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This is a bad idea. It was all Yusei could think as he parked his bike next to Aki’s outside the garage, on loop in his head. He shouldn’t have agreed to meet Aki here, should have stayed carefully distant. Maybe a quick nod of the head as she packed her things, maybe driving her to the airport. Certainly not meeting her alone in the dead of night just before she left for Germany. Before she left him.
But, Aki had insisted, sounding as bright and cheerful as he’d ever heard her over the phone. “Let’s meet one last time. Just us.” And Yusei was never good at denying her. So, he tried his best to push down his selfish desires, and agreed to this final meeting.
He’d faced worse. The Dark Signers, the Three Pure Nobles, Z-ONE… So why did meeting a friend scare him worse than anything? In truth, he wasn’t scared of her. He couldn’t be, not after knowing her heart as well as he did. Yusei was afraid of himself, of what he wanted to tell her. This was an incredible opportunity for her, studying medicine overseas, learning how to heal people. And he wanted her to give all that up, just so she could stay with him. It was selfish.
Yet, he was here. He had to face her, see her gentle smile and sparkling eyes, and be supportive. And he was nothing if not good at ignoring his own feelings to help someone else. He swallowed firmly, left his helmet on the back of his bike, and walked over to the garage, face carefully blank. The garage door was easy to lift; he threw it open with no trouble.
And there she was. Standing in the middle of the room in the dark, her hands behind her back, turned away from him. Sweater and jeans, the headband she’d taken to wearing pushing her hair back. All thoughts went out the window then. Yusei was frozen in the doorway, captivated by her simple beauty.
“Aki.” It was all he could say. He went to hit the light switch, to see her better, but her voice stopped him.
“Leave the lights off.” Yusei made a questioning noise, but his hand fell back by his side. “Once I started waiting here,” she continued, “I remembered all sorts of things… I can’t show you my face right now. You’re the only one here now, Yusei.”
“Yeah…” Yusei trailed off, finally walking into the room. He didn’t know what to do with his hands, so he stuck them in his pockets, false-casual. “So, what’s wrong?”
“I was hoping to give you a proper goodbye, Yusei…” She spun around to face him, one wrist still clasped in her other hand behind her back. His heart stopped in his chest. There she was, her brown eyes shining with an emotion he couldn’t easily identify. Excitement? Fear? Yusei tilted his head to the side, a gentle smile forming on his face without his control.
“I see…” Be supportive. Don’t ruin this for her. She can live her own life, make her own choices.
“Yusei–” Aki started, but she was cut off.
“Don’t leave!” For a moment, there was silence. Aki’s eyebrows were furrowed, her hand coming up to her heart. Yusei’s hands in his pockets had formed tight fists.
“What?” Was it his imagination, or did Aki sound hopeful?
Once the floodgates were open, he couldn’t stop himself. “Stay here, in Neo Domino. You can go to university here, I’m sure they’d accept you. Or you could become a pro duelist! Just– Don’t leave.” While he spoke, he’d walked closer to her, taking her hand in both his own. His gaze was firmly locked with hers. “Don’t leave me. ”
“Yusei, I…” She trailed off, not breaking eye contact. When she didn’t speak for a while, Yusei dropped her hand, taking a step back.
“I’m sorry, Aki,” he said, voice blank. “I didn’t mean to make such a selfish request. I know you have your own life, and I don’t want to ruin it for you.”
To his surprise, she shook her head fiercely. “You could never ruin my life, Yusei. You saved my life.” This time, Aki was the one to close the gap between them. “Do you know why I really asked you to come tonight?”
“To tell me goodbye, right?”
Aki shook her head again. “To tell you that I’ve always loved you.”
Yusei gasped, eyes widening. “Y-you don’t mean–”
“Ever since that day in the hospital, with my parents… That’s when I knew for sure.” Aki smiled bitterly, breaking eye contact to stare at the wall. “And I wanted to tell you before I left, to get my desires out in the open. I thought, maybe, I could erase them if I told you… Then, I wouldn’t be so conflicted about leaving anymore. So if anyone’s selfish here, it’s me.” Her hand was gripping her arm tightly, right over her signer mark.
Yusei’s heart broke, recognizing the position of insecurity. He put his hand gently over hers, tugging lightly until she let go and grasped his hand instead. “That’s not selfish. But I thought you had made up your mind?”
“I… On one hand, this is the opportunity of a lifetime. To see new parts of the world, meet people who don’t know the Black Rose Witch, people who would just see me … To prove that my hands are capable of healing, not harming.” Yusei nodded, tracing a thumb across the backs of her knuckles as she spoke. “But, that would mean leaving behind my home, my family. It would mean not being able to duel, something that I have learned to love. And it would mean not seeing you.” Aki met his gaze again, unshed tears glimmering in the corners of the dark eyes he loved so much. “And I’m not sure if I could bear that.”
“I couldn’t bear it either,” Yusei said, voice soft. “Because I love you too.”
At that, a tear finally spilled onto Aki’s cheek. Yusei wiped it away with the hand that wasn’t holding hers, cupping her cheek afterwards. Then, they moved in sync, both leaning in, lips coming together in a gentle kiss. The rest of the world they’d worked so hard to save might as well have vanished; everything to Yusei was now Aki, Aki, Aki.
He didn’t know how long they stood there, breathing each other in until they seemed to be one body, one soul. Then, Aki pulled away, and the garage came back into existence. “So, what do I tell the university?”
“What?” There was no way he had heard her correctly.
“If I’m going to be staying here, I have to tell them something ,” she continued, a bright smile forming on her face, visible even in the dark.
“You’re really staying?” Yusei mirrored her smile, unable to help himself. “But, the opportunity, your dream; you’re giving all that up?”
Aki shook her head. “That isn’t my dream, I see that now. A life with you is my dream. That is…if you’ll have me?”
“Aki…” Yusei trailed off, stupefied. “Of course. That’s my dream too.”
“Good,” Aki whispered, then leaned in to kiss him once more. “Now, what do you say? Care to help me practice?”
“Practice what?” Yusei said, tilting his head.
“Dueling, of course!” Aki laughed, then began heading out toward where the D-Wheels were parked. “If I’m going pro, I’m gonna need all the help I can get!”
“You don’t need my help,” Yusei said fondly, “not if you believe in yourself. But I never turn down a challenge.” He smiled as she laughed again, twinkling bells in the night air. Then he walked out, shutting the garage door and turning towards his new dream–a life with Aki Izayoi.