Under the Rain [Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS]

S2-22✩ Oh, to be Young and Full of Love!

"I see. So you're Soulburner, a duelist with an Ignis and also a victim of the Lost Incident..."

Yusaku quickly fell silent as he pondered for a moment. Takeru slightly tilted his head to the side and blinked, confused by his sudden passiveness, but he didn't know what to say so he just stood there, staring. Then shortly afterwards, he saw Yusaku nodding to himself and raising his face to lock his eyes with him. "If what you said is true, then I want you to come with me somewhere. You don't mind, do you?"

"Huh? O-Oh, sure," Takeru rigidly nodded. "Are we leaving now? Where to?"

"Wait," the other boy made a gesture as he took out his smartphone and dialed a number. Takeru once again only watched with Flame as Yusaku turned to face the other direction and began talking to his phone, "Hello, Kusanagi-san? It's me. Where are you now? ...perfect. Could you wait for me? I'll be on my way there now from school... no, Mirai won't be coming, but I'm bringing someone else with me. Is that okay with you? ...Alright, thanks. See you there."

Yusaku hung up the phone, then proceeded to dial another number. This time, he walked away from where he stood, making some distance between him and Takeru before talking to the phone with a softer voice, "Ah, it's me... sorry for calling you so suddenly. Say, remember the plan we've made last night? Yeah, that. Actually, can we go another time? Something came up and I'm afraid I won't make it. I'll tell you about it later. ...oh, you're having a Student Council meeting so you won't make it, either? I see. No, don't apologize! Alright. Talk to you later."

When Yusaku returned to his place, he was met with a blushing Takeru, who strangely refused to look his way and Flame's mischievous snicker. "What?" he asked them with eyebrows raised.

"Oh, to be young and in love... Takeru, you need to learn a thing or two from him!"

"Flame! Shush!" Takeru scolded, before nervously rubbing the back of his head and murmuring to a surprised Yusaku, "Uh, we didn't mean to eavesdrop but was that your girlfriend? Sorry that you have to deal with us instead!"

"What? No, she's just a friend."

"Huh? But from the way you talked..."

"Yeah, who does he think he's fooling, eh?" a voice chimed in, catching their attention. Ai suddenly appeared out of Yusaku's duel disk while riding on his happy Linkuriboh, exclaiming, "Hiya, the right moment for my grand entrance is here at last! Enter, the all-knowing, your reliable interpreter, the great Ai-sama!"

"The DARK Ignis! Finally you're showing yourself." Flame remarked.

In contrast to Flame's reaction, Yusaku was unamused. "I don't need you as an interpreter. You know I don't mince my words." he deadpanned at Ai.

But Ai seemed to be having the time of his life as he ignored him and waved to Takeru and Flame, happily greeting them, "Nice to meet ya, Homura Takeru-kun! And glad to see you doing well, Flame, my old pal! Uh-hum! Let me explain: for the record, Yusaku-kun here actually doesn't have that many friends so when he said she's a friend of his, it actually means something more than what it gives off! And they actually call each other with their first name!"

"Oh? So he's not that different from Takeru, after all. Then in equivalent, she would be his Kiku." Flame nodded to himself.

Ai looked at Flame as if he had grown two heads, then he drooped. "Seriously? Man, I can't believe that both of our human partners are the slow types!"

"Haha, yeah. He can't see what's in front of him, and that worries me sometimes."

Takeru gave Yusaku a somewhat sympathetic smile as Ai and Flame continued exchanging their friendly banter. "You get teased a lot by your Ignis partner, too, huh?"