Chapter Text
It was early Monday morning when Yuma was woken up suddenly by what seemed to be nothing. He shoots up from his lying position, but due to how fast this was he fell down on the floor with a loud thud.
"Oww..." Yuma sighed as he rubbed his face from when he landed. He took a look at his alarm clock that sat on his desk in front of the slightly opened window. It was 5.30am... he didn't even need to be awake for another 30 minutes. (Not that he ever did wake up when he's meant to.)
He took an even bigger sigh as he sat up and decided that there was no point in going back to bed. Slowly he climbed down his rope to go and take a shower, as the water slowly heated up he looked into the mirror.
"It's only been a few months... Astral is busy." Astral did revive all his friends but the world still seemed a bit too grey. "What's wrong with me? It's like there's a hole in my chest..." He holds his hand just over his heart as he feels the slow beats.
"I'll deal with it later." He said quickly as he undressed and did his normal showering routine. 5-10 minutes later he was squeaky clean and back up to the mirror to brush his teeth, his hair sticking down to his face and shoulders
"I can't be bothered to deal with this today..." he quickly made a middle part and just let it air dry. After this he walked back to his room, and got ready for school.
He looked back over to his desk where a small box lay next to the alarm clock. Black with gold-plated borders and slowly opened it, inside was the Emperor's key.
Only one month ago had he stopped wearing it on a daily basis, however this left his neck feeling naked. He knew he couldn't keep it on everyday in hopes that Astral would come to visit.
He still keeps it in his bag though. He keeps it in said box and in a zip pocket so it can't get lost. After getting his bag ready he made his way to the kitchen.
Since the day everything calmed down Yuma always had left over food from dinner that he put in the fridge to eat later. His dinner from the night before consisted of miso soup with sides of fried rice, chicken dumplings and finally a few spring rolls.
Putting them in the microwave with a sigh (for what felt like the 50th time that day alone) he set the timer for 3 minutes and waited. After what felt like hours the microwave beeped, he grabbed the food and chopsticks and then slowly ate as he scrolled mindlessly on any social media that he had on his duel-gazer.
He finished eating when everyone else in the house finally woke up to start the day. "Good morning Yuma, did you sleep well?" Haru (his grandmother) asked. "Good morning grandma. I slept okay. Do you need any help?"
"Oh no I'm okay dear. Thank you for asking. You've been doing it a lot recently." She was right, he had been doing it a lot. From everything that happened within the past year or so going on he realized he was a bit of a problem child for his family and has been trying to make up for it ever since.
After some time had passed Yuma decided to just start his way to school. "Bye everyone, see ya later." Was all he said as he left out the door looking down at his feet. He supposed he was lucky since it was a hot day and could just take his time walking to school.
Yuma didn't realize how long he had been walking until he reached a cross road and could hear 2 familiar voices seemingly arguing "Stop bringing that shit up Rio!" the male yelled and stopped in his tracks. "Maybe stop leaving green peppers on your plate." The girl retorted.
Finally looking up from his feet he saw the 2 voices belonged to Shark and Rio, the twins who had lived more than one life. "How many times do I have to say they taste hor- Oh Yuma, hi." Shark looked away from his sister and noticed Yuma on the other side of the cross road.
"Hello Shark, Sharks sis'" Yuma replied when they got to the same path as him, he didn't realize he walked partly the same way to school as them. "Can you stop calling me that ,Yuma... My name is Rio..." Rio had visibly sweat dropped as she said this, it wasn't the first time and she can guarantee it won't be the last.
"Sorry. I will try harder." Yuma stayed quiet after that. He was tempted to ask why they were walking, normally they were on Shark's bike but he just guessed something was wrong with it and it needed repairs.
After that Rio just kept bringing up small things to annoy her brother as payback for other small things he had done the previous day. No one knew how long it had been or if it had been long at all, however they had arrived at the front gates of the school. "I will see you both later." was all Yuma said as he went to his classroom.
The twins looked at each other with concern filling their eyes. "Reginald... I can't stand seeing Yuma like this any longer." Rio finally said to break the silence. "Same here, but what should we do?" Rio just smirked as she turned around "who knows~" she walked away with a sing-song voice leaving shark a blushing mess as he realized what she was implying. "Rio!" was all he yelled as he quickly moved to keep up with his sister.
During class Shark couldn't get his mind off of what to do to cheer Yuma up. He was never the best with emotions, it took the war to finally admit that it was something he should really work on.
He wanted Yuma to know that he wasn't alone, that he had all his friends with him and even the Barians. He recalled how he heard from Tori that Flip had once made a shrine / grave for Astral. However he knew Astral would not be gone forever, he wanted it to be something that can be used in any time of loneliness or sadness.
When it came to lunch he finally had an idea, it was going to take a while to get it all ready to give Yuma but he knew it would be worth it. Secretly glad that he has hardly touched the inheritance he got from his parents when they sadly passed unless it was for important stuff.
He knew what he was going to do. He just needed to talk to all Yuma's friends without them getting scared. He had hoped that after the war and everything that they wouldn't always be on high alert with him and the other Barians, however that was not the case.
He might need to get help for this, as much as he didn't want to he was going to ask Quattro to help him get in contact with everyone. Why Quattro you ask? Because he was always bumping into Shark and asking for a duel. And as much as he would hate to admit it, he could get his older brother to contact Kite and his younger brother Hart to talk to basically everyone else.
There was one other person he could ask for help since he knew one of Yuma's friends had a not so hidden crush on her. Paybacks a bitch for embarrassing him earlier that day. On the plus side he could get what he wanted from the Barians easily, well minus Vector but Shark would say how it's for Yuma and he would cave instantly.
One thing that would take time is trying to figure out Yuma's music taste. He could get Trey to ask Yuma's friends to see what they know but he decided he would use the few days that his bike was at the shop to try and find out for himself.
He went to the cafeteria to grab a sandwich (he didn't know what kind it was, not that it mattered to him, he just grabbed, paid, and left) and went to the library. He quickly grabbed a free computer that was away from everyone else and got to work on his gift until the bell rang for the next class.
When school was finally over Yuma just wanted to go home. Sadly he had cleaning duty that day and had to stay late, it also seemed like his cleaning partner ran out as soon as possible to avoid doing the job. Yuma wanted to curse the kid out, however he can't as he would have done in the past.
It took Yuma longer than it would have if his partner hadn't abandoned him,but it was finally done. On the way out of school he saw Shark also leaving his year's respective building. "Yuma? You're still here?" Shark had a look of confusion as he walked over to Yuma, it was getting late. Not dark but late.
"Yeah, I was left to do cleaning duty on my own since my partner ran out before anyone noticed... what are you still doing at school?" Normally if Shark could he would leave as soon as possible so it was strange seeing him there this late. "I had detention, I forgot to do my homework yet again. After that I decided to stay a bit longer in the library to do some more stuff."
That last part seemed strange to Yuma but he let it off since Shark seemed genuine. Ever since the war Yuma realized Shark had put effort into not lying and being open to Yuma. He couldn't help but find it so sweet of the purple and blue haired duelist, It was almost a complete 180 from when they first met.
They really had come a long way from dueling because Shark stole Bronks deck to just dueling for fun. "Would you like to walk you home? It's getting late and I'd rather you be safe." This caught Yuma off guard. His look of shock was not missed by Shark as he gave a small laugh. "Come on, we can even stop by a shop and get snacks." Shark grabbed Yuma's wrist, pulled him along for a short time, only letting go when they were out of the building.
"oh I just remembered I wanted to see if you had any favorite music. I'm looking to expand my taste a little and wondered if you had anything in mind." That would work right? Shark really wanted to know for his gift, he had to get it right. No messing up otherwise it wouldn't help at all.
"I don't have a favorite song exactly, however I do like Imagine Dragons, Evanescence, Within Temptation as well as some AJR songs. So I guess emotionally charged with lots of fast and slow parts? Maybe you would like them? Oh! I also know of a group called The GazettE. There's some metal screams in their songs. It's good. "
The last one shocked Shark he didn't expect Yuma, a (usually) positive and childish person to be into that kind of music but it was a pleasant surprise. "I know that last one is good. I like the song Falling the most."
The 2 kept talking about music and their favorite shows. By the time they reached Yuma's home, Shark had an even better idea on what to do for Yuma. Once they said their goodbyes and Yuma entered the house Shark got right back to work contacting who he needed to in order to get everything done.
First he would find Quattro. Then he would message his sister. Finally do some more research and image searches for everything he would need. With what Shark wants to do it will take a lot of time and effort but he's sure it will be worth it in the end.