365 Days of Starshipping (Part 1)

Unexpected Visitor

5/23/19

For once, everyone was home for dinner, so they all gathered in the kitchen for a buffet-style dinner. Crow and Jack were catching them up to speed on how their work was coming along, with Crow complaining about a bossy client he'd had that day and Jack confirming that indeed had not gotten fired yet. Judai regaled them with tales of his prowess in his PvP VR games for the day, which served to gain at least Crow's interest; Jack was more interested in the fact that Yusei had decided to work for a bit on their runners that day and tune them up.

In the middle of all that, a loud tap came from the kitchen window, startling everyone at the table. Simultaneously, they all turned their heads to look warily at the window, which didn't seem to have anything out of the ordinary in its view.

"...That sounded like a rock," Crow stated, everyone narrowing their eyes as they stared at the window in thought.

"Why would someone throw a rock at our window, though?" Judai muttered, getting shrugs from around the table.

"Maybe its just some kids playing or something, who knows," Jack huffed, rolling his eyes as he went back to his food, "If it happens a few more times, then we go out and yell at 'em."

"I'm just glad it's not broken," Yusei mused, not looking too worried now that the initial surprise was gone. He gave Judai a smile when he caught his eye before going back to his food as well.

Still, something felt... off to Judai. He wasn't entirely sure why that was, but if there was one thing he trusted, it was his gut instinct.

Can one of you go through the wall real fast and check? Judai asked in his head, earning a sigh from Haou as he wordlessly appeared next to Judai and floated over to poke his head through the window. After a few moments, he pulled back, surprisingly not giving Judai an exasperated, judgmental stare.

"Judai, open the window," Haou said, looking at him with a serious expression.

Judai blinked in surprise, saying, "Wait, what? Really?"

"Judai?" Crow asked curiously, him and Jack giving his a confused look at his sudden questions.

"Haou told him to open the window for some reason," Yusei explained for him, looking a bit confused as well.

"Yes, really," Haou repeated, moving off to the side so that Judai didn't bump into him on the way to the window, considering he was physical to him.

Judai opened the window, pushing it outwards since it was one of the ones that did so and latched at the bottom when it was closed. At first glance, there didn't seem to be anything that stood out amongst the usual traffic and buildings, but then a little blurb of brown caught his eye off to the side of the apartment building, curled up in a ball but staring at him regardless.

"Holy crap, is that Pharaoh?!" Judai exclaimed, staring slack-jawed at the cat down below in shock, "How the hell is he here?! I thought he decided to stay in the spirit realm that one time!"

"Uh, who's... Pharaoh? Is that what you said?" Crow asked, though Judai barely answered before he was putting on his shoes so he could run down to go get him.

"My cat!"

"Wait, what? You have a cat?" Jack asked incredulously, standing up as well to go follow him, "I have to see this."

"I... vaguely remember him saying something about a cat and his Duel Academy professor's soul?" Yusei spoke up, the sound of multiple chairs moving backwards telling Judai that all of them were going to follow him. He slowed down his pace a little bit to give them a chance to catch up in return.

"Now I'm even more curious," Crow stated, the other two both humming in agreement.

And so, a few seconds later Judai excitedly ran down the stairs, the trio following behind him as best they could.

...Hopefully none of them are allergic to cats, Judai thought to himself, They should be fine if they're all coming along, right?

Actually, wait, what I should be asking is why in the world that cat threw a freaking rock at our window! Why?!