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

S2-45✩ Declaration of Counterattack

At the time Yusaku's team was working on the program that they would later use to ambush Lightning and Windy, said two Ignis were also preparing their strategy. Windy, though, was more focused on recovering from the wound that he got after Revolver mercilessly defeated him. Lightning had provided him with a wide rejuvenation pool in hopes to restore him with it, but as far as the restoration went, not much change occurred to his body, angering his impatient self. He got even more furious upon discovering that the virus that Revolver smeared onto him was so advanced, nearly comparable to his superior programming, and that was what delayed his recovery.

"That damned Kogami's son!" Windy vengefully muttered under his breath as his paralyzed body floated aimlessly on the pool's surface while he kept replaying the recording of his duel with Revolver. "You will pay for this... you will suffer a much worse fate than the one I've met... mark my words..."

He squinted his still intact left eye--the only part of his body that he could move freely--commanding the screen to stop showing the duel recording and change it to display a collage of thousands of humans photos taken from the internet. He squinted again, again, and again a hundred of times... until he finally stopped at a certain photo. That eye quickly narrowed as soon as he saw it--not in displeasure or discomfort, but rather, in excitement.

"There you are... I found you at last!" Windy smirked maniacally at the person in the photo. For the past few days, he had been tirelessly searching for that certain person with his current limited capacity behind Lightning's back, and now that his efforts finally bore fruit, he naturally couldn't resist grinning. His bloodshot eye glowed dangerously in hatred as he made his vow: "I'll crush your soul, make you experience literal hell on earth, and regret challenging me. Just you wait, Kogami! AHAHAHA!!!"

As his long shrill laugh echoed in the silent night, the photo of Mirai happily posing with her classmates was still shown on his dimming screen.

✩

"An apology gift from Aqua-chan?"

Mirai echoed after Ai, who nodded in his eyeball form by blinking and humming in confirmation. Since the two of them, Yusaku, and Takeru weren't meeting at Café Nagi because Kusanagi was out visiting his brother, they all agreed it was the best for Ai to stay hidden in his eyeball form to avoid drawing attention. He had just finished explaining about Mirai's situation to Takeru and also passing along Aqua's message to her.

"Yeah! She said she wanted to apologize for being rude to you even though you just rescued her."

Ai was quick to notice the hesitance that was shown on Mirai's face immediately after he mentioned the word apologize to her--something that Aqua actually had predicted--and quickly added, based on her instructions, "Ahem! Actually, the gift is also her way of saying thanks to you. You know, for being Earth's partner. Uh, so..."

Even after Ai mentioned Earth, Mirai was still hesitant to accept the gift since she never thought Aqua should apologize or thank her. She knew Aqua didn't mean any of the hurtful words that she said to her because he always believed in Earth's description of her, that the gentle Aqua wouldn't hurt others for no reason. So when she did, it must be because she didn't want her to become more deeply involved with the Ignis... and Mirai was right, even though she didn't understand why. If Aqua wished to coexist with the humans, shouldn't she get more support from the humans side? Why did she try pushing her away, instead? Was having Blue Maiden by her side enough for her?

"Mirai," Yusaku suddenly called her, catching her attention. But instead of returning her gaze, he was staring down aimlessly at the panicked Ai as he spoke, "You know... it's completely fine to accept an apology from other people, although you don't think they should apologize to you. Just like how you'd readily forgive them when they didn't even ask for it."