I'm Not Afraid of the Dark (Yuto x Reader)

Chapter 21

The opening ceremony goes by without complication. Well... mostly. Yuya was called up for an impromptu speech at one point - where you blushed in embarrassment on his behalf - but other than that, it was just Nico Smiley and another official looking guy talking.

Everyone was then asked to insert the cards they had received into their duel disks to find out who their first opponents would be. You frown slightly when you see that your opponent is Aura. Something about her fortune telling bugged you, not to mention her disturbing obsession with Yuya.

You turn to Yuzu, only to see her expression drawn in concern. Glancing quickly at her duel disk in her hands, you notice her opponent is Julia. You can't help but feel sorry for her. You weren't exactly there for the two girls' last duel, but you had heard the result. Julia had won. Easily.

You place your hand gently on Yuzu's shoulder and give a little squeeze of encouragement.

"Come on Yuzu. Don't let the past get to you. You are much better now. You can beat her. You will beat her. I am sure of it."

Yuzu looks to you, unconvinced, but you still see a new spark of determination in her gaze. She then turns to Yuya to check his opponent.

"Sylvio?!"

Yuzu seems disgusted by his opponent. You know why. Yet another duel that you had missed. Although, to be fair, you had only just started at You Show at the time. Yuya gives a grim nod, and you move your attention to Sora, giving him a questioning look.

He picks up on your actions and answers.

"I duel tomorrow against someone from the Leo Institute. Some guy named Shun Kurosaki."

You don't notice at first as you never actually learnt his last name, but once the information processes, your heart skips a beat.

"Shun?!"

You can't help your outburst, though it earns questioning glances from both Yuya and Yuzu. When you return their gazes though, you notice their faces also hold recognition.

You frown, and motion to them to talk later.

When Shun wanted to involve as little people as possible in this war, and left few to no witnesses when he searched for Obelisk Force, that multiple other people knew of him was a bit of a concern. But what you wanted to know was exactly how much they knew.

You didn't even know that Shun would be participating in the championship until now. But what confused you was that he was working with - or for - Leo Corp. Didn't he hate them?

"There you are Yuzu, my first victim of the tournament."

You turn at the sound to see Julia close by, along with Kit and Dipper.

"Oh great. It's the three musketeers."

No one hears your comment though, as they all still seem quite captivated by Sora's opponent. You roll your eyes. Yeah, you kind of felt sorry for Sora knowing how Shun duels, but you didn't think him participating was too big of a deal. It would be a great opportunity to single out any Fusion spies. Especially with the lure of an XYZ user like him.

Yuzu still seemed rather frantic about it though, and tried to warn Julia about Shun. Her response surprised you.

"Shun's been at the institute all year. He was in my advanced duelling linguistics class last semester."

[Sorry, but I have to say this. When linguistics refers to the science of language, how the hell is learning advanced duelling speech going to help someone win?! Knowing the proper terms of things won't power up your cards!]

You aren't the only one who doesn't understand this information. Yuzu also seems quite shocked.

You scan the crowd quickly to see if you can find the person in question, but there are so many people in your way, and you aren't exactly the tallest there. [sorry if you are actually quite tall...]

Finally giving up, you sigh and wait until everyone is dismissed to their first matches.

Under the illusion that your mum wanted to see you, you managed to escape your friends and skip out on both Frederick and Allie's duels in order to get some answers at the harbor.

When you arrive at the warehouse, Yuto is there, but by the way he is dressed you only just caught him in time before he went out. He startles slightly at your sudden appearance, but then takes off his goggles and mask to give you a warm smile.

"Hey (y/n). I thought you were meant to be participating in the championships right now?"

You shake your head and return his smile.

"My match isn't until tomorrow. Do you know if Shun is around?"

His expression saddens slightly at the thought of you coming here for his friend and not him.

"No. I haven't seen him all morning. Why?"

Your smile softens at his expression, and you close the distance between you to take his hand in reassurance.

"One of my friends will be duelling him tomorrow."

Yuto lets out a low whistle. "I feel sorry for them."

You giggle. "Yeah. Although they are quite the duellist, so Shun had better watch out!"

Yuto smiles at that, then stops. "Wait. Shun is participating in the championships?"

You nod.

"That is why I wanted to talk to him. It's not only that. He is participating as a Leo student."

"What?!"

Frowning, you look down to where your fingers intertwine with Yuto's.

"It's obvious you don't know anything about this either. I just don't get it! He always seemed to hate Leo Corp. Probably because of Declan Akaba."

It is his turn to nod.

"Declan has connections to Duel Academy, and therefore Ruri's captors. It doesn't make any sense that he would side with the enemy. But knowing Shun, he will get something good out of this, even if we don't quite understand his motives just yet. We needn't worry about him. He can look after himself."

Yuto draws you into a tight embrace, and you nod into his chest. He leans down to gently kiss your forehead, then slowly pulls away, seeming to hate that he has to do so.

"While I wish I could stay, I should really go. I have things I regrettably must do."

He can't meet your gaze, as if ashamed that he has a life that doesn't include you. You smile.

"It's fine. Really. Just let me know if you find anything out, okay? I will try to catch up to Shun at the arena too. See you tomorrow?"

Yuto does look at you then, and his eyes hold so much raw emotion that your breath catches.

"Tomorrow."

You are unable to look away from his storm-coloured eyes. You don't mind though. You don't exactly want to.

Your friends will soon start wondering at your absence however, and so you sorrowfully break the moment with a lingering kiss.

You then let out a heavy sigh and head towards the door, flashing Yuto one last smile before you go. He returns it, though it isn't quite as bright as it was before.

You blush slightly at his actions. You were seeing each other tomorrow. It wasn't like you were moving to the other side of the world for the rest of your life.

You shake your head and smirk in disbelief, and then finally walk away.

[A/N]

Hey guys! I am terribly sorry about how slack I have been in updating! I have no excuse. *bows* Please forgive me.

Also, just with the upcoming duels...

Do you want play-by-plays or just a general outline of moves?

That's all for now!

♡RackyQuokOut♡