Bonds of the Soul

Defused

Yuya closed his eyes again and winced for what must have been the millionth time that day. His head was pounding in his head, and the slightest sound grated on his eardrums like nails on a chalkboard. Unfortunately for him, he was at school so he was unable to avoid the noise.

Yuto was trying to help Yuya in any way he could, but short of swapping places with him there was really nothing he could do. And Yuya wouldn't let him swap places with him right now. He didn't want any of his counterparts to suffer the way he was.

But his head was hurting so badly right now! He could hardly make out what his teacher was saying, and Yuri and Yugo were only making things worse by fighting in Yuya's head.

"How do you know it'll work?" Yugo demanded. "We've never done something like that before! I bet you're just making stuff up!"

"Careful, you're making Yuya's head hurt worse!" Yuri said with a smirk. "Not that I don't find his pain amusing!"

"Stop it both of you!" Yuto ordered, gently placing a ghostly hand on Yuya's forehead in an attempt to comfort him.

Suddenly, the teacher noticed that Yuya wasn't paying attention. Again. He threw a piece of chalk at the tomato-haired boy. Said tomato-haired boy didn't even notice as the chalk hit him in the head through Yuto's hand.

"Pay attention, Sakaki!" the teacher snapped. Yuya winced in pain at the wretched noise on his poor ears. The pain was starting to make him nauseous.

It was then that the teacher noticed that Yuya's face was very pale. Suddenly it occurred to him that the boy may be sick. "Sakaki, are you feeling alright?" he asked.

"I-I... I—" Yuya couldn't even muster a response. Then the pain in his head spiked so high that he passed out, his head hitting his desk with a painful sounding THUNK!

"Sakaki?" the teacher started towards Yuya, but then something very strange started happening. Yuya's body started glowing and blurring a bit. Before anyone could react, his body seemed to split into four.

Yuto, Yuri, and Yugo now stood in completely visible and solid bodies around the still unconscious Yuya. Yuto immediately focused his attention on the passed out tomato, while Yuri and Yugo continued their fight.

"See? I told you it would work!" Yuri said smugly.

"You didn't say it would hurt him!" Yugo yelled.

"He'll be fiiiiine," Yuri rolled his eyes.

"How do you know?" Yugo screeched.

"He better be fine," Yuto said, glaring at Yuri. "If he's permanently damaged—"

"Aw, look at you getting all protective of him!~" Yuri cooed. "It's almost cute!~"

The rest of the class was just staring in silent shock. Sure, pretty much everyone in the city had heard that Yuya had absorbed three different versions of himself that had been living in his head, but not many of them had actually believed it! But now his three counterparts had clearly defused from him, leaving Yuya unconscious.

Yuto turned to the teacher, who was staring with wide eyes and his mouth agape. "Sorry about that... We don't know how long Yuya will be unconscious. I think it may be best if we take him home."

"A-ah–ahuh—" the teacher couldn't form any words as he nodded dumbly. Yuto turned back to Yuya and gently picked him up bridal style, holding him close to his chest. He started carrying Yuya towards the door as Yugo ran to open it and Yuri, after a moment's consideration, grabbed Yuya's belongings and followed.

They walked through the halls to the locker room in the front entrance of the school where the students stored their shoes. Yuto stopped in front of Yuya's locker and frowned.

"One of you open his locker so we can change his shoes," he said.

Yugo studied the combination lock. "Um, what's his combination again...?"

"1-18-3-5," Yuri recited boredly, examining his fingernails like the whole situation was beneath him.

Yugo put in the combination, making a sound of triumph when the lock clicked open. He opened the locker and pulled out Yuya's street shoes. Yuto carefully sat down and took Yuya's school shoes off, exchanging them for the street shoes. Yugo put the school shoes in the locker and locked it back up, and then the counterparts started on their way to Yuya's house.

As they walked, the people they passed all did doubletakes and stared at them. Nobody knew what to make of the four counterparts. A few people even started to take photos, at least until Yuto gave them a very scary death glare.

About halfway to Yuya's house, Yugo suddenly asked, "So, uh, how are we going to explain this to Yuya's parents, exactly?"

Yuto sighed. "We'll just tell them what we know, and hope they understand. They seem like nice people. They definitely love Yuya."

Yuri smirked, imagining the look on Yusho's face when he saw them. Oh boy, he couldn't wait!