Chapter Text
Morning in Den City. The sun is rising above the main building of SOL Technologies. Some would say this is the most beautiful time of the day, just watching this red fireball emanating orange light and engulfing the world in it.
Not Yusaku though. Just another day of walking to school. He carried the same unexpressive face as always, casually carrying his bag in one hand thrown over his shoulder. While it wasn’t exactly a normal morning like any other he still acted like it was.
Everything was over. The Ignis were no more and with that Yusaku also lost one of his dearest friends in Ai. He took some time off and is now returning to school. Ai wouldn’t have wanted him to drown in sorrow and he has no intention of doing so. Still, it hurts.
When he arrived at school someone was waiting in front of the school entrance. Someone that he knew all too well.
“Fujiki Yusaku, you’re late!” the figure said.
“Zaizen…” Yusaku mumbled. He was not expecting her to wait for him. How would she even know he would be coming back today? He didn’t tell anyone, except…
“Kusanagi-san told me you would be coming back to school today so I thought I’d wait for you”
That explains it. At least partly.
“You do realize that you are now late too since you did so” he said, giving the most calculative answer he could have given.
That’s when she smiled. “I know. But I don’t really care if I’m late once…”
She didn’t continue talking instead she seemed to be looking at Yusakus's chest area following up by walking closer to him until there were only a few inches left between them.
The blue-haired boy didn’t move at all, not even when Aoi started fiddling with his tie.
“Your tie is loose…” she said with a disappointed tone in her voice. “Did you not look into the mirror this morning?” the girl followed up with a question that sounded almost rhetorical.
“I never really do” he answered, looking away from her. Yusaku usually keeps his cool but being so close to a girl doesn’t happen every day in his life.
“I figured” she stated briefly before finishing the knot in his tie.
Next, she began to ruffle his dislocated hair. That’s when Yusaku raised an eyebrow.
“Is this really necessary?”
He didn’t mind what she was doing, it was just… unusual for her.
“You need to take better care of yourself, Fujiki-kun” Aoi replied blandly. He was never the best at reading women's intentions so he left it be and slightly raised the corners of his mouth.
This felt kind of nice.
When class was over the girl approached his desk with him and Shima Naoki still in their seats.
“Fujiki-kun!” she called out. Yusaku raised his head from his table and met her eyes. More than a “Hm?” didn’t leave his mouth.
“Do you want to meet up at Kusanagi-san’s van today? I can give you all the materials of what you missed”
Of course. Yusaku was quite smart but not knowing the important topics in all the subjects right now could be a problem considering exams are around the corner.
“Sure” he replied briefly.
Aoi nodded. “Then I’ll be waiting at the front gate so we can walk together”
With that, she walked past the boys but stopped in her tracks right before she was about to leave the classroom. The girl turned around once more.
“And Fujiki-kun?”
“Yeah?” he turned to look at her.
A smile lighted up her face and the girl exhaled slowly before she started talking.
“I’m really glad you’re back. If you need anything don’t hesitate to ask me. I’m in your debt after all” she winked at the end and left.
“Whooooah, I never saw Zaizen talk to someone like that. You’re so lucky Fujiki, what did you do?” Shima Naoki exclaimed.
The blue-haired boy just stood up and began walking to the exit. On the way he just said:
“I helped out her family a couple of times, nothing special” before Shima could reply he was already gone.
Yusaku and Aoi were walking side-by-side on their way to the Den City Plaza. The boy was lost in thought over what she said earlier. Looks like they’ve become closer than he originally thought. To him, not everything he did for Aoi seemed like a big deal. But it seemed to mean much more to her. Maybe he will console Kusanagi about this later. “-iki-kun”
Now that everything was over Yusaku had to find his own path anyway. There was no fight left to fight and- “Fujiki-kun!”
Hazelnut-colored Eyes observed him when he found his way back into reality. “Hm?” he brought out.
“Are you sure you’re fine? You seem to be spacing out more than usual today” Aoi said with a giggle at the end.
“I… have a lot on my mind, sorry” he replied, keeping his stoic expression.
Aoi straightened her view on the path in front of them.
“I can imagine” she worded her thought. “Do you want to talk about it?”
Yusaku began scratching the side of his cheek. “Uh…, maybe another time”
It was kind of embarrassing to him but there were still a lot of things he had to relearn, in terms of social skills.
“Alright, I won’t push you. But remember that we’re friends, so you can tell me anything, I won’t judge you” Aoi expressed with a smile on her face.
That made Yusaku feel warm inside. That felt nice. Friends.
When they arrived at Kusanagi's van the man was already behind the grill preparing Hot Dogs. There weren’t many customers but the amount of tables increased since the last time Yusaku was here.
“Hello, Kusanagi-san” Aoi greeted the older man. “How’s the business today?”
After Kusanagi took a glance at the pair he began to grin. “Not too shabby, it’s always calm around this time of day though”
Then he began to eye the boy next to Aoi. “I see you brought company today. Sit down kids, I’ll bring you a coffee” he said and winked in Yusaku's direction. What was that about?
Kusanagi sat down at the table next to Aoi while she was facing Yusaku. All of them had a steaming cup of coffee in front of them.
“It’s good to see you again Yusaku. How are you doing?” Kusanagi started the conversation. Yusaku looked down into his cup, barely seeing his reflection in the dark liquid. “It’s … going alright. Looks like I’ll have to get used to not having to be Playmaker all the time” he put it bluntly. Kusanagi's eyebrows wrinkled. He could feel that there was still a certain uneasiness in him. The duelist behind Playmaker had a lot of new steps to take. In the past, there was always just the next battle to fight and nothing else he concentrated on.
“Don’t worry, Yusaku, one thing is for sure. Nobody can and will tell you how to live your life. That’s a path you can carve yourself... You can find your own Stardust Road, you just need to look for it. Sometimes it’s closer than you think” Kusanagi finished his monologue with a look in Aoi's direction.
“I think so too” Aoi chimed in. “You know, living has no solutions. Remember, there are no absolutes in this world”
Yusaku's head rose. He looked deeply into Aois' eyes as his eyes widened. “Zaizen…How do you…”
A mental flashback brought the blue-haired boy back to his final duel with Ai. The exact same words were used in this duel except Yusaku used them. He began to smile. Looks like she knows him better than he thought. “Thank you, guys. It’s nice to have friends like you”
After Kusanagi left for the van the two students began their study session. After a while, Aoi began to warm up her hands using her mug. “It’s getting colder” she said. “We’ll have to change into winter uniforms soon”
“Are you feeling uncomfortable?”, Yusaku asked as he was already removing his jacket and walking around the table.
The girl waved her hands in front of her body already knowing where this was going. “It’s fine. You don’t have to do that!”
But Yusaku already made up his mind, covering Aoi with his jacket. “Don’t sweat it. I don’t get cold easily” he assured her. “Besides, your brother would kill me if I let something happen to you”
Aoi began to blush. “Thank you, Yusak- uh Fujiki-kun” Now the blush intensified but it was soon replaced with a look of confusion. The boy began to chuckle. That was the first time in the day Aoi saw his emotions lighting up. She soon began to join in.
Eventually, Yusaku was the one who talked first. “I mean if it’s okay with you we can call each other by first name” he simply stated. What would be the big deal, they’re friends after all.
Aoi's blush returned but the smile didn’t vanish. “Uhm… s-sure but with honorifics please” she added.
He smiled. “Of course Aoi-san”
That surprised her. She didn’t expect Yusaku to take this so lightly. But it felt kind of nice.
“Thank you, Yusaku-kun” she replied.
After they got all the necessary things done, they started doing the optional tasks for math class. Understanding them was not quite easy so they had to think a lot before they were able to get to the answer.
Aoi sighed. “Wow, math really can be brutal”
She was exhausted and was pretty sure she was done for the day.
The boy raised his head in her direction.
“Well, yeah but I guess you could say we got to the root of the problem” a slight grin plastered his face.
First, she looked at him in disbelief before she bursted out laughing. That was the most unexpected thing he could have said. She couldn’t believe it. Yusaku making a pun. She tried to recover after a while when she saw this grin on his face.
She wasn’t necessarily laughing because the pun was so funny just because of the absurdity of the situation. After she calmed down she answered.
“I did not *huff* expect that one *huff*” she finally said still exhaling in between words.
But Yusaku wasn’t finished.
“What can I say, it just came so natural”
The girl snorted and continued laughing.
It made Yusaku really happy that he could make her laugh like this which is why the gears in his head didn’t stop grinding.
“That laugh of yours is really adorable. I guess you could call it acute angle of your personality”
That did it. She couldn’t stop laughing but that also made her blush madly. How was he so smooth at this?
“Stooop!” she exclaimed while she was holding her stomach. “I can’t…”
Yusaku began to laugh alongside her. A few pedestrians gave them weird looks but that didn’t seem to bother them.
After Aoi calmed down she began to pack her things. “Well I should be going home before my brother gets upset” she said.
Yusaku didn’t hesitate. “I’ll walk you home” he decided.
Aoi shook her head. “You don’t have to do that”
“I want to” he replied with his usual serious look on his face.
“Thank you Yusaku-kun” she smiled at him.
They walked quietly side-by-side just like this afternoon except for this time Yusaku was already feeling much better. I mean who wouldn’t? They laughed a lot together and he realized how much fun he had around Aoi.
She was the first one to speak up again.
“Did you… mean that today?” she asked looking away from him so he wouldn’t notice the shade of red on her face.
“Hm?” he didn’t immediately realize what she meant but after a look at the side of her face that he could still see, he got it.
“About your…” the rest of the sentence got stuck in his throat. Luckily she finished it for him.
“About my laugh. D-Do you… really think it’s …” now it was his turn to finish her sentence.
“...adorable? Yes of course I meant it” he replied seriously...
Aoi didn’t say anything, she just looked at her toes as she walked. She never thought she would hear something like this out of Yusakus mouth. Maybe he is trying something different? No, he was completely serious she could see that. Yusaku wouldn’t joke about something like this.
After all, they’ve been through Aoi developed a special feeling for him. Whenever she saw him her heart made a jump. Sometimes she would feel the corners of her mouth rising just looking at him. First, the girl thought it was just because he was Playmaker.
But the more it happened the more she realized what it actually was.
She liked him. A lot. Many could not see but Yusaku has a strong sense of justice but what she liked the most was his honesty.
After all the things he did for her, she could not view him in the same light as half a year ago.
“Aoi-san?” she could hear him say. Aoi blinked and turned in his direction. “Hm?”
Yusaku smiled. “Looks like I’m not the only one spacing out today. I called your name three times already. Are you alright? Did I say something wrong?” Yusaku asked while talking uncharacteristically fast.
She shook her head immediately. “No, no you didn’t… Sorry. It’s just… nobody ever said something so nice to me”
The boy blinked. “Don’t you have millions of fans as Blue Angel? People must have complimented you a lot” he said looking up into the night sky, already having a hunch of what the answer could be.
She stopped in her tracks and so did Yusaku until they were facing each other.
Aoi frowned and continued looking at the ground.
“What those people said was always directed at an online persona. Someone they didn’t really know for real. Those are just empty words” she said with a bitter tone in her voice.
“You on the other hand-” turned to look him in the eyes “you know me for who I am not just for what I am. We’re friends. A thousand of comments on the internet would never be worth the single compliment you made me today”
Yusakus eyes widened after she finished talking. Heat flowed into his head. So this is what true companionship is. It’s not just being allies and fighting alongside one another. It’s having a special bond. He should have known that. This is what will always differentiate humans from AIs.
“I… didn’t realize” he reacted hastily not knowing what to say. Aoi could see that and just giggled. “You’re cute when you’re oblivious,” she said without thinking.
Yusaku blinked. “Huh?”
The girl laughed and asked: “Feels nice to get complimented right?”
“Yeah” he replied, relaxing his muscles and softening his look.
After some time they finally arrived at the Zaizen-household. Before entering Aoi turned around once more facing Yusaku.
“So, this is it I guess”
“Yeah” he answered.
They began looking into each other's eyes as if they were searching for something to say in there.
Aoi was the first one to pick up a word.
“Well, have a good night Yusaku-kun” she waved and turned around.
Yusaku felt the need to say something else so he called out.
“Aoi-san!”
She turned around once more. “What is it?”
Only now the gears began grinding in Yusaku's head. He didn’t think of what to say so he just stood there one hand scratching the side of his head and the other stretched out as if he was trying to hold her despite her already being a few meters away.
“Uhm… I… really had fun today. Do you maybe want to hang out again?”
For a short while, she was standing there looking at him with her mouth in an o-shape. Then she began to giggle. which eventually turned into a small laugh.
“Oh, Yusaku” she brought out, even forgetting the honorific for a moment.
“Of course, I want to!” she said with enthusiasm in her voice.
Yusaku on the other hand was a little bit confused.
“Was what I said that funny?” he asked her directly.
She kept her smile. “It wasn’t funny per se. It’s just very clear that you never really talked to girls a lot but don’t worry, it’s nothing bad. On the contrary, I find it…” she paused. A blush crept up her cheeks but the darkness of the early night mostly hid that. Then she swallowed and continued. “... I find it cute”
Yusakus expression remained slightly nervous and he began scratching the back of his head.
“Anyway..” Aoi resumed. “I see you tomorrow. Have a good night Yusaku-kun”
“Yeah.. good night”
This night the blue-haired teenager would lay in his bed thinking about the day and what he was actually feeling towards the Zaizen-girl. He felt special around her. It wasn’t a normal friendship like it was between him and Takeru. Maybe just because she was a girl but she was right. He barely interacted with girls before he got to know Aoi.
He wanted to be near her all the time, wanted to make her laugh, and whenever he did it filled his stomach with a tingling sensation.
Yusaku wasn’t experienced when it came to feelings but he was pretty sure this is what people call…
Love.
“I’m home” Aoi announced when she entered the house taking off her shoes.
Her brother was actually home today. Despite being the CEO of SOL Technologies he always made sure to have enough time for his sister. She almost forgot they wanted to eat dinner together today.
“You’re home quite late…”
Akira Zaizen became more tolerable now when it came to Aoi but that didn’t mean he was not concerned when he didn’t hear from her.
The brown-haired girl's eyes widened.
“I’m sorry, onii-sama. I got caught up in some schoolwork with a friend, I forgot to text you” she excused herself.
Akira smiled warmly.
“Don’t sweat it Aoi. Just make sure to let me know next time”
“Of course Onii-sama” she replied smiling back.
They began eating dinner and Akira just couldn’t help himself from asking the obvious question. “So what friend did you do your homework with today? Was it Miyu-chan?”
Aoi swallowed her food barely without coughing.
“Uhm, no. We don’t even go to the same school remember?”
The older man began to think. “Ah yes you told me after you were together last time. Now I remember. But then who were you meeting up with?”
The girl bit her fingernail. Was it okay to just straight up tell her brother she was meeting up with a boy? Akira knew Yusaku just like she did and he definitely approved of him but was that enough?
“It’s…” she could bring out the sentence. Her brother smiled warmly.
“Don’t worry Aoi I won’t be mad. I understand that you're a big girl now and I need to give you your freedom, so you can tell me”
She exhaled. That was a relief.
“It’s… Yusaku-kun. Fujiki Yusaku, you remember him. It was his first day back to school after 2 months, so I had to go over all the material he missed with him” she answered shyly.
“Fujiki-kun. Do you mean the man behind Playmaker? Of course, I remember. But… I didn’t know you were on first-name basis with him. Have you gotten closer?”
Aoi's eyes widened. O shit… she didn’t intend to let him know that.
“Well, …” she began.
“He wanted to know more about friendship and since I accidentally almost called him by his first name he offered it”
Akira went silent for a while. He realized now that the boy probably was still mourning over his lost partner the dark Ignis. On top of that, he was a victim of the Lost Incident and probably still had some bitterness left in his heart.
He looked over to his sister. She began shuffling with her legs and had a light shade of pink on her cheeks.
He relaxed and smiled at her.
“You like him, don’t you?” he asked rhetorically, already knowing the answer.
Aoi's face turned bright red. “Onii-sama!” she exclaimed.
Akira began to chuckle. “It’s okay Aoi, he is a really nice guy and I’m pretty sure he likes you too. Don’t worry, I won’t tell him” he stated.
The girl sighed. Sometimes her brother was a little bit too perceptive for her taste.
After she went to bed Aoi still couldn’t quite figure out what to make of the conversation she had with her brother.
What was Yusaku to her?
Sure she liked his laugh and his ability to adapt, his sense of justice but also him being oblivious.
She found it cute. There it was again. That word. Cute.
It’s something she always thinks about when she is with him. He really is cute.
After that thought, she couldn’t deny it anymore.
Yes, it is without a doubt…
Love.