.

62. F*ckin' Perfect – P!nk

Vivian slammed open the door. It crashed against the wall and smacked her in the chest, ricocheting her back into the hall. Undeterred, opened it again and ran through before it could try to knock her unconscious a second time.

"Mai!" Her angry shout echoed off the walls. "Mai Kujaku! Where the hell are you?"

The dressing room was empty. The coffee percolator on the side seemed to mock her. In film studios this was called a 'green room', but at a Duel Monsters duel the only thing green was the odd contestant about to bring up their lunch. Vivian scanned the room and stamped her foot in frustration.

"Where the hell did she go?"

The crowds emptied ages ago and the workers were all gone. She had evaded being thrown out through wit and gumption, but hiding in a broom closet had left her ticked as hell and willing to vent it. She stalked down to the arena and climbed into the stands to get a better look. Sure enough, invisible from ground level, a figure crouched in the well of one duellist-platform. Cursing in Chinese, Vivian scrambled to get down there before Mai had the chance to bolt again. Since power to the arena had been turned off after the duel was over, the field was in near-darkness the closer she got.

"Mai!"

The figure moved.

Vivian stood at the base of the platform. "Mai, get your butt down here right this minute!"

"Go away," came the muffled response.

Setting her chin, Vivian made sure there really was nobody around to ogle her underwear and clambered up to the platform. Mai raised her head. Her eyes were little more than dark circles, like black holes in her face, forming portals to a world of blackness and pain. She had been crying. The meagre light glinted off her wet cheeks.

"I told you to go away!"

"As if." Vivian adopted a lotus position next to her. It was a bit of a squash, but she was used to forcing her way in to places she wasn't welcome. "They've locked us in, you know. They think we already went back to the hotel, but of course I couldn't because my partner decided to go AWOL on me."

"You should've gone without me."

"Again: as if."

She watched Mai hold her knees like a little kid listening to their parents fight from the top of the staircase. This had been approaching for a few days. She had seen the signs and tried to prvent them, but depression was an insidious beast with claws that dug in and held on. Mai's past was her own business, but sometimes she went to such dark places in her own head that Vivian was almost afraid to follow. Bullheadedness usually got her through that. It always had before.

"It's going to be cold sleeping here tonight," she observed.

Mai said nothing.

"At least there are snack machines. I have some coins left. It'll be melon-pan for dinner and breakfast, though, plus one of those hideous energy drinks. I think I saw a soda machine in the lobby, but if they've locked the doors, we're sunk. I wonder if they have security guards in a place like this. It may have gone completely digital and rely on cameras and motion-sensors and –"

"Viv."

Vivian stopped. Very few people were allowed to call her that. "Yeah?"

"Why do you stick with me?" Mai refused to look at her. "I'm a wreck. You're a talented duellist. Why bother with me when I'm only holding you back?"

Because you're the strongest woman I've ever met. Because you've been through the kind of crap that usually breaks a person so they can't be fixed, and you survived it. Because I admire you. Because I wish I was more like you. Because you're perfect, even though you think you're worthless. Because I think I might be a little bit in love with you.

She didn't say any of that. She just shrugged and said, "We're the ultimate duellist duo: brash and beautiful battling bodacious babes. Besides, whose hair straighteners and make-up am I supposed to borrow if you're not around?"

Mai looked at her, face unreadable. Then she smiled. It was tiny, but it was there. Vivian's anger and frustration melted like snow under a heat-lamp. Whatever man – and it had to be a man, because Vivian's intuition on these things was never wrong – had hurt Mai was an idiot. A fool. A dumbass, even.

"Thank you," Mai said softly.

"Meh." Vivian shrugged. "Whatever. But you owe me a stellar brunch when we get out of here tomorrow."

.