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Left PS – The Talk
A knock on the door interrupted the young woman who was in the middle of taking off her earrings. She was a little surprised. It hadn’t been long that all the guests left after finishing the party, and only her parents and older brother were in the house.
“Come in!” she shouted.
“Hey, Ruri,” said the female’s brother, Kurosaki Shun.
“Brother, do you need something?”
Not that Ruri wasn’t glad to see her brother, but she was a little tired from the day’s events.
“You don’t have to make that face, I’ll be quick,” he said. Ruri hadn’t been able to completely conceal the tiredness from her expression. Although, it could also be because her brother knew her well. The young man took out from his coat a little box wrapped in pink paper. “For you, happy birthday.”
“Oh! Thanks brother,” her face illuminated and she took the present. “Can I open it?”
He nodded.
She already knew what it was, her brother had been giving her the same style of gifts since they were children. It was a glass figurine with the form of a hummingbird painted in greens and blues.
“Shun, it’s beautiful!”
“Happy birthday,” he said again with a satisfied smile on his face.
“Thanks a lot brother,” she gave him a sweet smile in return. “It’s good my collection is still small, that way I don’t have to rearrange them.”
Ruri’s collection used to be bigger. Her brother have been gifting her bird figurines since they were kids, with the first ones being handmade and made out of paper. However, none of those survived the war.
Five years ago, their homeland, Heartland City, have been attacked by the duel school from the Fusion Dimension, Academia. Their parents, friends, and almost all the people they knew were been turned into cards to fulfill the ambition of Akaba Leo. He wanted to unite the four dimensions into a new one called ARC V, and revive his daughter, Ray. To accomplish the latter, Ruri had been kidnapped during the war as she was one of the four girls in which Ray had been divided.
Everyone had been ultimately saved and the city was slowly returning to its former glory, but the pain of war was still present in the people. Despite the efforts of the Lancers when stopping the war (specially the teachings of Sakaki Yuya), duelists from Heartland were a little more violent and a little more ruthless than they had been before. Not everyone played with a fun archetype or thinking it was fine if they lose. The people of Heartland City never wanted to experience that kind of agony ever again, and for the Kurosaki siblings, the war left an even more painful consequence…
“I’m leaving tomorrow,” commented Shun catching the attention of his sister.
“Oh,” she said a little disappointed, “I thought you were leaving next week?”
Ruri didn’t want to complain because her brother’s work was important, she had just thought they were going out tomorrow to celebrate with just the two of them. Her school work these days had been increasing a lot and she didn’t have the same free time as before.
“I’m sorry,” he said instead, “I’ll make it up to you the next time you have some free time. We have a very good trail and we can’t let it get cold.”
“It’s okay, I know your work is important.” And she certainly meant it.
Always forgiving, thought Shun fondly of his sister.
“So… who’s this person?” Maybe this time her brother will tell her something related to a case.
“It’s classified.” Always protecting her, at least this time he had a better (and legal) excuse.
“Of course, brother,” she said with a smile which then turned to a worried expression, “please be careful and don’t do anything too reckless.”
“You know me, Ruri.”
“Exactly.”
Shun hated lying to his sister, even if his work as a detective in training didn’t permit disclosure of any information regarding ongoing cases. He was young (being only 21) to already be forming part of high classified operations such as this one; the capture of an ex-scientist from Academia who managed to escape during the first round of arrests just after the end of the war. However, his record as a former Lancer and his label as one of the strongest duelist from the XYZ Dimension (even if he didn’t like the latter much) gave him a good profile, and his contacts to people with connections (i.e. Akaba Corporation) gave him the initial job opportunity.
This was the job he wanted to do; capture each and every one of the people involved in the invasion and bring them to justice. Many teachers, scientists and some of the older students managed to escape the initial seize of Academia done by official law enforcers. After the Sakaki brothers left, the Lancers tried to take control of the situation at the school, but a bunch of 10 or so teenagers wasn’t going to be able to do much, and many took advantage to get away. Even after five years, not everyone was still accounted for. It was his personal therapy, and maybe he also had his own private reasons for choosing this profession.
Finally, after many years he had a good clue and a possible place. He hadn’t lied to his sister completely, the day of the operation was advanced, but it wasn’t meant to start until some days later. The ex-scientist they were supposed to catch had been hiding in one of the many small towns located in the former Fusion Dimension. During the investigation, he did some research of the other little towns and in Ranmachi one of the local businesses caught his attention. One particular review of the café Other Dimensional Dragons ODDs in an obscure trip advisor site said the café was managed by a pair of identical twins.
He never believed in coincidences.
“I’m home!” shouted Yuto entering the house.
It surprised him a little no one answered back. Yugo had a half-day at work that day and was supposed to be back already, and Yuya never left without informing someone. He went to the living room and found the youngest triplet napping on the longest couch. Usually, he would let his brother sleep, but he didn’t had a lot of time to spare. Yuri was waiting for him at the café for the turn change so he woke the synchro duelist.
“Yugo!” he poked his brother on the face, “Wake up!”
It was enough. The other opened abruptly his eyes and quickly sat on the couch.
“I’m awake! Don’t think I won’t fight you—“
“Don’t be ridiculous, it’s me,” Yugo’s gaze focused and recognized his oldest brother. Knowing they weren’t in any danger, he got mad at the other.
“What the hell, bro!” He let out a yawn.
“I need your help with something,” said Yuto.
His brother just groaned as an answer.
“Where’s Yuya?” he asked remembering their little brother.
“Sleeping.” Yugo got comfortable on the couch again.
“He too?!” These two brothers! “You two wouldn’t be that tired if you went to sleep at a reasonable time.”
His brother groaned again.
“C’mon! I don’t have much time.”
With a last groan Yugo got up and followed the XYZ duelist to the kitchen.
Yuri was going to do grocery shopping that day and the list was only missing the food products. Yuto was the one who spend the most time in the kitchen and kept a good track of those supplies. The reason he went home to complete the list was to double check for some specific ingredients. He was thinking of preparing a new meal. The eldest brother decided to take advantage and verify some of the products in the pantry, there were some things they simply can’t ever run out, like soy sauce and rice.
Yugo let out another yawn while opening a drawer.
“Is something wrong?” asked Yuto, “You don’t usually take naps.”
“I couldn’t sleep well last night,” answered the other, “I had a strange dream. A figure in white riding a zebra was chasing me while shouting Hugo.”
“…A zebra?”
Yugo nodded with a serious expression on his face.
“Maybe this is related to that movie Yuri made us watch yesterday.”
The younger one just let out a full-body shiver remembering the movie.
None of the brothers had made any new friends since arriving in Ranmachi as their whole situation was complicated and/or a breach of the agreement with Akaba Corporation (in Yuya’s case). There was no way to be completely honest with anyone they meet, and so the triplets keep everyone at some distance. Due to their circumstances, all the brothers were trying to involve themselves more in the others’ personal interests, something they usually did with their friends back in their universe. In the case of Yuri, it was watching horror movies. Now, Yuto didn’t had a problem with them, they weren’t his favorite genre as he preferred historical or thriller movies, but he can admit there were some good ones. The two younger ones on the other hand…
“Still, I don’t think you should take a nap mid-day, you’ll mess up your sleep schedule,” continued Yuto. “You won’t be tired and you’ll end up working until late; Yuya too. This isn’t the first time I come home and he’s sleeping.”
Since they were kids, the younger brothers were the ones who tended to have bad habits, working on projects late into the night, having messy rooms, getting involved in high-speed persecutions, and forgetting house chores. According to their parents and grandparent, Yuto and Yuri were the easy children.
“Bro, first of all, you can’t tell me what to do, and second, give Yuya a break. He probably gets bored out of his mind when we leave him alone,” said Yugo.
Yuto just let out a sigh and the two went back to their work.
Not even five minutes passed when they were interrupted by the arrival of the youngest brother.
“Brother, welcome back!” said Yuya with a bright expression which brought smiles to the other two. “I thought today was your turn to close ODDs?”
“It is, I’m just passing by quickly to finish the grocery list for Yuri.”
“And he has me working free of charge, can you believe it, Yuya?” Yugo wanted to complain.
The pendulum duelist let out a laugh.
“Quit laughing and help us!” said Yugo.
“I would, but I’m actually going out.”
The other two gave him questioning gazes.
“Reiji finished work early and asked me if I wanted to hang out. He’s almost here,” answered Yuya the silent question.
Their expressions changed to grinning faces and Yuya tried to defend himself.
“We’re just going to talk about my latest encryption code!” The triplets liked to bother the youngest about his friendship with the CEO of Akaba Corporation. Yuya wasn’t being good at hiding his infatuation with Reiji, and when the two of them were together, his flirty personality was shown even more. The brothers were only waiting for when Yuya came clean about his status with Reiji.
Yuto went back to writing on the list and just said:
“Sure, be careful and don’t forget a jacket, the nights are getting chilly.”
“Yeah,” said the synchro duelist immediately still with a grin on his face, “be safe.”
Yuya was going to say more when the sound of a car outside the house caught everyone’s attention; Reiji had arrived.
“I’m leaving!”
“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!” said Yuto.
“Remember to use protection!” shouted Yugo.
“You guys suck!”
Yuya left to the sound of his brothers laughing.
“I guess today it’ll just be the three of us,” said Yugo. “What do you want for dinner?”
“Actually, I’m not dining here,” answered Yuto, “I’m going to review the books after closing and will return late. I’ll probably order some takeout.”
“I see, in that case, after I pick up Yuri from the store we’ll order something too.”
Yuri was the only one of the four who refused to drive, be it motorcycle/D-Wheel or car, and when the distance was too long for walking, Yugo usually indulgent him and moved him around. For the youngest triplet it was a good extra chance to ride his D-Wheel, even if technically this time he would had to take the car because of the groceries. Yuto was the one moving by motorcycle this time.
“Oh, shit,” stated Yugo whose expression became horrifying when he remembered something, “Yuri will probably make us watch another movie.”
Yuto gave a pad to his brother’s back while the other was falling in despair.
It had been a slow day. With autumn just only starting, the weather wasn’t yet as chilly. Soon the café will be more packed with people once the temperature descends. The oldest Sakaki brother was cleaning tables and putting the chairs over them to then sweep the floor. He was thinking what to pick up for dinner when the sound of a bell caught his attention; it was to announce the entrance of a customer. He didn’t turn around and just said:
“Sorry! It’s closed!”
“Not even for an old friend?”
Yuto froze up. He recognized that voice, he turned around quickly and at the entrance of the store saw the figure of Kurosaki Shun. The other was taller than he remembered and had certainly been doing workouts, but his hairstyle and closed-off expression were still the same.
“Shun…” This wouldn’t be the first time the past came to visit his family (literally in their case) and Yuto was more prepared to encounter people from five years ago. Considering the Raidraptor duelist still hadn’t attacked him on sight and called himself a friend, it was safe to assume he was here for a talk. “Welcome, do you want tea?”
Shun looked around the place and asked:
“Do you have anything stronger?”
Yuto let out a chuckle. Certainly, for the conversation they were sure to have, they would need something stronger. He went behind the reception bar where the drinks were prepared and from below brought out a bottle of sake.
Shun let out a whistle.
“That’s a good one.”
“Present from Yugo,” clarified Yuto.
The two took a sit in one of the clean tables that still had the chairs down and Yuto served them each a cup. After taking the first sip, it was Shun who broke the silence.
“I never envisioned you working in a tea shop.”
“We needed something to do, Yuri and I manage this place. We also sell coffee, but my brothers and I prefer tea, so it’s more of that. There wasn’t another shop like this in town and we took the business opportunity,” explained Yuto and after taking a sip of his drink, he asked a question, “How did you found this place?”
“I’m a detective, or at least, I’m working to call myself one. I have an operation in one of the other towns close by and found this place during research.”
“Amazing, you always had a cunning eye for that,” said Yuto.
Shun took a long sip and finished his cup. Then, looked directly at the other.
“Do I?” his expression was closed-off, “I managed to capture an Academia duelist during the invasion to Heartland City and secure their duel disk, I uncovered Shiunin while he was undercover in the Standard Dimension, and even if Macfield never used fusion summoning I always suspected him, revealing him as a spy later on. How is it I caught all of this people, but never my own best friend?”
Yuto kept quiet and let the other continue knowing he had more to say.
“It isn’t like I never suspected you, plenty of times I questioned your actions before the invasion, during the war and while we were in the Standard and Synchro Dimensions, but how could it be you were a traitor too? It just wasn’t possible, even if ever since we met you had never been a talkative individual and were very private. Kaito, Sayaka, Allen, Ruri and I always respected that of you, however, thinking back on it, after that accident during one of our duels, you were even more so than before. Now, imagine how I felt when I discovered you were never my best friend and my best friend had been gone for some time with no one being none the wiser?”
Yuto still kept quiet.
“Worst of all, I understand why you did it and don’t blame you for most of those things because I did many of those things too!” he finished with a shout.
This is where Yuto intervened and got up from his seat to make his point.
“It wasn’t the same, what I did was not on the same level! I lied and betrayed you guys!”
“When I was with the Lancers, at the beginning, I didn’t trust them and if the decision was between them or us, I would have left them behind. I kept a lot of information from Akaba even when his intentions were always in the interest of stopping the war,” interrupted Shun who also stood up from his chair. “How is that different to what you did to us?”
“I killed someone!” This was the only line Shun never crossed and probably the one thing which sat heavy in his conscience. No matter how the triplets wanted to rationalize it, ultimately that’s what it was. Yuto had never voiced this inner thought to any of his brothers. He had never wanted to burden them with his problems, he was the oldest, and he’s the one who helps his brothers with their own burdens. However, with his friends it had always been different. Even if Shun was no Yusei or Aki or Kotori, Yuto had thought of him as his closest friend too.
“When we turned people into cards, we weren’t sure they were coming back,” explained an angry Shun, “how is that different from killing? At the moment, the intention was the same even if everyone returned back to normal.”
“Then, why are you here?” asked Yuto, “Do you hate me? Want me to pay in some way for my crimes?” It sounded like Shun was even defending his actions.
“I want to know why,” stated Shun, “the whole reason, the complete story, I want to know what happened to my friend Yuto and how much we really mean to you.”
Yuto didn’t understand. His friend (if he could still call him that) knew him more than he expected because the detective elaborated.
“I don’t hate you, Yuto. I felt betrayed because you never told me the truth and acted behind my back. I feel guilty because I never noticed my best friend was gone and I feel conflicted because you also became my friend. I don’t know how much you were acting like the original Yuto, but there was a reason I didn’t actually went with any of my suspicions. If your whole character wasn’t a lie, then I understand why I consider you my friend. Even during the war, why did you stay with us to fight? If you had found your brothers since the beginning, why did you stayed in Heartland City and still interacted with us?”
“I’m not as noble as you paint me to be,” declared Yuto a little angry, “it was part of our plan to continue acting as normal as possible.”
“All the time?” asked Shun not convinced with this villain character of his friend. Maybe he wasn’t his original best friend, but they were friends for almost two years, he knew him better and Yuto wasn’t a bad person by principle. “When we went out together, were you only thinking about how to turn us into cards?”
“Yes.”
“Bullshit,” declared Shun immediately and went to the other’s side, taking him by the shirt and seriously thinking about giving him a punch. “Start talking. You may want to appear as the bad guy to me, but I’m not buying it.”
“I don’t deserve your forgiveness!” finally exploded Yuto, “You’re right, I considered all of you guys my friends which is why you shouldn’t forgive me.”
“I think everyone gets to decide who to forgive, and if it makes you feel better, I haven’t forgiven you,” said Shun with a hard expression which then turned soft and he let him go, “but if you explain things, I may forgive you. I already told you, Yuto, I don’t hate you and I want to know the whole truth.”
They took sits again and the oldest Sakaki brother started to talk. Yuto told him everything, who he really was, his and his brothers circumstances, how they came to be in this universe, their plan, their present situation. Everything he had keep inside, Yuto let it out.
After finishing with his confessions, it was Shun’s turn to ask questions.
“So you don’t know why you came to this universe?”
“No idea, it wasn’t our decision to come here, it just happened,” said Yuto.
Shun looked frustrated with that. In the end, there was no explanation to how one of his best friends (the original Yuto of this universe) had disappeared.
“I’m sorry,” apologized the other, “I know you wanted an explanation about my counterpart. Not even the scientists of Akaba Corporation have an answer. I think Yuya is also looking into it, but for the moment, we have no answer.”
“It’s okay, I guess it wasn’t your fault,” stated Shun. He wasn’t sure if with this he could put at peace the memory of the original Yuto because there was no complete closure. The universe had a strange way of doing things.
“I guess I’ll have to live with this guilt,” said Shun.
“What do you mean?” asked Yuto.
“Even after the whole fiasco in Academia, I never stopped considering you a friend,” explained Shun, “and it feels like I’m betraying the other Yuto.”
That made Yuto think about something Yuya said some days after Yoko’s visit.
The four of them were having curry for dinner when Yuya commented:
“You know guys, I have been reading this book and I think I found something interesting.”
The triplets didn’t stop their eating, but gave him their attention. It was Yuto, sitting in front of the youngest, who asked the question.
“What did you found?”
“Remember how back in our universe we all shared my body?”
The other three nodded.
“At the beginning, I thought it was a case of multiple personalities. One body, one mind, and one soul, but the mind was split in four. After remembering the truth, the situation was actually, one body, one mind and four souls.”
“What do you mean?” asked Yugo, who was sitting beside Yuya.
“This book explains how an individual is made up of 3 things, the body, the mind and the soul. This stuff is more in the realm of theory because there aren’t many cases of study or ways to actually study it, but I think our situation classified as such. You three were with me even when your physical bodies no longer existed.”
“How are you certain it was our souls and not our minds?” asked Yuri, he was sitting beside Yuto and in front of Yugo.
“The mind is also associated with the physical plane, just in the form of thoughts and knowledge. The soul is the spiritual aspect of an individual and a mix between the mind and body. When you visualize yourself, you think of both your personality and physical appearance.”
“Okay,” said Yuto, “why is this interesting?”
“You all could control in some ways my body, even when I didn’t give one of you explicit permission. You all could perform a shift.”
The three nodded. The forceful change had been more in life and death situations, they never liked taking control of Yuya without his approval.
“However,” Yuya continued, “it was never permanent and it was detrimental to the three of you. You three got tired when using my body for long periods of time and at the end of the day, I was the main user because it was my body and mind.”
“True,” said Yugo, “and how is this interesting?”
“If we apply these rules to this universe, we are in the bodies of our counterparts, right? I believe the reason we can maintain complete control and why there are no negative side effects is because our souls can recognize these as our original bodies. If we take into account parallel individuals are the same individual in the body aspect, this confirms our counterparts were the four of us of this universe.”
“Maybe we can keep control because there were no longer souls in the bodies,” commented Yuri.
“I don’t think that was the case, or at least not completely, even if there was no longer a soul in the body, if it isn’t a match you can’t take control of it or it may be detrimental to the soul,” Yuya explained and with a grin continued, “and I’m the perfect example of it. Zarc is still here, right?”
The brothers started to understand what Yuya was trying to say. The original soul of the body was Zarc’s so wouldn’t it mean he had more control over the body? The same way Yuya had control of his own body when the four of them shared it. If Yuya’s soul was a match to the body of his counterpart, then he had as much administrator control as the original soul.
“That is certainly interesting,” declared Yuri.
“I thought it was already obvious these were the us from this universe?” asked Yugo.
“Technically, it was a theory, but this proves it,” explained Yuya. “Even when we know G.O.D. was travelling between time and space, people were reliving their original lives, not getting into the bodies of their parallel selves to live better lives. In a sense, they were being removed from time.”
“It could also mean Zarc isn’t actually the soul of that body,” declared Yuto.
“That’s a little difficult to prove or disprove,” said Yuya with a quizzical expression, “nobody has any idea how the split was done. How was it possible from one individual you get four partially developed ones? Humans reproduce by means of two components and no individual is the same. According to the scientists of Akaba Corporation, we’re the same person.”
“We don’t look completely the same,” stated Yuri. For the triplets, their similar appearance wasn’t as strange as it must be for Yuya. After all, when they shared a body, they looked as themselves, but younger and the three of them had always looked similar.
“Yeah, but on a genetic level we’re the same person,” said Yuya frustrated, “it doesn’t make sense. You can’t create matter from nothing. Even real solid vision follows a principle of physics. What about the soul and mind parts? Were those separated as well? How was it our counterparts came into existence if they weren’t born? And this applies to Yuzu and her counterparts as well.”
Yuya used to use solid vision a lot for his magic tricks, he had a deep understanding of how it worked and this was a puzzle whose answer still evaded him.
“Little brother,” said Yugo who gave his brother a pat on the shoulder, “don’t give it to much thought. You just have to accept there are some things which can’t be explained.”
He groaned and the other three laughed.
“I don’t know if this will make you feel better, but I’m Yuto,” he stated. “I’m a Yuto from a parallel universe. Maybe the reason you feel a certain way about myself is because I’m my counterpart. We aren’t completely similar as we had different lives while growing up and our circumstances weren’t the same. Back in my universe, I also met a Kurosaki Shun. You both were similar in some aspects, but one of the main differences, which gave him a completely different feeling from you, was that the other you wasn’t an older brother.”
“Really?” Shun was surprised of hearing about another him. “That’s difficult to imagine.” He couldn’t imagine himself without Ruri, he loved his sister very much even if they weren’t blood-related.
“I’m a parallel version of your best friend who happens to be the older brother of four.”
“Touché,” confirmed Shun. “What about Ruri? The reason you were rejecting her was because you already had a girlfriend in that other universe?” This was something he actually never noticed, it was after the whole fiasco Ruri talked to his brother about her feelings for their best friend. She always thought it was reciprocated.
Yuto blushed. This was going to be uncomfortable.
“I was trying to be subtle.”
Shun arched one eyebrow.
“To answer your question, no, I didn’t had a girlfriend,” he said.
Don’t know if that was a blessing or not, he thought sadly trying not to think of Kotori.
“The reason is… well, this may be a little strange, my mother—my brothers and mine was… Yuzu.”
After almost a minute of silence Shun reacted.
“What?” His expression was one of disbelieve, “As in Hiiragi Yuzu?”
Yuto nodded.
“I know Ruri wasn’t Yuzu, however, the likeness was enough to make it strange.”
The detective in training just blinked.
“You really are from another universe.”
The oldest Sakaki laughed.
They drank the whole bottle of sake while conversing. It was good his brothers weren’t expecting him until much later. For Yuto, it was cathartic and a breath of fresh air, the guilt he has felt since their plan was completed wasn’t as heavy as before. He wasn’t the only one to speak his mind, Shun also let out a lot of his thoughts and feelings, and even updated him about their other friends and acquaintances. Yuto could almost pretend no time passed at all and everything was fine, but the ever-present situation of his family always brought him back to the present.
“A demon duelist who combined with duel monsters to create the ultimate monster,” stated Shun out loud after listening about Zarc, “I have been witness to many strange things, but I don’t know if I can believe that is possible. There was no actual event which showed there was a second problem at par with the war, at least it could explain what divided the world in the first place, and the similarity of Serena, Yuzu and the synchro girl with Ruri. You’re saying there’s a possibility this duelist may return by means of Yuya?”
“Yeah,” answered Yuto with a haunted look on his face, “Zarc was one of the first things we learned about and a problem since the beginning, the three—four if you count the Yuya of this universe even if he didn’t know the cause—could feel him. You may remember some of the times his presence manifested in me, during the war when I was…”
“Full of anger,” finished Shun, “I guess you’re right. There were times when you were intense, and even Yuya who was generally Mr. Happy Smile, sometimes acted out of character.”
Yuto gave a short nod.
“I’m kind of surprised you didn’t know all of this,” he then commented, “I thought Reiji told you all about Zarc and Ray.” Considering the two people (Yuzu and Yoko) who had already visited the Sakaki brothers had the background knowledge.
Shun snorted.
“As if, Akaba Reiji was and still is a secretive corporate bastard,” he said, “but, at least overall he has good intentions. I shouldn’t be surprised he found you guys that quickly and is involved in this.” When saying the latter he signaled to Yuto and the shop to symbolize their present situation.
“Not that we have a choice now,” said Yuto, “even less with how friendly he is with Yuya.” This last part was expressed with resignation.
Shun can understand that last part because he had a similar problem with Macfield and his sister. Eventually they will create separate lives, but no matter the age, his little sister will always be his little sister. He will always try his best to protect her. Yuto probably had the same thoughts in regards to his brothers, and even had it worst with three of them.
“So, how are them?” he asked.
“Yuya and the others?” said Yuto back.
Shun nodded. Overall he doesn’t know what to think about them. The question was more out of courtesy because they were Yuto’s family and the reason his friend acted in the first place. He had a horrible impression of Yuri as he was the one who kidnapped Ruri, his impression of Yugo became bad after he betrayed them back in Academia and thought of him as an accomplice of the Professor and Yuya… it was complicated.
“They are fine,” said Yuto who knew Shun was just being polite with his question, even before the truth was revealed, the detective already thought bad of Yuri and never thought much of Yugo. “Yuri, Yugo and I finished college some years ago and we’re working here in town.”
“You are older than you look, right?” Shun was smart and after the truth was revealed, started to connect some pieces of information from throughout the years. Thinking back on it, after the accident, Yuto became more mature overnight.
It amazed the oldest Sakaki brother how his friend managed to uncover that. Everyone always thought the four of them were the same age.
“Yeah, I’m 24.”
Now the one surprised was Shun, that was a little outside his calculations, he was even older than Kaito.
“Old man,” he just stated with a grin on his face.
Yuto fake groaned in protest.
“What about Yuya?” asked Shun, he noticed the other one didn’t mention his little brother.
“He’s… fine, I think. Even considering everything, he has always been adaptive,” explained Yuto, “Yuya is taking online courses and working part-time for Akaba Corporation. I think I worry more about the whole Zarc situation.”
“I see.”
The Phantom Knights duelist wanted to ask something, but didn’t know how the other would receive it.
“Do you—I mean, what are your thoughts about the other Yuya?” he finally got out, “The original Yuya of this universe.”
Shun took some time to answer and Yuto decided to bring some water to dilute the alcohol. After sitting down, the detective in training answered.
“It’s complicated,” he started to explain, “I didn’t see him as a friend until the time we spend in the XYZ Dimension, after we were all separated by Roger’s machine back in the City. At the beginning, as you know I saw him as a naïve child with his delusions of stopping the war, after the Friendship Cup, he won my respect as a comrade and during our time in Heartland, I started calling him my friend.”
That last part was new for Yuto. He also was a member of the Lancers and accompanied them during their exploits in the Synchro Dimension. When the two XYZ duelists found the time to talk, Shun never kept inside his distaste of the duelists from Standard, and pretty much everyone, actually. Yuto knew the general progression of events related to Yuya’s adventure in Heartland City and the big result of how he managed to soften duelists like his friends Shun and Kaito, the Tyler sisters, and Edo Phoenix, but overall it was a mystery to him and his brothers.
Yuto was feeling guilty, the same way he felt when confronting Yuzu and Yoko. The difference this time was he couldn’t conceal it as well because this was his best friend, and Yuto always opened more to his friends.
“I was sad about his death,” Shun continued, “but not in the same level like the people from Standard, like Hiiragi or Sawatari, because we were Lancers together and as I said, we became closer almost at the end of the war. His lost wasn’t as heartbreaking as yours had been, honestly. There was always a possibility we couldn’t return alive with the ongoing war and Sakaki Yuya became one of those casualties.”
Since the war started, Shun always thought of the people turned into cards as dead. The only reason Ruri wasn’t included when she disappeared was because someone saw her kidnapping. That would be the only time Academia did an exception as everyone, no matter the age, gender, be it civilian or duelist, was turned into a card. Even when the people returned back to normal, not everyone came back. During the invasion, accidents were prone to happen, more at the beginning with the destruction everywhere. Now, Sakaki Yuya wasn’t just any duelist as his impact in all dimensions was greater, but Shun could still see it as a possible outcome when fighting a war.
“Of course, I never expected him to die by the hands of my best friend and allies,” finished Shun giving the other a sharp look.
Yuto averted his eyes.
“I wonder what were his last thoughts after you punched him?” commented Shun more for curiosity’s sake than malice even if Yuto didn’t saw it like that. When the detective looked at the other’s haunted expression, he decided to give his friend a break, after all, Shun wasn’t a saint either and his record wasn’t clean too.
“At least we don’t have to worry about that Zarc guy.”
“Yeah, I suppose,” said Yuto back still a little bumped down. He deserved a lot of punches for his actions even if they hurt.
“Even if I still don’t believe that guy became a big monster,” said Shun next, “maybe it’s a metaphor and Zarc commanded the duel monsters to do it.”
“Metaphor? Really?” asked Yuto with a smile on his face.
“Yes, like he became the ultimate evil or in other words, a monster, it’s more believable. Solid vision gives physical form to monsters, but I don’t think you can unite with them, they aren’t completely alive.”
Duel monsters have souls.
The words the Professor used when telling the story of the Original Dimension came to Yuto’s mind. How alive are duel monsters, exactly? Yuto certainly thought of them as companions and treated them with respect. His little brother even used to have one as a pet. Yuya also thought Zarc’s dimensional dragons, Odd-Eyes, Dark Rebellion, Clear Wing and Starving Venom were more conscious than other monsters. It was a good question to consider.
“Maybe,” commented Yuto, “hopefully we never have to find out.”
They continued to talk a bit more, eventually Yuto served them some of the leftovers from the café. Shun was impressed with the improvement in his culinary skills. The conversation touched many topics and if it wasn’t for a message from Yuri, Yuto could have stayed longer. He offered a place to stay, but the detective already had a place and wasn’t planning to stay long in Ranmachi. He had work to do in another town. Shun had taken advantage of the closeness of the towns to pay a visit to his friend, and it had been worth it.
“Do you not want to meet the others?” asked Yuto after cleaning up the plates. It was getting late and the two of them were almost leaving. The oldest Sakaki didn’t managed to do the books that day and the place was partially cleaned, but it wasn’t a waste. His talk with his best friend had been better.
Shun negated with his head.
“I wanted to find you and get my answers,” he said. “You’re my friend, Yuto. Even after everything and no matter if you’re a different Yuto from the one I met first, you still are.”
“Thanks Shun,” Yuto was grateful for his friend. If he were Yugo or Yuya, he would be in tears. “I also never stopped considering you a friend, and once again, I’m really sorry for everything.”
“You’re forgiven.” Those words made Yuto feel almost at peace with himself.
The detective was going to take his leave when he suddenly stopped and turned around to look at the other.
“If you ever need help you have my number, don’t be a stranger and try not to do any more illegal stuff. This time I’m legally obliged to stop you.” He gave him a grin.
Yuto just answered with a smile.