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

S1-2✩ Yusaku Talked to a Girl? Is That Even Possible?

As soon as Yusaku stepped out the bathroom, now in dry and clean clothes, Kusanagi passed him a bottle of mineral water. Kusanagi listlessly watched as Yusaku downed the mineral water in one go. "You know what, Yusaku... no matter how hard I try, I still can't believe you would be clumsy enough to slip on your way here." He commented, a hand propping his chin.

"The road was slippery," Yusaku nonchalantly replied, throwing the now empty bottle into the thrashcan before taking a seat across Kusanagi, "Besides, I'm just a mere human. As a human, I can make mistakes, too."

"Still, that doesn't sound like the Yusaku I know," Kusanagi reasoned as he sat upright. A smile was quick to adorn his face as he gestured at his cooking atop the table, "Oh well. Let's just eat before these get cold, shall we?"

Yusaku's gaze hovered over the food that lined in front of him, examining them one by one. "Hotdogs for dinner?"

"Ah, well, you see..." Kusanagi awkwardly laughed as he rubbed his neck, "Not so many people came by today because of the rain and I'd hate to toss these away, so... yeah, hotdogs for dinner."

"Don't worry about it. It's not like I'm complaining," Yusaku stated as he picked a hotdog, "Thanks for the food." and just like that, he ate it. Kusanagi grinned at his gesture and soon followed suit.

Once there weren't any hotdogs left, Kusanagi opened his laptop and started fiddling with it while Yusaku cleaned up the dishes. Yusaku's mind wandered off while he was wiping the plates. That girl whom he met earlier was the only thing that filled his head. He thought about her long silver hair that resembled silk, her petite stature despite her having the same age as him, the nostalgia that he felt when he stared into her ruby-like eyes, and of course, the thing that she did. He thought about these things without noticing his hands had stopped wiping the clean plates. Then he remembered the fact that she was wearing his school's uniform.

'I wonder if I will see her again in school... then again, I never learned her name and class.'

Yusaku nearly dropped the plate that he was holding when Kusanagi cried out from behind his laptop, "Yusaku! A knight of Hanoi has appeared!"

Yusaku quickly set the plate down and practically ran to get his deck and duel disk. 'Well, there's no use thinking about that,' he thought after entering his secret room and loading his deck into his duel disk, 'For now, I need to focus.'

"Into the VRAINS!"

✩

Days went by and now one week had passed since that rainy day. The last three days were quite eventful for Yusaku, with him acquiring the special AI Ignis aka. Ai, obtaining a new card and defeating a knight of Hanoi in a Speed Duel using it, and winning the duel he was forced into against GO Onizuka. With all those things filling his head, it hardly had any room left for the mysterious girl that he met on that rainy afternoon. The fact that they never met again only made it easier to make her slip away from his memory.

However, Yusaku lost the chance to completely forget her when one day Kusanagi showed him a portrait of Zaizen Aoi, the younger sister of SOL Technologies security manager, Zaizen Akira. "She goes to my school?"

"That's right," Kusanagi nodded, a thin smile tugging on his lips, "So Yusaku, I was thinking if you get to know her, you can get information about your lost memories and my brother from SOL Technologies' Zaizen. But well... actually, just forget that. That's impossible."

There was a brief moment of silence around them.

"So... why is that impossible?" Ai asked innocently and Kusanagi replied with a sneer that he obviously directed at Yusaku, "Because we're talking about Yusaku here. Can you imagine him talking to a girl?"

"Ahh you're right. That's impossible to imagine." Ai squinted at the said teenager, teasing him alongside Kusanagi, "Right? Impossible, totally impossible, not possible, never possible."

But Yusaku's mind was no longer with them, as that was the moment he remembered that mysterious girl. When Kusanagi and Ai noticed he was now deep in thought instead of showing any sign of discomfort towards their teasing, they realized something was up with him. "Oi, Yusaku... don't tell me you..." Kusanagi began, a hint of skepticism in his voice as he pointed at the boy, "...already..."

"Yeah, I've talked to a girl once. What of it?" Yusaku replied with a blank tone and a matching expression, instantly causing the other two to exclaim, "EH!? YOU'RE KIDDING!"

"It's just a girl, there's no need to be so fussy about it."

"Wow, I didn't know you like hitting on girls~!"

"I don't."

"But when did this happen?" Kusanagi barged in, "Who is this girl, anyway?"

Yusaku thought for a moment. "About a week ago, I think. I don't know but she certainly wasn't Zaizen Aoi."

"A week ago, huh... that's when you didn't come here. No, wait; don't tell me you didn't because you lost track of time talking with her!"

"Whoa, whoa! So you do like--"

"I do not," Yusaku cut in Ai's mockery as he stood up. His sharp glare effectively scared both the AI and the purple-haired man off. "That rainy day, I slept in class until after the last bell rang. Then I came across her on my way back home and gave her the umbrella I found laying around near the shoe rack. That's what happened."

Kusanagi was caught off guard by Yusaku's sudden outburst, but quickly managed to compose himself. "I see, that sounds just like you, Yusaku," he said with an awkward smile, "My bad, I let my imagination get the better of me."

"As long as you understand," Yusaku nodded, taking Ai with him. "Anyway, I should be going home now. I'll come back tomorrow with the information we need. Don't worry."

"Okay then, I'll be waiting!"

And with that, Yusaku left Kusanagi's hotdog van, with Ai around his left wrist. As usual he walked straight without paying much attention to his surroundings, but Ai could sense that he had something bothering his mind. "Hey, Yusaku... what's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong." Yusaku replied without looking at him. Ai narrowed his eye in suspicion, retorting, "You're sooo lying. Are you still mad? I was just kidding, though."

"Something like that doesn't bother me."

"Ah, glad to hear that! 'Cause really, I was just surprised when I learned that other side of you. But I wonder, how come I didn't know about that until now?"

"That happened before I met you and I've never met that girl again since then."

"Ehhh, something like that did happen and you didn't tell me?"

"Why should I?" Yusaku frowned at Ai's dramatic whine, "Now be quiet, you're giving me headache."

"Aww, you're no fun!" Ai pouted but soon ceased his whining.

Yusaku continued walking but when he finally reached a certain place, he stopped. Ai looked at him in wonder, noticing Yusaku was gazing upon the tall tree that stood far to their right. "Yusaku?"

Yusaku seemed to be too deep in thought to hear his call or he was deliberately ignoring his eyeball companion. Either way, Ai didn't like it. But before Ai could yell out in protest, Yusaku turned away and continued walking in silence, leaving behind an open umbrella that was put right below that tree. Below it, was a small pile of soil with three small white flowers placed on top of it.