#shouichi kusanagi

[kusanagistan]

92 vs 117

[yugiohspride]

Can you do Kolter with the gay flag?

Sorry there's only two but I couldn't find many renders

[tarashima]

I was craving rarepair food yesterday, so I made rarepair food ♥

[nanoseven-art]

Drew this lovely scene for Tarashima's Big Bang fic, Break the path and walk alone 😌

[merryfortune]

Mistletoe Memento

Written for the Winter Holiday Bingo

Prompts provided by @sweetspicybingo

Prompt: Mistletoe

Title: Mistletoe Memento

Ship: Hotdogshipping | Shoichi/Yusaku 

Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS

Rating: T

Word Count: 2,051

Warnings: None

Tags: Age Difference, Fluff, First Kiss, Christmas

   “Oh, did you put that up?” Yusaku asked, blinking.

   Normally, he would have started this conversation with a “Hello, how are you?” but seeing the teeny tiny anomaly pinned, with a shiny red ribbon, to Shoichi’s food truck was enough to shock out even Yusaku’s most common decencies. 

   “Kind of.” Shoichi replied as he leaned out over the counter to greet Yusaku. “I hung it up, yes, but I didn’t buy it or anything. Some girl from the visitor information centre was going around and handing out mistletoe as a tourist promotion. She was giving it out to any business who’d give her the time of day.”

   “That’s… nice?” Yusaku guessed.

   “Yeah.” Shoichi agreed, equally as half-heartedly. Then made more conversation as he pushed a damp rag over his counter, pretending to do work. “Honestly, I just said yes because I felt bad for her. I saw her get turned around from two different places across the plaza.”

   “That’s nice of you.” Yusaku agreed.

   “I try.” Shoichi guessed. “Like, I dunno if eating hot dogs is an overly romantic thing to do on a date but hey. It looks nice and in the spirit of things.”

   “Yeah.” Yusaku murmured.

   Then, with that, the usual course of their platitudes resumed. They asked each other about their day, half yelling at one another as Yusaku came around the side of the van. His shift was about to begin and it basically began as soon as he stowed his school bag to the side.

   He put on his apron over his school uniform and that was that. They put all chatter aside in taking orders, of which they began to pick up. Lots of people were out and about despite the chilly, December weather. It was absolutely going to snow later, they could all feel it in the air and in their bones. There was simply that cool shimmer and a dark cloud that prophesied it.

   Now, despite hot dogs not being the most romantic food to pair with a date, the mistletoe still attracted plenty of attention as Shoichi and Yusaku took their sales. It was oddly to see, between the singles and the fries, the occasional couple who saw the sprig of mistletoe conjoined to the truck and taking full advantage. It was truly in the mood of how much of a couples’ holiday Christmas was.

   Even if Christmas wasn’t until tomorrow.

   As the afternoon wore on, turning into the evening and then night, Yusaku was thoroughly exhausted by the end of it. Easily one of the busiest periods he had ever worked. He didn’t envy Shoichi who had been manning the stations all day by himself. The till was practically bursting at the seams and they were out of their most common toppings, too, like cheese and onions. It was impressive how much the crowd had eaten and that made the turn all the more jarring when a cast of thousands turned into a cast of none.

   It was a bit after eleven when the crowd had thinned and didn’t seem likely to pick up again. Shoichi doubted that the clubs were going to be popping much on Christmas Eve and he could typically bet on drunk people wanting hot dogs after singing, dancing, and drinking the night away but probably not tonight. So, he gave the signal for him and Yusaku could pack it up. 

   “I’ll drive you home Yusaku.” Shoichi said.

   “Thanks, Kusanagi-san.” Yusaku said.

   They brought the awning down and turned the grille off. The weather, after so long of staying steady, began to powder just as Shoichi battened down the last hatch. He encouraged Yusaku into the front of the van where Shoichi blasted the heater and Yusaku sat happily in the front seat with him. They drove off and into a light, glittering snow, no less. 

   Shoichi drove safely through slow traffic. It was pretty congested and so, he and Yusaku got through quite a few songs on the radio together - and some adverts, too. It was the usual mix of top forty pop songs with some carols mixed in. The former was Shoichi’s jam, Yusaku wasn’t a music person but he liked to see Shoichi enjoy himself as he made like a dag and sang out loud to the radio, belting it out.

   Cheerful company really did shorten the miles. Not that Yusaku’s apartment was all that far away to begin with. It was walking distance except when it snowed.

   “We’re here.” Shoichi said.

   He parked out front in the kerbside. A small pile of snow crunched underneath the wheel of the van. Outside Yusaku’s flat, Ai had turned on the porch light ahead of time. The light twinkled a soft yellow. Shoichi used the auto function in his console to open the door on the passenger side for Yusaku but used the handle for himself. They disembarked together.

   “Brr, it's cold when the heater’s not on.” Yusaku complained as he stepped outside the van with Shoichi.

   “You stay rugged up, yeah?” Shoichi said.

   “I will. Promise.” Yusaku said.

   They hovered awkwardly at the front of the van and something caught Yusaku’s eye. It was sleek and shiny and red. The ribbon. It was still plastered to the side of the van and Shoichi turned his head to meet where Yusaku was staring - albeit caught off guard.

   “Oh, uh, the mistletoe. It's still there.” Shoichi said. “I’d forgotten all about it.”

   He sounded like he was lying. Not out of malice, merely nonchalant. Like he was just trying to make things less awkward. Only thing was, it wasn’t working. They had both copped more than above average number of kisses today from different couples amid the sea of the general public. On the forehead, on the cheek, on the lips. The mistletoe had been a hit and it would be lying to say otherwise.

  “And we’re both standing under it.” Yusaku pointed out.

   “Next to it, more like.” Shoichi said.

   “It's tradition, you know.” Yusaku said.

   “Yes, Yusaku, I know.” Shoichi retorted.

   He sounded huffy but that didn’t fetter Yusaku. His eyes were uniquely and unusually naive. Hopeful. 

   “Please.” Yusaku quietly insisted.

   “Only because it's tradition.” Shoichi said.

   Though only because it was tradition felt - and looked - like a whole lot more. They both knew that there was a budding, mutual attraction between each other. Like a spear and shield, like the best of friends, or even like tomato sauce on a frankfurter, they went together perfectly. 

   Yusaku placed one hand on Shoichi’s breast and his other was enveloped by Shoichi’s palm. It was guided to Shoichi’s hip and for a moment, they were in a pause like a position zero in a dance. It was awkward. Yet it was oh so sweet. 

   Yusaku had to go on his tip-toes, just slightly and Shoichi held his hand firmer. They were all on their lovely lonesome on the street corner, just the streetlamp and the mistletoe to observe as they inched closer and closer until finally. They kissed,

   The cold swirled around them with the beautiful snowdrift. The light twinkled behind them and it was utterly cliche but it truly was magical. It was everything that they had both dreamed for longer than they should have that it would be. Neither could deny the mutual pining between them, soft and ever present but always unspoken. 

   Every wrong making a right as they kissed. He was too young, he was too old, they were just acquaintances brought together by something horrible and yet. The feelings that they had for one another that existed in the negative space between the sharp edges of their entwined pasts were precious and irreplaceable. 

   The feel of Yusaku's lips, the scratch of Shoichi’s beard. Little, tiny sensations by the thousands all built up to make six seconds feel like they could last an eternity. It was their first kiss, as a couple, not that they were but for now it felt as though were, and Yusaku’s first kiss as an individual and to him, what a wonderful kiss it was.

   He relished every sensation. The feeling of Shoichi’s breath and the way his own hitched as he marvelled in these precious six seconds of the kiss. His heart didn’t race but Yusaku became all too aware of it as he felt the throb of Shoichi’s pulse in his lips as they shared in this mutual intimacy.

   It was almost regretful but they did break it off. Tradition didn’t state how long the kiss had to last and they both knew that if it lasted any longer, it would be inadvisable. Yet, Shoichi didn’t let go of Yusaku’s hand that had been on his hip as it slipped back. So, together, they stood on the street’s corner holding hands.

   “Sleep tight tonight, Yusaku.” Shoichi said. “Stay warm. And I’ll see you in the new year, yeah?”

   “Yeah…” Yusaku murmured. 

   Shoichi squeezed Yusaku's hand and then finally let go. Yusaku nodded and he was already going to miss the sensation - the weight and the warmth - of Shoichi’s hand on his own. He stepped aside awkwardly and Shoichi glanced at the mistletoe. 

   “Do you want to keep it?” Shoichi asked as he reached for it.

   His fingers grazed the shiny, red ribbon, he played with the dangles and traced along the shape of the tiny, white bulbs that made up the flower of the mistletoe. It looked cheap because of its mass-made origins and oddly out of place against the off-yellow of the truck’s outer shell but there was such fondness in his voice for it.

   “Like a memento?” Yusaku asked.

   “Yeah, like a memento.” Shoichi replied.

   “I’d like that.” Yusaku said.

   “I’m glad.” Shoichi murmured.

   The mistletoe had been sticky-taped in place, of all things, with a scrunched up bundle behind the main head of the flower. He gently coaxed it off the truck and then tore off the sticky tape. Shoichi took these small actions purposefully and then met Yusaku’s eyes before entrusting him with the little souvenir of a tradition.

   “Thanks.” Yusaku said as he covered it with his fingers, wanting to hide it and squirrel it away.

   “You enjoy the holidays, yeah, enjoy some days off from school and work, you hear.” Shoichi said.

   Yusaku nodded and made a small noise. He wasn’t sure how much enjoyment he would get from pining for Shoichi but they had different schedules. Different family commitments. That sort of thing. 

   “Okay, now get inside already, don’t wait for me and don’t catch your death either.” Shoichi worried for him.

   “Alright, alright, see you later, Ku-Kusanagi-san.” Yusaku said and his voice cracked as he spoke his most valued companion’s name. Not in a bad way, just a teenage boy way.

   Shoichi chuckled at his expense and the cold wind blew. It hurried them both along as the idea of lingering toyed with them. It was awkward and bittersweet but that’s just how saying goodbye - even temporarily - went as they turned their backs on one another.

   Yusaku heard the kerchunk of the truck's door opening and his heart leapt to his throat. Now or never. It wasn't as good as an I love you or a confession but the words that got caught in his throat were just as good to release his feelings.  His chest felt tight as his lips quirked into an unnatural position: a smile. A genuine and whole-hearted smile that was ear to ear and had his eyes crinkling.

   Yusaku quickly twisted around and with a rosy face, he announced, "Merry Christmas, Shoichi. See you next year."

   Shoichi smiled and gave him a signal through the glass that he had been heard loud and clear. That's all Yusaku needed to be happy. More than happy, even, beyond happy. He then faced forward and heard the engine rumble, he opened the door where Ai and Roboppi  greeted him. Shoichi drove off so he could return home to Jin. 

   The tradition of the mistletoe was a secret for only them. He held onto the mistletoe a little tighter in secret, cherishing the feeling of the leaves and stem digging into his palm. But maybe next Christmas, when Yusaku was just that tiny bit older, it wouldn't be just tradition when they kissed by the mistletoe. 

[veiledlinks-vn]

GGs: #3 Round Reveal

Hello, hello, hello! Thank you to everyone who participated in the third round of the Guessing Games! It really makes me excited to everyone having fun with it :D Anyway, more people guessed it right this time. Sadly, we can only have one winner, and that's @celepom! Congratulations, Sally :D I'll be sending the prize to you via DMs as soon as this post is up!

For everyone else, here is the reveal: The identity for the third and final exclusive love interest is...Kusanagi-san!!!

Kusanagi-san is the exclusive love interest for Ryouken's route for VL, which I happily dubbed Patronshipping since there so far haven't been a consensus for their shipping name. As I mentioned above, this concludes the series of rounds for the LIs of VL. Once again, thank you everyone who participated. ;w;

As always, if you want to stay up to date with the latest news on VL, keep an eye out on the blog. Thank you! <3

[polyamships]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Ai | Ignis/Fujiki Yuusaku/Kusanagi Shouichi Characters: Kusanagi Shouichi, Fujiki Yuusaku, Ai | Ignis Additional Tags: Multiamory March 2024, Polyamory, Established Relationship, Fluff, Co-workers, Post-Canon Series: Part 6 of ot3: AiYusaNagi | Multiamory March 2024 Summary:

Shoichi, Yusaku, and Ai take their fifteen minute break in the middle of their current Cafe Nagi shift, daydreaming about a weekend away.

[ygobigbang-archive]

Break the path and walk alone...

Artist: @nanoseven-art Full version here

Writer:  @tarashima Status: Complete Rating: Teen and up Characters: Fujiki Yuusaku, Ai (VRAINS), Dr Kougami Ship(s): Kusanagi Shouichi/Kougami Ryouken Content Warnings: mentioned of child abuse and kidnapping, emotional manipulation, non-explicit mentions of suicide Summary: Kusanagi wants to find the truth for the sake of his brother and Yuusaku. Ryouken wants to fulfil his father’s mission. But from the day they met as children and until they met once more as adults, a middle ground try to emerge, ignoring their current stances on opposite sides. The fruits of attraction couldn’t have had any worse timing with their maturing, as the present catches up with the parallel road Kusanagi and Ryouken have built for themselves. Now, they have to either defend as well rebuild the damages, or accept its destruction for the sake of saving the world.

This is a canon-divergent fic of season 1 of VRAINS, where events don’t necessarily play out in the same order, or have been tweaked slightly to fit a new narrative.

Available on AO3

[vrains-shiplist]

Here's proof of patronshipping, Kusanagi Shouichi x Kougami Ryouken twitter dot com/XxTarashimaxX/status/1493411368078295042?t=BzOJLI-Y5szkV8VVIQTPTA&s=19

Accepted. It’ll be added to the list shortly.

-Mod Akira

[kuriboo]

Bacon Saver

Fandoms: Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS Words: 34,764 Chapters: 10/? Rating: General Audiences Characters: Yuuki Juudai | Jaden Yuki, Fujiki Yuusaku, Kusanagi Shouichi, Ai | Ignis, Manjoume Jun | Chazz Princeton, Shima Naoki, Zaizen Aoi, Pharaoh the Cat, Roboppy (Yu-Gi-Oh) Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Future, Alternate Universe - Post-Canon, Post-Canon, Slice of Life, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Nightmares, the previous two tags are more implied than anything but. shrugs my shoulders, ai secretly mildly inconveniences jaden's life, this in turn mildly inconveniences yusaku's life, yusaku is himself and everyone else wants him to lighten up for once, Background Relationships, Implied/Referenced Character Death, the kids aren't coping well, Trauma, Panic Attacks, Depression, (we use dub names here)

Summary: Yusaku glanced up at the front of the line. Right, he recognized that customer. Jaden Yuki, that guy who happened to come to the truck the one day he’d been on hot dog duty. The guy who insisted duels were fun. The guy who made the comment about dueling for his life. Had he been a victim of the incident? Or some other event that was equally as messed up? Either way, the type of dueling he’d eluded to was one Yusaku was all too familiar with. Anyone else who knew dueling like that was rare, so at least on that day, Jaden Yuki had certainly piqued Yusaku’s interest.

"We're not friends," Yusaku shot back. "We've barely met. You can't be friends with a complete stranger."

Link to AO3

Chapter 1 included below

Jaden folded his hands together behind his head, his duel disk jamming uncomfortable against his head, jutting his elbows out into the air as he wandered through the plaza.

By normal human standards, for walking on foot, Jaden was pretty far from home. He was in a different area of the city entirely; the area he lived in was often referred to ‘Domino’, while this area was known simply as ‘Den’. Despite the name, there were a lot of hidden treasures here. A plaza dedicated to viewing duels on giant screens, with announcers providing live commentary. A beautiful view of the water, especially at night, which was still breathtaking to Jaden even after the incredible view the Slifer Dorms had had. And certainly not least of all, a hotdog truck that happened to make the best hotdogs Jaden could find in the city. A lot of the time, it just so happened to be located in the same plaza that showcased duels, the same plaza Jaden was in right now. The first time Jaden had found it, however, it had been located near that view of the water he never seemed to be able to get enough of.

Now that he thought about it, Jaden could go for a hot dog fight now. The discernible, delicious smell of the cooking meat only made the craving worse. And he had the money for it. He made his way over to the truck’s usual spot, happy to see it parked there again today.

As he approached, however, it was clear that something was different. The owner of the truck, Cal Kolter, was nowhere to be found. Instead, inside the truck was a boy who couldn’t be old enough to have graduated from school yet. Jaden had never seen anyone except Cal running the business or even making the hot dogs, yet this kid seemed familiar.

He tried not to dwell on that as he gave his order. The kid looked bored, maybe even annoyed as he did so, but as soon as he finished the kid started preparing the order without delay and without slack.

“So, what’s your name?” Jaden asked, watching him work on the hot dogs.

“Yusaku Fujiki,” the kid answered without looking up.

“I’m Jaden Yuki,” Jaden told him with a grin. “Nice to meet you, friend!”

“'Friend'?” Yusaku paused for a moment, giving Jaden a blank look. “Are we really friends? It can’t be that easy.”

“Of course it can! We’re friends, and that’s that!” Jaden replied.

Yusaku sighed and returned to the task at hand, his face still as blank as before.

"You must still be a student, right?" Jaden inquired, looking Yusaku over once more. This kid had to be in high school, he was sure of it, and yet, at this time of day... "Shouldn't you be in school right now?"

"Spring break," Yusaku replied without even stopping to think about it.

Jaden shrugged. "Alright, then. As long as you're not skipping class." Truthfully, he hadn't kept up with how school worked out in a while. Time barely felt real to him half the time, how should he know If there was a break going on right now or not? Not to mention the fact that different schools held breaks at different times, and it wouldn't be surprising if whatever school Yusaku attended had a different subject than his had. So, really, who was he to question that?

Yusaku gave no reaction to him.

Jaden leaned his arms against the truck counter. “Have we met before?” he burst out, not able to hold off any longer. “I feel like I’ve seen you before. But I’ve never seen anyone else working here.”

“I don’t,” Yusaku said. “Kolter is the only person who works here. He’s an acquaintance of mine. He’s not here, so I’m running the truck for him today. You’re a regular, you’ve probably seen me around the truck before.”

“Now that you mention it, I think I have.” Jaden looked around outside the truck briefly, and his gaze landed on a table sitting close to the truck, off to the side. Now that his memory was jogged, he was pretty sure he’d seen Yusaku sitting at that table before. He turned back to the truck. “You know, I think I’ve seen you with a duel disk before. Do you duel?”

Yusaku stiffened, nearly dropping the tongs he was holding his hot dog with. “Not very much,” he replied slowly. “I’m not very good.”

“Hey, that’s alright! Skill’s not so important,” Jaden assured him. “All that matters is that you’re having fun while doing it.”

“I don’t find dueling to be fun,” Yusaku said. He was still speaking slowly, measuring his tone and words before letting them out. “I only duel when I have to.”

“I hear you.” Jaden frowned. “I struggled to find any enjoyment out of it for a while myself. When I did duel, my friends were really frustrated with how I was doing it. Guess dueling in life-or-death situations does that to you, huh?”

Yusaku stared at him with wide eyes.

Oh, shoot, that was too much, wasn’t it? Most people don’t duel with their lives on the line. Now this kid probably thought he was weird, or worse, crazy. Yusaku’s real interests probably just lied elsewhere, and he’d just sprung this on him. Way to make a first impression, Jaden!

“Ah, well… My order’s probably almost done, right? How much do I owe you? I’ll get it ready while you work,” Jaden said.

Quietly, Yusaku gave him the price. Jaden pulled out the money. Yusaku didn’t raise any questions, but that expression never left his face, and he remained eerily quiet until he gave Jaden his order and Jaden left. He’d probably freaked the kid out now, oh man. Hopefully he hadn't turned the kid off from dueling completely or anything.

Jaden took a bite of his hot dog as he started to head back towards home. It tasted pretty good. The delicious smell enveloped his nose. Cal left his truck in good hands.

⁂

Yusaku was about eight layers deep in coding issues. Of course everything was throwing errors, that’s all his code had been doing for the past hour, why would his fixes change that? He had about ten separate google searches open, and all the red text was threatening to give him a migraine. Not from eye strain, mind you, red text on the black IDE background wasn't hurting him to look at, but from the sheer stress it was causing.

Programming was fun, programming was great. Yeah. He was well-used to the frustration of it by now, he just wished it would work. For once in his life, if the code could actually run without breaking, that’d be great. Mind you, no program was perfect and all software was bad, so that was definitely too much to ask. Without that simple truth, after all, he couldn’t be Playmaker.

At the moment, he was jumping between languages a bit more than he’d like, and this most recent exception was because he’d accidentally forgotten a semicolon in the language that required them. He hadn’t even noticed. Maybe he needed a break.

A voice broke him out of his thoughts, and he had to look around for a moment, remember where he was. Yeah, he was sitting outside the hot dog truck. The voice that brought him back to reality was the voice of a customer, and it was scarily familiar.

Yusaku glanced up at the front of the line. Right, he recognized that customer. Jaden Yuki, that guy who happened to come to the truck the one day he’d been on hot dog duty. The guy who insisted duels were fun. The guy who made the comment about dueling for his life. Had he been a victim of the incident? Or some other event that was equally as messed up? Either way, the type of dueling he’d eluded to was one Yusaku was all too familiar with. Anyone else who knew dueling like that was rare, so at least on that day, Jaden Yuki had certainly piqued Yusaku’s interest.

Now, Jaden was chatting away with Kolter as he made the former his order. Yusaku had missed most of their conversation, and wasn’t picking up on the words yet even now, but it sounded friendly. Kolter always got along better with others than he did.

As Yusaku was looking up, Kolter and Jaden turned to look at him. Jaden waved, to which Yusaku gave no response. There was no reason to wave back to someone who was mostly a stranger.

"...Right over there." Yusaku's brain finally tuned in to Kolter's words. Wait, were they talking about him? "You know, it's good to hear that Yusaku's making new friends. It's not really his strong suit. He barely even talks to anyone at school, even though he, ah, has more free time on his hands now."

"We're not friends," Yusaku shot back. "We've barely met. You can't be friends with a complete stranger."

Jaden laughed. "Not complete strangers!" he corrected as he received his order. "We know each other's names, don't we?"

Yusaku groaned. Jaden plopped down in the seat next to him, hot dog still in hand.

"One: Either of us could've given the other a fake name," Yusaku started off, raising his left index finger into the air. "Two." He raised a second finger. "A name by itself is very little information. There's a lot more to a person than a name. Three." He raised a third finger. "Knowing someone's name doesn't make them your friend. You can also know the names of your enemies, and people you've never met."

"Yeah, that's certainly true," Jaden agreed. "But given that we haven't had the chance to talk much, I'd say we're off to a great start, wouldn't you?"

Yusaku raised his left hand up to squeeze his temples. He sighed.

"Man, these hot dogs taste even better than they smell," Jaden commented as he took a bite. "Anyway, I'm not here just to chat. Cal said you might be able to help me out with something, if you don't mind."

"Help you with what," Yusaku muttered drily. As interested as Jaden had him, he was grating at his nerves almost as badly as Shima did at times. He was going to need three very good reasons to help him out, though Kolter's constant glances over in their direction might be one. Jaden seemed to consider Kolter a friend as well, and Kolter might not be happy if he didn't help out Jaden.

"Well, see, my duel disk started doing this weird thing the other day," Jaden explained. "Not too long after we met, actually, now that I think about it. See, I play an Elemental Hero deck, and my deck relies a lot on fusing monsters together. But, uh, now whenever I do a fusion summon, my duel disk starts playing the Power Rangers theme song?" Out of the corner of his eye, Yusaku noticed the screen on his duel disk glow for just a second. He already had a good idea what happened, and he suspected Kolter did, too. But Jaden kept rambling. "Specifically the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers theme, which I guess it has good taste since it picked the best one, but I didn't even know my duel disk could do that! And Jesse told me if my duel disk played that song one more time he was going to evict me, and Chazz won't duel me at all, even without my duel disk. And I was going to ask Bastion if he could fix it but I got hungry so I came here first, and Cal said you might be able to help, I can pay you for it if you like, and--"

Now, Yusaku only had one reason to help Jaden out, but it was more than enough for him.

After his revenge was over, he'd released Ai and told him he could go wherever he wanted. And Ai did, certainly. But he still hung around a fair amount, too, sticking around Yusaku's duel disk and talking about how they were connected, and how he couldn't just leave his friend like that. As if Ai was Yusaku's friend, either. Yusaku didn't really care where Ai was either way, as long as Ai didn't do anything to out his identity as Playmaker. But Yusaku recognized Ai's handiwork when he saw it. If Ai was going to pull stunts like this, he was seriously reconsidering just locking Ai out of his duel disk for good. But for now, Ai needed to fix his own messes. But still,

"I can help," Yusaku interrupted, standing up. Of course he was going to make Ai do it. It was Ai's fault, after all. But it's not like Yusaku was going to out himself to Jaden, either. And if Yusaku revealed that his own rouge AI was responsible for this, Jaden was bound to put the pieces together eventually. It was far too soon to trust anyone uninvolved with that secret. Jaden's own involvement, whether he was a victim of the incident or not, was still very unclear. So, for now he'd put up the facade. "Show me what it's doing."

Jaden flashed him a grin. "Does that mean we get to duel?"

"Two turns." Yusaku held up two fingers. "You get the turn after mine to perform a fusion summon. Once you do the summon, we stop the duel."

It's not like he wanted to duel at all, even just for two turns. Sure, Jaden could just play the cards right now outside of a duel, but it would be more reliable to recreate the situation causing this. From a bug-fixing standpoint, at least. He could handle two turns if it ended in a draw.

"Well, it's still kind of like a duel, right?" Jaden asked. "Alright then. I guess you wanted the first turn?"

Yusaku probably could've gotten away with one turn, and giving Jaden the first turn. He wasn't sure why he'd given these conditions.

They both stood up and activated their duel disks. The duel mode on their duel disks engaged, locking them against each other. Yusaku drew his starting hand. Worthless, he'd never be able to win like this. But that wasn't the point. He didn't need to win here, neither of them could win by his conditions anyway, and besides, this was his fake deck. Made to throw people off. He didn't need to win...

Forcing his face to remain neutral, Yusaku slapped a card down on his duel disk. Ancient Elf, in attack mode. Not good enough. No, it doesn't matter.

"I end my turn," he told Jaden.

A small crowd began to gather around, eager to watch a duel in progress, any duel. They'd be disappointed when they realized what was going on here, but that wasn't Yusaku's concern. For now, he tuned them out and focused on Jaden. It'd be over soon.

"Sweet! My turn!" Jaden pulled out his cards and frowned. "Uh, I can't fuse with this hand. Should I shuffle and re-draw? Since I only get one turn, and you wanted to make sure you saw..."

"Go ahead," Yusaku told him.

He was familiar with Elemental Hero decks, if only a little. There was a pro duelist around that sometimes played Elemental Heroes, and he wasn't trying to keep up with pro dueling at all, but Shima practically forced him into it (along with the duel club whenever Shima dragged him to a meeting). Yusaku knew they were versatile, and that almost any combination of heroes could fuse together. He was almost surprised Jaden hadn't pulled out a hand that could perform a fusion from the start. But maybe that just reflected the quality of his deck. It shouldn't take him long to get a useful hand, anyway.

Jaden returned his hand to his deck and shuffled before drawing six new cards. The crowd began murmuring around them, but no one audibly questioned it. Focus, Yusaku.

"Cool! This should work!" Jaden plucked a card out of his hand and activated it. "I play the spell Polymerization! And I activate the effect of The Dark - Hex-Sealed Fusion from my hand! I can substitute it in for a fusion material monster. I fuse together The Dark and Sparkman. Come on out, the hero that burns a bright path towards victory, Elemental Hero Shining Flare Wingman!"

GO GO POWER RANGERS!

Then it started. The loud, distorted song made most of the spectators jump. The loud guitar riffs, the theme song that barely had any lyrics...it was very 90's, for sure. A few members of the audience covered their ears; Yusaku nearly did as well. It continued as the two fusion materials appeared as holograms on the field, then merged together. Slowly, the song faded out as Shining Flare Wingman appeared on the field.

Yusaku stared up at the hologram. Really, Ai? Really?

"Uh, I guess that's game?" Jaden laughed a little as he deactivated his duel disk and the holograms disappeared. "So, uh, that's what happens, anyway. I don't know why. You can fix it, right?"

What were Ai's motivations here, anyway? Who was he trying to mess with? Was he pulling this prank against Jaden, or against Yusaku by forcing his involvement?

"Yusaku?"

Yusaku shook himself back into reality. The crowd around them was dispersing, after that loud intrusion and with the duel seemingly over. "Yes, I can fix it. Can I borrow your duel disk? You can hold onto your deck."

"Nah, I--" Jaden tilted his head, seeming to consider something. "Okay, okay, fine." Reluctantly, Jaden pulled his deck out of the duel disk and handed the latter to Yusaku. "If you figure this out, you'll be a life saver, dude. Really, I think Jesse might kill me if it doesn't stop. I really appreciate it."

Yusaku shrugged and sat Jaden's duel disk on the table next to his laptop. He reclaimed his seat, Jaden doing the same next to him. Then he pulled out his phone.

"Your phone?" Jaden asked. "But I thought you..." He glanced at Yusaku's laptop.

"Google," Yusaku told him.

"Doesn't your laptop have Google?"

"Two screens. This is faster."

"Alright, then." Jaden shrugged and propped himself up against the table with an elbow. "There's no rush, though. I've got plenty of time."

This wouldn't take long. On his phone, Yusaku pulled up a message app rather than a search engine. He couldn't tell Ai to fix this in front of Jaden, obviously, but he had other methods of talking to Ai. He'd been prepared for this type of situation before his revenge had been over, after all, and they'd done this before. Sure enough, Yusaku received a message on his phone before he even had time to type anything out.

So, Yusaku, you've come to ask the superior AI to help you out? Of course, a task such as this is too much for any human to handle.

Yusaku rolled his eyes and typed back, I know you did this.

I don't know what you're talking about, Ai sent back.

SOL Technologies is still looking for you, right? Yusaku told him. I can still hand you over to them.

You wouldn't!

Are you sure?

Okay, okay, maybe I did mess with his duel disk, Ai admitted. But it was funny, right? Since the Power Rangers combine their robots to make Megazord, I thought it was a good comparison. None of you have any sense of humor.

Fix it, Yusaku sent. You're the one responsible, so clean up your own mess.

Fine.

Yusaku switched to his laptop. Carefully, he pulled a small cord out of the duel disk and plugged it in, allowing him to access the code. His part of the task was done, but he still had to keep up appearances. He glanced over at Jaden. In the brief moment he convinced Ai to fix everything, Jaden had started dozing off.

"You're falling asleep," Yusaku told him.

"Huh?" Jaden's head shot up into the air. Yusaku took a closer look at his face; Jaden's eyes were a bit pink. "Sorry about that, didn't sleep well last night. Bad dreams, you know?"

He knew very well about that. Yusaku shot him another look. Just who was Jaden Yuki? Before he could dwell on it, he remembered what he was supposed to be doing, and went back to the task at hand.

Before too long, Ai gave him a subtle sign; he was finished. Yusaku gave it a few seconds longer, then safely unplugged the duel disk. "It should be all set. Want to try it out?"

A quick test confirmed that the song no longer played from Jaden's duel disk. He shot Yusaku a big grin.

"Thanks, pal! I knew I could count on you!" Reaching into his pocket, Jaden threw some money on the table. "I owe you, big time. Catch you later!"

Before Yusaku could even think to protest payment for a job he didn't do, Jaden was gone. Clearly, he would need more time to crack the mystery that was Jaden Yuki, and from the sounds of it, Jaden would be back to give him that opportunity.

Well, he was a fusion duelist, for starters.

There was no big threat to the world now, and Yusaku had declared his quest for revenge finished. But that didn't mean that something couldn't happen in the future. And when it did, he'd need to be ready for it. He needed to keep getting stronger.

Fusion, huh...

[jczala]

I love it how he casually shows up at Cafe Nagi and leaves after he’s done XD 

[kusanagistan]

[atypicalantinomy]

I got my kusanagi wig today and I couldn’t resist making a quick makeup+wig test wwww

[tarashima]

What a wicked game we play, to make me feel this way What a wicked thing to do, to let me dream of you...

[shidoukanae]

Okay, another thing I noticed in episode 13...

You know how Ema asks Shoichi for two chili dogs and some coffee...?

Well, where the fuck is her coffee, Shoichi?

I mean, seriously, look:

You just gave her a bag of hot dogs and just...let her go...

She just took the bag and...she doesn’t even have her cup of coffee to go with it...and you just...let her leave without it...

#GiveEmaBesshoHerCoffee2k17

[disistien]

just waiting for the stickers to arrive now and they'll be up on my shop soon!!