Chapter Text
“What are you doing here ?” Sora asks.
It isn’t common to find Shun in a field of flowers. The ex-resistant don’t lack any kind of sensitivity, only that it slowly decreased with the war.
“Enjoying the view. It’s always a good sign to know that your hard work paid off.”
Oh. So that may be what Akaba Reiji referred to. Sora knew that Shun had found a job but he didn’t know which one. His relationship with him has been deteriorating one year ago. In fact, this is the first time he sees him since their last argument.
“So, you’re working here, don’t you ?”
“I’m in charge of keeping everything okay. Nurturing the plants, cutting the hedges, making sure that every flower bloomed with the most shimmering colors. People like them.”
In front of Shun are some flowers, with violet petals. They measure about one meter. He crouches before cutting delicately one of them. Then a second. He repeats the same gesture multiple times.
“It’s rare to see flowers in fall, isn’t it ?”
“Those only bloom in this period. Akaba told me to diversify the plants, in order to not have a dead garden when spring is over. Thankfully, this one is perennial, so I don’t have to sow the seeds each year.”
“I see.”
Silence is covering the garden, with only the sound of the cutter each time its blades reclose on the stalk.
“Besides your new job, anything new ?” Asks Sora.
“Not at all. You ?” Replies Shun.
“Crow got promoted as chief of his department. I remember that Yuya is beginning to work at You show school as a teacher, since he obtained his diploma. Gongenzaka took over as president the charge of the dojo. And Akaba is still boring. I swear I haven't seen him smile since the …”
The sentence got cut out in his throat at the memory. Yes, the last time the CEO truly smiled was when Yuya defeated him in order to make Reira smile. The same day that everyone realised that if the nightmare was over, it would also be at the price of the life of Yuto, Yugo, Yuri, and Ruri, Rin and Serena. They were still living inside Yuya and Yuzu theoretically. But for every person that once knew them, that was as if they were dead. Buried deep within the soul of their counterpart. No goodbyes, no farewells, no funerals. Not the time to mourn the lost ones. Not the time for Shun to realize that he did not only lose his sister, but also his best friend who was almost like a brother. Not the time for Shun to realize that he failed as a guardian. Not the time for Shun to realize that maybe destiny was already in motion since birth.
“Since his duel with Yuya. A splendid one.”
Sora can’t see his face, since the long green sea forelock hides the expression of the last Kurosaki.
“Did you see the last tournament that was held in Miami ?”
“No. Not interested. You ?”
“Of course.”
Since the end of the interdimensional war, Shun has totally dropped the duels. No more duelist disk on his arm, attached like a second member. No more deck carried around his hips. No more battle cries whenever he summoned a Xyz Raidraptor. No more flame in his eyes, no more hope to have something to anchor to, no more shore where to end up.
If Sora remembers exactly, it was after his duel with Yuya. His hope shattered brutally when even his precious cards that guided him during war couldn’t allow him to perform his form of revenge against Yuya. Against the one who involuntarily took away Yuto from him. Perhaps again Yuri too who took away Ruri. Sora knew that if he had defeated the young Entertainer, Shun would have been on rampage. “Perhaps that would have been better”, Sora thought bitterly. To externalize his anger and his pain once and for all.
When peace was established, and Heartland began to be rebuilt, Sora remembered that Akaba had ordered to retrieve his deck and his disk.
“We don’t want to start off new incidents if you have to work with Fusion duelists.” Akaba justified. “The same treatment will apply to them.”
Shun didn’t agree. Taking away what was the last thing who kept it alive ? Akaba could have gone to hell.
It was Kaito who, the next morning, had brought to his office the disk. Sora then heard that a violent argument burst within the two, and Kaito was definitely not someone that Shun talked with during the months that followed.
“Why did you do this ?” Sora asked.
“It was the best. Duel is something that will always remind him of his biggest failure. He needs to take a break away from this. I can’t force him to go to a psychologist, but at least, this is what I can do to ease his mind.”
Gradually, Sora saw the changment. There was too much to do in Heartland, too little time, and day after day, minds seemed to be appeased. Life was the same as before the war, with the kids going to school, the adults working, soon restaurants opened up, there were people in cinemas, the first news that didn’t talk about the restoration of the city were broadcasted. People could sleep well, there were less and less patrols in the streets at night. Sora even remembered the moment when Shun moved away in his apartment.
“You’re sure this won’t be too little for you ?”
It was a one room apartment of 21m². But when Sora saw that Shun had hardly anything, just some food and a toothbrush, he began to think that maybe, that was too big for this lonely bird. Years later, the walls are still blank, the principal room still has an only chair, and the cupboards still have three different sets of clothes.
“You know, your clothes are kind of boring now. Why don’t you change them ?”
“I don’t see the point. Nobody would visit me.”
When the country was approximately wealthy, Shun began to barricade himself in his apartment. Sora still wondered what he did during those days.
Sure, Allen and Sayaka paid him a visit sometimes. But it was short. And Kaito was still unwanted.
To be honest, Sora doesn't know who has kept in touch with who.
That’s the reason why he was surprised that one day, he learnt that the duellist didn’t want to duel again. Sora had brought back his belongings since he wasn’t defined as a threat, but Shun just put them in a box.
“Maybe tomorrow.”
Months later, the answer was the same. At one point, Sora lost his patience and finally lashed out.
“Why don’t you want to duel ? Are you scared ?”
He shouldn't have said that.
Shun wasn’t scared. He was truly terrified. Terrified that he sees once again in his dream those dogs of metal tearing apart the corpse of her sister, that he watches once again the disappointed look on Yuto’s face before he died, that he has to repeat the same infernal cycle between life and death as he was smashed under the foot of those giants of iron. Some nights, it was sickness that took away his friends, hunger, the cold of winter. Some nights, he dreamed that he found them again and it hurts to know at each wake up, it was only a bittersweet memory.
That day, Shun didn’t respond.
“Get out.”
Those were his last words as Sora left his ex-friend’s home.
He should have been more comprehensible. After all, he wasn’t the one who has been hunted down for nearly three years.
“Here. Take this.”
Shun offers him the bouquet he has made with those violet flowers. Sora takes it hesitantly.
“Is it a habit from you ?” Words left his mouth before he could think of them.
“No. You’re the third person I offered them.”
They are beautiful, and Sora wonders why Shun specially gives them to him. As he was deep in his thoughts, Shun slowly walked away, maybe to take care of another plant.
“Hey ! Before you go”, and Sora engulfs a big gulp of air, “can you tell me what they are ?”
Shun turns around.
“They are Tatarinow's asters. They mean “I won’t forget you”.”
The day after, Sora learns that Shun has disappeared.