're looking well, Yuuka." Crow gestures at all of me. There's a slight hint of awkwardness between us since we haven't patched things up after I told Crow that he's betraying us. I'm not wrong, so I'm not apologising.
"Thanks." I chuckle. "It's weird seeing you guys in formal wear." I made them rent suits for the occasion, with Yusei getting a nice tux. Crow left his hair, unsurprisingly, alone, but he just left his usual headband off.
"Hey, I think I see Aki over there." Crow darts off, without even looking back at us.
"Will they ever get their act together?" I sigh. "Were we ever that tedious to watch?"
"Probably," Yusei answers. "You look beautiful tonight." I swear I see the faintest hint of rouge on Yusei's face.
"I think you're pretty handsome yourself." I flash him a grin, and he gets a little more embarrassed. Though, I am seriously enjoying him in the black three-piece tuxedo. I get to say that one's mine, a beautiful thought.
Crow and Aki are so busy talking that they walk right past us without even noticing. The twins, who were behind them, walk up to us.
"Yusei! Yuuka!" Rua calls out to us. "Are you excited?" I smile and nod at his enthusiasm. "Cause I know I am. People are gonna recognise Yusei as the hero we know he is."
"There's so many people here." Ruka moves her head so she looks into the main reception area. I look too, and I'm practically shaking in my kitten heels just looking at the crowd.
"Let's go in." Yusei says, putting his arm out for me. I put my hand on his arm, and hold the end of my dress with the other. I feel giddy and pretty, almost like a princess being escorted to the ball. "I really like you in that colour." He whispers.
"That's why I picked it." My dress is a similar colour to the dress I wore for the WRGP Premiere Party, which Yusei is also liked. I'm noticing a trend here. "Oh dear gods." I mutter as I spot Jack next to Crow, donned in a white tuxedo.
"Here we go." Yusei whispers to me. "How soon are we allowed to leave? Cause I want to take a nap, away from them arguing."
"What do you mean you bought it?" Crow asks, eyebrows furrowed.
"Excuse you, do you expect me, Jack Atlas, to show up to a party in a rented tux? I think not." I look to Yusei, who's already looking at me.
"End my suffering." He mouths to me.
"You know what, if you want to waste your portion of our winnings, sure, go ahead. Not my problem." Crow puts his hands up and turns around back to Aki, ignoring Jack.
"How's it going?" I ask Jack, to change the subject. "Is Carly here as part of the press?"
"Actually, yes." Jack crosses his arms. "Haven't seen her yet."
"She'll probably show up soon, knowing her." Especially since Yusei is here, but I didn't want to say that in front of Jack of all people.
"I suppose you're right." I spot Emiko talking with her dad not too far away. I catch Emiko's eye and she waves. Mr. Higashiyama looks over, nodding with a small smile. He starts to make his way over to us, leaving Emiko.
"Ah welcome Yuuka, Mr. Fudo." He bows slightly as he greets us. "Wonderful to see that you've arrived. The ceremony should be starting shortly. We've reserved seats for you in the front row of the main hall for you and your friends, if you'd follow me." Mr. Higashiyama leads us through the crowd, which almost seems to part for him.
"This is Emiko's dad, right?" Yusei whispers to me as we walk.
"Yup." Yusei makes a face but says nothing. Probably since he looks nothing like Emiko despite being her father. He's a touch on the tall side, despite being shorter than me, and pale, the exact opposite of Emiko. Mr. Higashiyama escorts us into a large rectangular room, filled almost completely with chairs. He leads us up the centre row towards the front, just in front of the stage. I notice the reserved signs on the first three rows. I imagine those are for the rest of the politicians who will, no doubt, show up. Yusei takes the first seat in the row, and I immediately sit down next to me, with Aki on the other side of me.
"My parents are here tonight." I hear Aki still talking to Crow. "They'll probably come over to us at some point to say hello."
"When is it socially acceptable for us to leave?" Yusei leans over and mutters. More people start coming into the room, filling up the seats. Technicians are running backwards and forwards on the stage, making sure everything is working. "Cause I honestly just wanna go home and cuddle."
"At least stay till the end of the ceremony and we'll go from there, cause I want cuddles too, holy shit." Yusei's looking at me while smiling, I don't think he's even listening to what I'm saying.
"You're beautiful." Yep, there we go, I was right.
"I think someone's in love."
"Surprise, it's me."
One of the Neo Domino City Senators walks onto the stage and all of the noise in the room gives way to silence. I put my hand over Yusei's and give it a squeeze. I'm not sure what he's actually done in his career, but surprisingly, he actually seems to be an okay guy. I remember before the unification, he got a lot of flack for claiming that Satellites are people too. Widely controversial, I know. But this guy being the one to give it to Yusei makes a bit more sense.
Yusei's gaze is fixed on the stage, but I just look at him. He may not think of himself as much of a saviour. He's caused a lot of good but that will never outweigh the bad, he says. Bruno, that's what he means. The Zero Reverse, too. Z-One. He blames himself for all that. I think he's wrong. He saved me after all.