Character: Yusei Fudo
Summary: Third reunion's the charm.
"She's dead, Yusei. Just accept it."
I've heard those words so many times that I've just become immune to them. Days turned into weeks. Weeks turned into months since Yuuka's disappearance. Kiryu is the first to lose hope that she'll return, Jack is soon to follow. But Crow still remains hopeful.
That is, until Kiryu gets arrested and dies in the Facility.
"Yusei, just give up. If she was in the Satellite, we would have found her. Besides, why would she leave us anyway? We asked Security, she never stepped foot in the Facility. Where else could she have gone? Yusei, please. I can't watch you keep beating yourself up over her. She has to be dead, and you need to accept that."
"Crow, I'd know if she was dead. I know that I'd feel something. She's out there, I know it."
"Where? Yusei, where?"
"The City," I answer. It's the one place we haven't been able to look. If anything, it would explain why I can't stop staring at the bright lights of the City as they peer through the dense fog that covers the Satellite. My heart is pulling me to the City, and I think I know why.
"Yusei," Crow sighs. I look to Jack who's remained silent this entire time. A look of realisation washes over his face. "Yusei, I can't watch you do this to yourself. Just give up already."
"I won't. She's alive, Crow. I just know it."
Crow just shakes his head slowly at me. Jack just keeps staring at the floor.
"Yusei, I can't do this." Crow starts to turn and walk away. "I got kids to take care of, ones that are alive. I'll see you around, I guess."
That's the last time I see Crow for years. Jack betrays me not long after. He steals my D-Wheel and Stardust Dragon, heading off to the City for a greater purpose. And with that, I'm left alone. Does he think Yuuka is there? As much as what he did hurts me, I hope he finds Yuuka alive. I wonder if she thinks about me, and everyone else. If only she knew how bad things have gotten.
I look out at the City every single night. I think of Jack who betrayed me, and has now been hailed the King of Dueling. I think of Yuuka who's probably so scared and alone. The City still calls out to me. I know Yuuka is there, so I have to go.
Well, turns out that going to the City turned into a shitshow. Now, I'm being forced to participate in a tournament to save my old friends while surrounded by new friends. On top of that, I'm somehow part of a great destiny, and I got marked, can't forget that. So much has happened in the last two weeks, I can barely comprehend it all. On top of that, I haven't seen a sign of Yuuka at all.
Well, that quickly changes.
"Yusei." A voice calls my name. It's soft, I can barely hear it over the noise of the crowd around me. My friends' eyes move further down from where we are in the audience section. My head turns to look.
I don't think I would have recognised her, if not for her eyes. That shade of pink is so distinctively her, that I've never seen another colour like it. Her light blonde hair is the longest I've ever seen it, even though it only reaches her collarbone. Her face no longer holds that innocence it once had. She looks hardened by the City, more mature. Her body is no longer thin and frail looking. She looks surprisingly sturdy and strong. Despite everything, I know it's Yuuka standing in front of me.
"Yuuka?" I manage to get out. "You're alive?" I never believed that she died, even for a second, but the words fall out of my mouth. I walk down a few steps, narrowing the gap between us.
"W-well yeah," she stutters and walks up steps, closing the gap. Yuuka is here in the City and standing right in front of me. Now that she's up close, I notice something that I've overlooked. An arrow shaped marker under Yuuka's right eye. "I got arrested and sent to the City." I think she notices me staring because she points to it. She moves her right arm to do it. I glance at her bare forearm, hoping to find a Signer mark. But there's nothing. It would have made sense, why I found Yuuka here of all places after years of looking.
She catches me staring. I have so many things to ask. What really happened to her? Why did she never come back if she's just been here all along? I try to say something, but I'm cut off by the look on Yuuka's face. She's staring off into the crowd, just a few rows down from us, looking absolutely terrified. All four people sitting at the edge of that row look very panicked.
"Okay, I really have to go. I'll see you around I guess." She smiles at me. That one awkward smile she uses to get out of things. I just nod. I don't know what else to do. I don't know why I don't say anything, do anything, or even just go after her. But, I let her run away. I think the shock is going to my head. I have to suppress a sigh.
"Yusei, who was that?" My friends ask.
"Just an old friend of mine."
My one encounter with Yuuka was so brief that I slowly begin to question if it was real. The twins tell me that Yuuka tried to find once I headed to the Satellite to fight the Dark Signers, and that she followed me. Only to be told shortly afterwards that a lot of people in the Satellite just disappeared in a mysterious fog which was mostly definitely created by the Dark Signers. The thought of that alone makes me want to puke on the spot. I only just found Yuuka again, and I may have just lost her again. The thought of that is one that I can't bear.
Things only get worse. I finally defeat Kiryu, and he turns into dust in my arms. At least we were able to make up before he died. At least he died at peace with himself. I keep telling myself these things but my anger towards the Dark Signers keeps building. I think of all of the people that they've hurt and used. Kiryu, Martha, Rally, so many others, and even Yuuka. When the control tower sinks into the ground, my Signer mark begins to glow again. The control tower sends a plume of dust into the air. It's so thick that I can't see a thing. My mark continues to glow. There's another Dark Signer, it tells me. I'm sorry I created that monster, Kiryu's words echo in my head.
As the dust settles, the Dark Signer begins to walk towards me. They're wearing the standard Dark Signer robes, except the lines are a very familiar shade of pink. Their mark is glowing bright violet on their arm, I can just about make it out to be in the shape of a bird.
"That mark?" I grab my own mark even tighter, trying to ease the searing pain. "Another Dark Signer! Who are you?"
"Looks like I was right." They begin to cackle. It reminds me of Kiryu's laugh, crazed and inhuman. They take their hood down slowly. Their eyes don't leave my face, giving me a shiver down my spine.
No.
No, this can't be right.
This has to be a sick joke.
It's impossible.
"You really did forget about me." Yuuka puts a finger to her lips. Her eyes are so wide, taking in everything. The blackness of her eyes is so unsettling.
"What? No!" I scream. "Yuuka, why are you a Dark Signer?"
I can't believe it. Have I really lost Yuuka? One of us has to die, that's how it works. Either Yuuka dies, or I do. For all the talk I've heard about fate, why did it have to be so cruel?
"Yuuka?" Crow calls out. I had nearly forgotten that my friends are watching. Yuuka looks over at him. Her eyes are so cold. She scoffs and ignores him. She just ignored Crow, one of her best friends, who she hasn't seen in years.
"Isn't it obvious, Yusei?" She continues, not even saying a word to Crow. "I'm here to finish what Kiryu started." She laughs again, but it's cruel. The Yuuka I knew was never cruel, she was kind. "After I got arrested, you forgot about me and left me to rot in the City." The light of her mark begins to flicker and start to grow even stronger. "The only reason you even went to the City was your own selfish gain. Are you happy now, King? You're the reason I'm like this!" Her eyes have even started to glow purple.
"Yuuka, no! It's not what you think!" She's wrong, she's all wrong. I didn't want power. I only wanted to find her. I searched everywhere for her. I never stopped looking.
"Enough!" She interrupts me before I can say anymore. If only I could get her to believe me. I know from Kiryu that this will be no easy task. "There's only one way to settle this." She holds up her duel disk. I take a deep breath, say nothing, and get my duel disk from my D-Wheel. Once I turn back to her, she's taken off her cape and has activated her duel disk. As soon as I activate mine, the all too familiar purple flames appear and spread out, forming the pattern of her geoglyph.
I try to think of something to say. But nothing comes to mind. I feel like someone has stabbed me in the gut and sucked all of the air from my lungs.
"Duel!" We chant together. Yuuka cackles again. I know how this duel will end. It's either her or me. I don't know which outcome is worse.
"I'll go first," she says with a maniacal smile. "It's only fair after all." She summons a weaker monster and sets two cards. She's clearly up to something. It's only a matter of time before she summons her Earthbound Immortal.
I begin my turn. I can't help but stare at her. Even though I know she's dead, she still looks so beautiful. Can I really bring myself to hurt her? The one person I've been looking for. I manage to Synchro Junk Archer, but I don't use its effect to attack her directly. I, instead, just take out her monster.
"Yuuka!" I call out to her. "Why did you become a Dark Signer?" She lowers the hand she was about to draw with. Her face hardens from stoic to pure anger.
"I told you. You forgot about me while I rotted in the City. I was alone and afraid, all while you were having your Team Satisfaction adventures! Oh no, wait." A sadistic smile creeps onto her face. "You sold Kiryu out, so there's no more Team Satisfaction."
"You're wrong! I didn't sell Kiryu out. He attacked Security by himself and got arrested!" Yuuka's eyes widen ever so slightly. "And I-" I catch myself, "we never stopped looking for you!"
"That's a lie! You only went to the City in search of power!" Tears are starting to form in her eyes. "When you saw me at the Fortune Cup, you just stood there and said nothing. Of course, why wouldn't you? You pushed me to the back of your mind and completely forgot about me until I appeared in front of you!" Yuuka takes a shaky breath before taking her turn, in which she only sets a monster.
"No, you're wrong, Yuuka! I didn't go to the City for power. I always believed you were alive. I searched for you in every place I could."
"No! Stop lying! Kiryu told me that you all stopped looking for me, that you didn't care." She's only sounding more and more distraught as she speaks. Her crazed facade is slowly fading.
I feel a pang in my chest just looking at her. What has she gone through, all alone in that City? The fact she doesn't believe me only makes it hurt more. After how many times that I denied she was dead. After how I never lost hope. Only to find her, and lose her again just as soon as I found her.
"I'm going to get through to you, Yuuka." I take my next turn. All I can bear to do is attack her set card. If I just keep attacking her monsters, instead of attacking directly, maybe I'll get through to her before she summons her Earthbound Immortal.
For the second turn in a row, I've avoided attacking her directly. Yuuka narrows her eyes in suspicion. She sets another monsters, and ends her turn.
"Yusei," she calls out with hesitation, "is what you said true?" Her eyes are slowly widing.
"It is," I nod. She bites her lip. Am I starting to get through to her?
On my next turn, I summon Shield Warrior and attack her directly, after using Junk Archer to attack her set card.
"Not so fast!" She shouts, cutting off my direct attack. A wicked grin spreads across her face. Her eyes have the slightest purple tint. She activates a trap that Special Summons two tokens to her field, and add an Earthbound Immortal to her hand.
"I end my turn," I say reluctantly. She has everything she needs now. It is really is the beginning of the end now.
"Yusei?" She calls out to me again. Her voice is soft, just like it's supposed to be. "Did Kiryu really lie to me? He said that you became power-hungry and that's why you sold out Team Satisfaction and stole Jack's title."
"That's all lies."
"I see," she mutters into the air. Her entire body slumps. I hear the slightest muffle of a cry. Then, her mark begins to glow. It's so harsh that my own mark is reacting to it. When she looks back up, her entire eye, including the black parts, are glowing a bright violet. She activates a Field Spell. It covers the field in a shroud of darkness. The only thing I can see around me is the bright purple flames, creating our arena.
"O dark deity who will bring forth ultimate destruction! Take these souls to fulfil our dark purpose! Advent, Earthbound Immortal Hawa Lluta!" The voice that summons the Earthbound Immortal doesn't sound like Yuuka's. It sounds like that another voice is layered on top of hers. Her Earthbound Immortal finally appears. A giant vulture made of shadows screeches as it flies above us. It's the size of an entire skyscraper. "Hawa Lluta! Attack Yusei directly!"
As the Earthbound Immortal gets ready to attack me, I notice that Yuuka is looking away. I close my eyes, letting it hit me. The force of the attack knocks me to the ground. It feels like it's tearing me apart on the inside.
My eyes open again slowly. I give myself a quick glance over. That can't be right. The Earthbound Immortal must have only grazed my shoulder. The jacket is torn and I see raw red underneath. Aside from the cuts lining my arm and face, I'm unharmed.
Does she not want to kill me? I think to myself. I look at Yuuka as I stand back up again. Her hands are trembling, just like they do when she's nervous. She meets my eyes. The look in her eyes hurts me more than that attack. She's pleading for help, even if that means certain death.
"I'll save you, Yuuka!" A small smile spreads across her face. Her eyes and mark stops glowing, just for a second, before burning even stronger. So, I've gotten through to her…
"Please Yusei, end this duel! Just don't let me activate my face-down, please!" The glowing of her mark and eyes stop completely.
I use Junk Archer's effect to remove her Earthbound Immortal from play this turn, and so, attack her directly. As her life points hit 0, she's thrown back onto the ground with a thud.
"Yuuka!" I cry out as I run. The flames and darkness around us has disappeared. Her body tries to move towards me, but fails. I cradle her in my arms. Her mouth forms a little o shape, once she realises that I'm shaking.
I try to say something, anything. The last time I said nothing, we wound up in this mess. I just don't want to believe it. I've spent years looking for her, only for her to die in my arms after finding her. The Dark Signers used her against me, and it nearly worked. It was a cruel, cruel trick and now, Yuuka is paying the price.
"I'm so sorry, Yusei. I didn't want this to happen." Tears begin to stream down her face. Her voice is soft, barely above a whisper. I'm losing her so quickly. I go to say something, but she barely lifts her hand, interrupting me. "I don't hate you, Yusei." She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. She uses what little energy she has left to wrap her arms around my neck, hugging me. "I really did love you, Yusei. But, it doesn't matter now because it's too late." What? This can't be happening. Yuuka only begins to cry harder. I feel her tears dripping onto my jacket. "My time is up, Yusei." She lets out a soft sob. "Thank you Yusei, for everything."
Yuuka disintegrates slowly, her words ringing in my ear. I hold her until there's nothing left.
"Yuuka…" I whisper into the air. "I love you too."
"She's dead, Yusei. Just accept it."
Crow's words are softer this time. It's been three months since we faced the Dark Signers, and Yuuka is the only one that hasn't returned.
"Yusei, if she didn't appear with everyone else, you know that means that she…" Crow can never bring himself to say more than that. He watched us duel. He knows that she was alive before then. It was one of the first things that I told him when I arrived back in the Satellite.
"Crow," I respond, "I've said this before, and I'll say it again. I would feel it if Yuuka died. I know she's out there somewhere."
"I just don't want you to get your hopes up and spend the rest of your life looking for her when she ain't out there." With that, the conversation ends.
One day, when I'm home alone, the phone rings. I pick it up. This isn't unusual. "Hey, is this Yusei Fudo, the handyman?" That's mostly because I've become a handyman to earn some money to feed myself.
"Yes, can I help you?"
"Is this the same Yusei Fudo that won the Fortune Cup?"
"Yes," I answer bluntly. Fame isn't all it's cracked up to be.
"Right, I need you to fix something." The caller changes the topic completely.
"What do you need fixing?"
"Well, it's more of a someone that needs help."
"I'm not sure that I-"
"Does the name Yuuka mean anything to you?"
"Yuuka?"
"Blonde hair, pink eyes, marker under her right eye?" I freeze completely.
"Who is this?"
"I'm a friend of hers, Shinji."
"What's wrong with her, Shinji? And why did you call me about it?" I have a very sure guess, but I need to find out how much she knows.
"She sent to the Satellite to find you three months ago, only to come back and fall into a state of depression. I don't know what happened, but I know you have something to do with it. I think you're the only person who can help her."
"I know what's wrong with her." I sigh into the phone. The guilt is eating her alive. It's doing the same to me. I can't sleep knowing that I made into a Dark Signer, even if I didn't know it then. Maybe if I had followed my instincts a little sooner, I could have stopped all of this. Yuuka would be sitting beside me instead of somewhere alone.
"Okay, are you able to meet tomorrow around six?"
"I am, where?"
"A little shop called Flagship Boutique."
"That name is familiar." It clicks in my head. "That's only a five minute walk from where I am."
"Don't go there until we meet. Yuuka doesn't know that I'm calling you."
"Alright." I throw my head back onto the back of the couch. "I'll see you then." I hang up without much of a goodbye. I sigh deeply. So she's been hiding, in a state of depression? I wonder if she's been hiding in plain sight. I wonder if I really did catch of glimpse of Yuuka that day. Jack and Crow didn't believe me. Now, I think I was right, and that she ran away from us. Well, now, she doesn't have that option. Yuuka can't run away anymore.
I arrive at the Flagship Boutique. There's a duel going on. I find Shinji watching the duel. He's not hard to miss. Taller than Jack, with tanned skin, and swept back brown hair. He points to the duel silently, and I turn to watch it.
"Judgement Dragon attacks you directly." Her opponent calls out. The attack sends a wind through the courtyard, and knocks Yuuka on her back. Is her opponent a psychic duelist like Aki? She gives a thumbs-up to her opponent, saying that she's okay. She gets back on her feet and lets out a big sigh.
Then, we meet eyes across the courtyard. Yuuka's face immediately dissolves into panic. She shakes her head violently and continues the duel.
"Well, she knows you're here now." Shinji says with a sigh.
"Is her opponent a psychic?" I ask. I remember my duels with Aki, they're too dangerous if she doesn't know what she's doing.
"Yep, there's this whole thing going on. Kaoru's a psychic and they're dueling because if he wins, she has to help him control his powers."
"Kaoru?" I echo.
"Yeah, her brother."
"Her brother?"
"Okay," Shinji says with wide eyes, "forget I said anything. You can ask Yuuka herself. There's too much to explain."
Yuuka is only becoming more and more of an enigma to me. Once Yuuka got arrested in the Satellite, the rest of her life becomes a mystery.
"You said that Yuuka would have to help Kaoru control his powers if he won." Shinji nods. He looks uneasy. "That implies that Yuuka would know something about that. Are you saying that Yuuka is a psychic duelist?"
"Okay, I can tell you that." Shinji shrugs. "Yes, she is."
Knowing this literally does not change anything. It would maybe explain why Yuuka felt so alone in the City, being a marked psychic.
Then, the duel ends with Yuuka getting attacked directly and falling to the ground again. Luckily, she doesn't seem too hurt.
"Don't get smart with me. Even if you walk away, that's still breaking our deal." Kaoru says as he holds out a hand for her to take to get up.
"I didn't say that out loud." The both of them go completely silent as they stare at each other.
Shinji, and the tanned girl with him, run over to Yuuka and Kaoru. "What's going on?" He asks.
"We can hear each other's thoughts." Yuuka answers bluntly. This situation is only becoming more and more complicated.
"What? But that's impossible! We've met proper telepaths that couldn't read your thoughts." Shinji looks as about as confused as I do.
"I know that."
"Telepaths?" The girl, whose name I still don't know, asks. "But I thought psychics just materialised duel monsters." Yuuka glances at me, but doesn't say anything to me. Her face is completely unreadable.
"Most psychics," Yuuka back at the girl. "Some psychics have powers beyond that. Some can read auras, some heal quicker, others can talk to spirits and very few are telepaths." Yuuka looks around the circle of people that she's in the middle of, before turning to Kaoru. "What do you want to talk about?"
"Well-"
"Actually, you should sit down." She says quickly, pointing to the fountain in the middle of the courtyard. "Using your powers like that tires you out, I don't want you fainting on me." They make their way over to the fountain.
"I'm sorry about this," Shinji says once they're far away enough. "This wasn't exactly planned. Kaoru kinda showed up out of nowhere."
"So, Kaoru is Yuuka's brother?"
"Biological brother," he sighs. "She likes to make that distinction."
"I think I know why," I respond. Jack is the one coming to mind. They were as close to a brother and sister that you could get in the Satellite. Yuuka used to make this joke that if Jack was Asian, they'd actually look like siblings.
"Oh." The girl beside us finally pipes up. "You don't know me then. I'm Emiko Higashiyama" She sticks out her hand to shake, I reluctantly return the gesture. "I'm Kaoru's best friend, and I was Yuuka's before… well, I'll let her explain that."
"This must be so confusing, I'm sorry." Shinji chuckles awkwardly. "Yuuka calls her a trainwreck for a reason."
"Black Flag?" Kaoru's voice suddenly raises, grabbing all of our attention. "You mean the biggest duel gang in the City? How are you involved with them?" Shinji visibly begins to panic. He begins to walk over to him. Emiko and I follow, not really having another option.
"You see, here's the thing." Shinji says as he reaches them. "You're looking at the leader of one of the biggest duel gangs in the City." He has this big smirk on his face that makes Yuuka sigh. Yuuka, a duel gang leader? Is that why she looks a lot stronger than she did back in the Satellite, where she was too weak to join Team Satisfaction?
"I'm not the leader, so to say, it's more of a figurehead position."
"Yuuka, is that true?" Emiko speaks up.
"Yeah, but that's not important."
"Yeah right!" Kaoru is clearly very angry. "Do you know how dangerous that is? What if you got yourself hurt?" I can't bring myself to feel that way, even though I know in any situation, I would. Is that why Yuuka didn't seem phased by dueling a psychic duelist?
"I know what the job entails. Didn't I tell you that it's dangerous to be around me? Now, you know why." Yuuka glances at me, looking very uncomfortable. She crosses her arms, not before I notice how badly her hands are shaking. She finally stops staring at me, with a shiver.
There's a pause. Kaoru and Yuuka are staring at each other. Is this the telepathy at work?
"Hey, do you guys wanna go get food or something? It would be better than standing out here." Kaoru asks. I would have said it was out of the blue, except for the fact that Yuuka and Kaoru were staring at each other intently right before this. Shinji and Emiko agree quickly. Kaoru raises an eyebrow at Yuuka.
"Nah, I'm going to head home." Yuuka glances back at me, her eyes quickly move away, pointing in the direction out of the courtyard.
"I'll walk you home," I cut in. Yuuka looks pleased, since I got the message. Shinji also looks glad, but he hides his smile with a cough.
"Right, I'll talk to you all later." Yuuka immediately turns on my heels and begins to walk away, I follow close behind.
We walk in silence for a while. I have no idea where we're going. I'm just following Yuuka's lead. We pass by Poppo Time, my new apartment that I share with Jack and Crow. I only pray that they don't see us passing by. That's not what Yuuka needs right now.
Finally, Yuuka sighs and turns to look at me. "We need to talk."
"We do," I answer. So many emotions are washing over her face now. It's like the facade she had in front of everyone else has vanished.
"I know the place." Yuuka begins to walk faster, but it's not hard to keep up. She leads us to the park. It's completely dark outside now, so the park is only light by the street lamps. She finds us a park bench, not too far from the lake in the center of the park. I notice her eyes looking around, trying to see if anyone could listen in on our conversation. But it's a cold December evening and that's not necessary. I feel silly out here. I wonder how Yuuka feels considering she's only in a short dress and waistcoat. I consider giving her my jacket, but she doesn't seem bothered much.
I find myself staring at Yuuka's eyes. She still looks like she did back then. But her eyes are harsher, and not just because of the dark bags under them.
"Honestly, I have no idea where to start." Yuuka offers up a nervous smile. She rubs over her arms, despite the fact she doesn't look cold at all. She gets a shiver, but there's no goosebumps on her arms.
"Who were you dueling earlier? Shinji told me that his name is Kaoru." I start with an easy question, even though I know the answer.
"That was my brother."
"Your brother?" Now for the real niggling question. Yuuka's mother died in the Satellite, and she never knew her father. How does she have a brother that looks the same age as her. "But I thought-" I get cut off.
"Well, turns out that the woman I thought was my mother wasn't actually my mother, and I've had family in the City the whole time." The look on Yuuka's face is a little too melancholy.
"Really? That's great."
"Not really," she sighs, "being from the Satellite and a psychic in this City aren't exactly good traits to have. I never really got along with my birth mother, so I left." She shrugs her shoulders. I can't tell that she's trying to feel those emotions. "That's why I ran away from you at the Fortune Cup. I saw my brother and I panicked. I'm sorry."
"Yuuka, it's ok-" I get cut off again.
"No!" Yuuka's voice suddenly raises. I'm actually a little taken aback. "Don't you understand? If I hadn't run away then, I wouldn't have gone to the Satellite looking for you." She almost looks scared. "I wouldn't have let myself believe Kiryu's lies. I wouldn't have," tears start to well up in her eyes, "I wouldn't have become a Dark Signer!" There it is, she's finally said those words out loud. She can't even look at me. She just looks at her clenched up fists in her lap. "I'm so sorry." Her shoulders begin to tremble. "I ruined everything. It's all my fault." Her fists unclench slowly as tears start to drop onto them. Her hands are almost vibrating, they're shaking that badly. More tears start to fall. She continues shaking. She presses her hands together to stop them shaking.
So, I do what I always did. I hold her hands in mine. The shaking stops, just a little. Her head whips up. Parts of her hair stick to her wet face. Her pink eyes are so wide. She looks so scared and helpless, just like she always did back then. I get a strong pang of nostalgia, and I think she did too.
"No, you didn't." I say as her hands have already started to steady. "It's okay, I forgive you." She lets out a breath that she's clearly been holding. Her face flushes ever so slightly, but I don't know if that's just the cold. She bites her lip.
"You do, but I don't think I can forgive myself." She exhales through her nose. "Besides, why did you show up today? I know it wasn't a coincidence that you just happened to be there."
"Your friend Shinji got in touch with me. He said that you were having some trouble, and he thought that I was the only person that could help." She barely nods. "You're lucky to have friends like that."
"I suppose you're right." A small smile creeps onto her face. "Though, I've always had good friends." She meets my eyes again, only for a small blush to spread across her face. "Enough about me, have you seen much of Jack and Crow lately?"
"Actually, we've found a place in the City and we're living together again."
"Wow, it must feel like the good ol' days." There's a glimpse of hesitation in Yuuka's eyes. "That must be nice."
"Yeah, but it's still not same." I give Yuuka a half-hearted smile, and she gives me one straight back. I suppose living with Jack and Crow is nice. We don't have to pay rent, which is good. But we're once as close as brothers, now we're just feel like roommates. I think we all expected it to be just like old times, but that couldn't be farther from the truth.
We dissolve slowly back into a silence. Yuuka stares at the starless sky, like she's done so many times before. You can see the stars so much more often in the City than in the Satellite, but I guess that the thick smog didn't help. I always thought Yuuka must have enjoyed it. I've lost count of how many times Yuuka snuck away to the roof of the Team Satisfaction base to stargaze, even if there was nothing there. I used to join her, just lie there, and we'd talk about the future, if we ever made to the City, what would we do. Now that we're here, it doesn't feel real. Neither of us are where we intended to be.
I wonder if she remembers what she said before she died. She told me that she loved me, and implied that she always did. Yet, she's here acting like it never happened. I keep waiting for her to say something, but she doesn't. Did she not mean it? Was it just a slip of the tongue while death was fast approaching?
"We should probably get out of the cold," I suggest. Yuuka merely nods. My brain keeps spinning as we walk back. A lot of things doesn't seem to add up. Yuuka remembers being a Dark Signer, but doesn't remember the I love you, which is quite crucial?
"How are Jack and Crow?" She asks. I tell her the basic situation. Jack and Crow still fight constantly, very loudly and too near me for my liking. Jack won't get a job, probably because his only skill that can be made into a job is dueling, and underground tournaments are beneath him. Yuuka seems amused by this. I suppose she doesn't have to live with it. That, and she can have an argument going on around her and not be burdened with horrific anxiety. Anytime one of them as much as raises their voice, I start to block them out.
"You should come over sometime," I say quickly once we reach her apartment building, which looks fairly rundown. A fear builds up inside me that I'll never see her again. After having her die the last two times I've seen her, I feel like, for once, my anxiety is justified. "I'm sure Jack and Crow would be happy to see you." I add, just to make it seem more reasonable.
"Yeah, I'd like that." She smiles. "I want to see them too." There's a pause, Yuuka begins to look vaguely panicked. "Wait, do you know how to get back from here?"
"Yes, I'm fine. Where we're living isn't too far from where you work." Yuuka looks very surprised, but brushes it off quickly.
"Oh good, well, goodnight then." Yuuka begins to turn to walk away, but quickly turns back.
"Goodnight," I nod slightly before walking away. Before I turn, I notice the smile growing on Yuuka's face. I think our talk has done her some good. I imagine that's the most she's smiled in a long time, by the sounds of it. The streets are quiet as I walk back, but I feel perfectly at peace. Yuuka's alive, and that's enough for me.
Yuuka coming over for lunch goes surprisingly well. I think it's the first meal that Jack, Crow and I have had together in the last three months. I realised that this might actually go well when I heard Yuuka laughing in the kitchen with Crow, where they were both making lunch. Yuuka was keeled over laughing about how she's finally taller than Crow, which she has never been before. It's then I realised how tall Yuuka's actually. She's barely shorter than me, when before, she could easily fit under my chin. It's strange to think of how much she's changed.
The conversation is pleasant. The conversation starts to veer towards what happened to Yuuka while she was in the City, after she mentioned getting a D-Wheel licence from Duel Academy of all places, but she dodges it completely. I think Jack and Crow stopped pressing because she starts to look overwhelmed. I change the topic of conversation to keep the heat off her. She already got emotional explaining it to me. The rest of her visit goes well.
As soon as the door closes behind her, Jack and Crow immediately turns their attention to me. "Where did you find her?" "Does she remember?" They ask simultaneously.
"She does remember most of it," I answer first. "A friend of hers got in touch with me. The guilt is eating her alive."
There's a pause. Both of them seem deep in thought.
"What's going to happen?" Crow asks.
"I don't know what you mean. Hopefully, we'll see Yuuka around here often. But I don't think any more than that will come of this."
"I just thought that she would-"
"Live with us?" I finish. "Crow, this is a three bedroom apartment. As much as I'd like that too, it won't happen. You don't know this, but Yuuka has an entire life here. She has her own apartment and everything. It's just as hard for me as it is for you." If not harder, I think to myself. "Four years is a long time."
Shinji calls me the next afternoon. He sounds panicked, so my anxiety shoots through the roof. Yuuka tried to leave Black Flag and dueled Raiden, and now she's in the hospital. You should probably come over. His words only make me more nervous. Is Yuuka really going to die again? Jack and Crow overhear me on the phone so they come along. On the way, I have to explain who Kaoru is. Because I know he's there. Their reaction to him would never be considered warm. I think they're still adjusting to the fact that Yuuka is different than she was before. Shinji keeps the details vague about what happened. He is well aware of the fact that Jack and Crow still don't know about Black Flag, or that Yuuka is a psychic. Once Yuuka is out of surgery, they don't allow visitors since she's just out of surgery and in the Intensive Care Unit. I decide to stay in the hospital. It feels wrong having no one in the hospital for her when she's like this. I'm still waiting around when they finally decide to let me in.
She's breathing, which is a plus. Everything else seems to be a negative. She seems deathly pale against the white sheets. Almost every inch of skin I can see is covered in bandages, except for her face, which just has minor cuts. It's harrowing. She seems like she's right on the verge of death. I stay the night, and manage to sleep in the uncomfortable armchair beside her bed. In the morning, Shinji arrives at the hospital, telling me to go home.
"You've been here all night, don't lie to me." I nod, because there's no point in lying.
The doctors say that Yuuka is completely fine, although she did need a blood donation from Kaoru. Nothing seems to be wrong, but she refuses to wake up from her coma, that's what the doctors are calling it now. She stays in that coma for a week.
Kaoru and I make this unspoken rule that I visit in the mornings, he takes the evenings, and that lets everyone else visit in between. Jack and Crow visit a lot, trying to make me go home. I see Shinji and his girlfriend. Another girl with purple hair who Shinji tells me is Anako. But on the sixth day, a giant bouquet of flowers arrives and no one knows who sent them. Everyone assumed it was me, which is wrong. Am I that obvious?
Yes, I remind myself as I sit in the uncomfortable chair for the seventh day in a row.
She wakes on the seventh day, not too long after Kaoru arrived. He calls me to the hospital as they're discharging her there and then. Kaoru thinks Yuuka shouldn't stay by herself in her apartment while she's recovering. He has a fair point. She's limping and seems fairly out of it. I offer to let her stay with me. I barely sleep in my own bed, preferring the couch after working into the night on my D-Wheel. Not that I sleep much anyway. Yuuka seems genuinely surprised by the offer. She arrives in a taxi with Kaoru since she would absolutely not be able to ride on the back of my D-Wheel in her condition. I'm already home when she knocks. I don't know why she knocks. She is technically living here short term. Crow and Jack instantly descend on her to ask questions, about her injuries, nothing about how they happened. We start talking about the living situation since I maybe only told them five minutes ago that she would be staying at least for a few days. We agree that her staying in my room is the best bet, and that I'm sleeping in my normal spot, the couch. By the time we wrap up the conversation, we notice that Yuuka has dozed off on the couch. You think being in a coma for a week would make you well-rested, but I suppose not.
"Yuuka, you can stay in my room if you want." I say, looking up from behind my D-Wheel once I hear her stir.
"Oh no," her voice sounds groggy, "don't worry I can sleep on the couch."
"You're just out of the hospital, you need to rest." She makes a face and perks right up.
"I'm okay here, I can rest just fine on this couch." I open my mouth but she talks right over me. "Besides I'd have to climb that ladder. I don't have the energy to do that right now, and with my ankle as it is right now, I couldn't climb it anyway." And my mouth closes right back up. No one out of the three of us thought of that. I guess we've grown so used to the ladder that leads to all the bedrooms that we fail to notice it anymore.
I suppose it's alright to let her sleep on the couch. Jack and Crow are silently sitting on different sides of the kitchen upstairs, clearly listening in on our conversation.
"Are you seriously letting her sleep on the couch?" Jack asks.
"Do you think Yuuka would let you carry her up that ladder?" I point at it.
"As much as I hate to agree with Jack," Crow pauses, "I agree with Jack."
"Why can't you agree with Jack on literally anything else?"
"Don't dodge this." He responds back, quick as lightning.
"Listen," I sigh, "Yuuka is very tired. You know how stubborn she is-"
"You just can't say no to her." Jack butts in. "Always have."
"Can we please-" I try to beg.
"What's going on anyway between you two?" Crow asks.
"I'm getting her a blanket and pillow. She's sleeping on the couch tonight. If anyone wants to change that, they can convince Yuuka themselves and carry her up the ladder."
"Here you go," I say once I get back down into the garage, handing the blanket and pillow to Yuuka. I can't believe she really got me to let her sleep on the couch, when she's in the condition. I can't argue with her, she's got a fair point. But I'm also giving her exactly what she wants, and yet, I can't say no to her. She stands up to take them. She smiles softly, before setting them down on the couch. She wraps her arms around my neck and into a hug that I'm not ready for. She rests her chin on my shoulder. I'm very overwhelmed but I manage to wrap my arms around her in my panic. She has been this close to me in so long, well, when she wasn't dying. She's so much more sturdier now. Now, she fits comfortably in my arms. When before, I could nearly wrap my arms around her twice.
"You worry too much," she says softly.
"I'm just glad you're okay. You had me worried there." Somehow, it's easier to say when I'm not looking at her face. I feel my emotions are constantly doing a bungee jump. I keep having to face the idea that Yuuka might be dead, but then she appears alive, only for her to face death again. It's tiring. But I still won't let go of the idea that she will be okay, no matter what. It keeps me sane.
Yuuka pulls back from the hug with a smile on her face. "I'm sturdy now remember. It'll take more than that to take me out." I pull back from the hug too. Her face drops. I'm just picturing Yuuka fading to dust in my arms over and over, just like in my dreams. Maybe a collapsed building won't kill her, but this Signer stuff will. She smiles at me with an eyebrow raised, but still the sleepiness in her face can't be denied. She tried to make me feel better, but failed horribly. I can't help but smile back.
"Goodnight Yuuka." I say, still smiling. She looks like she might fall asleep on the spot, and she looks far cuter than she should. I start moving backwards, I suppose no more late nights while Yuuka's here.
"You're not finished what you're doing." She points at my D-Wheel. "Don't worry about me, you can keep working."
"Are you sure?" Is this allowed? If she says it's okay, I suppose it is.
"Yeah, go on." She nods. "It won't bother me." She takes off her jacket and throws it on the back of the couch, and places her shoes by the edge of the couch. She places her pillow at the end of the couch and lies down under the blanket. Despite being on the opposite side of my D-Wheel to her, I can still see her head on the couch. I can tell she's trying to watch me work, but her eyes are already drooping.
"Goodnight," I say softly. I look at her, not even a second later, to find her asleep.
"So Yuuka's homeless?" Crow asks after I explain the situation to them. "Because she was in a coma and couldn't pay rent. So, she's staying with us?"
"Pretty much."
"Are you going to make her sleep in your room now that this is a bit more permanent?" His eyes narrow.
"I tried that," I sigh. "How do you think that went?"
"I don't want to be a bother." Crow tries to do his Yuuka impression, which has always been bad and over-exaggerated.
"If she hears you doing that impression, she'll kill you."
"Hold on a second," Jack is scowling at me. "You knew Yuuka was in a gang?"
"It came up." Jack blinks at me in surprise.
"And you didn't do anything? You know we kept her out of Team Satisfaction for a reason. She got kidnapped by the Fear Unit, you remember that."
"I do-"
"And now this?"
"Jack," I sigh. "Things are different now. She's not scrawny anymore. Not to mention, she's a psychic duelist. I don't think gang warfare was a problem for her."
"But some asshole was?"
"Something was up there." I feel my eyes narrow. "Whenever he gets brought up, Yuuka actually tenses."
"I don't like this." Jack says.
"Neither do I, but there's nothing we can do."
"Have you guys noticed something?" Crow asks after a pause. He gets our attention. "Yuuka is acting really weird. Like when-"
"Crow, I hate to break it to you, but that's how she is now. It's not just us that she's acting weird around."
"So you're harbouring a former Dark Signer?" Aki asks, after arriving the one time Yuuka isn't home. I haven't seen her in a while, not since she's decided to go back to Duel Academy.
"Yes." Her face hardens. "You shouldn't be so quick to judge. She's sorry for what she did."
"It's not that." Her voice goes very quiet. "I just thought you would have said something sooner." There it is. I'm slowly starting to suspect that Aki is infatuated with me. I try to ignore that tiny fact, because I know that I'll never feel the same way.
"I'm sorry about that," I reply. "She makes this place a bit more… lively. You'll understand when you meet her."
"Will I?"
"Aki," I say gently. "She really needs a friend right now." Her face finally falls. "She's not that different from you. From what I've heard, you and her could have very easily swapped places."
"I can't say no to that, can I? I can't turn my back on someone like me."
Yuuka and Aki's meeting is awkward to say the least. Turns out they vaguely knew each other in Duel Academy, something that I should have seen coming given everything else that's happened. It takes Yuuka a while to come out of her shell, as I expected. But Yuuka and Aki become better friends than everyone expected. However, Jack and Crow still look at her with wary eyes.
Until one day, we suddenly hear Jack coughing in the kitchen. I notice Yuuka immediately lifting her book so it covers the entirety of her face, something instantly recognisable.
"Crow!" He screams at the top of his lungs. "Did you swap the sugar and salt? The one time I decide to make my own goddamn fucking coffee."
"Why the fuck would I do that? You can literally see me making tea."
"Wait a fucking minute." There's a pause, and footsteps on the stairs. I duck behind my D-Wheel. Why do they have to be so loud? "Yuuka." Jack's voice is flat, but he is definitely pissed.
"Yes?" Yuuka lowers her book, the faintest smile on her face. Jack just keeps frowning at her.
"You swapped the salt and the sugar, didn't you?"
"I've been down here all day, Jackypoo. Yusei can tell you that." I glance at the recently emptied coffee cup by her feet. I make myself look busy. I don't think either of them have spotted the cup.
"Sure you have." Jack pulls Yuuka up off the couch and into a noogie. "Thought you could trick me again? You got me with the sharpie, but not this time?" I notice that Yuuka's not struggling much, but instead is laughing for once. Her book has fallen onto the couch, long forgotten.
"Crow, did you rat me out? Fucking tattletale!" Yuuka starts to struggle, vaguely moving in the direction of Crow.
"I suppose that's enough, for now." Jack smirks while letting Yuuka go.
"If this book wasn't borrowed from Emiko, I swear," she glares in Jack and Crow's direction while holding said book up. "This would be going straight for your heads."
"Yuuka, that's not how that works." Crow smugly shakes his head.
"Oh, I'll find a way, don't worry." She chuckles darkly. "Smack your heads together and thrash you both, simple." She turns her attention back to the book, now closed after falling from her hands. "I've lost my place in my book, so don't fucking tempt me, cause I'll do it." She sits back on the couch with a thump.
"Welcome back," Jack says with a smirk before leaving. Yuuka looks after him in confusion. As soon as we're in the room alone again, she lets out a chuckle.
"What?" I pipe up.
"Oh, it's nothing." There's a small smile creeping onto her face. "I just missed this. For once, it actually kinda felt like old times."
"And all it took was some salty coffee." Our eyes meet and she laughs.
The way her face wrinkles is just the same way it did all that time ago. She laughs like there's not a care in the world. There's still a softness to her eyes, despite how furrowed her brow gets. Jack and Crow say she's a million miles away from how she was back then. Underneath that tough exterior, so broken down from everything, she's still that wide-eyed girl who stared into the smog, hoping for stars.