"I think Muto-san is with Ushio-san right now." Hanasaki answered from his book.
Dear Yugi,
Hi! My name is Chiagozie but you can call me Rey since that's what most people call me and I just turned 8 today.I like sweets,reading,math, and space. This is my first time doing this pen pal thing, but my teacher told me that It would be really fun. I hope we can be friends.
Sincerely, Chiagozie.
01/24/2002
"I'm glad I got to see Yugi," Chiagozie said as she hugged Yugi.
"Sorry I couldn't come visit the shop today Yugi," she said regretfully she released him."I was really looking forward to it."
Yugi smiled reassuringly at her," Don't worry Rei, and I'm glad I got to see you again."He smiled at her and Chiagozie felt the urge to hug him again.
She didn't though because if she did then Yugi would see her as clingy and her old friends always used to say that she made them uncomfortable.
(That's probably why they left that day.)
Yugi smiled up at her. "Bye Rei, see you tomorrow." Chiagozie's lips curled up slightly as she gave him a mock salute, already looking forward to the next day. "See Ya."
Yugi laughed, mirroring her actions before leaving, and disappeared in the hallway. Chiagozie yawned, stretching her back, as she walked back inside the class and the task at hand.
Cleaning the classroom.
Before Chiagozie came to Japan she made sure to learn all that she could about Japanese high school and all its functions. One of them is that students clean their classrooms when the day has ended.
She groaned, why was it that she was the one who had to do it today of all days, she just because she had wanted to go to Yugi's grandpa's game shop with Yugi today.
At least she's not doing this by herself though, since there's someone who's also cleaning the classroom with her. Speaking of that, someone. Chiagozie spun around to face a mostly barren classroom, her eyes scanning the room until they landed on that someone.
"Hey Hanasaki-san?"
Hanasaki Tomoya.
He was that one short smart kid who sat in the front of the class. He didn't really have any friends, from what Yugi had said to her as they swapped notes in class.
(She looked at the notebook in her hands, then stared curiously at Hanasaki's hunched form scribbling down notes she was supposed to be taking. She looked away just when Hanasaki noticed her staring and decided to look back.
'Must suck to be him.' She wrote swiftly on the notepad before sliding it back to Yugi. He raised a questioning eyebrow at her and she looked at him in mild confusion.' What?'
Yugi shook his head and scribbled something on the page before reaching over to pass it to her and she reached towards it.
"Muto-san, Reynold-san." They both flinched at the sound of Orio-sensei's voice," If what you're writing isn't the notes then I suggest that you drop it."
Orio-sensei gave her a pointed look as he added."Especially you Reynold-san considering that you just transferred a week after the school year started." She ducked her head.
Both of them nodded their heads in embarrassment at being caught not paying attention. Yugi withdrew his hand away from her as they tried catching up on writing the notes.)
"Yes, Reynold-san?" Hanasaki's brown eyes looked through round lenses, up at her from the table he was pushing toward the wall. He gave her a timid smile.
"You like Zombire right?"She asked as she walked up to him. It was a pretty popular comic book series back in the States if the conversations she happened to hear at her old school were anything to go by.
She doesn't really care for the series, but she has seen Hanasaki reading a new volume when she passed by his desk in the morning. The only reason she was asking was that she happened to have brought 2 extra copies of a special edition Zombie comic with her. It was just lying around, and she didn't really need more than two anyway.
(Yugi saying that he and Hanasaki were cool with each other had also been a deciding factor.)
"Y-Yeah I do. Why?"Hanasaki asked, adjusting his glasses nervously.
She looked directly at him for a few seconds as she thought about her next words. She doesn't want what she says to be taken the wrong way. Her Japanese is good, but not perfect.
"I have an extra of Zombire: Lives Switched Special Edition #5. I was wondering if you wanted to come home with me. It's just me since my family didn't come with me."
"W-what!"Hanasaki blushed furiously, eyes blown wide, "You want me to go home with you, just the two of us? Aren't you and Yugi together?" Chiagozie looked at him weirdly before the realization of her words set in.
"I didn't mean it in a weird way or anything." She said looking away, "I meant like when we're done. Me and you could walk home together so I can get it and give it to you." She clarified.
"Oh."He shuffled awkwardly and an awkward silence settled between them.
Chiagozie glanced at Hanasaki, "Umm, I could just give it to you tomorrow if you still want it." She said quietly.
"No!" Chiagozie flinched at his sudden loudness, "O-oh, uh, then never mind" she started awkwardly.
Hanasaki's eyes widened as he frantically interrupted her, "No, I mean I would love it if you give it to me today!" He scratched his cheek, "Sorry about that."
Chiagozie blinked before she waved him off."It's fine." Chiagozie told him, rolling up her sleeves,
"Let's finish this quickly, so I can give it to you before the sun goes down."
She made her way over to Hanasaki's side and by its legs, lifted the table that Hanasaki was struggling to move.
Russet eyes look directly into Hanasaki's eyes as she gives him a small grin. He gives her a nervous but excited grin in response.
"Y-yeah!"
-_-_-_–_-_-_-_-_-
[Next Day]
"Did you even sleep last night?"
Chiagozie asked Yugi as he yawned again for the Millionth time. She had her head down in her arms as she looked at Yugi sleepily trying to blink him awake.
It was just them and Hanasaki inside during break, though he was in his seat up front reading Zombire: Lives Switched Special Edition #5.
(The same one she had given him.)
He gave her a sluggish nod as he rubbed his eyes, "I just stayed up all night trying to finish the puzzle."
Chiagozie instantly perked up at the mention of Yugi's puzzle, eyes sparkling with anticipation. "Oh, did you fin-" Chiagozie didn't even get to finish her sentence as she was rudely interrupted.
"Reynold-san!" Both Chiagozie and Yugi's heads snapped in the direction of the voice who had butted into their conversation.
The culprit was none other than one of their female classmates. Whose name she doesn't know the name of yet, walked into the classroom.
She had long lilac hair that was tied into a ponytail with a bright yellow ribbon. She looked out of breath as her tawny brown eyes locked onto her as she made her way over to Yugi's desk.
Only for her to walk two steps into the classroom and spot Hanasaki. Ribbon(let's just call her that) eyes widened, and emotions close to happiness spread on her face.
Instead of going straight for where they were, she made a stop at Hanasaki's desk. At first, what seemed to be a simple hi morphed into a full-blown conversation.
At this, Chiagozie's mood instantly soured, not only did this girl interrupt her, Ribbon interrupted her only to start a new conversation.
She took a peak at Yugi, only for her to see him on the verge of going into hibernation. She frowned, not wanting to wake him. Instead, she looked passively at the girl and Hanasaki.
They were laughing at a joke that Hanasaki had made, both of their smiles bright. Then the girl put a strand of hair behind her ear and gave him a small quiet smile.
Hanasaki gave one back.
The way they looked at each other, staring into the other's eyes as they continued talking made her feel like she wasn't supposed to be looking.
So she looked away.
Still, she couldn't help the low snort of disbelief that left her lips at what she witnessed.
"So he does have friends," she mumbled under her breath in English. Yugi blinked out of pre-hibernation, half-lidded violet eyes looking at her questioning.
"Did you say something?"
Chiagozie shook her head and discreetly pointed in a preoccupied Ribbon's direction. Yugi's tired eyes followed the direction of where her finger was pointing.
Understanding dawned on his features before he looked back at her. In a low voice, he muttered Ribbon's actual name under his breath. "Nosaka."
Chiagozie traced 'thank you' on Yugi's deck in gratitude, he smiled tracing what seemed to be 'your welcome' back.
Nosaka, finally remembering that she had come here for Chiagozie, hastily cut her and Hanasaki's conversation. She hurried over to them, "Sorry about that." she said embarrassed.
'You should be.' Chiagozie thought as she stared at Nosaka blankly," It's fine Nosaka-san." she said dismissively and Nosaka flushed slightly.
"What did you want?" she asked, russet boring into bronze-colored eyes.
Nosaka perked up, smiling slightly smug," Orio sensei asked me to come see him at the teacher lounge right now." Noaka told her and Chiagozie felt her heart drop at her words.
"Huh?" Because what else would she say? It's only been 5 days since she came to Japan and a day since she started school here. What would her parents say if they heard about this?
Ugh, she doesn't even want to think about how badly it'd end for her. "Why would he want to talk to me?" Did she even do something that would get her in trouble?
What she and Yugi did earlier in the day crossed her mind, but she waved the thought away. If that were the case then Yugi would be in trouble as well.
"He just told me to call you over," Nosaka added unsure. Chiagozie tuned Nosaka out as she looked at Yugi for anything that he might add.
Only to see Yugi sleeping soundly, with his head down on the desk.
"Come on, we have to go." Nosaka reminded her. Chiagozie looked at her in disdain for a second before groaning.
Reluctantly getting up from her seat, and followed Nosaka out. Before she left the door she told Hanasaki to tell Yugi where she went if he woke up before she came back.
-_-_-_–_-_-_-_-_-
"Have a good day, sensei." Chiagozie bowed at a 30° angle that she had practiced multiple times at home before walking out the door of the teachers' lounge.
Chiagozie let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding once she was out of sight. Relieved that Orio-sensei had only called her to ask questions about what she thought of the school.
He also asked about her Filming program, in which she told him bluntly that it hadn't started yet and would start a week from now.
After that, he had asked her a few more things about how she was adjusting to her new life here in Japan before dismissing her.
When Chiagozie finally came back to the classroom she walked into a completely empty classroom. The exception being Hanasaki, who seemed to be reviewing what looked like the notes.
"Where did Yugi go?" She asked Hanasaki, waving as a quick greeting. She didn't wait for him to answer as she walked over to Yugi's desk.
She looked around his desk to see if he had left anything behind that indicated where he had gone, but she found nothing.
"I saw Yugi-san go with Ushio-san right after you left," Hanasaki answered without looking up from his notes.
Chiagozie's eyebrows furrowed, as she racked her brain for anything familiar about the name Ushio.
"Who's Ushio?" She asked. Hanasaki looked up from his notes in slight shock," What?" She questioned him again, annoyed.
Hanasaki shook his head," Sorry I forgot that you're new to Domino High with how you and Muto-san act together."
Chiagozie chose to let that last part slide as she asked again. "So, who's Ushio?"
-_-_-_–_-_-_-_-_-
Jounouchi doesn't get a lot of things.
It's not surprising considering he's not the sharpest tool in the shed, but he's not a complete idiot. No, that title goes to Honda.
Still, some things just leave him confused, like Yugi.
He doesn't understand Yugi defending him, after everything Jounouchi has done to him. He's still able to call Jounouchi and Honda his friends.
Say that they weren't picking just teaching him how to be a man.
Crazy right, what kind of idiot do you have to be to say that kind of shit? But Jounouchi sits stunned as Yugi gets beat up, because of them.
(For them.)
It does something for Jounouchi. That's why when Ushio has left, he wakes Honda up before lugging Yugi onto his back despite his injuries and carrying him to the infirmary.
(Sending apologies under his breath as they continue to walk.)
Sunlight filters through the hallway windows, and they're lucky that the hallways are usually empty this time of day. So there's no one there to witness their beat-up form.
It was quiet except for Honda's small grunts of pain as he walked, that is until Reynold came, barreling down the stairs.
And that's how she finds them. He and Honda's bruised and bloodied bodies, with an equally injured unconscious Yugi on his back.
She stops and stares. They stop and stare back. Nobody makes a sound.
Her eyes widened as she took in the sight of their injuries from a distance. Bruises all over any visible part of their bodies, Honda's limp and Jounouchi's bust lip.
And Yugi.
The moment Reynold's eyes lock onto unconscious form Yugi's, she runs.
Carefully, she takes Yugi off his back and into her arms. She runs towards the infirmary, sending them a fleeting glance of concern before she leaves. He and Honda just let it happen they followed after her.
When they're close enough to the infirmary doors Jounouchi hears the sounds of Reynold's and the school nurse's hushed voices as they talk.
He tuned them out the moment his and Honda's names as he walked into the infirmary. Reynold quieted, and both eyes turned to look at them. He stared into russet eyes before they turned away and he made a beeline for the first empty bed he came by and collapsed.
(He ignored their gaze burning into his back. The nurse's irritated one and Reynold's look of mild concern,)
Welcoming the feeling of memory foam mattress and cotton bedding with a sigh. Honda mirrored his actions as he let out a moan of relief.
Jounouchi breathes in and lets the momentary silence lull him to sleep.
When he woke up Yugi and Reynold were gone, the only ones there were an already-awake Honda and an agitated school nurse to keep him company.
After a few yells from him, the school nurse dismissed them with the promise that they would be careful. They nodded and left.
The sun's already setting when he and Honda make it out of the gates of Domino. Only after a few minutes of walking did they parted ways, towards their respective neighborhoods.
Well at least Honda did, because instead of going straight home Jounouchi went for a quick swim.
The next day when Jounouchi sees Yugi and Reynold walking down the hallway together to class he meets them halfway.
Jounouchi waves to them in greeting and Yugi, surprised, gives a nervous wave back. Reynold just stops and stares at him disinterested.
Reynold's quiet as he starts a conversation with Yugi, quiet when he thanks Yugi for showing him their friends.
Reynold's quiet and looks away when he apologizes, eyes sincere as he looks straight into both her and Yugi's eyes.
Yugi's stunned for a second before he smiles wide and says okay.
Quiet when he runs away in embarrassment of his words, ending up losing one of his shoes in the process. Even as Yugi runs after him she's quiet.
Until he hears hidden under his and Yugi's shouts, her quiet laugh.
(And Jounouchi can't help but smile.)
Dear Reynold,
My name is Muto Yugi and I would really like it if we could be friends, please. Oh, I really like playing games, especially puzzles. Right now i'm trying to complete this ancient Egyptian puzzle my grandpa gave me. If I ever see you then you could be the first one to see it finished okay.
Sincerely, Muto Yugi.
02/02/2002
An: Sorry this was late guys, I had it already written out but forgot to post it fanfiction net as well. Also Happy holiday everyone!
This is Regalun signing out.
