Ah, it's been a while! Sorry, I've been super busy. Here's the next chapter!

Review replies:

AsterDragElf: Glad you like it! Here you go~

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Last time...

"Breaking news! Details of a coded note from the killer of Kai Shinji, deceased uncle of the famous cardfighter, Kai Toshiki, have been disclosed! Authorities claim that the killer may not mean anything by the coded threat that has stumped even our best detectives. It is unknown whether or not there is a target behind the killings."

Kai turned the T.V off. He didn't want to listen to anymore. He felt the dread settle in his stomach and realised dully that his rice was burning. Kai sighed and took it off the stove. Suddenly, he didn't feel like eating anymore. He set the burnt food aside and flopped onto his bed. He was so tired of everything. He soon fell into a difficult slumber.

A week later, Kai had calmed down some. Nothing had happened in particular that had pinpointed him as a target of anything and he hadn't heard from his aunt. A nagging feeling at the back of his mind reminded him that she might be dead for all he knew but he chose to live in denial of that possibility. He sighed as he lay down on the park bench to take a nap. It was a warm fall day with a light breeze blowing. It was one of Kai's favourite kinds of days; calm and warm. He let his eyes shut slowly and let himself be lulled into a light slumber by the warm breeze.

Kai stomped up the steps to his room. How could his parents do this to him? Just because there was something dangerous in the area, they wouldn't let him go to soccer practice with Miwa. This was totally unfair! It wasn't like he would get caught up in it! He vaguely heard his father calling him. Kai simply slammed his door and yelled,

"I hate you! I don't want to see you again!" He plopped onto his bed face first and hugged his pillow. Soon, he fell asleep, after rolling around in the covers. His bed was just too comfortable.

Kai was awakened by the sound of screaming and crashing from downstairs. He frowned. Something wasn't right. He quietly crept down the stairs, only to hear his mother's scream. Kai trembled in fear.

"M-Mommy? Daddy?" He quickly ran down the steps to be greeted by a scene that would forever haunt his nightmares. The hideous splatters of blood littered the clean floor that had been cleaned just a few days earlier. His father's unseeing teal eyes, from which Kai had inherited his own, stared blankly at his son's. His mother's light brown hair was matted thick with blood and the entire room reeked of iron. The smell made Kai want to retch. He heard heavy footsteps from behind him and before he could let out a scream, the intruder was upon him with a bloodied knife and a crooked smile.

Kai sat up in a cold sweat. He hadn't dreamed of that in a long time. Why did it come up now? He propped himself off the bench and made his way to Card Capital. He was about two steps from triggering the automatic door when his cell phone rang. He slowly took it out of his pocket, the familiar sense of dread sinking in when he read the caller I.D. It was his cousin. He shakily took the call.

"Hello?" he asked quietly. He listened intently to what the other had to say. The call lasted no longer than two minutes, but those two minutes might have been two of the most painful minutes of his life. Kai bid farewell to his cousin and began to walk away from Card Capital. He didn't feel like playing anymore. Three figures watched the lonely brunet go.

"Why won't he say anything?" Gaillard asked. Miwa just shook his head.

"He'll only say something if it really gets bad. That's the kind of guy he is, even though he's made progress from before." Aichi gave a sad smile as he watched Kai's figure retreat into the distance. When are you going to say something, Kai-kun? We can all tell you're in pain…

Kai locked the door of his apartment. How much more would he have to endure in this life? Could he just end it so that the rest of his family could be spared? He seriously contemplated the idea while his home phone rang again. This time, he was too fed up with anything to answer it. He let the phone ring and ring until his voicemail finally came on. It turned out that the call was from Aichi this time. Kai raised an eyebrow at this; since when did Aichi have his home phone? The message he left was anticipated; that he was worried, that all his friends were here for him and that they would all listen and help him through this, whatever it was. That was very nice and uplifting to Kai and all, but right now, he just wanted to be alone. After roughly half an hour, the phone rang again. Again, Kai was too exhausted and upset to answer. He continued to let the phone ring. His answering machine came on again and he was surprised to find that this time was from Gaillard. Over the course of the day, he received more phone calls, all of which were from the group from Card Capital. Kai raised his eyebrows to this and briefly wondered if one of them had found out what had happened. No. That's impossible, he told himself. The brunet sighed and got into bed. He didn't feel like dealing with anything more today. Not to mention, the funeral for his aunt was tomorrow. Naturally, she had wanted to be buried next to her husband. Kai silently wished he never had to go to another funeral again after this. He closed his eyes and fell into a fitful slumber.

Kai watched as his aunt's casket was lowered into the hole in the earth. To be honest, he was exhausted. He had hardly slept the night before because every time he tried, he would relive that nightmare of his parents' deaths. To make things worse, his uncle and aunt were periodically in them, moaning about how it was his fault that they were dead. He had woken up in a cold sweat more times than he could count. Kai sighed a placed a hand to his forehead. He had a giant headache.

The funeral ended on the same note as the deceased's husband: low. Kai walked out of the cemetery with his head low. His eyes were hurting; they were probably sore from all the crying he had been doing lately. Kai looked up when he bumped into someone.

"I'm sorry…" he started, when he realised just who it was that he had bumped into. "Ren." The aforementioned redhead was about to make a joke when he realised the state his best friend was in.

"Kai… your eyes are red. And you look exhausted. What happened?" Kai simply looked away. He didn't want to drag anyone else into this. This was his problem. So he simply continued to walk, brushing off Ren's calls after him.

Ren sighed. There was most definitely something bugging Kai. But the brunet was as secretive as ever and there was little to no chance that he would get any information out of him. The redhead was lost in his thoughts and ended up repeating what Kai had done to him: bump into someone.

"Sorry," he mumbled. He was surprised to hear a response from the other.

"Suzugamori Ren?" He looked up to find himself looking at none other than Olivier Gaillard. Ren smiled.

"Gaillard-kun. How are you?" The bluenet nodded in response. He had something more important to ask Ren.

"Was that Kai that just left?" The redhead nodded and put on a thoughtful face.

"Yeah. But he seemed troubled. Has something happened?" Gaillard frowned as he proceeded to recall the events from the past few weeks. By the end of it, Ren was scowling.

"How dare that person do that to Kai..." he seethed. Ren politely thanked Gaillard for the information and stalked back to Foo Fighter HQ. There had to be something he could find out.

Miwa made his way to Kai's apartment. He hadn't seen the brunet for a while and the last time the two had met, Kai looked like he was about to keel over and faint. He had brought some of Kai's favourite coffee mix over and thought that maybe the two of them could talk things over over a cup of coffee. When Miwa rang the doorbell, he hadn't expected to see Kai the way he was. His best friend's eyes were rimmed red, as if he had just finished crying, and dark bags were visible under his eyes. Kai looked haunted. Miwa allowed himself a moment of shock before shaking his head and bringing back his signature smile.

"I've got your favourite coffee. Want some?"

Until next time!