"Hey, Aki, I've been thinking about it for a while now," Kaze began one morning, "and I think you've just about got it. Control of your powers, I mean."
"Y-you really think so?" I asked. It seemed hard to believe, but after our last duel together, it didn't seem so strange. I had gotten through an entire duel without hurting someone.
"If it's alright with you, I'd like to just test out your powers," Kaze said. "There's a beach nearby, and it should work just as well at the waterfall did for me," Kaze continued.
"No, that's fine," I found myself smiling. Full control of my powers was finally within reach…! It was hard to believe that I was the same duelist I was back at Duel Academy.
And so, as we had done several times before, Kaze took my out to the garage and we got onto a D-Wheel. After a long, blissful ride, we arrived at a beach underneath the highway. It didn't seem like anyone was around, which was probably a good thing given what we were going to be doing.
"So, what I'm planning to have you do is fire into the ocean. If you can control your powers, you should be able to limit it so that it doesn't rebound any," Kaze explained. "Here, I'll show you," Kaze said while pulling out Brionac's card and summoning him in one fluid motion. The water began rippling a bit as Brionac's cold gust rushed through the air, but as always, his summoning was very tame. Kaze turned towards Brionac and gave him a nod, their gaze communicating their message. After giving a nod in return, Brionac uncoiled itself, rearing up to its full height as ice energy began forming in its mouth. When it finally let the energy go, it flew forward into the ocean, sending a small ripple through the water but nothing else.
"As you see, since the water wasn't disturbed that badly, that means that in a real duel it won't harm your opponents much at all. That's what you want to aim for," Kaze said as he made to pick Brionac's card up. His monster gave a soft growl, obviously protesting being put away when its mate was about to be summoned. Kaze rolled his eyes while chuckling to himself, lightly admonishing the monster lightly under his breath, before removing the card regardless. I found myself smiling at the two as I made to summon my own monster.
"Alright, Black Rose. We're going to do this, together," I said to my monster, who just continued staring at me. I disregarded it, however, as it soon began charging up its flames. My breath hitched as I watched her fire her attack. As the water sprayed into the air, my heart quickly sunk.
"Aki, don't worry about it! It's hard to get right, but you're almost there! Just believe in her, and believe in yourself, Aki! You two are two sides of the same coin," Kaze gently cheered me on. I nodded. It wasn't just me on my own anymore. I had Kaze with me. I could do anything with him by my side.
"Once more, Black Rose," I ordered my monster. Once more, it charged up before firing. As the flames hit the water, I found myself blinking a few times, making sure I was seeing things right. It… didn't do anything…? "I did it?" I found myself asking.
"You did," Kaze smiled at me. "You finally have control of your powers."
I found my heart swelling, rising into my throat as a smile made its way onto my face. Without warning, I enveloped Kaze into a hug. Sharing my glee, Kaze smile shifted into a grin as he embraced me in return.
"We did it…! I don't have to hurt anyone ever again…!" I choked out as I struggled to keep my emotions in check, but my joyous tears were already flowing and I felt giggles bubbling from deep within me. It was just too much. This whole time, there had been process, sure, but this… This was the nail in the coffin, so to say. I truly had control over my powers…! There was no doubt about it…! I…!
That's when a certain thought struck me, sobering me up and causing me to pull away from Kaze. "This… this means that we won't be training anymore," I said.
"Well, of course not. You don't need it anymore," Kaze seemed confused as he replied, but he soon caught on to what I was thinking. It wasn't the training at all, it was spending time with him. If I didn't have to train, would I sink into the background…? "Aki, we won't stop hanging out just because you can control your powers. We can just do our own thing instead," Kaze tried to comfort me. "Oh, but, we're a couple now, so it's dating instead, isn't it?" Kaze pondered out loud as he placed a hand to his chin in though.
"Yeah… We'll be dating from now on," I found myself fighting back a blush as I spoke. That didn't sound bad at all, just spending time with Kaze, every day being like this… "Ah, we have to go back to the movement…! We have to tell Divine the good news!" I gushed.
"Divine…?" Kaze questioned softly, shifting on his feet a bit.
"Of course! I'm sure that Divine would love to hear all about it!" I continued smiling at my boyfriend, who slowly nodded in agreement. With that, we returned back to the D-Wheel and began our ride back to our home. Much to my surprise, instead of pulling into the garage, Kaze stopped at the front doors. "Kaze? What's wrong?"
"Oh, it's nothing. I was just… Would you mind meeting up with me at, say, around 5 at the plaza?" Kaze asked. I raised an eyebrow in confusion.
"Huh…? Well, I mean, I can, but…" I trailed off as I slowly got off the D-Wheel.
"Don't worry, it'll be a surprise! I'll see you then," Kaze grinned at me before shooting off once more. A surprise? Suddenly I felt giddy, as if I was a school girl on her first date. What could Kaze have planned? Whatever it was, it was from Kaze, so it had to be great! Thinking about this, I made my way inside the Arcadia Movement.
This happiness… Life truly couldn't get any better could it?
And so, time passed. By the time I managed to track Divine down and tell him the good news, it was already approaching the time that I was supposed to meet Kaze. I made my way down to the plaza, as promised, and found an empty bench to wait on. It was a bit childish, but I found myself unable to keep still.
Whatever could he have planned? It had to be in commemoration of me getting control over my powers, right? Some kind of date at a restaurant that he had to get reservations for? Or would it be something simpler, like another trip to a botanical garden?
I mused with these thoughts for as long as I could before realizing that the number of people in the plaza were dying down. Reaching into my pocket for my phone, I found it was 5:20. Maybe he just got held up…? Yeah, that had to be it… I absent-mindedly swiped over to my messages screen, only to find nothing from the brunette. That wasn't surprising if he got held up… I just had to wait a bit longer for him, and he'd walk up, bumbling with apologies for being late.
The minutes ticked by as I constantly checked my phone, waiting for my boyfriend to show up, but there was no sign of him. By the time that six o'clock rolled around, I began getting worried. It wasn't like Kaze to just stand me up… Maybe he meant another plaza…? No, that can't be, this is the main plaza, there weren't any others… What if he somehow missed me and went home already…? What if Ida held him up again!?
With these kinds of thoughts in mind, I pushed myself off of the bench and dialed up Ida's number. Even though the thought of talking to irksome gray-haired teen made me sick, I doubted that she wouldn't miss the chance of gloating about her plan to me. For her sake, she better hope she wasn't holding him up, because I was beyond sick of her antics.
Figuring that standing there was no good, I began my walk back to the Arcadia Movement while listening to the phone ring. There was a click and I waited anxiously for Ida to give some kind of remark.
"We're sorry; you have reached a number that has been disconnected or is no longer in service. If you feel you have reached this recording in error, please check the number and try your call again."
I slowly lowered my phone from my ear, staring down at it in bewilderment. Disconnected or not in service…? But… Ida still had her phone connected to the network, so it should at least go through…
An uneasy feeling built in my gut, forcing me to walk at a faster pace to get back to the movement. If they thought this was some kind of sick game…!
When I arrived at the Arcadia Movement, I found Divine standing solemnly outside. Was he waiting for me…?
"Divine? What's going on?" I asked the man.
"Aki… I… I'm not sure how to say this…" Divine murmured, causing me to blink a few times, not sure what to expect. "I'm… regretful to inform you that your friends are no longer with us."
"W-what…!?" I choked out. "No, no, they can't be dead, they were just fine a few hours ago…!" I cried out as I latched onto Divine's suit, taking him by surprise.
"No, they're fine physically, but…" Divine trailed off as he gently took hold of my wrists and pulled my arms away from him. "I'll let the letter Kaze gave me describe it," Divine said as he reached into his pocket, causing me to draw back a bit. Kaze left a letter with Divine and not me? More pressingly, why wouldn't he just tell me in person? We had just seen each other not too long ago. He could have told me anything then…!
Divine held a folded letter to me, which I took with apprehension, slowly opening it, eyes scanning over the words.
'By the time you'll be reading this letter, Ida and I will be long gone from here. With the duels we've been having in our free time, we've finally saved up enough money to buy a headquarters like Ida wanted. We've taken a D-Wheel, so don't bother trying to catch up. We wouldn't want someone like you in our group anyway. You're abnormal, a freak, a witch. Having you along would just drag us down. - Kaze'
My hands, which had been trembling for some time now, dug into the letter as I reread the words over and over again. No, no, no…! That… these words didn't make any sense…! Kaze and I… we were… This… This was just some sick kind of joke…! But… that hand writing… It was undeniably Kaze's. Did that mean…?
"Aki, look, I'm truly sorry. I know this must be hard on you. I just want to-" Divine started as he reached out a hand but I quickly took off, running for my room, to prevent him from seeing the tears now streaming down from my eyes. It was all a blur, and the next thing I knew, I was on my bed, struggling to breath and not throw up from how revolted I felt.
That… that couldn't be true at all, could it…? Kaze… Kaze would never call me those things…! Kaze was the same as me, after all…! We were… We understood each other…! He would never run off with someone like Ida…! Ida just convinced him to write it as a joke…! He was going to come in any minute now and try to laugh it off as a joke, and I'd yell at him and scold him until he apologized and insisted that none of those things were true…! I… I just had to wait…! He'd send a message any minute now…! I just had to wait, watching the door, watching my PDA for a message…!
Every hour that passed, the agonizing feeling that seized my entire being got worse. Every minute that passed, I had to keep telling myself that it was all a lie, that our time together meant something, but every time I told myself this, I thought of all the reasons why it could be wrong. Each one tore into me like a knife, making it harder to breathe as I tightened my grip around my PDA.
It was well into the night, well past when Kaze was supposed to meet me. There wasn't a call or message since, all except one letter, the piece of paper that I had long since crumpled in my trembling hand.
I let out an anguished cry as I threw the ball of paper to the side before collapsing back onto the bed. I feebly reached up and clasped Kaze's necklace, trying to cling on to the hope that he'd come back. The metal felt cold to the touch.
That wasn't the last time that I ended up crying myself to sleep.
Reviews:
Jak357: Rei will be returning a bit in the story, yes, but for spoiler reasons, the details of it are obviously going to keep secret. As for Ida, this chapter addresses the first part, and secondly, Aki is definitely not open to sharing or even being intimate with Ida, so I'm afraid that's an intense no from her part, and Kaze wouldn't be open to cheating so... Of course, that was pre-this chapter, but shh...
Tyler Nator: Ah, well, that was sort of the point of that scene, so I'm glad it came across that way, odd as it may seem.
Everyone else: I'm glad you're all enjoying the story and Tobi's characterization. In response to SilverFlameHaze, I wouldn't say I based him off of Konohamaru, but he was modeled to be in that character type, if that makes sense.