Five months later
Admittedly, you get used to the stares. People already stared at me because of my mark, now it's just a different reason. Within the first few weeks of being proclaimed the saviour of the city, I had been in more interviews than I have fingers. Someone recognised Yusei, not as the winner of the WRGP or the Fortune Cup, but as my boyfriend. Something which filled him with both pride and relief. I think Kasumi told every single person she knows within six hours of the broadcast, that her daughter was the saviour of the city, along with her boyfriend. She made a point of saying that, as much as Yusei protests.
Kaoru didn't seem very surprised. Apparently, he heard some of my thoughts while I was in the Ark Cradle despite the fact that I thought that I had cut the connection. He asks me about the other Yuuka, late at night when neither of us can sleep. I think my nightmares keep him awake too, even though he never says anything. Admittedly, it calms my nerves when we talk. I don't know what I'd do if we still weren't talking. Takumi seems happy that I can at least tolerate him in the room now, even though I still gag whenever they kiss in front of me. However, the one thing that surprised both of them was the news that I was applying for the Neo Domino Police Force.
The City officials finally decided that the Public Security Maintenance Bureau was not a good idea, so they're scrapping that entirely and bringing in a mayor and a police force. The campaign for mayor is starting. Jaeger asked me to endorse him, I couldn't exactly say no. He wants to put a system in place so that Moment won't go out of control again. He told Yusei that if he's elected, he'll offer him the job in making sure that it doesn't happens. Yusei made a face, but seemed grateful. I found a letter from a European pro dueling league on his desk. He didn't tell me about it, but he hasn't opened it either. Then, Jaeger got elected. I gave another little speech. Then, I found a pile of letters in a drawer. Every single one was a invitation to some dueling league, and they were all overseas.
I can't remember the last time I saw Crow honestly. Ushio apparently promoted him to a supervisor within a matter of weeks of joining, so his hours are all over the place. Aki has consistently placed at the top of her class in everything, even English. So naturally, I haven't seen much of her either, or the twins for that matter. There's one thing that stays the same every time I see her, how neurotic she becomes whenever I ask her what's she gonna do after graduation. Crow keeps suggesting that she should go pro, which makes me think that he's gotten invitations too.
If Yusei, Aki, and Crow got invitations, then Jack definitely did too. Maybe that's why he set out just a few days after the Key to the City ceremony. I got a rather cryptic text from Kiryu, which coming from Kiryu is a normal text, placing Jack in Satisfaction Town within the last few weeks. I wish Jack would at least tell us where he was. I know he's always been distant and independent and I can't change that, but a text saying that he's still alive, or where he is, would be nice.
"Jaeger accepted my plans for the new Moment system." Yusei tells me as I accompany him on the tour of Neo Domino City University.
"Oh, I'm glad." I squeeze his hand as we're guided through the long halls of the Physics building. "You've spent- what, four months working on that? Have you decided what you're calling it?"
"Antinomy."
There's a lingering silence.
"I miss him."
"Me too."
"Here you'll find our state of the art laboratories." The tour guide stops in front of the doors. "Our Applied Physics students spend lots of time in these labs, so if you study with us, you'll get familiar with them very quickly." Surprisingly little attention is given to us despite the fact we're in the middle of the crowd being guided around the campus. The university is offering lots of tours before the applications for the academic year close. The assessment exam is in two weeks after the application deadline. Yusei is doing the trial of the new education system, as per my request. With all of his invitations from the pro leagues, I'm not entirely sure he's going to go through with it now. I think he feels a little obliged to go through with it on my part, and that's why he hasn't told me about the pro league invitations. I just want him to be happy, above all else. I don't care if he doesn't take that assessment exam or not. I just want him to love me, whether he's physically at my side or not.
Going pro means going long distance.
That's the thought lingering in my head. The best league that's offering him a place is in Europe. Italy, if I'm remembering right. That's a long way away. What is it? A eight hour time distance? That's too much.
"We have some demonstrations going on today for our open day, if you'd like to join me." The tour guide opens the door going into the labs.
"I need to go to the bathroom, text me if you leave the labs." I say, patting Yusei's arm.
"Okay babe."
I don't remember seeing a bathroom in the last few minutes so I continue down the corridor. Somehow, I manage to end up in a totally different end of the building, filled with computer labs. There seems to be talk ending in one of the labs, judging by the swarm of people coming out of one of them. I spot a familiar mop of bright red hair in the crowd. I move through the crowd in his direction.
"Miguel!" I call out. His head whips around towards me with a smile.
"Hey Yuuka." He waves as I reach him.
"Yuuka?" I hear Kenta ask.
"'Sup." I greet both of them.
"What are you doing here?" Miguel squints at me slightly. "Last I heard you were joining the Police Force."
"Yusei?" Kenta tilts his head.
"Yeah, he's looking at this school's Applied Physics programme."
"That sounds about right." Kenta nods. "I forgot to ask, how did your entrance exams for the Police go?"
"I think I did okay."
"With Kaoru helping you, I imagine so." He chuckles.
"We didn't cheat." I throw my hands up. "That was the deal we made with each other."
"Are you sure?" Miguel raises an eyebrow and laughs. "You would never have gotten caught."
"Yes, I'm sure." I look towards the labs. "Are you applying for the Computer Science course, Kenta?"
"Yeah," he scratches the back of his neck. "I've been meaning to for a while, to be quite honest. Now that the whole Team Liberation stuff is over, I thought I would just go for it."
"Wow, I'm proud of you." I punch his arm softly.
"You got any plans, Miguel?"
"Actually, yes." His eyes light up. "You know the way Reika and Shinji are opening up their own garage?" I nod in response. "Well, Reika asked me to be one of the mechanics."
"Oh shit, that's so cool." I feel my phone buzz in my pocket. "I should probably get back to Yusei. So, I'm gonna leave you two to your own devices. Good luck guys!" I wave to them as I go back the way I came. They start to wave back, then I realise. "Wait a minute, I came this way to go to the bathroom."
"Yuuka, the girls' bathroom is right behind you." I look back down the now-empty corridor sheepishly, following where their fingers are pointing.
"Shut up, Kenta."
"Shinji, why are you dragging me into the jewellers?"
"You'll see." He answers, literally dragging me into the shop. He stops in front of the counter full of engagement rings. I bite my lip as I look at the nice rings, then at their price tag. If only I had money.
"Wait, engagement rings? You're not- No way!" I punch his arm.
"Shh, yes. This is happening."
"Does Reika know you're gonna do it?" I hold my hands over my mouth in excitement.
"I haven't told her yet." Shinji has such a big smile on his face, and his royal purple eyes are glowing with excitement. It's times like this where the differences between Shinji and Raiden are like night and day, despite them being cousins. "I want you to help me pick out a ring, cause I also wanna ask you something."
"Sure, go ahead." I answer, very confused. "As long as you're not asking me to marry you." Shinji just makes a face and doesn't respond to my comment.
"If she says yes, I know it's a bit weird, but I want you to be my best man. I know you're not a guy, but you could rock the tux."
"Oh my gods." I gasp. "I would be honoured to be your best man. I will gladly rock that tux and high, tight ponytail look."
"Don't forget bright red lipstick."
"Damn, you're right."
"Okay, before all that, I have to pick out a ring-"
"Lemme guess, you asked the best person to find you a bitching ring on a budget."
"Exactly."
"That being me."
"Yes," he chuckles. "You, probably, know what feminine-ish people like, so I need your help."
"Reika is more about the simpler, plain things, so pick a ring that goes with that. Maybe like one stone, preferably diamond, in like silver or white gold. I mean, if you wanna go for something with a bit more wow-factor, you could go for like a twist or maybe like a-"
"In a language I can speak please." Shinji rolls his eyes.
"There's a double twist, and there's a triple mounted." I point at various rings in the display, probably out of his budget, judging by his face.
"Maybe something in that end of the display." Shinji moves my finger so it points to the cheaper end of the display. In fairness, the rings I was pointing to would make a dent even in the wad of money left to me by Raiden.
"What about that one?" I point to what looks like a single diamond in a white gold ring twist. It's price is pretty reasonable, especially compared to the other rings.
Shinji's face softens just a little bit. There's a smile on his face. I feel like I'm watching something entirely too intimate and I have to draw my eyes away from it. I glance out the window, only to meet Crow's eyes as he walks past the shop. In that brief second, I could see the confusion in his eyes as he saw me standing in front of engagement rings. That'll be fun to explain later. He won't listen to me, and there'll be a barrage of jokes. I can almost hear them now.
"That's the one." Shinji says, barely above a whisper.
"I can tell." I answer. He looks at me, confused. "I could see it in your eyes." Shinji calls the attention of the man behind the counter. I stare at the other engagement rings as they talk and work through the payment of it. As much as I would want Yusei to be the one to propose to me, I feel like it would be the other way around. But still, the romantic in me can't help but dream.
"So, how are the plans for the garage coming along?" I ask as we leave the jewellers.
"Great. We found a nice place, not too far from her mom's house. We've already signed the lease. We asked Miguel, you know Miguel from the Phantom Riders-"
"Kenta's Miguel?" I smirk. "Oh I know him well."
"But yeah, he's gonna be one of the mechanics. You were there when Reika asked Yusei to be one as well, right?"
"Yep, he's still flattered but the answer is still no." Yusei told me to say if this exact topic came up.
"Reika said it's a shame. She said he's too talented to not become a full time mechanic."
"He already has enough on his plate. He's got some invitations from some big name dueling leagues."
"I can imagine." Shinji chuckles. "You know I actually got one?"
"No way." I squint my eyes a little. I know his team got to the semifinals, but Shinji actually ended up getting the least amount of airtime out of the four person team.
"Yeah, I was shocked too. Turned it down. I've wanted to set this garage up with Reika for years, I wasn't letting that get away from me."
"I can imagine." I nod my head. "I remember when Kaoru got some invites. You should have seen the look on his face. He still thinks your loss against Team New World was his fault."
"I know." He sighs. "But that's Kaoru for you. He turned that down for the Police. You two don't even know if you got in yet, right?"
"Yep, we should be told in the next few days if we've been accepted or not. Then, we gotta go to bootcamp for a while, then we're officially police officers."
"Still can't believe. Yuuka Sasaki, a police officer." Shinji laughs a little while shaking his head.
"Literally everyone has the same reaction." Honestly, I'm getting a little tired of it.
"I can imagine." He shakes his head. "Emiko accepted her offer, so she's heading to England after she graduates."
"As she was telling me." I nod along. "Then, Anako's training to become a dueling teacher now. She's off somewhere too probably. She told me that she realised that's what she needed to do when she helped Kaoru to control his powers, you know that?"
"Yep," he nods his head. "It's crazy how stuff plays out like that."
"I feel like everything's changing." I say suddenly, stopping dead in the middle of the street. "Everyone's just suddenly getting on with their lives."
"Yeah," there's a sad smile on Shinji's face. "At least you're stuck with Kaoru."
"Yeah, but that means Takumi's never too far away."
"You really need to stop with that." Shinji laughs. "You're too salty, you know that?"
"I am made with pure salt, what are you talking about?"
"Shit, you're right." Shinji keeps laughing, and starts walking again so I follow him.
I hear the door open and close in the garage, as Yusei returns with the groceries. I stay where I am on the loveseat in the kitchen, with my book. He comes up into the kitchen, and places the grocery bag on the counter. I ask him about his trip, he doesn't go into much detail.
"Another invitation?" He placed the letter onto the counter as he set the bag down. "What are you doing to do about them? You can't just let them sit and hope they go away."
"I don't know." Yusei sighs. "I have a lot of options in front of me."
"Yusei, I told you if you don't wanna to go to univers-"
"Yuuka, please." There's a sternness to his words that makes me stop. "This decision is already hard enough, and I know you don't want to sway my decision."
"Okay," I answer. He's right, but I've told him that. Just because I'm staying doesn't mean that he has to. "I'll respect any decision you make."
"Thank you." He nods, and packs the groceries away.
"Where's the league?"
"What?"
"The dueling league, where is it?"
"China."
"That's not too far."
"Yuuka."
"Fine."
Zora drops in the table we used at Christmas, and the old barbeque that hadn't been used since her husband died. She told Yusei about it the other day, she thought it was a shame that no one was using it. So naturally, in true Yusei fashion, he comes up with an idea. I cook food on the barbeque for our friends. We haven't seen them in a while, he said. It will be fun, he said. He's not the one having to cook, because that job naturally fell to me, again. Yusei stands at the top of the stairs and looks over the empty garage. His D-Wheel over against the wall, under a sheet, and mine beside it. He looks sad.
"You miss them, don't you?" I ask, my voice barely loud enough for him to hear it. Yusei's feeling it too. The feeling that everyone else seems to have their lives in check, except for you.
People seem confused whenever I bring this up. But Yuuka, they say, are you applying for the Police? Aren't you Neo Domino's saviour? Isn't Yusei going to university, or going pro, or doing whatever he wants? That might be true. But we're struggling. I still wake up screaming most nights. I see death whenever my eyes close. Be it my own, my mother's, Yusei's, or lives lost to the Machine Emperors. It follows me wherever I go. I have no clue on how to save the future. I don't know if I'll ever fully trust Yusei again. Of course I trust him, but there's always a smidge of doubt. Yusei's just as lost as me. He doesn't know how to stop that bad future, or stop himself from becoming Z-One, or how to not lose me again. We don't know anything, really.
"Yusei!" The twins shout in unison as they practically burst through the door.
"Sorry we're late." Aki says, holding up more grocery bags. Since I'm cooking, Aki volunteered to bring the food. Since it's a barbeque, we all decided on shish kebabs. Aki's wearing her hair down. It's just past her shoulders now, where mine used to be. She's decided to stop wearing her power limiter. She said that she doesn't need it anymore. I'm proud of her. She's letting her bangs out again. They look like her old bangs, just like the ones she had back in Duel Academy.
"Hey," Yusei responds. "It's been a while."
"Ready for some shish kebabs?" I ask with a smile. "Zora's already dropped in the barbeque."
Before they can answer, the garage door gets pulled open, revealing a rather tired looking Crow.
"Starting without me?" He waves rather non-chalentantly at everyone in the room. I wave back, not entirely sure if he was looking for that or not.
"Crow, you're late!" Rua marches over to Crow, wagging a finger in his face. "Everyone was waiting for you!"
"Sorry!" Crow laughs a little, and relaxes a little when he sees the barbeque still unused in the corner.
"He's only joking." Aki giggles along with him.
"Right, let's get this barbeque outside so we can start cooking!"
Crow and Yusei, working together, get the barbeque outside. I get the barbeque lighting as Aki and the twins start preparing the shish kebabs. I've banned Yusei from touching the food, while Crow gets himself a drink in true Crow fashion.
We told Jack that we were having a get-together tonight. Whether he shows up or not is a different story. Jack is known just to do his own thing entirely. He could at least make an effort.
The heat of the barbeque is starting to get overwhelming, so I tie my hair up. Yusei starts smiling, more than he was before. Yusei liked my hair in a ponytail before, back when my hair was down to my collarbone. Now, since he loves my now-much-longer hair, he loves it even more in a ponytail.
"Yuuka, is that a tattoo?" I hear Aki ask, as she brings over some shish kebabs for me to grill.
"Yep," I answer. Since I now permanently have a scar in the shape of the Crimson Dragon's brand on my back, I decided to get it tattooed so it doesn't look as ugly. I have the shape of it blocked in black on my back forever. It's a reminder to myself of what Z-One and the other Yuuka wanted to do, make a better future. I also have a clutter of stars on my ribcage, just where the other Yuuka left a scar before it vanished. Since my pink halter top has an open back, Aki is able to see my new tattoo clearly.
"Interesting." She mutters, as I put the kebabs on the grill.
"Man, I'm really hungry." I say, changing the topic of the conversation.
"How's the Police job going?" Yusei turns and asks Crow, who takes a kebab as soon as the first one comes off the grill.
"I mean, I enjoy it but it's tiring." That was obvious. I could tell that by looking at the bags under his eyes. "The shift work's rough. But, I think it's worth it. Our work is needed for the people of Neo Domino City and for duelists. The job is worth doing." Crow takes a bite of the kebab. "However…"
"However what?"
"Well…" Crow trails off.
"Yes?" Aki urges him to continue.
"So Aki, have you made up your mind on what you're gonna do when you graduate?" Crow changes the topic completely. "Since you're top of the class, I imagine that you'll be in high demand from all the leagues."
"Stop trying to decide my future for me." Her tone is deadly serious, urging Crow not to continue. "Everyone else is already trying to do that."
"I didn't know you were so touchy about it."
"I'm not." Aki scowls back at Crow. I'm not watching the kebabs, but instead the drama folding out in front of me. "For once in my life, I get to choose my own future. I'm not letting other people take that away from me."
"I'm sorry Aki, it's just that I-"
"If anything, Crow, you're the one acting weird." Aki cuts over Crow. "You talk about what's worth doing, but you're just complaining!"
Everyone's starting to turn on each other. I sigh and start turning over the kebabs.
"We received an email today." Rua blurts out. "From our parents, saying that we should live together."
"Well, that's good." Crow nods. "A family should be together." He says this, but I don't entirely agree. For years, I couldn't bear to be around my biological family. The twins' parents aren't exactly the greatest, so it mightn't be the best thing for them.
"If we go, we have to leave Neo Domino City." Ruka adds, and Crow's face falls.
"We haven't decided yet, but we're wondering what we should do."
"Because we want to stay together with everyone." Ruka adds. "We don't want to leave Neo Domino City. But we don't know…"
Everyone falls into silence. I take the first batch of kebabs off the grill, putting them on a plate. Everyone's unhappy, and unsure of where to go. I can't stand this.
"You're all just confused." I sigh, turning over kebabs. "Crow, you got an invitation from a pro league, didn't you? Aki, you're thinking about studying medicine abroad."
"How did you know?" Aki gasps.
"I ran into your mom." I shrug my shoulders. "She asked me to talk to you about it. Also, you left a pamphlet in my house. I don't remember much English from school, but the translation app filled in the gaps. It told me that it said something about a medicine program at a university in England. Didn't surprise me honestly. You told me that you wanted to do it the first time we hung out."
"Aki, you're going to become a doctor?" Crow asks. There's a tone of sadness in his voice. I don't know whether it's because Aki didn't tell him, or the fact that Aki may not join him in the pro leagues.
"I don't know…"
I feel my body perk up just before the door opens. Everyone turns around and gasps once the door slams shut.
"Jack?" The man himself walks down the ramp, hopping off just before the end like the drama queen that he is.
"Where have you been?" Crow asks, scowling.
"Traveling and training."
"Traveling and training?" Crow repeats back to him, looking rather unimpressed.
"I've decided to leave Neo Domino City." Jack says, without a hint of hesitation, which gets a gasp. "I've received an invitation from Ride Ace, the world's greatest duel league. I will become King of the World!" He slightly raises a clenched fist.
"King?" Crow walks forward and grabs the front of Jack's jacket. "You're still talking about that? What about our bond?"
"You're relying on our bond?" Jack pushes Crow away. "Don't you want to test your skills against the world?" Radio silence. It's obvious that Crow would rather go pro than be stuck in the Police for the rest of his life. I may sound hypocritical, but I knew Crow wouldn't last long from the start. It's just not who he is. "Yusei, you must also have received an invitation."
"Yeah," Yusei answers.
"Of course you did." Crow interjects. "Since even I got some invitations, Yusei would be invited by every league."
"What are you going to do, Yusei?" Aki asks.
"I don't know." Yusei sighs, looking everywhere but me. "Jaeger accepted my plans for the new Moment framework, and I have my university assessment test soon."
"I-We have accomplished everything we could do as a team." Jack continues. "So what I should do next is create my own future by myself! I want to test my power against the world! I will eliminate anything that stands in my way, even if it's Team 5D's bond!"
The room falls into silence again. As much as we like to preach that friendship is great and super important, Jack does have a point. If anything, I think our idea of togetherness is holding us back.
"Jack, we're confused because we can't do that." There's a sense of pleading in Crow's words, like he can't bear to move on, even though he wants to.
"Duel me, Jack." Yusei bursts out.
"Oh, you want to duel me?" Jack raises an eyebrow. There's a glint of fire in his eyes.
"Dueling has always guided us." Yusei explains. "Since we're confused, we should find the answer by dueling."
"I look forward to it, because I must defeat you before taking on the world!" Jack points towards Yusei as he declares his stupid drama queen dreams.
"Okay, before you do that, I want to eat these shish kebabs cause I'm hungry." I interject.
"Sounds like a plan." Crow nods along with me.
"Now Yuuka," Crow asks as he helps me clean up, "why were you seen in a jewelers looking at rings? Is there something you're not telling us?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about." I know what that little shit is implying.
"Yusei, did you know that Yuuka went to look at rings?" Crow turns around to look at Yusei with raised eyebrows.
"Actually, yeah."
"Wait what?" Crow's head turns rapidly as he looks at us.
"Idiot, they're not engaged." Jack tuts. "...yet."
"What was that?" I blink rapidly at Jack, who's sitting on the loveseat in the kitchen drinking a cup of coffee while the rest of us clean up.
"You heard me."
"If you must know, Shinji's planning on proposing to Reika so he asked me to look at rings with him." I sigh. "I wasn't looking for myself."
"Oh, I forgot to tell you earlier." Yusei interjects. "I was talking to Reika. She begged me not to tell anyone, but you'd complain if I didn't tell you-"
"First of all, rude."
"Second of all, I'm right." Yusei chuckles. "She's actually planning on proposing to Shinji. I didn't tell her that Shinji is too, but I thought you might like to know that."
"Oh my gods." I put my hand to my chest. "That is just too cute. Just imagine if they tried to do it at the same time."
"You girls are all the same." Jack sighs.
"Just because I have something in common with the only other girl you properly talk to doesn't mean you can say that kinda shit, Jack."
"Yeah Jack, geez." Yusei tries to hide a chuckle. Jack stays quiet and sips his coffee.
"I missed you guys." I say, going back to scrubbing the dirty dishes. "I missed this."
"Yeah, me too." Crow says, looking rather sombre. Nobody says anything after that. We go back to our cleaning in silence. Jack's leaving. Crow might be too. We missed this, but I don't think we'll ever really get it back.