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It's when they're walking home, the second after they've parted ways with Yuma and Kotori and Tetsuo, when Ryoga stops lagging behind to talk to Yuma alone while Rio converses with Kotori and Tetsuo, that Ryoga lets out a long, relief-filled sigh and Rio rolls her eyes. It's not the first time Ryoga's done that; not the first time he's acted like all of Yuma's friends are some obnoxious fume that sets pressure on his lungs (or maybe it's Yuma himself and maybe it's not obnoxious), and now he can finally breathe clean air and think clearly and maybe even say something other than, "Hmph."

"Stop acting like you're so above them," Rio chides him, poking his shoulder. "They're not as bad as you make them out to be."

"Yeah, right," Ryoga says, snorting as he fixes the guitar case in place on his back, as though he's afraid something might've happened to it in the presence of all of Yuma's friends, "you're not the one Tetsuo's started calling Niisan." He shivers and scowls at the memory of it, then seems to think something unpleasant; he regards Rio carefully, with wide, scrutinizing eyes, mulling it over and wondering if he really wants to ask, if he really wants to incur Rio's wrath.

Rio notices, and unimpressed, she brings her hands to her hips and raises her eyebrows at him. "Spit it out."

Ryoga swallows. "...You're not," he starts, then hesitates; shakes his head, continues just the same, "You're not... actually considering dating Tetsuo... right? Like. Ever."

"Would it be any of your business if I was?" she snaps, glaring at him, and there's a fire in her eyes, like, hey, didn't we just go over this the other day?, and there's a pause as the twins glare at each other—sizing each other up and down like they used to when they were younger, and Ryoga's taller now but Rio's Rio so it balances out, doesn't it—but once the steam passes she sighs, says, "Okay, fine. He's... a nice guy and all, but..."

"...But?"

"...He's not someone I think I would be interested in," she admits, smiling half-heartedly, and maybe she feels a little bad about saying it, too, but any guilt that she might have melts away when she looks up again to meet her brother's eyes and she sees his wide eyes, sees his his gaping mouth, that upon seeing her confusion immediately become narrow eyes and lips pressed into a line, and Ryoga squints at her, says, slowly, seriously, "...Rio. Are you... Do you actually like someone?"

There's a beat, there's silence, like, wait a moment, hang on there, Rio needs a second, she needs to process what was just asked because what, she was just saying she didn't have a crush and that she wasn't considering dating Tetsuo and she even feels kind of bad about it — so, just, how did he even get to that conclusion? Her eyes narrow and the corners of her mouth turn down in confusion. "What are you going on about?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," says Ryoga, who doesn't seem to hear or notice her at all, "I bet you do, don't you? That must be what all that crap about me meddling with you and Yuma was about—"

"What?"

Rio comes to a halt, and Ryoga stops walking a little ahead of her; he seems to have finalized his conclusion when he turns to his side and looks at her accusingly. "You heard me."

Her nostrils flare and her hands are on her hips again before she marches forward, up into his personal space, a glare and a scowl plain on her features as she points a threatening finger at him. "What is wrong with you?" she demands to know, her tone low and cold, and Ryoga blinks, opens his mouth to say something, but Rio doesn't actually care for an answer. "We just went over this, what, yesterday? No, Ani, I don't like Yuma that way"—how can she, when he still calls her "Shark's sister"?—"so you don't have to worry about me sweeping away your embarrassing little crush!"

Ryoga's abashed; he takes a step back at her comment and her proximity, but chooses to doubt her anyway, asking, "If that's the case, what's got you so mad?"

Rio almost can't believe this, can't believe her brother being so dumb, except that, wait, yeah, he's Ryoga, isn't he, he can definitely be this dumb.

"Are you even hearing yourself?" she asks exasperatedly, crossing her arms, "I'm mad because you have no right to screw around in my love life! Just because you're a few minutes older than me, you think everything has to be run by you first or whatever—well too bad, I can date whoever I want!"

It's... almost awkward, the silence that descends once she's finished her rant, and Rio steps back and huffs while Ryoga sort of ducks his head and adjusts his guitar again, because, well, it's not fun to tease Rio when she gets angry about it, he doesn't like offending her or making her upset about something, or, you know, getting scolded (and so maybe she even has a point, that it's her life and she can choose what she wants to do with it, but he refuses to acknowledge that because she's his sister, younger or not, and if she thinks anybody she dates isn't getting thoroughly screened by him eventually, she thinks wrong).

"...Sorry," he mutters, and stuffs his hands in his pockets, and Rio sighs and the conversation is dropped. They resume their walk home in silence, Ryoga staring dumbly at his feet while Rio pulls out her D-Pad and plays around with some of the features—it's new, a present from after she left the hospital, so there's still some things she hasn't tried out yet—until they reach the end of the block, and Ryoga pipes up, "I'm gonna head over to Kaito's. I'll see you later," and before she can even respond he walks away in the direction opposite their home.

"Again?" Rio shouts after him, and with a look to her left and her right, she dashes over to catch up with him until they're in step again, and she wonders loudly, "Seriously, though, is Kaito even real?"

Ryoga glances at her sideways, not at all against her company, but totally nonplussed at her question. "...You saw him. He dueled that Barian, remember?"

"I mean, I know he's real," Rio says, dismissing his words with a wave of her hand—and Ryoga mutters under his breath, "Are you sure you know what 'real' means?"—"but, like, are you actually even friends with him?" She pauses, then at his lack of a response, continues, "...Does he even have friends?"

"Who knows," says Ryoga, sounding almost derisive, and he shrugs.

"What do you two even do?" Rio presses, because, actually, what do boys even do, do they just sit around and duel each other all day or what? She can't imagine Kaito and Ryoga getting up to anything interesting; from what she hears about the former he's pretty stoic, and her brother only ever does something interesting when he's with Yuma, and even then only at Yuma's insistences.

"Stuff," he answers haughtily.

Rio mulls that insufficient answer over, then decides cheerfully, "Well, today, I'm coming with you. Let's see this stuff, shall we?", and Ryoga's surprised at her self-invitation at first, but he quickly masks it with a noncommittal shrug.

"Whatever."

Rio smiles and leads the way to Heartland Tower. Once they get there, Ryoga doesn't let them enter from the front; Rio's about to march straight up to the door when he rolls his eyes and unceremoniously drags her to one of the gates in the back, and she eyes him weirdly, like, uh, where are we even going, because the back is grey and nowhere near as nicely maintained and, in the end, really shady. Ryoga doesn't even ring a bell or knock on a door; instead, he just stands outside the heart-emblazoned entrance and pulls out his D-Gazer.

"Oi," he says once Kaito's picked up his call, "I'm outside."

There's an "alright" in response and then Ryoga hangs up, and a second later the gate opens to let them in, and Ryoga beckons Rio forward into the empty corridor. "You coming or what?"

Rio was expecting someone at the other side, but she shakes herself and follows him, a bounce in her step because, hey, so maybe she's a little excited to finally meet the guy who curbstomped her brother so badly but somehow managed to stay on his good side anyway. She hums and rubs her hands together and laughs a little at the prospect of being able to scrutinize him personally and decide if he's worthy of having defeated her brother; Ryoga eyes her strangely as they walk, but he doesn't say anything until they're up an elevator and walking into what looks like a computer room, given that it's big and full of multi-sized screens and multi-colored buttons, glowing at odd intervals or at the command of the person standing in front of them, a person that Rio recognizes as—.

"Oi, Kaito," says Ryoga to announce their arrival, and Kaito, who apparently hadn't noticed their entrance, turns to face them.

Tenjo Kaito is, Rio notes, not all that bad to look at; in fact, she might even go ahead and admit he's attractive. It's not to say that she hasn't seen pictures of him from the WDC before, hasn't seen the groups of fangirls that he and Ryoga seem to have accumulated at school—it's just that, well, he's always making pouty faces in those pictures, scowling or frowning or generally looking extremely annoyed, and now he doesn't look at the two of them with any particular distaste. Actually, he is pretty stoic - which seems... kinda rude, but, hey, it's a step up on the ladder.

"Hey," he says in greeting, and his eyes—grey, and, huh, warmer than Rio expected—glance briefly at her before falling back on Ryoga for an explanation.

Ryoga shuts his eyes and waves a hand vaguely in her direction. "My sister," he says in way of introduction, and Rio scoffs, steps up with a smile and says, "I'm Rio. It's nice to finally meet you, Kaito-san."

"Kaito," he corrects, blinking, because he's caught a little off-guard by the honorific. "'Finally'?"

"Ani's told me about you," Rio explains, and nudging her brother, she smirks. "About how he lost to you."

Something about that comment makes Kaito stiffen; Rio tilts her head, confused, and would question it further if she knew him at all, as it's weird, isn't it, how he suddenly seems so uncomfortable without having actually changed his expression, and who looks so awkward about a victory? Well, whatever the case, he's not looking at her anymore, so she lets it go and turns to Ryoga who, as usual, is an oblivious idiot and doesn't seem to notice the tension in the air—or, if he does, completely ignores it in favor of going up to the computers and asking, "How's your Barian hunt going?"

Kaito glances up at the screens again as Ryoga steps up, neck craned at an angle to see, and Rio debates joining them — since, after all, the Barians are kind of her business too — but she settles instead on watching them from behind, leaving them to their business together (and, hey, they actually have some of that, what a pleasant surprise). Kaito's shoulders, which had tensed earlier, seem to relax as he tells Ryoga about his findings so far, findings which total up to, apparently, not much; Kaito sums it up by saying he's sent Orbital off to collect data from here and from there, that he's trying to figure out the exact nature as to Barian World but hasn't come to a conclusion yet, and Ryoga just kind of nods like he understands anything Kaito's saying. Rio notices something in the data on a screen that they're not looking at and squints it, before calling back, "Hey, Kaito." The two of them turn to her, and she points at the screen. "You think the Barians have something to do with the Big Dipper?"

Kaito nods. "Yeah. Their names are similar to the ancient ones for some of its stars. Probably means this isn't the first time Barians have had contact with us."

"Huh," she says as she draws back from the screen, an amused glint in her eyes and a grin tugging at the corner of her mouth. "I have to admit, it's refreshing to see how much you have here. Yuma and Ani haven't been doing much of anything."

He smirks at that. "No kidding."

"Oi," calls Ryoga, annoyed, "If I'd known you were going to insult me, I wouldn't have brought you along."

Rio makes a face at him. "I'm sorry you have to deal with my brother," she says to Kaito, sighing dramatically, and Kaito nods sagely, clearly holding back on his look of amusement.

The sun's setting by the time they set out for home, and neither of them says much of anything—Rio's considering the day they spent at Heartland Tower while she plays some more with her D-Pad and Ryoga's just being his usual self—until they're about halfway there, back at the bend where they had argued earlier. It's when they're at the red light, when Rio carefully tucks her D-Pad back into her bag, that Ryoga turns to her and says, "So. You look like you had fun."

Rio, whose default expression tends to be a smile, frowns. "What do you mean?"

"At Kaito's place," says Ryoga.

"Hm?" Rio tilts her head and purses her lips, staring out at the traffic, a little distracted. "Sure. He's interesting, I guess."

Ryoga isn't all that satisfied with her answer. He's silent again as the pedestrian light flashes and they cross the street, a cluster of people surrounding them as they walk; they're high school kids, telling from their uniforms, and a pair of them is holding hands and blushing and Ryoga turns away quickly, stares at his feet and grips the strap of his guitar case. He doesn't look up again until they're just outside their house, and then, finally, he speaks abruptly, "...Rio."

"What is it?" she asks, her hand hovering over the door's handle. "Honestly, Ryoga, you've been acting so weird today." And then she adds as an afterthought: "...Well, weirder."

"Earlier," he says, ignoring her addendum, "when you said you'd date whoever you want. You wouldn't..."

He trails off. Rio's starting to get annoyed by his hesitation, by how slow he's going; she's unexpectedly exhausted after the school's festival and their time at Heartland Tower, and she just wants to get inside and take off her uniform, lie on her bed and maybe watch some dumb TV shows, and it would be fantastic if her stupid brother would just get to the point. "I wouldn't what?"

Ryoga swallows the lump that's formed in his throat, and says (somehow) with a completely straight face, "You wouldn't date Kaito, would you?"

Rio blinks.

"I... say that again?"

Ryoga grits his teeth, speaks slowly this time. "You... don't... like... Kaito, do you?"

She stares at him quizzically, wondering if maybe her ears are messed up and he's saying something else entirely, but, no, he said it slowly, didn't he, made sure that she heard him exactly, and he looks mortified at the idea of the question but he's voiced it so now it's too late and Rio just continues to stare at him, because what, where, when, how—

And then Rio can't decide between being angry or laughing, but, yeah, the hilarity tops the idea that Ryoga's still on the who-can-and-can't-date-my-sister train, so she bursts out into raucous laughter, and there's a stitch at her stomach and she might choke if she doesn't control herself, and god, it's just too funny, the idea that this entire time Ryoga has been thinking about her love life and now he's worried, how old is he?

"You," she decides finally, clearing her throat once she can breathe again, "need to get your head checked."

And she opens the door and walks in and tries not to choke again at the idea of her touching lips with Kaito; Kaito, who is eighteen years old and grumpy and stiff; Kaito who doesn't seem to know that he has a mouth with which to talk, let alone to do other things; Kaito, who Rio has known for all of one hour, and then only because she wanted to see if he and her brother were a thing—a question to which she has yet to come to a conclusion, as Ryoga's behavior right now, she muses, can be taken in either direction.

Kaito has come to expect Ryoga's company at the oddest of hours, with no prior warning and without having received an invitation, on school days or on weekends, during class hours or in the middle of the evening when Kaito's putting Haruto to bed. He doesn't really mention anything to Ryoga about it, doesn't ask the question, hey, don't you have an education to get to or something, why are you here so often, just sort of accepts his company because, well... it's nice to have someone around sometimes, isn't it? Maybe.

At the very least, he doesn't mind.

They don't really do much together, actually, when he thinks about it. Ryoga usually brings a bag and pulls out a book—whether it's leisurely reading or just studying, Kaito doesn't know, because he's heard that Ryoga doesn't study, so he's not sure if Ryoga is just hiding it from others or if this is just the only place to read where he can find sanctuary from Yuma (who, along with his friends, seems to have taken over all of Ryoga's usual places of solitude). They are, therefore, usually silent—as Ryoga arrives he greets Kaito and then parks himself in a corner, his presence there only relevant when he interrupts Kaito's daily routine to provide cutting sarcastic commentary, to which Kaito responds in turn. And then Ryoga responds to that, and Kaito to that, and sometimes Ryoga wins and sometimes Kaito wins, but it's really a continuous thing, all small battles in their ongoing war.

A war, he muses, that was a little different with Rio around; it was like he'd recruited an ally (with, he realizes now, an infinite supply of personal knowledge to use against Ryoga in her arsenal).

Presently, Ryoga arrives, a bag slung over his shoulder. "Yo."

"What," says Kaito in greeting, noticing the empty position beside him today, "Alone again?"

"Thankfully," replies Ryoga, and he settles down in his corner, pulls out a novel and flips open to the bookmarked page before he looks up again, feeling distinctly like he's being watched. "...You look disappointed."

"I enjoyed her company," Kaito admits, shrugging. Then he adds, in the matter-of-fact tone that he delivers all his jabs: "It's better than yours'."

"Sure," snorts Ryoga, and he dives into his book, oddly silent for the rest of the day, turning pages at a much slower pace, and looking contemplative—almost like he isn't actually reading at all.

"Ah, home so soon? Were you at Yuma's?"

Rio's head peeks out from the door as he passes her room, and he can see the mess that's scattered throughout it and epitomized on her desk, where she's seated by a stack of textbooks and a pile of work she needs to get through before she's officially caught up with the rest of their class. She looks exhausted, but she told him earlier that mostly she's bored, because she understood all the math after Ryoga went over it with her—it's the ridiculous number of practice problems she has to do for the credit that's driving her a little crazy.

"No," says Ryoga dismissively, but because he only has two friends, Rio laughs, says, "Oh, Kaito's then? Did you actually do something this time?"

Ryoga frowns. "No," he says again, and immediately feels stupid after admitting it. He hesitates, then decides he might as well say, "...He says you're better company than me, anyway."

"Aww," says Rio, who isn't all that inclined to agree vice versa—Kaito is a change from Ryoga, sure, but only because she's not familiar enough with him to tease (although he's certainly dorky enough: from what she gathers Kaito is the kind of guy who leans against walls and doesn't really have any hobbies outside of dueling and taking care of his brother, and when he speaks it's in a dumb, pedantic sort of way). "How sweet of him."

Ryoga scowls, apparently unsatisfied with her response.

"Rio," he says, fidgeting with his ring, "He's, like, eighteen."

She blinks. "...Yeah?" The look on Ryoga's face intensifies - the set of his jaw and the familiar suspicion she can see playing over his face - and it's then that it occurs to her what, exactly, he's running his mouth about this time (or rather, what he's still running his mouth about). "Oh, please, are you still going on about this?" Ryoga folds his arms and grimaces. Rolling her eyes, Rio hops out of her chair—glad she's got an excuse to ignore her work—and she walks out into the hall, where Ryoga moves back to lean against his bedroom door, scowling. "Don't worry, Ani, I don't have any designs after your boyfriend."

At the last bit she points a finger at him accusingly, which Ryoga shoves out of the way. "He's not my boyfriend."

"And I don't have a crush on him. See how that works?" How could she, anyway? She's already decided on him being largely boring, although he's more intelligent than some other boys she could go after, she'll give him that. Thing is, he's got nothing going on that particularly piques her fancy—except for the customary dueling, where she's been informed more than once of his skill, and, yeah, so she'd like to take him on sometime, but that doesn't mean she's interested in taking him out.

There's silence, as both of them scrutinize each other, until, finally:

"...Just because you're not into him," says Ryoga slowly, "doesn't mean he can't be into you."

And at Ryoga's seriousness, Rio bursts out laughing.

"Oh my god," she says after a minute, when her laughter is subsiding into giggles and she can reach up to wipe at her eye almost mockingly. How is it any of her concern if Kaito, after meeting her all of one time, is 'into her'? "Why don't you take that up with him?" she asks, her voice as flippant as she can make it when she still wants to laugh, and she walks back into her room and shuts the door to let him mull it over or whatever it is that he plans to do.

They tend to walk home with the group or wherever it is that Yuma takes them otherwise on the weekdays; today, their destination is the park, and after most of Yuma's other friends have gone their separate ways, he stops gleefully in the middle of a court, turns on his heel, and grinning, points directly at Ryoga. "Come on then, Shark! Duel me!"

Ryoga, walking beside Rio with his hands in his pockets, answers coolly, "No."

"But Shaaaark," Yuma whines, stomping his foot and folding his arms, and Ryoga would say something about how Yuma is being a baby and didn't they duel just that morning, why doesn't he duel someone else for a bit, but it's then that a new voice cuts in from behind.

"Hey," says Kaito, and they turn to see him, standing there with Orbital beside him, his brow arched and a hand to his side. He's smiling slightly as he steps down from the ledge so he's on even ground with them, offers, "If Ryoga's turning you down, I'll be your opponent, Yuma."

At that, Ryoga growls and steps into place across from Yuma, retrieving his deck and starting up his D-Gazer, an arm out to stop Kaito from taking his spot. "Never mind. I'll duel you."

"That was a quick change of heart," points out Rio, fishing for her own Gazer as Yuma grins, Ryoga pouts, and the fourth duel of the day commences.

Kaito comes to stand next to her, his own tattoo activated to watch, and there's a smirk on his face like he's just won a bet. "It was," he agrees, and at his proximity Rio remembers abruptly Ryoga's dumbassery from last night, almost chokes with laughter at the idea that she and Kaito would ever be a thing, because, god, it would be like dating Ryoga except with less incest and a few more inches, wouldn't it? She looks up at him and imagines holding his hand and smiling at him at him all romantic like and she can't help it, she lets out an incredibly undignified snort, and at the sound of it Kaito looks down at her inquisitively, sees her laughing at him no matter how quickly she tries to mask it and look away, and he frowns.

It's by chance that Ryoga sees them then, sees Rio looking away with a grin and Kaito regarding her with confusion, and it looks suspicious, doesn't it, the two of them standing so close and acting so strange, and, wow, did Rio lie to him or what, why is Kaito looking at her like that, but he doesn't say anything, just sort of glares at them as he and Yuma continue their duel. Thing is, he looks back later and Rio's eyes are focused on the duel but Kaito's linger on her, and it's then that Ryoga tells Yuma to hang on a second, stalks up to Kaito, grabs him by the hand, and drags him to the side, Kaito blinking in surprise.

"Dude," mutters Ryoga, when he's sure no one else can hear them, even if their eyes are following, "why are you staring at my sister?"

Kaito's nonplussed. "What?"

"Don't play dumb," Ryoga growls, crossing his arms, "I saw you."

"Saw me look to the side."

"Kaito," says Ryoga, dangerously even, and is he even listening, Kaito doesn't think he is, does Ryoga not realize how dumb he looks right now trying to play up the protective older brother thing? "You realize I'm going to have to have to kick your ass if you even think about doing anything with her."

Kaito stares at him, clearly wondering if Ryoga is for real right now, if this isn't some sort of joke, if Ryoga can really be this stupid, and then deciding, um, yeah, he really can, can't he? "First," says Kaito, deciding that this is probably where he should begin, "that's somewhat misogynistic, I think." He waits a moment for a word of that length to sink in, for Ryoga to make a face and open his mouth to speak again, before continuing, firmly, "And second, if you're insinuating that I have designs after your little sister, stop. I do not." And then, for good measure: "At all."

"You said you liked her company. I know what you're like, Kaito," says Ryoga, and, yeah, okay, he's not listening to Kaito, there's confirmation, because Ryoga is Ryoga and he's clearly not about to change his mind on this, and this is ridiculous, so Kaito is really fine with letting Ryoga think whatever it is he wants.

"...Do you?" he says, and he looks behind Ryoga to where Yuma is calling out after them, upset and curious about what Ryoga's up to, and if he's cheating by asking Kaito advice, Yuma's not going to talk to him for a week. Ryoga gets pissed at the very idea that he would ever ask Kaito's advice in a duel, and Kaito snorts.

He returns to her side for the rest of the duel, but this time he's standing a mindful distance away, something easily noticed but on her part chalked up to coincidence instead of conscious decision. They talk; Rio cheers Yuma on and Kaito gives Ryoga lackluster taunts as reverse psychology, so they end up hurling insults at Ryoga together, even after he wins, and they share some more glances, which Kaito holds, if only because he wonders where Ryoga gets his stupid ideas sometimes, if only because he isn't a pre-teen with a crush, so he isn't going to break the contact just to look the other way with a blush.

And... on his way out, Kaito considers briefly, well, hey... she is cute, isn't she, if he had to choose a word to describe what she looks like, and, you know, she isn't bad company at all, and, like, there are worse people to be accused of having crushes on—ah, wait—

Tenjo Kaito, Rio decides as time passes on, isn't just boring. He's also weird, in an entirely unanimated, peculiar kind of way, and as his weirdness begins to surface the more she interacts with him, she finds it... well, easier to interact with him. It seems a slow process but he sort of... melts, she guesses, or maybe it's just that he's more open with Yuma around than he is with Ryoga, or maybe that's just how he is around everyone, guarded and stocky until he judges them someone who isn't entirely annoying.

Kaito is... okay, so basically he's a lot dumber than she thought he was. He stands with his superior air or whatever, and the reason he doesn't talk so much isn't really that he's above them or shy or whatever else—it's just that he really doesn't think it important that he share at all, thinks the words arbitrary and pointless, which is... well, it's sad, isn't it? He doesn't hold conversations because he's never really done it before and so he doesn't really see a reason to, doesn't see the fun in it. Does he see fun at all?

Maybe she takes a sort of pity on him because Ryoga was the same before Yuma and after her accident, but before that at least he had her to talk to, because they're twins, they're like a friend that's built right in. Kaito has Haruto, but he's so much younger, so much smaller, and isn't that at least half his life that Kaito's pretty much been alone, and wasn't he a loner and all that jazz before Yuma converted him to a friend?

She starts thinking about all this because they end up standing next to each other a few more times, when Ryoga's too busy fending off random Yuma hugs to police his sister and his boyfriend (she still hasn't confirmed it but he might as well be, because Kaito speaks more often to insult Ryoga than anything else, and any affectionate relationship with Ryoga has to be one where you make fun of him, right). Their talking is more-or-less the same as it was—he'll make a quip or she'll make a quip, she'll encourage someone and he'll snort at things she did not intend to be funny at all, and sometimes he'll just offhandedly mention something that's totally unrelated to whatever the group is doing and it's... weird, especially since he'll frown like he's deep in thought or try to change the subject if she takes too long to answer.

She indulges him, though, and sometimes her responses get actual emotions out of him—never a laugh, but a not-quite-smirk-that-might-actually-be-a-smile here or there, which is, for him, close enough—before he tries to hide it, and oh my god, he tries to hide it.

It's, like, one time she's dueling Yuma, and Ryoga's telling her how bad she's doing and Kaito of all people is the one who says, like it's the most obvious thing in the world, "She has a strategy," with an implied you're a dumbass, Ryoga, and she thinks it kind of bold of him because Ryoga is her brother and Ryoga's got more duel-smarts than she does, definitely, but... Kaito is also right, because Rio does have a strategy, and it's a new one she's been working on and hasn't tested on Ryoga yet and the fact that Kaito can put it together so quickly, barely knowing her deck, is... she wonders what other things go on in that head of his.

And, you know, she wins that duel, and he smirks at Ryoga when he's pleasantly surprised and she sticks her tongue out.

Smiling suits him more than the smirks, though; she's distractedly looking at his profile as he's staring bored out a window when they're at a pizzeria once, and he sees something outside and he smiles a little, something soft, something private, and it's different, he looks peaceful and calm and nice, and so maybe she thinks she'd like to see it more.

(Ryoga nudges her because the food's here and it's time to eat, wonders what she was looking at it, but she shakes her head and tries not to look like she just got caught doing something wrong—else Ryoga'll start thinking she has a crush on Kaito again, which, no, she just wants to see him happy because shouldn't everyone be happy—but she glances back before she starts to eat, one last look at something so rare—but it's already gone).

Kaito thinks he's starting to have a problem.

There are multiple reasons it's a problem, the first being that Kaito was fairly certain he was asexual and aromantic, having never really... experienced anything at all, and having never intended to; the second being that if he's placed the symptoms correctly and if what he thinks is going on is what's really going on, then Ryoga will have been right about something that Kaito thought stupid, and that is not something of which Kaito is ever in favor, especially since Ryoga's definitely the one who caused this, caused this that first day when he implied that Kaito would ever, caused it because Kaito barely even thought about Rio as existing separately from Ryoga until Ryoga said the thing, caused it because Ryoga keeps giving him weird looks out of no where whenever Kaito does anything anymore.

It's, like. Ryoga. Grow up.

His problem is that he thinks he's... smiling more, which he supposes shouldn't really be a problem, Haruto will be happy once he realizes, and smiling is good for you, isn't it; it's just that Kaito is averse to this change, even if it's a good one, because it's different, it's weird, and it happens a lot when he doesn't want it too, happens outside of his control, it happens often when...

Well, when he thinks about things that Rio's said. He doesn't know when she stopped being 'Ryoga's sister' and started being 'Rio', when he started replaying their (admittedly short) conversations in his head and trying to figure out if what he said was an okay response to what she said, if it wasn't stupid or just entirely unintelligent, he really, honestly, doesn't know, but he wishes he did because it's weird and annoying and he's pretty sure he doesn't like it.

His... heart beats faster, when she does things. And... well, whenever Ryoga's around, Kaito's heart skips beats, too, and it's even more annoying because it's not the same heartbeat, it's the kind of heartbeat where Ryoga reminds him of someone else and he... sort of wishes she were here, too. Because... well, he doesn't like that he likes it, but he likes being around her.

And spinning sentences like that in his head while he's trying to work on something, Kaito thinks, is starting to be a problem.

(Tell her, he reads, when he looks it up because what the hell else is he supposed to do, tell her, and once she knows there's no thrill in her not knowing, and then it'll be done with).

It Happens when she runs into him without her brother around, and, yeah, it deserves the capital letters, because It is in no way something good. Well, like, it's good; it's cute, it's sweet, but It isn't good, It is gross and unwanted and totally, undoubtedly unnecessary because why him?

He's at the park on a bench and she's walking home from school after she stayed late with Kotori, and Haruto's calling him and showing him something really cool he just figured out in the book spread out in Haruto's lap, and it's there—the smile, the one she saw earlier, and before she knows it, she's calling out, "Hey there, Niisan!" to tease him, and he frowns that stupid frown and furrows his brow before he looks up at her, and that makes her mad because keep it on, idiot—but just as she thinks it, it's back—it's back, and there's something—something that—well, she smiles back, too, and it's different this time, it's kind of in the pit of her stomach and whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute, she knows what this is, she did not want this, she—

She waves and continues walking past, and awkward straightness about her steps which he probably doesn't notice when he returns to his book, and she can hear Ryoga in her mind already, pestering her and saying how Kaito's eighteen and Kaito's this and Rio's that, and Ryoga knew it.

"No," she says aloud, when she's staring into a mirror and glaring at herself. "You can't like him! That's losing."

And she basically has a fit, stuffs her face in her pillow and rolls around whining no, because she can't like Kaito, that's losing, it's losing to Ryoga and to his dumb, endless insistence and when did she trip over her own feet, she was making sure that she would get along with Kaito but not too much, if nothing else than because of defiance toward her brother. Why is this happening, she'll just have to pretend it isn't there, won't she?

It's when they're walking home from school, the second after Yuma and the gang have split up from them, that Ryoga starts walking the other way without so much as a notice, and Rio glares at him, stomps her foot on the sidewalk and yells out, "Ryoga!"

He stops, looks back at her over his shoulder, and asks lazily, "What is it?"

She brings her hands to her hips, because Ryoga usually tells her when he's planning on going somewhere else, and, honestly, maybe she'd have made plans today, too, if she knew that she was heading home alone, what the hell is up with him? "Where are you going?"

Ryoga's reluctant to answer; his response is a purposefully unintelligible groan before he continues in the other direction, and Rio huffs and follows after him, stands in front of him to block his path with arms spread out. "Ryoga."

"I'm doing something with Kaito," says Ryoga, a mocking sort of stress on the name, and there's an uncomfortable flutter in Rio's chest when he says it, and she hopes to high hell that Ryoga doesn't notice, scowls because she knows that's why he's stressing it in the first place, he's still on about this, he—

"What's wrong?" he says then, eyeing her dangerously, a glint in his eye, and he's baiting her, isn't he, that's understood, he's definitely trying to make her angry on purpose. "You look flushed."

Rio nearly growls, her hands balled into fists as she yells out, in white-hot rage at her brother, because it's his fault this happened, because he's still on about it no matter how many times she tells him to stop, because god dammit he's right and that is the most annoying part of it all (even if she likes the flutter even if she likes the surprise): "For the last time, Ani! I'm not interested in your stupid turnip-haired boyfriend!"

And Ryoga just blinks at her in surprise, wasn't expecting her to be so angry at him, and was he just teasing her, has this just become a running joke for him, what—

"Um," says a voice from beside them, and they both freeze before looking to its owner together, because they know that voice, they—

"—Kaito," says Ryoga, as Rio coughs furiously into her wrist, and, yeah, there he is, blinking at the two of them, looking from one to the other with his brow furrowed, the frown that's deep in thought, and, yeah, he definitely heard that outburst, Rio might actually be flushing now.

"...Ryoga," says Kaito then, slowly, while he's looking at Rio, and, "Rio," he says, while looking at Ryoga, and finally he closes his eyes and sighs before turning to Rio again, says, "I was hoping to talk to you."

And then it's Rio's turn to blink at him, and she turns to her side to Ryoga, who looks just as surprised as she is, before she looks back; Kaito tilts his head and sort of motions to the side, like, just you, and Rio, entirely confused (and her heart beating fast, embarrassingly fast, god dammit), leads the way. Ryoga watches them from his spot leaning against a nearby wall, his arms crossed and a perpetual glare firmly plastered onto his face.

"Why," says Kaito, once the two of them are out of Ryoga's earshot, "do both of you think I have a crush on the other?"

Rio laughs, a kind of nervous laugh because, wow, she really doesn't want to explain Ryoga's whole, idiotic thing about them to Kaito, because it lurches uncomfortably in her stomach now that it's actually real and—wow, Kaito looks really nice up close, hm—

She shakes herself, decides it's safest to say, "It's... a sibling rivalry thing."

"So it's a joke?" Kaito asks, his face expressionless, and now of all times would be fantastic for him to not be so stony-faced, for her to be able to read him better, but Rio doesn't skip a beat when she says, "Well, you don't, right?"

"I..." starts Kaito, and he hesitates, and Rio's eyes widen, because, what, what is happening here, he doesn't actually—"didn't say... that."

His words fall flat onto the floor, a silence as he stares down at her and it's like, wow, she wishes one of them would look away but they're both not like that at all, are they, so it's faster, her heartbeat is faster, it's in her throat when she goes, arbitrarily, because if it was Ryoga he wouldn't be talking to her, would he, "So... you like Ryoga."

"No."

"I... see."

She coughs, and finally there's an excuse for them to break the eye contact and it's awkwardly quiet until, finally, he sighs, goes, "Ryoga did this."

"What?"

Kaito tilts his head, and it's plain he's getting frustrated, because there's something that's tugging at his mouth and is it a frown is it a smile what is it when he motions at her vaguely, says, "I never would've... contemplated you if he didn't start saying all that crap the other day."

"'Contemplated,'" tries Rio, because who talks like that, and it sort of settles in that, hey, okay, he wouldn't have even thought about her if Ryoga's stupid joke hadn't started up, and, you know, she wouldn't have either, would she, so it's all her brother's fault, his feelings and her feelings and they both have feelings oh my god, and she goes, "...You're kind of an asshole," which makes him scowl, but then she continues, "But... I might. Like you, too. I think... Just. Don't get me wrong. You're..."

She motions at him, vague hand gestures to his head to his body to his everything, sighs, says blatantly, "You're kind of stupid and stoic and a jerk, really, but Ryoga-said-some-things-and-you're-kind-of-endearin g-too-and-I think I actually want to kill my brother because this is entirely his fault."

He smiles at that. She wants to die.

"Not if I get to him first," he says. She laughs.

There's a beat, and it's... still uncomfortable, this silence, because there's still something hanging in the air that needs to be addressed, even though she's confessed and he's confessed and, so... what now?

"Confessing," says Kaito suddenly, "didn't help."

"What did you expect?"

"For it to go away," he says plainly, as if that's what usually happens when two people like each other, and he says it so seriously, he's such a—

She snorts. "And..."

"It didn't."

There's a beat; Rio looks over to her brother, still leaning against the wall, staring up at the sky instead of at them, how long have she and Kaito been standing here, how long have they been talking, and she decides something, decides, screw it, because it could be worse, couldn't it, there are worse things than losing to your brother at some game that neither of you are really playing anymore, and when she decides it her stomach clears up just a tiny bit, and she looks at him, her eyes bright and rejuvenated and glinting.

"So!" she says, cheerily, "Are you going to..."

"Um," says Kaito then, swallowing, and his eyes fall to her lips and he just sort of blinks. "I've never actually... done this with"—anyone—"with, uh, a girl before."

Loser.

"It's alright," she says, coming close, "I see Ryoga do it with his pillow all the time. You can't be any worse."