365 Days of Starshipping (Part 2)

Costume Contest

10/18/19

The costume contest ended up happening after the first round of duels were over, which meant everyone who was participating in it had had a chance to show-off their costumes. There were some really good pairs out there that Judai had to give credit to where credit was due, especially for the few who clearly did it either as a hobby or professionally - it was seriously impressive and made him want to work on his sewing skills, to say the least.

Do you think some of the spirits in town would teach me? Judai asked mentally, seriously debating on whether or not he wanted to pursue the interest - it wasn't like he didn't have the time or money for it, but there was just... so much out there to try. Cooking was still something he loved and doing art was a relaxing hobby, but he was worried he'd burn himself out one day trying to juggle all three, especially since cooking had turned into his main source of income and he was bound to come across another thing that caught his interest.

"They'd probably die from happiness, that's not even a question," Yubel replied, rolling her eyes at him before sending him some reassurance, "And if you're worried about burning out, then start with just learning the basics beyond what you already know."

"It's an important practical skill," Haou chipped in, surprising him a bit until he realized that Haou would approve of anything he considered practical in some way; knowing basic sewing skills was useful for a lot of things so of course he'd appreciate the hobby.

I'll look into it later then, Judai decided, smiling when he felt approval from both of them - they were always great at giving advice for these sorts of things, even if their modern knowledge was lacking at times, and he trusted them fully in that regard.

"Who do you think'll win?" Yusei asked, sipping at the iced tea they'd stopped to get after winning their first duel - both of them were thirsty and in the mood for something other than water, and it let them have something to sip at while they watched the rest of the duels and waited to be called up again.

One thing Judai noted though was that the straw was clearly bitten and bent to the point that it was a slit already. He hadn't really noticed before that moment, but apparently Yusei was a straw biter who chewed his straws to bits.

Cute, but at the same time it left him wincing a little internally at the bad habit - he liked his straws to not be flat slits, thank you very much.

"I have no clue, to be honest. There were some really good ones out there," Judai admitted, sipping from his own drink with its very not-bitten straw that he was now hyper-aware of thanks to his thoughts from earlier, "A couple of them even themed their decks to go with their costumes, so those are the ones that'll probably win."

"I hope they do," Yusei sighed, looking away from the TV to smile ruefully at him instead, "It'd be nice to not win a popularity poll type of thing for once. It's bad enough that Crow keeps us updated on all of that stuff."

"We did it because it's fun, not to win," Judai agreed, though he ended up grinning when Crow's antics were brought up, "Also, I get that he does it because he finds our misery hilarious, but if you didn't know any better you'd think he had an obsession with those things."

"No kiddin'," Yusei laughed, smile brightening as he added on, "Or you could even think he wanted to find himself at the top of one of those instead."

"Y'know, I can see him going pro and being one of the ones that do all their duels in costume," Judai mused, the image forming pretty easily in his head, "Black cloak, a crow theme, large feather decorations..."

"There's people that do that?" Yusei wondered, tilting his head a little to the side in question, "I don't watch any of the pro matches except for the ones I have to directly participate in or if you're dueling, so I'm not very familiar with the different types of pros. Plus, there's no costumes other than customized riding outfits for riding duels because it just wouldn't be practical, so..."

"Ah, that makes sense. Yeah, there's pros out there who go out in costume every duel and simply try to make it as entertaining to watch as possible, getting the crowd to cheer mostly for them instead of the other one," Judai explained, happily watching as Yusei only tilted his head more to mull over the information.

"I feel like that could be almost its own kind of duel," Yusei eventually said, giving the idea some more thought before ultimately shrugging and letting it go for now, "Oh well, food for thought I guess."

Right when Judai went to reply, Yusei sipped at his drink again and started chewing at the straw again, which broke the last of his willpower as he instead said, "Yusei, your poor straw..."

"Hm? What do you... oh," Yusei replied, pulling back and finally noticing how flattened it was. He looked up at Judai's, which was very clearly not bitten, before giving him a sheepish little smile, "Hey, it's just nice, okay?"

"You straw-biter..."

"D-don't say it like it's an insult, Judai."

They ended up bantering for a bit, teasing each other lightly about little habits they'd noticed about each other that they honestly didn't realize they did, before they finally learned that they'd come in fourth place in the stadium-wide poll for the contest; they both unashamedly rejoiced in the fact that they hadn't won for once before going straight back to messing with each other.