"We're late, we're late, we're late!" Yuuma shouted hastily as he quickly got into his uniform while tossing one of his spare uniforms towards Vector.

The ginger boy caught it with ease and quickly changed clothes as well. Yuuma and Vector had almost the same size to the point where they could exchange their clothes freely, which was kind of convenient for the latter: He didn't need to go get his clothes from the house where the other former Barian Emperors were residing.

"We're going now, Akari-nee-chan!" Yuuma shouted as he ran down the stairs.

"We?" Akari asked while tossing some duel rice balls over to Yuuma. The boy's eyes lightened up when he saw the food.

"Uhm..." Yuuma realized he'd forgotten something very important: explaining as to how and why Vector was at his place right now.

At that moment, Vector lazily walked down the stairs, quickly changing his attitude when he saw Akari. "I don't know if you remember, but I'm Shingetsu. Shingetsu Rei, Yuuma's classmate!" He put on his best Shingetsu smile, not wanting Akari to get behind the whole matter of his involvement in Yuuma's travels to other dimensions. It'd only make it harder for him to achieve his goal if Yuuma's family knew the truth about him.

Akari indeed recognized the boy. "Oh, you're the one I sometimes see waiting for Yuuma, aren't you?"

Sometimes, when Akari had headed out at the same time as Yuuma, she'd seen Vector. Of course she didn't know that he was waiting for Yuuma so they could take shortcuts together, but it was nothing that she was supposed to know anyway.

"Yes, I am. I have a bit of trouble at home currently..." Vector averted his gaze, feigning sadness. "...and that's why I stayed here tonight."

From the kitchen, Tsukumo Haru walked over and looked at the ginger-haired boy. "You can stay as long as you want, I'm sure that makes Yuuma happy as well." As always, she was well-aware of Yuuma's feelings.

Vector gave them a smile again. "Thank you very much."

"Vec- Shingetsu! We have to hurry!" Yuuma reminded Vector while they both put on their shoes.

"We're heading out!"

"What shortcut is it this time, Vector? Please tell me it's not as dangerous as last time!" Yuuma hurried after Vector, exhausted from the speed at which the ginger-haired boy was running.

If Yuuma had to name one thing that Vector had never lied about, then he was sure it would be Vector's love for dangerous shortcuts.

Ever since he'd been reborn, Vector had taken the whole matter with the shortcuts to a new level. By now, they were all life-threatening at some point. Apparently, they managed to take away some of Vector's boredom.

Not that Yuuma minded, anyway: it distracted him from thinking about Astral. Distraction equaled happiness to him at this point.

And Vector seemed to take great pleasure in watching Yuuma struggle with the dangers of his shortcuts, anyway.

"This time, we're taking a fast route," Vector announced as he and Yuuma took a jump from one rooftop to another. "I have something to do at school, so we should get there in time."

"That's a first," Yuuma commented as he got up again after accidentally falling over. "Usually, you don't care if we're two hours late." He had to chuckle a bit about that.

That had been one of Vector's lies from the time before the Barian and Astral Worlds were merged back together. He used to say that he was taking shortcuts to get to school faster, but in fact he was doing it for fun and he was fully aware that the "shortcuts" would take longer than just taking the normal way.

Yuuma was aware of that by now, and he really didn't mind.

By now he had understood that Vector's current personality was the result of what Don Thousand's meddling had caused in connection with what the most recent events had changed.

Yuuma was sure that Vector would never be the Shingetsu Rei that he had pretended to be, but that's not what he wanted anyway. He had started to like Vector the way he wass. After all, everyone who Yuuma dueled was his friend.

"Wow, we're really here in time!" Yuuma exclaimed, astonished by the fact that he wasn't late for once in his life. When Vector wanted to get to school in time, he just did.

"Why does that actually surprise you?" Vector said, yawning as he looked around. He was looking for someone, that was obvious and Yuuma noticed it quickly.

Tilting his head, Yuuma asked, "Who are you looking for anyway?" A grin appeared on the boy's lips, but it was not like his usual grin. It was the one that he had grown accustomed to use in school.

"None of your business," Vector replied, not bothering to tell Yuuma. Yuuma was used to Vector's occasional harshness, but he wasn't really hurt by it. It was just Vector being... Vector.

Suddenly spotting the person he'd looked for, Vector narrowed his eyes. "See you in class."

With that, Vector left Yuuma alone, but the black-haired boy was quickly surrounded by the members of the Numbers club anyway.

"Nasch, let's talk for a bit," Vector declared, not really offering the purple-haired ex-Barian the opportunity to say "No". So the two of them went to the bathroom next to Ryouga's classroom, since that's an empty place at this early time of the day.

Ryouga sighed in response. "What is it this time, Vector? If it's one of your pranks again, I'm gonna pass." He didn't bother to tell Vector to not call him Nasch in public since Vector had been ignoring it from the start anyway.

"Just wanted to tell you that I'm gonna crash at Yuuma's place for a while," Vector said, grinning as he waited for Ryouga's reaction. "You know why."

Ryouga was well-aware of Yuuma's problems. In fact, he had tried to help him by dueling him. He'd tried so many times.

But there was just no way that Yuuma would snap out of it. He'd grown too dependent on Astral, and now those genuine emotions for his partner were eating the boy from the inside.

"So? What does that have to do with me?" Ryouga asked, crossing his arms. He knew there was something else behind that.

"I told him that you and Mizael kicked me out of the house because of that little prank I pulled some days ago," Vector explained, chuckling because Ryouga shot him a death glare. "So you know what to tell him if he asks."

Ryouga nodded anyway. "So why are you helping him? Sounds unusual for you." He didn't trust Vector yet. Yuuma had tried to make them trust each other, but it was hard for Vector, but even harder for Ryouga. After all, he'd been killed twice already by the ginger-haired boy.

"I can't stand his whining. If he's gonna act all happy, he's gotta do it right or not at all," Vector simply said. He put more emphasis on his point by making his best Shingetsu face, saying: "I thought it's for the best if everyone remembers that I'm never hurting anyone on purpose!" Sometimes it was hard to tell whether Vector used his catchphrase in a genuine manner or not. This time it was definitely the latter. His laughter gave it away.

Ryouga couldn't stand Vector's laugh. It sounded just as mad as it did a few months ago. But he did understand Vector's point. Apparently, their motivations were the same for now.

"Alright, I'll tell the others," he said, moving towards the door again. He had class to attend, after all.

"Class rep, don't be so strict about it, come on!" Yuuma whined while stuffing some duel rice balls in his mouth.

Class would start in ten minutes, enough time for Yuuma to indulge in playful fights with his friends. He'd asked the class rep to convince Ukyou-sensei to allow them to spend the first period dueling.

Yuuma was aware that nothing like that would happen, but he was trying hard to behave like himself. More often than not, he found himself thinking "How would I behave if Astral was still around?", just to be reminded that Astral won't be with him for quite a while.

Possibly forever.

Surely that didn't prevent Yuuma from pretending that Astral was around, but it also didn't help the situation at all.

Looking down at the Emperor's Key that he cradled gently in his hands, Yuuma had trouble suppressing a tear from surfacing.

He'd almost thought Kotori noticed, but then the green-haired girl turned her attention to Cathy, making Yuuma sigh in relief. Nobody noticed, anyway.

At that moment, a certain ginger-haired boy entered the classroom, making the Numbers Club freeze at once.

It was something Vector had gotten used to. They didn't like him, he didn't like them. They didn't understand what Yuuma liked about Vector anyway, it escaped their understanding as to why Astral had revived Vector.

Vector was well-aware of why his former enemy had resurrected him. It was obvious to him. He was useful to Astral. The spectral being had deemed him useful due to the fact that Yuuma trusted him a lot. After all, someone had to look after the idiot while Astral was not within reach. And apparently, Astral thought that Vector 'owed' Yuuma for trying to save his life and all. Vector didn't agree with that, but it didn't prevent him from occasionally helping out when necessary. (Mostly, he didn't need to do anything because Nasch usually tried really hard - not that Yuuma realized any of that, anyway.)

Yuuma had disagreed. Aggressively. Back then, before they went to save Astral World for the second time, he'd said that Astral had forgiven Vector as well; that Astral would never use someone. Vector had laughed at that, dismissing Yuuma's attempts to convince him by remarking that Yuuma's wishful thinking was becoming outright stupid lately.

So now it was a regular morning. Everyone eyed Vector, he didn't bother interacting with them. Co-existence, huh?

He didn't understand why Yuuma had forgiven him.

But Vector had no reason to hurt Yuuma. It just wasn't fun. The boy would cry, get up again and get hurt again. That wasn't satisfactory at all.

Anyway - Vector still dreamed about the events of the times before everything had become "peaceful". Some memories loved to interfere with him being excessively hurtful towards Yuuma, but Vector chose the definition of 'excessively' on his own anyway.

"I'm sure he still has a flip side!" Tokunosuke shouted, apparently arguing with Yuuma over his apparent friendship with Vector.

"He's just being himself, and I'll believe in him, no matter what," Yuuma said, a small smile on his lips. He hadn't lifted his gaze from the Emperor's Key a single time during the last few minutes.

"Why did Astral revive Vector anyway? He's just hurt everyo-" But Tokunosuke couldn't speak more because Tetsuo quickly held his mouth shut. Yuuma's smile had vanished.

"Tokunosuke!" Kotori said in a displeased voice, but both Yuuma and Vector were well-aware that she probably agreed with him, even if she was unaware of her own emotions.

It was then that Yuuma stood up and quietly walked over to Vector's seat, sitting down next to him. Putting on his best fake smile, he said, "Shingetsu! I want to sit next to you since we haven't for such a long time!"

The first thing that Vector did was giving Yuuma his worst death glare. Then he sighed. Then, "Good idea, Yuuma-kun, let's duel after school!" His best Shingetsu voice. The one he didn't bother using if he didn't need to, anymore. No point.

He wasn't sure whether he'd done that to piss off Kotori and the brats... or just to help Yuuma. Probably a mix of both, with a tendency for the first.

From the corner of his eye, he noticed Kotori's and Cathy's displeased attitudes.

Next to him, Yuuma was busy with the key again.

"Class begins," Ukyou said as he walked in.

The stares from the Numbers Club lasted through the whole lesson. Not that Vector cared.

Not that Yuuma noticed, either.

There was just one thing that Vector didn't quite grasp. Where did that fool's Kattobingu go?

Astral wasn't even dead.

There was Vector's lack of understanding for human emotions again. It had been too long since he'd been confronted with emotions like those.

He sighed.

Yuuma looked up towards Vector, red eyes met violet ones. "Something wrong, Shingetsu?"

Vector shook his head. "No."

He knew that Yuuma didn't particularly like his eyes they were right now. Permanently giving off the impression that he was really, really annoyed.

Which Vector - in fact - was.

It was just that Yuuma annoyed him less than other humans did.

Any form of feedback is appreciated.