Chapter Text
The first time Edo came to Duel Academy, he had been following Destiny.
When Saiou had told him he needed to enroll, he'd first laughed, then he listened, because he trusted Saiou implicitly even though he found the idea absurd. He was Edo Phoenix, star of the U-20 league since debuting at 13. He already had university degrees. His paper on Window to Respond penalties was published in the American Journal of Duel Monsters. What did he possibly need to go to Kaiba's little dueling high school for? To learn?
"There is someone you are destined to meet," Saiou said simply, a ghostly finger tracing the embossed surface of the card he'd turned over. The Fool, frolicking by a cliff in colorful rags, smiling and knowing nothing.
"This is who I'm destined to meet?" Edo asked, disliking how dubious he sounded.
"The Fool is the start of something new. Don't be deceived. He holds great potential yet untapped within him." Saiou's stark eyes were distant, glimpsing the infinite. "It is a power that may even defy fate."
"I thought you said Destiny couldn't be changed."
"That is precisely why we must put him to the test," Saiou maintained, returning the Fool and reshuffling anew. "You will have doubts, but I see the threads of your Destiny intertwined."
And so Edo went, because Saiou had never been wrong before.
He wasn't.
Now, as the island of Duel Academy came into view more than a year later, Edo wasn't sure what guided him. Sometimes he missed the certainty he had back then.
On the pier, the familiar sight of two silhouettes greeted him. He once would have gone to great lengths to avoid the simpering fly-buzzing of Professor Chronos and Vice Principal Napoleon — by paragliding onto the island, for example — but his experience in the Dark World had left him unexpectedly grateful to Chronos. So when the teacher asked him to visit, and that he had a favor to ask, Edo took his yacht this time.
As he got closer though, he saw that the other figure on the docks was not Vice Principal Napoleon.
"Chronos-sensei," he greeted as he descended the boat. He glanced at the other figure. "Manjoume."
The youngest Manjoume gave him a sour look. He had no idea why, they hadn't particularly interacted much. Well, Judai told him once that the elder Manjoumes harped on him for not hitting pro at 13 like Edo had. But it wasn't like that was Edo's fault.
The memory made him frown. It felt so long ago.
"What's going on, Chronos-sensei?" Manjoume asked shortly. "Why is Edo Phoenix here?"
"I'd like to know that as well," Edo said.
In response, Chronos collapsed to his hands and knees so quickly Edo was alarmed he'd just gone into cardiac arrest. "Per favore, Signor Edo! Take Manjoume on as your assistant!"
Edo raised an eyebrow just as Manjoume squawked, "What? Chronos-sensei! I didn't agree to this!"
Chronos's head lifted. "I could not simply stand aside and watch my student get rejected over and over! It's true, isn't it? I overheard your struggles and my heart could not abide it. Ah, the pro dueling world is vicious!"
"I didn't—!" Manjoume's eyes shot to Edo, clearly wishing there was not a spectator, or if there was, for it to be anybody else. "I have everything under control! I'm one of the top duelists at this school, my grades are good, I won the Genex Tournament for crying out loud. Who wouldn't want to sponsor me? I'm sure I just need to rewrite my cover letter one... more... time..." He gritted his teeth.
"Certainly, you are accomplished, Signor Manjoume. But as it stands, the prime season for signing contracts has already passed. If your third year had not been disrupted, you would have had the opportunity to network with sponsors directly, but with all that happened..." A shadow passed over Chronos's face as he lamented, "Ah, we at the school have failed our students yet again."
"Chronos-sensei..." Manjoume huffed, and some of the hot air left him. "That wasn't your fault."
"But still! I must make it up to my students somehow! Thus, why I requested Signor Edo's presence."
Manjoume twitched. "I appreciate it, sensei. But Manjoume Thunder will never be anyone's assistant."
"Set aside your pride, Signor Manjoume!" Chronos implored. "Working with Edo would be a world-class experience!"
"You mean working for him." Manjoume stabbed a finger in Edo's direction. "No way! He's younger than me!"
"Then he must be doing something right, right?"
All three of them startled at the familiar voice coming from the other side of the pier. Edo whirled — and perched among the rocks, half-hidden by the stone landing, a boy in a red jacket was attaching a shrimp to the end of a fishing line, brow furrowed with the concentration of someone threading a needle.
"Judai," said Edo, without thinking.
Judai looked up from his fish hook.
"Hey, Edo," he said casually.
When Edo died, he thought his last memory would be the horror-stricken look on Judai's face as the Marufuji brothers pulled him away. He'd looked over his shoulder as he spread his arms wide to accept the attack of the strongest duel monster in existence, and thought, You're not the only one who can be a hero .
The next instant, he woke up, the burned-out afterimage of Judai still fresh in his mind, his name screamed in Judai's voice still ringing in his ears. But when he looked around, he saw those who had been sacrificed, he saw Johan, but he didn't see Judai.
Until now.
Judai smiled at him, a smile that was so familiar, so Judai, that Edo wondered if the past six months had actually happened.
Chronos's favor wasn't the only reason he'd returned to Duel Academy.
"Judai!" Manjoume yelled. "You asshole. I haven't seen you in a week, and you show up just to lecture me?"
"Hm? I've been here." He gestured to his fishing bucket. "You're the ones who showed up."
"Signor Judai," Chronos said disapprovingly, "This is where you were? If you don't start coming to class, you won't be able to graduate."
"Uh huh..." Then, with a distinct lack of guile, he changed the subject. "Anyway, I think you should take the offer, Manjoume."
I haven't made an offer, Edo thought.
"I don't want to hear professional advice coming from you," Manjoume sneered. "When's the last time you've ever thought about your future?"
Judai cast the line, eyes shaded to watch it fly. "I think about what's for dinner."
"Of course you do." But the sarcasm dropped from his voice as Manjoume fixed him with an unusually serious look. "Worry about yourself, Judai."
Judai didn't see it, eyes trained on the bobbing lure. As if he hadn't heard Manjoume, he remarked, "Hey, did you know that Shou got a sponsor? Kaiser hooked him up. Sounds like it helps to have an in."
Manjoume twitched. "I don't need anyone's help."
"Chronos-sensei, you helped Asuka get scouted by that American university too, right? I heard the collegiate leagues in America are as competitive as the professional ones here—"
"Stay out of this, Judai!" Manjoume snapped. "I don't need anyone's help! Not my brothers', not Chronos-sensei's, and not Edo Phoenix's. I'm sure I'll get an offer any day now. Manjoume Thunder would never receive 43 rejections in a row!"
"Really? But what about Asuka?"
The two of them started bickering, and it was unclear if Judai's efforts were pushing Manjoume toward or away from taking the offer. Edo had decided that if Manjoume wanted it, he would give him the position. If both Chronos and Judai were advocating for it... he owed them. It seemed like he could never make things even with Judai. Throwing himself in front of Exodia wasn't enough. The boy just turned around and saved him, and everyone else too.
But if Manjoume didn't want the job, well, that was also a favorable outcome. It was win-win for Edo.
"What, don't tell me you're scared ," Judai responded to some barb of Manjoume's.
"Am not!" Manjoume scowled. "And it's none of your business, Judai!"
"I'm just saying, anyone else would be jumping at the opportunity to shadow Edo Phoenix."
Manjoume threw up his hands. "If you love Edo Phoenix so much why don't you go shadow him."
"Oh. Good idea." Judai looked over to Edo. "Hey, Edo, wanna make me your assist—"
"Stop." Manjoume's mouth mashed into a line. Judai looked at him innocently. "...Stop it. I know what you're trying to do."
"Hm? I don't know what you're talking about."
Manjoume jabbed a finger at him. "Your reverse psychology isn't going to work on me! You know why? Because I'm not stupid!"
There was a beat of pure silence. Then Manjoume punched the air next to him.
"Shut it! I didn't ask for your opinion!"
With that, he stomped down the pier. Weirdo, Edo thought.
That should have been that, but at the end, Manjoume stopped and shot Judai a complicated look. "I used to think we would enter the pro leagues together. That we would always be rivals." His tone was intense as anger, but it wasn't that. It was too disappointed.
Judai didn't say anything. His head lifted just enough that it was clear he'd heard, but he only fiddled with the reel of his pole. Manjoume stalled, then shook his head and didn't wait any longer. His black coattails lashed after him, agitated in the sea wind.
"Signor Manjoume!" Chronos called after him desolately.
Edo's eyes pulled away from Manjoume's disappearing figure.
"Sorry, Chronos-sensei," he said, not sorry. "There's just no talking sense into some people, but you tried your best."
"Fettuccine..." wept Chronos.
Edo took pity on him. "Manjoume is good enough to get into the pro leagues, they'll let in just about anyone who can hold a card and tell you what Pot of Greed does. I'm sure he'll get an offer eventually. It's probably just some shadow politics going on, with him being a Manjoume brother." Idly he wondered if his brothers were in fact blocking Manjoume from getting a sponsor, that would make sense with what he'd heard of them.
He checked his watch. This had taken longer than he expected, Emeralda would be displeased. "If that's all, I'll be going..."
As Edo turned to leave, he cast one last look at Judai, over his shoulder, just like during Exodia.
He'd gotten the gist of what had happened after he died, how Hell Kaiser had fallen to Yubel, how that had propelled Judai to face the spirit and wield Super Fusion. It didn't explain why Judai would be fishing on the pier like nothing had happened. It didn't explain why ever since returning from the dead, Edo has felt like there was something he'd left behind.
The feeling remained as he turned away from Judai, from the island. It wasn't for the last time, he reminded himself, Duel Academy had close ties to the pro world. But it would probably be the last time while Judai was still there.
The thought surfaced in his mind with startling clarity: Am I ever going to see him again?
He stepped onto the boat's gangway—
"Wait! Edo!"
Edo stopped. He looked over his shoulder one more time.
"What?" he said.
Judai pointed at his face. "What about me?"
"What about you?"
"You know, what about me being your assistant?"
Chronos's head shot up from where he'd been muffling sobs into the ground. "Gorgonzola cheese! You, Signor Judai, an assistant?"
While Edo would not have used all of those exact words, he shared the sentiment. "You can drop it, Judai. Manjoume already made up his mind."
"I know," said Judai. "I'm being serious."
Edo stared. This was not supposed to be one of the possible outcomes in his win-win scenario. "You're not. You don't even know the job requirements, much less meet them."
"What, but Manjoume did? That guy didn't even know how to do his own laundry until a year ago."
Edo frowned. Another bullet dodged.
"Why?" he asked.
"Well, you know rich kids, when he got kicked down to Osiris Red—"
"Not that," Edo cut him off. "Why do you want to be my assistant?"
Judai paused. "Why not? Sounds fun."
"Fun?" Edo gave him a flat look. "It's not supposed to be fun."
Something flitted in Judai's eyes, like a shadow under the water. Before Edo could think, it had returned to the depths. Lightly, Judai said, "Well, it means I don't have to go to class. Right, Chronos-sensei?"
Chronos blanched. "Indeed, Duel Academy allows you to earn class credit from internships. But Signor Judai, if you're interested in professional dueling, you don't need an internship. The sponsors already know of your dueling resume, we forwarded you several of their offers."
"Oh, yeah. I threw those away. Don't tell Manjoume."
Chronos looked scandalized.
Edo leveled the other boy with a hard stare. "If you don't want to become a pro, what are you planning on doing, Judai? What's your end game? You can't actually want to stay my assistant."
No response. Judai just looked away, staring at a point on the water. Had Edo's words come out too harshly? A prick of guilt made him waver. "Judai, I—"
Then Judai jerked up on his fishing rod. "Hey, I think I caught something."
—And exasperation exploded in him. "Seriously? You weren't even—"
"No, wait, it's just caught on some rocks." Judai jimmied the rod a few times, then sighed and cut the line with a pocket knife. "Kenzan's going to be mad, this is like the fourteenth hook I've lost."
"Judai, listen to me—"
In one lithe motion, Judai jumped up onto the pier, fishing rod slung over his shoulder. Edo resisted the urge to take a step back. Judai had always been taller than Edo, a trait which he hated to admit applied to most people, actually. But despite that, he'd always seen Judai as kind of a kid. At most, a peer. With his round face and wide eyes and unkempt hair that was always sprouting a few cowlicks, the fact of Judai being a year older than him never really felt like it applied.
But not now. Judai just looked at Edo knowingly, unflappable as a mountain or canyon, something that has seen the rise and fall of empires.
"Edo," he said, and there was a patience in his tone that unnerved him, "if you don't want me, just say no."
Face to face, close enough to reach out and touch, Edo looked into Judai's eyes, the eyes of the boy that they had followed through hell and back. To the end of this world and into the next. They were clear and brown and held no question or answer, just acceptance.
Just say no. Edo scoffed. Who the hell has ever said no to Yuki Judai?
"......Fine," he said. "I'll take you on a trial basis."
Judai stood up straighter. "Really?"
"The pay's minimum wage," Edo cut in before he could perk up too much. "And it starts immediately. Get your things, the boat's leaving in ten minutes."
Judai smiled at him anyway. "Thanks, Edo! You won't regret it."
He took off at a run up the slope toward the red dorm. Edo was already regretting it.
"I must thank you as well, Signor Edo," Chronos said as they were left alone, primly straightening his cravat.
Edo watched Judai crest the hill and disappear. "Is he..." He tried to think of an appropriate word, "...okay?"
Edo had no idea how old Chronos was, his features were unfathomable. But in that moment, he looked old. "I believe he has been doing better recently. His friends have been trying very hard, from my understanding."
The look of frustration in Manjoume's eyes. "Then is it really a good idea for him to leave?" he asked.
Chronos sighed gravely. "Who can say, with that boy? But I was quite surprised, that he wanted to go with you. He has not wanted to do much of anything, as of late. That must be a good sign, no?" The tall man bowed his head. "It was not the favor I had planned to beg of you, but for that boy I will beg it nonetheless. If this is the decision he has made, perhaps it will be what he needs."
Edo admired the teacher's dedication, really, he did. But... "I just can't imagine him as an assistant. Can you?"
There was a pause as Chronos tried to do exactly that. His expression became stonier and stonier.
"Ah well..." he said finally. "He is full of surprises."
Chronos bid Edo arrivederci and left. The ten minutes passed, then six more, and then Judai was sprinting back down the pier with a stuffed sack slung over his shoulder.
He stepped onto the ship. "So, what's this job do, anyway?"
The boat ride was less eventful than Edo expected. He had to take a phone call below deck, and when he finished, Judai was nowhere to be seen, a trait which didn't bode well in an assistant. He eventually found him at the bow of the ship, looking over the water. The wind made a flame of his hair and Edo couldn't see his face.
Edo was aware that Judai had come back. It wasn't a surprise to see him again.
He had been the first to leave the island, the day they returned from the dead. While all the others were still reeling with the shock of what they had been through, with the burden of being alive, Edo booked a flight that same evening to settle affairs that he thought he wouldn't have to deal with in the afterlife. Emeralda, normally the picture of professionalism, ripped into him for ten minutes straight, and after a very long phone call with the Senrigan Group, they reinstated his sponsorship.
"It won't happen again, will it?" asked president Costello. "Disappearing for weeks on end chasing after some student."
"No," said Edo.
They scheduled his return match a week later and the stadium sold out. His fans screamed. A few cried. In the Dark World, hearing those things during a duel meant something else altogether, but Edo put on his pristine Edo Phoenix smile anyway as lights flashed all around him. When he struck the final blow against an opponent whose name he couldn't remember, the MC howled, "Welcome back, Edo Phoenix!" and the audience's answering cheer deafened the stadium.
All Edo could think about was how he'd never be able to pay Judai back.
That stupid goddamn hero.
After the match, he got a call on his personal cell phone, which meant it was Saiou. When he picked up, the first thing Saiou said was, "Judai has returned."
— and his heart started racing faster than it had in the arena with thousands watching. Without thinking, without even hoping, he said the three words that he knew were pointless to say to Saiou:
"Are you sure?"
"I was doing a reading." Saiou never did readings anymore. Only when something was really preoccupying him. "I drew the Fool."
"...That might not mean anything."
An even more ridiculous thing to say. Saiou said he could not tell fortunes anymore after being purged of the Light of Ruin, but that power belonged to him long before he ever came in contact with the fateful card. What he should have said was that drawing the Fool didn't mean anything, because he knew now that Judai could be any card in the deck. The Sun. The Star.
The Devil.
"I just called the Academy," said Saiou, meticulous at anticipating Edo even when he wasn't being his manager. "They confirmed it. Judai is alive."
Alive.
Of course. How could any of them have believed he was gone for good? Judai, who could change Destiny itself. But as the feeling unwound in his chest, Edo knew that he simply hadn't dared to believe it until he was sure it was true. He still didn't feel sure, like he might wake up at any moment.
Saiou read the silence. "Are you going to see him?"
"No." The answer came too quickly. It felt like a protest even though he didn't even know what he would be protesting. "It isn't necessary. I'm glad he's alive, that's enough. Thank you, Saiou."
"...Of course. I am glad too," Saiou said after a pause. "Congratulations on your win, Edo. Good night."
But Saiou must have known what Edo knew now, with Judai in front of him. The question that lingered in the back of his mind — not "Is he alive?" but "Is he different?" The simple boy who Edo thought he knew, who had showed over the past few months that Edo might not know him at all.
Who would he find? The reckless and volatile Judai that had gone to save Johan? The golden-eyed Judai in nightmare-black armor, who killed Jim and O'Brien and didn't even give him a glance? The shivering, broken Judai who screamed for Edo as he died? The Judai he must have become to defeat Yubel and make it out of the Dark World?
Edo stared at the back of Judai's head like he was trying to peer into it. The question which remained unanswered: Is he still Judai?
Emeralda was there to greet them when they docked.
"Ed," Emeralda acknowledged, snapping shut a cell phone. "I rescheduled the meeting with Duel Jump Magazine. They will interview you over the phone after your photoshoot tomorrow."
"Understood." He didn't apologize for being late. He was Edo Phoenix.
Without further discourse, she produced a clipboard for him. "The Yokohama Invitational seeding assignments were released. You are first seed, as we expected. Your first round opponent will be Leo Gutierrez, I have here his confirmed deck list record from his last ten opponents, but most likely he will use a zombie deck against you."
Edo took the clipboard from her, glancing at it. "Not a problem. David Rabb is in this tournament, right?"
"Yes. He's third seed, you're expected to play in the semis."
The last time they dueled, in Seattle, his machine deck had been a problem. "Get me his deck list history too. And tell the coaches to prepare an OTK regimen."
"I already have." Finally, Emeralda's green eyes slid to the side. "Isn't this...?"
Judai straightened and pretended like he'd been following attentively. Which of course he hadn't been, Edo and Emeralda were talking in English.
"H-Hello," Judai said in extremely shaky English. His L's were definitely closer to R's. "My name is... Yuki Judai." He paused. "Judai Yuki."
"Yes, that's what I thought," Emeralda said, still in English. Judai looked to Edo helplessly, and was ignored. "What is Yuki Judai doing here?"
Of course Emeralda knew who Judai was, she hadn't been happy the first time Edo publicly challenged a mere student, and to be fair, Edo hadn't been happy about it either. She would be even less happy if she knew about the duel they'd had that wasn't on the record — the one that Edo had lost.
He sighed. "Judai is my new assistant."
Emeralda smiled. "Are you firing me?"
Of course not, Edo knew better than to be on the wrong side of that smile. "You don't work for me, you work for the Senrigan Group," he pointed out. "You'll continue to be my liaison with them, and handle higher level matters. But since Saiou is still taking time off, I thought it might not be a bad idea to get some additional help."
That part was true, but he left out that Judai taking the role was not part of the plan.
"You'll help with the transition, won't you?" Edo finished.
"I see. Of course." Emeralda studied Judai. Then, in Japanese, she said, "My name is Emeralda. It's nice to meet you, Judai-kun, I'll be showing you the ropes for this position, at least until you've adjusted."
"Oh!" Judai startled at Emeralda's perfectly articulated Japanese. "That's great. Thanks. I have no idea what this job is supposed to do."
Then why did you take it???
By nature of her work, Emeralda's smile was practiced. "I look forward to working with you." She gave Judai a once-over. "Ah, is that what you'll be wearing on the job, Judai-kun?"
Judai looked down at himself, plucking at the hem of his uniform jacket. "This is probably the most formal thing I have," he admitted. "Is that a problem?"
"Hm. No worries, we can work something out." She was entering something into her cell phone already. "You can come with me. Edo, I have a car waiting for you, the driver will take you to the publisher building. Your editor wants to discuss the special edition of your memoir."
"Understood."
What difference did Judai being here make in the end? If Judai wanted to kill time or get away from school, fine. He would eventually just get bored of the bureaucratic nonsense that came with the job and go back. That would be for the best. Really.
It was only temporary. Judai didn't belong here.
"Bye, Edo," Judai said as he walked past.
Edo didn't look back this time.