Sakaki Life

Ritual

The four Yuus were sitting in a circle in the upstairs hallway of the Sakaki residence, getting ready to attempt something they never thought would actually work. It was two weeks after Yuya had fallen ill with a fever that had resulted in the four counterparts splitting up and getting their own bodies back, and Yuto, Yuri, and Yugo had essentially been adopted by Yoko and Yusho. Yuya, who had always wanted a brother, had been very happy to now have three brothers, and his counterparts were equally happy to finally have a family to call their own.

"Why are we doing this again?" Yuto asked Yuya, a little perturbed. Yuya set one of Yusho's top hats in the center of the circle of Yusho's cards that the four boys were sitting around. "Cuz we want Dad to fix the air conditioner in our room. It's like a sauna in there, and not in a good way."

"Do you really think that trying to summon Father like a ghost or demon is going to work?" Yuri asked, raising an eyebrow. Yuya looked at him with wide eyes. "Of course it's going to work! I saw the Dad Summoning Ritual instructions on YouTube!"

"Yeah, but those instructions said to use socks inside a pair of sandals in the middle of a summoning circle of power tools, Yuya!" Yugo protested. Yuya pouted. "That's for a generic dad, Yugo. We're trying to summon our dad specifically! So we have to customize the summoning ritual in order to make sure we don't summon a different dad!"

"Okay, so what do we do now?" Yuri asked, examining his nails in feigned disinterest. Yuya checked the YouTube video on his duel disc, then said, "Well, the instructions say to chant 'Hi Hungry, I'm dad' over and over, but Dad has never said that. So let's try something he has said. Let's go with 'When you feel like crying, just laugh!'"

The four boys began chanting the words Yuya had suggested, feeling silly to various degrees. After about five minutes of chanting, Yuya slowly stood up and approached the thermostat in the hallway. Still chanting along with his counterparts, he cautiously touched the thermostat with one finger.

Suddenly, Yusho's voice rang out from the top of the stairs. "What... is going on here...?"