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

S3-59✩ Curtain Call of Chaos

"Kaicho... I'm sorry! This is my answer!"

A radiant white beam was shot from Mirai's Magic Cylinder, going straight for Igarashi and piercing his heart. The room was still dead silent even after everyone present watched Igarashi's LP dropping to zero; until Yusaku broke that silence by standing up and clapping his hands all by himself. The color of his cheeks had become bright red now due to blood rush, which perfectly complimented his round emerald-green eyes that sparkled in admiration and relief.

"The Exhibition Duel is over! The winner is: Tsubaki-chan/san!!!"

When the judges announced that, Yusaku could already feel warm tears in his eyes. As he wiped them away with his hand, he realized those tears were the results of his overflowing emotions towards the duel that he just watched. After being forced to go through the hellish Lost Incident, he had always thought he would never be able to enjoy duels in any form ever again; yet there he was, getting all emotional for a duel that he wasn't even a part of. Perhaps it was precisely because he wasn't the one drawing the cards and making the hard decisions he was able to experience the emotions that he didn't think were still there within him until now. And he had Mirai to thank for that, for carrying on the duel to the end despite still recovering from...

...right. Yusaku's smile dropped as the memories of that night returned to him like a tsunami. Back then, as soon as he logged out of LINK VRAINS, he found himself alone in Kusanagi's food truck. He jumped out of the truck and upon realizing he was at a hospital parking lot, he sprinted towards the ER and finally found Kusanagi begging for forgiveness in front of Mirai's mother. Yusaku's mind went blank right then, but now he remembered the anger and anguish across Hinata's face when she gazed down at Kusanagi had ultimately led him into believing he was the one to be blamed for everything. The guilt was deeply etched into his heart that even after he learned that Mirai had been discharged from the hospital, he still couldn't forgive himself.

Yusaku looked up, watching the friendly exchange between Mirai and Igarashi. He could tell she was exhausted just from looking at her face, but still she smiled warmly when their gazes accidentally met. His heart ached upon finally understanding the reason behind her insistence to take part in the duel. She knew he would feel guilty towards her, and used the Exhibition Duel to reassure him that she was okay and he shouldn't feel that way.

"What's with that look?" Ryoken's voice chimed in, dragging him back to reality. When Yusaku turned to see him, he was met with an expression that Ryoken had never worn before. It seemed to be a mix of relief and contempt, but it leaned towards the latter. "Nobody was hurt and she won the duel. Everyone's happy. What, were you expecting her to pull one of your moves against him to win? That would be asking for too much, even from someone as great as my sister."

"You sure have a lot of pride in her," Yusaku chuckled weakly. "I can see why, though."

Ryoken fell silent for a moment before focusing his attention on Mirai again. "If you think she showed you her dueling to assure you not to feel guilty towards her, you're too shallow. She had planned to take part in this Exhibition Duel long before the war with the Ignis took place."

There was another pause between them, as what Ryoken said had piqued Yusaku's curiosity. Seeing him staying quiet, Yusaku awkwardly rubbed his neck as he followed after Ryoken's gaze and saw Mirai. "Well... she never told me she was going to duel but she let me know that she was planning something. That's why I'm here; to see it. So... yeah, that's as far as I know. Um, since you seem to know better, can you tell me what it is?"

"You're expecting too much from me. That's all I know," Ryoken shrugged. That was one of the rare occasions when he didn't imply any hidden meanings behind his words and that was because he really didn't know anything. Even though he had a hard time accepting some of Mirai's relationships, he didn't want to pry further, because he thought doing that would be overstepping. Though, it still led him into recalling the time he put a copy of Magic Cylinder in her deck and the incident that followed just two days later. "Speaking of, remember when I came to your school and took Mirai with me? That day, she already had a deck built--one that was defeated by a SOL's top executive."