Up with chapter 2! I'm sorry, I wanted to upload earlier, but I got sick and wasn't able to do the last changes in this chapter T_T
Thanks for MysteryGirl425 and Yami-Seren for your reviews! And also thanks for all the likes and follows :D You really warmed my heart.
"Alright class. While you do some silent work, I will hand you your cards!" Mrs Imuchi announced. Again, a wave of groaning and giggling went through the class, but our teacher just smiled and stood up from her desk, going silently from table to table. From the corner of my eyes I could see that Honda and Jounouchi got cards as well as Anzu. Thankfully none of my friends would be forgotten on valentine's day.
Yami right next to me got a couple of cards. I didn't hide my amusement as we shared a quick look. I knew that he was popular among the girls and even the boys the first time he entered the school ground. I wasn't joking as I said that I mainly got letters from girls with the kind question to hand them to my best friend. In the beginning, it wasn't much, but the longer he was in school the more letters came to him. But he reacted to every single one the same way: he read it, packed it away and threw it in the trash can when we got home.
Occasionally, girls and some guys circled me to ask me questions about him, to tell me gossip they heard or wanted a confirmation that he was still single. It creeped the hell out of me and I was so relieved when Yami came across and "saved" me.
Fans could be unnerving.
My thoughts were interrupted as Mrs Imuchi laid down three cards in front of me. She smiled at me and then walked to the next student.
Three cards? For me?
Wow…
Last year I only got one, and this was one was challenging me to a duel. So maybe I had more opponents then I thought, or I was lucky and got a compliment?
"Read them" Yami whispered eagerly next to me. He hadn't touched his cards until now, but was surprised as I was when it came to my cards. I turned the first around and read its short message.
'I admire your strategy skills. Hope to duel you soon!'
A half smile came onto my face. So that was my first challenger. Bet the other two won't be better…
'You have beautiful eyes'
I blushed at this one lightly – I really got a compliment! Even though I wished for it, I definitely hadn't counted on that. Yami got curious why I was looking at that card so long and took a glimpse. It took him a second before he smiles at me, and quickly after that he was busy reading his own cards in his elegant way. I admire how fluent his moves were, how he picked up one card after another… But it was strange that he acted so… hesitantly?
Curiously I looked at my last card. Trying not to be hasty, I picked it up and turned around, reading its lines.
'You brighten my every day, and that's why I love you'
I… what?
Was that really… stood there… Was someone really… confessing to me?
Like a fish on land my mouth closed and opened. I couldn't believe it! Never would I have guessed that someone…
A dark thought came to my mind, and a sad sigh came from me as I put that card to the others.
Maybe it was just a prank. Yeah, that would be reasonable. Who in all worlds would fall for me?
"Hey, what's wrong?" Yami asked as he saw my face. I just shook my head and packed my cards away. I mouthed a 'later' to him and kept on reading the text Mrs Imuchi gave us for silent work.
I needed to focus on something else.
"So, how many cards did you get Jounouchi?"
As always, we met up after school at our favorite restaurant – Burger World! Anzu worked here - with official permission from school - and we accompanied her there and spend time together until her shift was starting. And of course, the topic of our conversation was the valentines cards we got today.
"I got two! And guess what, one wasn't so bad in the end! I wonder who would have written this, though…"
"So, you have no idea?" Honda asked, and Jounouchi looked at him funnily. "That's what I've already said! But hey – what about you?"
Honda crossed his arms and looked somehow proud. "I got one with a really nice compliment on it! That person must have a fine taste; I can tell you!" he said and we all laughed.
And while the others got deeper in conversation, my thoughts started running wild again. Even if I won't accept it as a confession, my heart beats faster when I thought about it. Whom do I brighten every day? Did that mean that this person was rather close to me?
Absently I surveyed my friends and my heart froze with every face I examined. Imagining that Honda or Jounouchi could have written me such a card… it somehow felt gross. For Anzu, instead I felt sorry. If she really wrote that card, she was sadly too late… I wonder if she would make out that I wrote her one?
And the last face was pure wish fulfillment. Never could it be that Yami –
"Hey Yugi? You're listening?"
His voice snapped me out of my thoughts. "Huh? Sorry, I was lost in thoughts… What were you saying?" I asked politely. He ruffled my hair in a smooth way and smiled.
"Wouldn't have guessed it. I was asking if you got any interesting cards?"
I started to blush and it betrayed me the most obvious way. To make it worse I tried to avoid looking at my friends. They started laughing at my shyness and it caught on me, so I soon was joining their laughs.
"Soo?" Yami asked teasingly and somehow cornered me in our booth. He got so close to me we were side by side; arms and legs touching, feeling his breath on my skin. All I could see now were burning red eyes that locked with mine. It made my head spin around, thoughts running wild in my mind. Why was he so curious now? As evenly as I could I breathed and tried to ease my nerves. Hopefully he would consider my nervousness because of the cards and not because the closeness to him…
"Uhm well, I got… a compliment, a-and a challenge!" I stumbled and hoped that Yami was bad at counting…
But – as expected – he was not.
"And? I know you had three cards on your desk, so what was written down on the last?"
I sighed and looked at him defeated. Three other pairs of eyes lay on me and I started to feel uneasy. I didn't like so much attention. But with a sigh and a low voice I said "A-and a… co-confession."
Four styles of 'Uuuh!'s were heard now, and with a heavy sigh I turned to them and told them my thoughts. "B-But maybe i-it is just a prank or something! It can't to be the truth, right?"
"Oh Yugi!" Anzu said and smiled at me. "It is Valentine's Day! It is that day of the year were you're honest to your heart and honest to the person you gave it to. If you got a confession today you can be sure that it is most likely the truth" she said with a sweet voice. "Don't put yourself down. Believe that someone likes you! It is commonly and nothing surprising."
Honda and Jounouchi just nodded in agreement and my heart got a little lighter. But as I looked to Yami, who slid back to his former place and released me from my bittersweet tension, I saw a slight view of… hurt? But it vanished within seconds and he also smiled at me as he noticed my glance.
"Well… then I guess I have an admirer or so" I laughed nervously.
Shortly after that. Anzu was called to work and we decided to go separate ways. Honda went to his father's firm to help him out and Jou went home to do the housework, since Shizuka wasn't home and his father was god knows where. Yami and I walked to my house to train our skills in Duel Monsters. There was an upcoming tournament and we both wanted to commit – and of course neither of us wanted to lose in the quarterfinals or lower.
"Do you have any clue who could have written you the confession?" Yami asked while we were walking home.
Sighing I shook my head. "No. I would never have guessed that someone could like me this way. But even when, I fear that I would reject that person…" I said.
I felt Yamis curious stare at me so I looked up to him. "Why would you reject them?" he asked cautiously. "Isn't it a good thing to be in love?"
"Sure, but I… think I won't have romantic feelings for this person - especially. It's complicated… You may know what I mean?" I said and pointed at his chest. "I mean, how many love letters have you turned down because you didn't have feelings back?"
He chuckled and it somehow made me nervous. I mean, I wasn't sending him a confession, too – Noooo, who would I be?
I hope this conversation won't get too embarrassing.
"Well, I think you have a point there Yugi. I'm sure you have your reasons as I have mine" he winked at me. "But I must admit, one of my cards caught my attention too. It says that I was haunting someone's dreams. It… sounded somehow special, don't you think?"
I shortly laughed and nodded and hoped that my poker face was rather perfect. But I could feel a hot, nervous shiver running down my spine, causing some droplets of sweat on my forehead.
"Yeah, sounds… exciting!" I nervously said and tried to engulf Yami into a new topic. I wasn't ready to talk about my card to him in public – and I was clearly not in the mood for it!
"I lay this card face down. Your turn, aibou."
I looked at his second face down card that was on the field and his monster in attack position. It had low attack points but his defense was strong. My monster wasn't strong enough to beat it in defense position, and he risked now to lose the duel if I would destroy his monster…
It was a bait, obviously.
"Alright Yami. I draw" I announced and looked at my new card. A spell card, quite powerful, but also a risk. But if I won't dare, I may lose one way or another…
"I play this spell card. With paying 500 life points I destroy your face down card" I said and noted my decrease. Currently I have 1400 life points, while Yami had 700. Losing those points hurt, but it was necessary to play my turn safe.
With an elegant move, he directed his trap card into the graveyard – it changed attack points with the defense points and if I would've declared an attack, I would have lost my monster and the duel in his turn.
But now I could destroy his monster.
"I declare an attack on your monster. Sorry Yami, but this was a gre-"
A chuckle interrupted my speech as he turned around his other card – again a trap card.
"I'm sorry aibou, but I fear that you also lost our duel. This card gave the same amount of damage to me as to you directly. So, with my monster having 500 attack points and yours with 1600, we both go down."
I looked at our cards and well – he was right. I didn't have any cards to counter it, and I couldn't take back my attack.
I smiled. "You know, if we ever make it to the finals, we would duel us forever. This was the third draw in a raw we had now!"
Yami laughed at my outburst. "Well, then we should inform them to bring more food and drinks, because it will be a long final!" he said with a wink.
Laughing, I packed away my cards and began shuffling my deck, as my stomach screamed suddenly for food. Embarrassed, I looked down and scowled at it.
"Is someone hungry?" Yami teased and packed his deck away.
"I-I think so. I didn't realize I got hungry while we dueled. Time flies by every time" I said and smiled shyly at him.
With a chuckle, he came across me, ruffling my hair and went down. "I'll see what I can do. Would you mind clear up and search for a movie you want to look after dinner?" he said with a louder voice from downstairs.
"Sure!" I just yelled back and packed away the small table I set up in the middle of my room along with the two chairs. Even when my grandpa wasn't home, I refused to duel on the kitchen table. Luckily, we had this small camping table that was never used in the cellar, along with two camping chairs that were just perfect for a good round of Duel Monsters. After that I tied up my room a bit – kicking bags under the bed, throwing clothes into a corner and packing books away – and set up Yami's bed so he can sleep later. His father was accompanying my grandpa to Egypt to visit some friends and do some research. It wasn't uncommon for them to leave, and to prevent Yami from feeling alone, I stayed with him during those times – at least at night. Of course, it wasn't as comfortable as sleeping in his own bed, but it didn't matter to Yami. He was happy that he wasn't alone.
Before I went down to join him in the kitchen, I hesitated as I looked to my schoolbag.
'You're brighten my every day, and that's why I love you'
Who would have written such heartfelt lines? And who is in love with me, without me ever noticing someone that close to me? After Anzu's reaction at Burger World, I couldn't imagine her as the author any longer. She didn't seem distressed or anything similar, so she couldn't have written this card.
Or she had the most perfect poker face in the world.
But who could it be? With a heavy sigh, I made my way down to the kitchen. Knowing you have a secret admirer but you most likely know that you won't return those feelings because you gave your heart to another person isn't a pleasant feeling – even if I don't know her… or him.
"Hey, why making such a sad face aibou?" Yami asked as I entered the kitchen.
"Oh, just thinking about this card…" I said with a low voice and sniffled the delicious scent coming from the stove. "You know if I ever need someone to cook for me I would most likely always choose you" I praised him as I looked around him, and hoped to change the subjects. He chuckled and handed me a spoon to taste what he was cooking. Yami have a talent in cooking, it was delicious as always.
"As if I don't already cook for you all the time…" he said amusedly. I also laughed as I got the cutlery and placed it on the kitchen table. But it made my mood not really better. Of course, this feels… incredible with him here with me, in my house and actually living here with me – until grandpa and his father returned. It almost felt like… home.
Without him noticing, I turned around and looked at his back. No, it wasn't almost like home. It was home.
And that was why I would turn down my secret admirer and hope that Yami would never find out my feelings for him.