365 Days of Starshipping (Part 2)

Paying A Visit

10/21/19

After the awards ceremony, which thankfully didn't take very long, they hightailed it out of the place so they could get home and change out of their costumes - they may be fun to wear, but after a full day of it they were ready to change into some actual clothes. Plus, they couldn't just change into pajamas yet since they had somewhere else to go; Judai opened a portal to his realm once they were all freshened up and ready to go, and they took a nice quiet stroll from the drop-off point to the town.

It was dark outside, mainly because the time there seemed to coincide pretty accurately with their world (something that Yusei had speculated was because of Judai's connection to it, which he had to agree with as pretty sound reasoning), and the night air was crisp compared to the cities, which made the walk even more relaxing after a long day of dueling. Neither of them said much, simply enjoying the quiet atmosphere, holding hands as they strolled at an even pace and leaning close to each other.

The town was still alive with activity when they got there despite the time, night-time markets still open and lights filling the main plaza while duel monsters all chatted and had fun doing various things around the area. They didn't have to pass through it to get to Aleister's place though since he lived on the outskirts closer to the entrance, so they simply waved as they passed by to the spirits who'd noticed them enter town.

Judai'd actually brought Yusei back several times by now, mainly to explore more and have a little... fun in his new room in the castle. Even if he wouldn't be staying there at all (hopefully, since staying there would mean something was wrong most likely and they couldn't stay at home, which would be decidedly not good), it didn't mean they couldn't use it at all, plus the bed was bigger than theirs at home. Other than that though, they also got the monsters around the kingdom more used to Yusei's presence along with him playing a more active role in everything now that he was done with his time hopping adventures, and part of that was dropping off Yusei at Aleister's after the second visit where they continued their research discussions from the first time they met.

It was pretty obvious to Judai that they'd clicked in that regard, and he felt no worry at all leaving him there to study when he wanted to while he went off and did his job making sure other dimensions were still safe from Darkness and the Light of Ruin. He knew Aleister was completely loyal to him, at least, and wouldn't even think about doing anything to his queen... and the poor guy needed a friend for once, so this worked well for everyone involved.

Clearly that plan had succeeded since Aleister entrusted his entire archetype to Yusei, which was something he was still a little shocked by - Judai had asked him once if he had a card or not, mainly because he was a very old duel spirit regardless of appearances and it could happen where they couldn't make anymore of their own cards (a prime example being Blue Eyes White Dragon for instance, who despite being able to make cards for newer, stronger forms, could not make anymore copies of its own base card); he'd told him he did and told him about all the cards, but had simply shook his head in refusal to give them to him because they 'wouldn't be of any use to him.'

Which meant that Aleister had decided they'd be of use to Yusei and trusted him enough to give them to him, which only made Judai more curious.

He knocked lightly on the door in a pattern that would tell him it was him, humming to himself quietly in excitement.

"You're in a good mood," Yusei noted, giving him a soft smile that was quickly returned.

"I'm still curious to learn the story behind how he gave you his cards," Judai said, squeezing his hand as he did his best to stand still despite feeling a bit jittery, "That was so cool seeing those cards get used, I definitely wasn't expecting you to fusion summon at all."

"Fusion summons have gotten me out of a few tough spots before actually..." Yusei admitted, going to continue when Judai gave him a curious look before cutting himself off due to the door opening.

"I-I've been expecting you," Aleister greeted, looking a little frazzled as his hood was off and his glasses were a little skewed, "Sorry, I was- I was brewing some tea and forgot I had something running in the lab, then you knocked and-"

"Don't worry about it," Judai grinned, patting him on the shoulder and gently pushing inside so they could close the door, "As long as everything's alright, that's all that matters."

"Was it the energy converter for the plants we set up last time?" Yusei asked, closing the door behind him after following him inside, "Or the heat reader?"

"The heat reader, it actually was starting to overheat because of the Sun lupus plant and I nearly got an explosion to the face thanks to it," Aleister huffed, getting a look of understanding from Yusei while Judai simply let the words wash over his head since he hadn't even the smallest idea what they were talking about, "A-anyway, I can show the results to you later - for now, tea?"

"Tea sounds great, it's been a long day," Yusei stated, Judai nodding along next to him.

Time to find out what they'd been up to while he was making his way down the list of places he needed to check and help re-stabilize if needed.