Yugioh: The Hope of Six

Chapter 54: Arcadia Arc - Part 9

Sly picked up Stardust Dragon and stared at it. Without a word, he tossed the card at Yugo, who caught it. "I promise I'm not going to try to steal any cards in the future. That's the deal, right?" He asked Yusei, who nodded back. Sly then turned and began to walk away. "Good. Now I'm outta here." Jack, Crow, Aki, Yugo, and Rin watched him step past them. When Sly passed Rua, he paused and looked at him. Rua stared back. Sly scoffed at him before he continued on his way. He then passed Ruka, Tempei, Bob, and Patty without so much as a glance. Of course, he never saw Windy at his hiding place. Just before he was out of sight, Sly stopped and looked back at Ruka with cold eyes. "Don't ever talk to me again. I'm happier being alone." That was the last thing he said before he left through the apartment front door, slamming it behind him.

Ruka kept replaying that memory over and over again, especially the last part.

She sat and ate by herself at her and Rua's pool party not long after Sly had angrily left. Her brother wanted to keep her company, but she told him she needed some time to herself. Reluctantly, he left his sister to her solitude.

As she ate her food, Ruka was in turmoil. She still couldn't believe how wrong she had been about Sly. She saw how lonely he had been and strongly believed he wanted to have friends but simply didn't know how. Ruka wanted to help him. However, it turned out to be the exact opposite. Sly wanted no friends and preferred to have no one. Not only that, he proved to be a liar and a would be thief. When his attempt to steal Yusei's Stardust Dragon failed and was exposed, he lashed out harshly at Ruka upon being questioned. An "annoying pest" he called her. Sly's words and overall negative attitude had truly hurt her. It took her a lot to not cry in front of everyone. She was still questioning her bad assumption regarding Sly when Patty approached her.

"Hey." The girl said as she sat next to her best friend, holding her own plate.

"Hi." Ruka said weakly, looking down at the ground. Patty could tell her friend was still depressed.

"You really okay?" Patty asked. Ruka didn't look up at her.

"I guess." She said in a not very convincing tone.

"You guess?" Patty questioned. Ruka sighed.

"Maybe I'm not so okay after all." Patty had a pretty good idea what was bothering her.

"Ruka, you can't keep beating yourself up about Sly. It's not your fault that he's a major jerk." She insisted. Ruka frowned deeply.

"Rua saw the kind of person he was straight away. I didn't. I completely misjudged him, Patty." She turned to her, her sadness evident. 'And it wasn't the first time Rua was right about someone and I wasn't.' Ruka remembered how she misjudged Lucciano, one of three parts of the Signers' former enemies, Aporia. He got himself into her school to get close and befriend her, but Rua wasn't impressed with him at all. He didn't like Lucciano from the get go, and was later proven how right he was in a later Riding Duel. "What's wrong with me? Am I just... bad at reading people?"

"You're not bad at anything." Patty told her firmly. "Sly just turned out to be someone who doesn't care about anyone but himself. That's not on you." Ruka didn't feel any better.

"I've been around Sly for a while now. How could I have not seen the real him in all that time? Where did I go wrong?" She asked herself, sounding more distressed. "What if I misjudge someone else again? And what if that someone is much worse than Sly?" Patty put a hand on her friend's shoulder.

"Ruka, listen to me. You've got to let that go. Rua just happens to be a good judge of character. You need to trust the people that actually are your friends." The blonde then looked over at Rua, who was conversing with Tempei and Bob at the other side of the pool. "Your brother wouldn't want you to stress yourself out like this." The little green haired girl looked over at Patty, who was still looking at Rua's direction. Ruka was about to argue further when Patty added, "You know, you're really lucky to have a brother like Rua. He's kind, energetic, gutsy, and always willing to help out a friend. Not only that, but he's gotten a lot better at Dueling lately. He really impressed me today when he kicked Sly's butt in their Duel. He's overall a great guy."