Last Duel of No Regrets
Chapter 4

Johan managed to sneak in before visiting hours ended, but only just. In fact, he had to cajole the nurse into allowing him more than a few moments. The fact that he'd come from overseas worked in his favour, and his polite manner as well.

The nurse let him stay. And they had a nice chat before Ryou's evening medication had him fast asleep.

He was there the next day too, with Shou – who Johan sent off for some rest after an hour or two. 'Those dark rings around your eyes are saying you've had no sleep,' he scolded.

'I have,' Shou insisted, but he was grateful for the additional time to rest. He'd been at the hospital every day for weeks, and Ryou felt a pang as he left.

If the lack of company weren't so intolerable, he would have chased Shou off himself, and Fubuki for that matter because the both of them spent every non-working, non-sleeping visitation hour with him. But he was far from a patient man. He could not sit in silence for hours on end and the television had not much interesting to show. It was a shame the most passionate and heartfelt duels were not broadcasted at all, or on only special channels. But then again, the fiercest duels didn't oft take place on a large stage. They could be anywhere. For anything. Involving anyone.

If he remembered correctly, only one of Juudai's duels had ever been broadcasted. His one with Manjyoume back in Ryou's final year. The school duel.

Went to show how underappreciated the real heroes, those truly bright ones, wound up in the end.

Funny how so many had likened him to the sun but he'd wound up with the powers of Darkness in the end. Gentle Darkness, but darkness nonetheless. Same went for Fubuki.

That was an interesting thought and kept him entertained during the two hour respite in the day. Why they didn't allow visitors during lunch, he didn't know. It only left more time to be bored.

But Johan was, overall, a nice change of pace. Just like Ryou had thought he would be. He and those Gem Beasts that Ryou couldn't see (nor could Shou or Fubuki for that matter) had plenty of new tales. Fubuki had been running low on those. And he had a very different way of duelling. A way that came close to Juudai's, but wasn't quite his. After all, Juudai had more than eight monsters to juggle and none of them could sneak into magic card zones. For Johan, it was actually possible to have them all on the field at the same time.

And not only possible, but advantageous as well.

It was interesting trying to work around that. To his surprise, the simple tactic worked: Cyclone. But Johan pointed out that it wasn't a whole lot of fun removing one of his Gem Beasts from the field that way, and Ryou juggled around with a few more ideas. Muryokuka Dragon managed to destroy one after its effect got triggered – which was one they had to test with the Duel Disks because they weren't too sure if "negate the effect of a magic card and destroy it" included Ruby Carbuncle while it was there as a continuous magic car. But it did, and Muryokuka managed to save Ryou from having to deal with a field full of Gem Beasts.

Until Rainbow Dragon appeared the following turn of course.

Still, he won all their duels. Johan was strong, but so were Shou and Fubuki and Ryou had been duelling for a long time, with lots of different opponents. He'd even faced Yubel in Johan's body: a Yubel that had pushed Johan's deck beyond the limits Johan was willing to allow it. Johan was a strong duellist, yes, but he lacked something.

'What do you think it is?' Johan asked curiously. Of course he was curious. Everybody wanted to get stronger after all. Some just had their limits.

'Conviction?' Ryou suggested. 'I'm sorry. I'm just…'

'Comparing me to Juudai.' Johan didn't look offended in the least, just amused. 'You won't believe the number of people in Duel Academia who used to do that. Including your brother, actually.'

'Shou did.' Ryou looked thoughtful. 'Juudai is…a very special friend to him.'

'Don't I know it.' Johan shook his head. 'I'm sure you can find a lot of people who'd say the same about Juudai.'

That was true enough.

.

'Have you heard from Juudai lately?' Ryou asked.

'Afraid not,' Johan replied, after turning to the side and whispering something first. One of the Gem Beasts, Ryou assumed. That's what it usually was when he started talking to thin air. And if it was Manjyoume, then the Ojamas. For Juudai…well, back when he was a student at Duel Academia, he'd guess Hane Kuriboh, but he had many other choices now. 'He might be in the Dark World. Or somewhere where there's no reception. Have you tried Pegasus?'

Ryou coughed. He might have been greatly admired in the duelling circuit once upon a time but he could hardly ring up the founder of Industrial Illusions personally.

Johan hummed when he said as much. 'Actually, I can't either. Maybe O'brien can, but I think… Oh, your principal can, can't he?'

That was true. Principal Samejima could contact Pegasus directly.

'I'll try later,' he said, looking at the bedside clock. It was afternoon classes at the academy by that time. And he knew Samejima liked to use the breath of time for other things. Personal training. Some time with Dorothy. Chasing up faculty things and whatever else a Principal did.

'I wouldn't worry,' Johan said. 'Juudai has a habit of popping up when you need him, phone or no.'

.

A few days later, and Ryou had not made the call to his old Principal. The reason was that he'd come down with a brief bout of pneumonia and was just starting to recover from it. Johan had stayed with Fubuki during the time. He hadn't made previous arrangements and Fubuki had offered. He didn't even know the other well, if Ryou recalled correctly - after the fuzziness in his head and body from those antibiotics they'd doused him with had started to wear of.

Things were a great deal quieter. Visitors had to come in with plastic aprons, gloves that went up to their elbows and masks that covered most of their faces. Fubuki took great delight in drawing on the white until they looked a little flashier – until he was barred entry. Health checks had gotten more stringent after the infection. And visiting hours had been cut. And everybody had to be careful with what they touched. Shou at least convinced them to leave the deck and duel mat. It had been there since Ryou's admission, Shou argued. And the hospital accepted that. They couldn't do much about bugs that grew inside the hospital after all.

A week later, his voice was feeling better and he thought he was up to a phone call. And he was feeling more awake too, awake enough that he wouldn't fall asleep in a couple of hours. Awake enough so that he was starting to feel restlessness settling in again. And Fubuki and Johan had gone back to Fubuki's apartment. Shou wouldn't be coming until after lunch. He had something to follow up. And he didn't have any tests until after lunch either. No nurses to knock on the door for a phial of blood or something else.

But a knock on the door managed to interrupt him anyway.

'Come in,' he said, a little hoarsely.

'Sounding a little worse for wear, 'eh Kaiser.'

Ryou stared at the door. Once, there were few who did not call him Kaiser. Now, there were few who did, and only one who did so regularly.

Juudai did look a little ridiculous in plastic garb, but he looked like Juudai nonetheless.

'I've been trying to call…' Ryou broke off. It sounded whiny, and needy, and he wasn't either of those things.

'I was in the Dark World,' Juudai supplied. 'I saw your missed calls – and when there's about twenty from you and only single digit amounts from everybody else, I figured I'd drop by in person.' He paused for a moment. 'Ok, twenty-three.'

Ryou blinked. He hadn't realised he'd called so many times. He assumed it was Hane Kuriboh. Or Neos. Or Yubel. Or a new companion he'd picked up on one of his journeys.

He realised Juudai was looking him over. 'You do look rather rough.'

'I had a cold,' Ryou said. 'And a blood clot.'

'You also look restless.'

Ryou laughed aloud. Even Juudai who hadn't been there for five minutes yet could tell. 'I've been waiting for a duel with you for five years, you know.'

'Yeah…' His voice trailed off. 'We never did finish that graduation duel, did we? Though I'm afraid I have to say mine eclipses yours.'

'Your graduation duel? With Darkness?' He hadn't heard the full details of that, but every person on earth – and perhaps some not on earth – had heard Juudai's speech at the end.

But Juudai shook his head. 'With Yugi Mutou.'

Ryou struggled to sit up. How had Shou not told him about this?

But Juudai was gently pushing him back down, before plopping onto one of the hospital chairs. 'It's a bit of a long story.'

Ryou half-smiled. He'd planned to nap before lunch but he didn't need it now. 'Then shall we duel first?'

'Can you think of any ways to convince the nursing staff to give my deck back first? I had to sneak Yubel in, but the rest…' Because Yubel was a part of his soul, Ryou assumed. He wasn't sure about the particulars, but it made sense for him needing to keep Yubel in particular near.

Though considering all the places Juudai and his deck had been, begging the rest of the cards back from the staff would be a feat. But they tried anyway.

A/N: Muryokuka Dragon is an OC card. So is the new ace of Ryou's mentioned in the previous chapter.