This story's going over better than I thought.
After watching Akiza doze off to sleep for a few minutes, I made my way back upstairs. Again, when I reached Jack's doorway, yet another empty bottle zoomed past my face and shattered against the wall.
"Who was at the goddamn door?" Jack fumed, still asleep.
"Um…someone looking for directions," I disguised as a lie.
"Whoever the hell it was, at least they're gone," Atlas fumed again. "And clean up that glass. Someone could step on it." I looked down at the sharp shards of glass and merely swept it closer to the wall.
"I'll deal with it in the morning," I yawned as I got in my room and returned to sleep.
It didn't take long for me to go back to sleep. What didn't sit well with me was the passage of time during a deep sleep. It wasn't even 2:00 AM when I laid my head down and just like that, it was already sunrise. It felt like a second.
The first of us to greet the sun was Crow. The only thing that I think makes him an "early bird" (insert rim-shot here) was all that time he spent looking after his orphans. I heard his footsteps and creaks of the floor get quieter and quieter, but then they got louder and came closer to my door. Following that were a few sotto knocks, just loud enough to jar me from my sleep.
"You knocked?" I greeted him in a strained voice after opening the door.
"Did one of us leave the door unlocked last night?" the Blackwing duelist questioned me. "'Cause there's someone sleeping in the workshop." At first I didn't know what he was talking about, but after gathering my bearings together, it all came back to me.
"You don't need to panic," I said to placate his worry. "Follow me." I slipped out in the hallway, carefully nudged my door open to allow air flow, motioned for Crow to follow me, and tiptoed to the stairs that oversee our workshop floor, being cautious to not disturb Jack. When we got back to where Crow found our interloper, I looked down to her, still sleeping.
"Who is that girl?" he whispered to me. "And how in the world did she get in?"
"Her name is Akiza," I explained in a low volume. "She's…..the dancer I told you guys about."
"From the club?" Crow quizzed with widening eyes.
"You are correct, sir," I confirmed his ploy. "She got stuck on the chat we had and came here. She wants to be a duelist and learn from me."
"I'm not sure what to be feeling here: confusion or excitement," he commented, looking back at Akiza. "On one hand, we have an exotic dancer under our roof. On the other hand, I wonder why an exotic dancer wants to learn how to duel."
"Well, you can have as many thoughts as you want," I refuted. "But she's staying with us. I'm not sure how we should explain this to Jack." Right as Crow was about to make a suggestion, we heard Akiza begin to yawn and stretch out her limbs.
"Okay, she's waking up," I told him as we slowly walked down to see her. "Try and make her feel welcome."
"Understood, Yusei," he followed verbally. We got up closer to her while her eyes were still closed.
"Good morning," I greeted her to get her attention.
"Good morning to you as well," Akiza mirrored aloud as she noticed Crow was standing next to me. "Who's he?"
"This here is one of my two roommates, Crow," I gave as an introduction.
"Howdy," he said quickly. "Welcome to our home."
"Thank you," she said back in a kind tone. "Where's the other one of you guys?"
"Jack's still sleeping," Crow informed her. "Maybe he's still hung over from last night."
"Hung over?" Akiza questioned. "What do you mean?"
"Um, our friend likes to drink," I cleared up the confusion. "And he uses the empty bottles as projectiles."
"That explains the shattering sound I heard when I was sleeping," the dancer said pensively.
"I should be heading out," my orange-haired friend interrupted as he put on his helmet and brought his runner to life. "I'll see you two later." The garage door wheeled open and Crow sped out.
"Where's he going?" the magenta-haired young woman pondered out loud.
"Crow has a job," I pointed out. "So do I. Just not as frequently."
"What do you do?" Akiza asked again, sitting up.
"Mechanic for hire," I answered. My thoughts were shaken by a small grumbling sound coming from Akiza.
"Guess I'm hungry," she tittered. "Can't go wrong there since it took hours to get here last night."
"I can remedy that," I told her before I zipped up the stairs. "Hang tight." Quicker than a flash, I went through everything in our fridge and stole a few of Jack's doughnuts topped with chocolate and coffee icing. Nothing goes better with coffee than more coffee. I tossed them in the microwave and nuked them for a few seconds so they were soft and pliable. Once they were done, I brought them straight to Akiza.
"These look good," she told me. "One of the rules at the club was to make we didn't eat too much that threw off our figure. I can't remember the last time I had something like this." I saw her take a bite and her eyes formed a content look.
"Now if you'll excuse me, I got some glass to sweep up," I told her while backing up to the stairs. "And make yourself at home." A few steps up, I heard something.
"Wait Yusei," Akiza requested. She kissed the base of her fingers and blew it to me. This was a first for me. When has a girl like her ever blown me a kiss?
"Thank you for letting me stay," she continued. "No one's ever been this nice to me before." She took another bite of doughnut as I headed up the staircase.
"All in a day's work, Akiza," I thought to myself as I retrieved a broom and dustpan. "All in a day's work."
There you have it: Akiza has been welcomed in by Crow and Yusei. The next part should focus on Jack finding out that Yusei let someone in. If anyone has other ideas, feel free to tell me. Keep reading and I'll try to keep you all enthralled.