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Judai says Black Rose Dragon is hard to read, but in Aki's opinion he's spoiled by the fact that one of his spirit partners is an affectionate little furball and his other partner is bonded to his soul. Black Rose Dragon is a spirit of few words – those that are intelligible to humans, anyway – but he moves with his namesake's grace, unfurling the petals on his body and inclining his dark head to convey his feelings with knowing eyes.
And as the train pulls out of the current station and starts to chug towards Neo Domino Aki feels Black Rose Dragon at her back, his elongated neck skimming the ceiling above her. It's a gesture of protection, but also a reminder: from here, there's only going forward.
Guard that which is yours, she reminds herself. KaibaCorp can strongarm her into participating in the Fortune Cup, but she will not allow those forces to harm the people she loves.
"I know," she murmurs to him. Black Rose Dragon can hear, she's sure, but out loud the words are lost underneath Judai's lack of indoor voice on his retro-model flip phone.
"Hey, Martin! You and Rei are still in Neo Domino, right? For that nonprofit. How's that doing?"
Aki recognizes the names. They're yet more of Judai's old classmates, an odd pair that Asuka spoke of fondly when Judai took her to Duel Academia Island. They're involved in some kind of dueling outreach initiative that takes them all over the country, as far as she's gathered, and that's part of why Judai hasn't managed to cross paths with them for a few years.
"That's great!" Judai continues on the phone. "Hey, is Rei there right now? I wanna hear the details! …Oh." He tilts his head as he listens. "Heh, so Rei found another one? Yeah, I bet in Neo Domino there's all sorts of kids in need of…huh."
And Aki can't hear what Kanou Martin is saying on the other end of the phone, but she sees how Judai's lazy sprawl on the train seat turns into stiffened limbs and ready attention. The alert orange-teal in his eyes, and the way those eyes dart to her - and he meets her gaze, seeing that she's watching him too.
Aki starts to open her mouth, but Judai's grip tightens on his phone and he speaks again before she can.
"Did you say…Fudo…Yusei?"
"I'm going to find us a way out of here," Rua declares, just as he has a dozen times before. His arms are warm and safe, but his eyes burn with stubborn contempt for the man waiting outside her door.
Ruka shushes him anyway, reaching up from her position in his lap to poke at his cheek. "Don't talk like that. What if he hears?"
"I don't care!" Rua levels a glare at the door to her room, guarded by plush versions of so many of her deck's spirits. "I'm going to get us out of here. No matter how long it takes. That creep should never forget that. And neither should you!"
Oh.
"Stupid," she mutters, and they both know it means thank you.
"And then we can have real food again," Rua adds. Ruka politely does not mention that she eats ten times better than he does as he babbles on about what it'll be like to eat hamburger and curry again. Honestly, she'd live on bread and bell peppers for the rest of her life if it meant…
The door to her room opens far too soon, and Divine enters with that familiar smile on his face. "Time's up, kids."
Instinctively Ruka's hand tightens around Rua's, but she knows that it can't last. Reluctantly – before Rua gets punished, because it's always Rua who gets hurt – she sits up and bows obediently to Divine, eyes on the toppled Sunlight Unicorn plush at his feet.
"That's enough," Divine warns, and she realizes she's still holding on to her brother's hand. Ruka sneaks a glance at his face, and she can feel all the falsity in his smile like a knife pointed at her chest. "Ruka, don't you think you've had enough of this boy?"
She can't bring herself to respond. Lying would be safer, but…
"Leave her alone," Rua snaps. Ruka shakes her head, trying to warn him to back off, but it's too late.
"The hard way again, then." Divine sighs and gestures for the guards behind him. More unfamiliar feet in familiar uniforms crowd into her room, and before either of them can say anything more her brother's been pulled away from her, their hands ripped apart.
Her brother screams, arm still outstretched. "Ruka! Rukaaaaaaa!"
Ruka flinches and hugs her arms to herself, unable to look as the Arcadia guards drag her brother away again. She can't look at him now. If she raises her head, if she sees the pain on his face…
The door closes. The guards are gone, but Divine remains.
She wishes she could summon Kuribon and cuddle with her friend for comfort. The most she can do is send her to make sure Rua is okay, but…she can't do that with him here, either.
Divine's hand on her shoulder is so much less comforting than Kuribon's warmth. "Don't let yourself be distracted," he tells her, and they both know it means behave. "It's time for your training, Ruka."
Ruka doesn't bother responding. It's always time for training.
"If you represent Arcadia well in your tournament tomorrow, you might see that boy again sooner."
Ruka looks up. Divine smiles.
"And we've confirmed that Izayoi Aki has returned, as expected." The Public Maintenance Bureau's Head of Special Investigations chuckles to himself. "She has been given a very strong incentive to participate in the Fortune Cup."
"Very well, then." Kinomiya Kodo looks over his profile of the girl. Data on her during the past two years has been aggravatingly difficult to acquire, but he is a professional. He can find information about a single girl.
Even if that man Izayoi travels with seems to be a black hole of intel, even in this day and age. No matter; Yuki Judai isn't involved in whatever scheme his employers have planned, and beyond what he needs for Izayoi's case he won't be Kinomiya's concern. Thank god.
"I've worked plenty of overtime for this case," he says very truthfully. "Following their activities all over the world…once I've finished the duel, I'll be charging ten times my normal fee."
"You'll be compensated fairly, so long as you manage to bring out that girl's full potential." And Kinomiya's had clients who used that to refuse payments on results they didn't like, but from the anticipation on Jaeger's face it seems this one is genuine.
He grins. "That won't be a problem. I've already compiled the results of my research into a new deck just for her. I'll be there at the Fortune Cup tomorrow, then."
"We're expecting great things from you, Profiler." Jaeger chuckles again, and ends the call.
And Kinomiya is a professional, so he takes the opportunity to review his dossier on Izayoi again. She certainly has changed since her exit from Neo Domino's Academia, trading her old uniform for a customized version of the Italian branch's and gaining a focus to her bearing that the photos of her from her school days lacked. Evidently time with that mysterious teacher has done her well.
It's his job to break that composure of hers tomorrow. He's rather looking forward to it.
"Where could that boy have gone? Honestly!"
Being Judai's student, Aki's been in a lot of dangerous situations and around a lot of dangerous people. Saotome Rei is one of those people, not because she wants to steal cards or tear a hole between dimensions but because her clear admiration of Judai is so clearly the only thing holding her back from storming into the streets of Neo Domino in search of the elusive Fudo Yusei with all the force of a monsoon. Again, as her partner Kanou tells them.
"You mentioned the cops came looking for him, right?" Judai scratches his head. "Maybe he left because he didn't want to involve you guys in it. Yusei seemed like the kind of guy who would worry about that stuff, and it's what…"
It's what I would have done hangs in the air. Aki's heard the stories of how Judai disappeared from his own graduation, which none of his friends ever let him forget. She wonders if Yusei is the same kind of person, then.
(She's wondered many times about what kind of person Yusei is, the boy who shares her destiny and made such an impression on Judai. What will it be like, when destiny crosses their paths together?)
Saotome - Miss Rei, she'd told Aki to call her - scoffs, then smiles at Judai sugary-sweet. "Judai, my darling, I remember the year we spent together at Duel Academia. The cops don't scare me."
"They really don't." Kanou smiles as he sets a cup of tea in front of Miss Rei, then Judai and Aki. "You should have seen her when that officer stopped by a few days ago. But, Rei…does Yusei know that?"
"Well, when I find him again I'll make sure he knows!" She huffs and takes a determined sip of tea before turning that storm-sharp glare on the two of them. "Judai, you better understand that too. If you have another incident like Katsuyama—"
"How do you know about that," Aki hears Judai grumble under his breath, seemingly more perturbed by Miss Rei's reference than her blatant flirtations.
"—come back here. You and Aki will be safe with us. Aki, dear, you remember that too!"
Aki shifts uncomfortably at the sudden attention, raising her own teacup to her lips to cover up the movement. Kanou's questioning looks suggests that he noticed, and she shakes her head slightly.
It's nothing, really. It's not as if she thinks Miss Rei is lying or anything of the sort. It's just that—
This itch under her skin is—
Never.
Neo Domino hasn't been a safe place to her for two years now. No matter if she's with Miss Rei, or even Judai.
In the Daimon area, Yusei stares at the letter of invitation in his hands and thinks of Rally and his other kidnapped friends.
Saiga claps him on the shoulder. "Leave Satellite to me," he says. "You go wreak havoc at the Fortune Cup."
Ahead of them, the spectating crowd cheers. The duels continue.
Johan stares at the airport monitor, confirms his current flight is still on schedule unlike the two before it, and sighs.
"Have patience, Johan," Emerald Turtle reminds him. "The tournament isn't until tomorrow."
Sapphire Pegasus nods wisely in agreement. "As long as this flight leaves tonight, you'll still be in Neo Domino first thing in the morning. Don't worry."
"Even if it has been this troublesome up until now," Amethyst Cat growls.
They're right. Johan doesn't like having his travel go down to the wire like this, and he's sure he isn't going to sleep nearly as well on the plane as he'd like to. But he has a gut feeling that despite his current travel nightmares, he'll end up where he needs to be regardless.
He just hopes he ends up there before Judai and Aki start diving into too much trouble.