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

S1-1✩ Under the Rain, Nostalgia Surges

It was past afternoon when droplets of water started pouring down from the sky. The light drizzle soon turned into heavy downpour, evenly coating every inch of Den City, yet it didn't seem to really bother its citizens very much. Some were seen scurried off below their colorful umbrellas, eager to get warm and comfortable in their home; some paused their indoor activities to simply glance out the window or get lost in thought; and some were too absorbed in their activities, they failed to notice the downpour.

Amongst those who got too absorbed was a sixteen-years old highschooler named Fujiki Yusaku. In his case, he was absorbed in one of his dreamless naps between his classes. It was still pouring when he tiredly opened his emerald-green eyes and checked the time. Half past four. Class ended hours ago, obviously while he was still napping.

Yusaku stretched his sore limbs and once done, dumped his belongings into his bag. He slung it over his shoulder and began nonchalantly making his way towards the door, only to stop after taking some steps and then turned to the window. At the same moment, he heard the sound of trickling raindrops.

Only then he realized it was raining heavily outside and he didn't bring an umbrella with him. He looked up at the sky and frowned. By the looks of it, this rain wouldn't stop any time soon. Well, that was three reason he had for returning to his seat and wait or maybe take another nap until the rain stopped; but he also had three reason why he should leave instead: one, he wasn't sure when the rain would stop, so he figured waiting for something uncertain was pointless and just a waste of time; two, the school would be closed soon and by then, the janitor wouldn't let him stay there regardless of the weather; and three, he had promised his old friend, Kusanagi, he'd come by his food truck today right after school.

After giving it some thought, Yusaku settled with the last three reasons he came up, even if he needed to run through the rain without umbrella and risk catching cold. He needed to fulfil the promise he'd made, after all. Thankfully, he didn't need to run through the rain as he found one unused umbrella laying around near the shoe rack.

After ten minutes of walking down the sidewalk and slipping past the crowds, he finally arrived at his destination. However, he soon discovered Kusanagi's food truck was nowhere in sight.

Yusaku made a blank face. He should've seen this coming. He's two hours late and it's pouring even here, of course Kusanagi wouldn't open his stand while waiting for his arrival. If he were Kusanagi, he too wouldn't want to wait in such a place during such a timing.

Knowing he no longer had any business there, Yusaku turned on his heel and began walking home, but on his way, he encountered something... strange and almost creepy in its own way.

Just before he left that place, he spotted a lone figure standing below a tree. The figure had their back facing him and the rain only made it harder for him to identify them, but he could make out their long, damp silver hair flowing down to their middle back and their dark-blue skirt, meaning that figure was a girl. She also wore pale yellow vest over white buttoned shirt, black socks that reached her knees and brown slippers. Yusaku could swear he had seen that kind of outfit before, but he couldn't seem to remember where. But what really caught his attention was the fact that she stood there without an umbrella, as if she was willingly letting the raindrops drenched her body.

Yusaku noticed the girl was looking down at something that she carried in her arms. Curiosity made him wonder what that something could probably be. From where he stood, all he could see was a plain cloth that matched the color of her skirt and a muddy rope that almost looked like a dirty dog's tail dangling at the crook of her arm.

....but wasn't that a dog's tail?

Unconsciously, Yusaku stopped on his track to examine the 'dog's tail' more intently. The sound of his sneakers splashing the water puddle below his foot when he suddenly halted caused the girl's head to perk up ever so slightly. He noticed her movement and immediately realized what he just did, but it was too late for him to look away and feign innocence as that girl already turned to him. Time seemed to be slowed down when his emerald-green eyes finally met her ruby-red ones. Somehow, he felt some kind of nostalgia when he continued to stare into those curious eyes.

The two locked their gazes for some moments until Yusaku broke their eye contact by looking at the 'dog's tail.' It turned out his hunch was right; that thing was a real dog's tail belonged to a small brown puppy that was now wrapped in a plain dark-blue fabric. The girl's eyes slowly followed after his gaze and they soon narrowed slightly.

The girl felt the raindrops suddenly stopped pelting her head. She looked up in curiosity, only to once again be greeted by the same emerald-green eyes that had caught her attention earlier. Those eyes were hard to read, but she could see flames of vengeance burning within it. While Yusaku, he only saw sadness reflected on her seemingly warm orbs.

"...for the dog."

The girl slightly tilted her head, as if asking him 'what?'. As Yusaku kept holding his umbrella over her head, he quickly formulated a full sentence in his brain, but the only words that came out were, "This umbrella... for the dog. Uh, and you."

Yusaku awkwardly averted his gaze as the girl silently stared at him. After a while, her lips cracked into a soft smile.

✩

Inside of Yusaku's room, Kusanagi was busy preparing dinner for him and the boy. He didn't live there, but he owned that room's spare key that Yusaku himself gave him, in case of emergency. As he cooked, he was still wondering why the boy didn't show up like he had promised. At first, he thought he just went straight here because of the rain, hence Kusanagi was here, but it turned out he was wrong. Now thinking Yusaku was probably waiting somewhere for the rain to stop, Kusanagi decided to just wait for him while making dinner.

Just then he heard the sound of door opening, causing him to switch his attention from his cooking to the said door. "Ah, you're finally here, Yusaku! I was getting worried you..."

Kusanagi stopped halfway through his sentence when he saw Yusaku, drenched in rainwater from head to toe and dirty from mud, walking in. His jaw was slightly agape as he watched the boy nonchalantly strode into the bathroom. Once Yusaku had shut the door behind him, Kusanagi snapped out of his shock and straightened up, clearing his throat.

"So Yusaku? Care to tell me what happened?" He awkwardly asked as Yusaku picked a towel to dry his hair. The boy started drying his hair as he calmly gave his reply, "Nothing much. I ran through the rain 'cause I didn't bring an umbrella and I got sick of waiting but then slipped on my way here."

"...oh. That explains why you're like that," Kusanagi's voice echoed from the other side of the door and Yusaku could instantly tell he wasn't entirely buying his story, "Anyway, you didn't show up like you'd promised so don't get mad at me for barging into your room and borrowing your kitchen!"

"Will do," Yusaku yelled back, tossing his wet dark-blue blazer into a laundry bin. He stopped as his gaze fell on that object. Then as if he just realized something, he cried out, "That's it! I remember now!"

"What is it, Yusaku? Saw a cockroach?" Kusanagi teased but Yusaku was too busy thinking to hear the purple-haired man's teasing. Dark-blue skirt, pale yellow vest over buttoned shirt...

Yusaku ran his fingers across his tri-colored hair, sighing, "That outfit... is my school girl's uniform, huh..."