365 Days of Starshipping (Part 1)

Psychic Duelists

2/23/19

"We're here!" Lua shouted, running through the door the second Jack got it open. Luka followed exasperatedly behind him while Jack put down a bag next to where Akiza's was by the door.

"Welcome back!" Judai greeted with a grin, popping his head out of the kitchen entrance, "We're in here, come on - get whatever drinks and stuff you want."

Lua was quick to run past him and greet Akiza enthusiastically, the girl laughing at his antics and greeting him back. Luka entered after giving Judai a happy smile and a quick 'thanks', making her way next to her brother.

"What's in the bag?" Judai asked.

"That game they wanted to play. It's apparently like Clue?" Jack responded, waving to him while going up the stairs, "Anyway, I'll be down in a bit - I need to respond to an email that came in while I was gone."

Judai hummed in acknowledgement, ducking back into the kitchen and sitting back down in his seat next to Yusei. The twins had taken up seats next to Akiza, and together were complaining about school.

"Aw man, that sucks- we were actually just here the other day because we needed Yusei's help with a project of our own," Lua said, responding to a comment Akiza had made about being busy the last few days.

"At least it was simple in concept," Akiza sighed, "I just had to research an older pro duelist and write about their strategies and such. However, because of what she told us to focus on, it took a lot longer than you'd expect..."

"Who did you pick?" Luka asked curiously, cracking open a bottle of soda with a smile.

"I actually went with my professor's husband," Akiza chuckled, "Manjoume Jun."

Judai felt himself choke on his drink for the second time that day, "Asuka married Jun?! What the hell happened?!"

Yusei, being the wonderful boyfriend that he was, pat his back as he coughed and tried to clear his shock.

"Eh? Wait, you know Professor Tenjoin?" Akiza asked, blinking at him in confusion. The twins at this point were used to Judai being full of surprises, so they just waited for the inevitable explanation.

"I uh- I went to high school with her and Jun," Judai explained, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly, "I may or may not have jumped through time twenty or so years?" He looked to Yusei for help in explaining.

"He's a psychic duelist and happened to have very good reasons to go through time," Yusei added. Luckily the other three seemed to catch on, just like Jack and Crow had this morning, that they shouldn't push on the reasons part.

"You're a psychic duelist too?" Akiza blinked.

"Oh! That's right, he can materialize duel monsters just like you can!" Lua exclaimed, gesturing excitedly, "When we came over before he materialized all our partners for us to play with, it was fun playing with Magnen!"

"He can also see duel spirits," Luka pitched in, eyes sparkling slightly, "J-Judai was able to see Kuribon and- Oh! R-Right, Yusei can see duel spirits now too!"

"...I feel like I need to keep in contact with everyone a lot more than I have been for the last few months," Akiza stated, taking in the information, "All this stuff apparently happened and I had no clue..."

"I wouldn't worry about it too much," Judai said, giving her a sympathetic look, "I kinda just popped in here on New Year's Day and things have been hectic since then, it's only really been slowing down recently. Besides, you said you were busy with school and stuff, and that's way more important at the moment."

Yusei suddenly turned to study him, narrowing his eyes in thought before giving him a knowing look, "...You weren't a very good student, were you?"

"Ahaha... not at all. I failed nearly all my classes, but they never kicked me out because I was the best duelist at Duel Academy," Judai admitted with a grin, getting some rather hilarious stares from everyone else in the room, "I actually used to draw eyes on the back of my eyelids and sleep through class."

"Seriously?" Crow laughed, "There's no way that actually worked, right?"

"If it's like he said, then they probably just accepted that he would sleep either way, so they just let him be," Akiza replied, a smile appearing on her face, "Ah... is that why Professor Tenjoin is so hard on people that sleep in class or zone out?"

Judai paled slightly, thinking once again about just how mad his friends were going to be when they found out about him. He needed some sort of way that didn't result in them marching up to the apartment and demanding he come with them and explain...

Wait a minute, that could work! It'd give Asuka some time to chew over the thought at least, so she and everyone else might not be so mad when the inevitable happened.

"You've got that look on your face that means you're planning something," Yusei said, slightly wary as he'd come to be whenever Judai came up with a plan he clearly was excited about.

"Akiza, want to help me out with something?" Judai asked, clapping his hands together with a wide smile, "How do you feel about adding in some extra information to that report of yours about Jun?"