#sworn my allegiance to magic queue

[bastion-erasure]

oh, it's you, Winged Kuriboh it up!

[kuriboo]

Yusaku Fujiki + Dueling

When it comes to the protagonist of Vrains, Yusaku Fujiki, there’s a lot of interesting topics surrounding him. His relationships with other characters in the series and his past are two obvious examples, but I’ve got something different on my mind: Yusaku’s relationship with dueling itself. The way this relationship is showcased is very interesting to me, because it’s something that really sets Yusaku apart from other Yugioh characters and past protagonists. It’s certainly not the only thing, but it is one of the main things.

As a disclaimer, this post is not delving into Yusaku’s trauma related to dueling. This is another very important topic related to the show, but I don’t want to go into analyzing it here. It is a related topic, and it’ll certainly be referenced as it partly shapes the topic of this post itself, but it’s not the specific topic we’re analyzing here. This post also isn’t going into analyze any deck Yusaku or any other character in the show uses at any point. Decks might get referenced, but I’m not going to sit here and reference the decks themselves. This post is something else.

With that in mind, here we go.

At the beginning of the series, Yusaku does not like dueling.

You might remember this fairly viral scene from one of the first episodes of the show: Playmaker is logged into Vrains, popular Vrains duelists Go Onizuka and Blue Angel walk up to Playmaker and challenge him to a duel, and Playmaker responds by saying:

before logging out.

This scene was fairly widespread in yugioh circles, and for good reason, I think. It really helped set the stage for a lot of the series and especially Yusaku himself; coincidentally, it will help set the stage for this post as well.

At the beginning of the series, Yusaku does not like dueling. And at the end of the series, Yusaku still does not like dueling. And in a nutshell, this is why the topic of dueling related to Yusaku is so intriguing to me. And within this topic, there’s multiple things I want to bring up about more specifically why it’s so intriguing to me specifically.

The thing about Yusaku is, he never duels unless he has a reason to, unless it furthers his goals. This is pretty radical in Yugioh, honestly. Yugioh has had a tendency to treat dueling like battling in Pokemon: characters never back down from a challenge. Yusaku isn’t like that. From the start, he only duels with a set goal in mind (get revenge against the Knights of Hanoi), and he only duels if it furthers his goals. Go Onizuka and Blue Angel challenge him in early episodes the same way characters in any other Yugioh series might challenge each other, especially in the first season in those series: they recognize Playmaker’s skill, they want to measure their own skill against his, and they duel in large part because they enjoy dueling. But Yusaku turns them down. He has to be tricked into dueling them in later episodes of season one. Yusaku never duels Shima, never duels anyone in his school’s duel club despite joining it, he never duels Takeru, and none of his duels are ever for fun. This does not change in season two. This does not change in season three. Even when Yusaku changes, even when he starts to let people into his life and he softens his walls a little bit, he is never shown dueling for fun.

What’s really unique about this is that the narrative never frames him as being in the wrong.

Arc V had characters who were traumatized by dueling, too. The XYZ dimension in particular. But Arc V had a different take on things; one of the recurring things about Arc V was that while dueling was a tool used for harm by some, it was also used as a vehicle for good by others, and the bad shouldn’t negate the good. People who were hurt by duels in the past grew to recognize that and gave dueling a second chance as at least something they could enjoy from the audience.

Vrains, however, never tries to change Yusaku’s view of dueling. The story never pushes him to turn around and start liking it again. The number of duels we see him watch is small, and even those aren’t from him just enjoying watching people duel, it’s in support of duelists he personally knows and respects. We only ever watch him go to a single duel club meeting, and he attended the meeting by accident. Yusaku just doesn’t love dueling the way he used to.

There’s another protagonist who runs into this problem that we can compare Yusaku to...

Jaden tries to give up dueling multiple times in GX, but here we’ll be specifically thinking about season four. Season four largely focuses on Jaden’s depression following the events of season three, and one of the main plot points is that he’s lost his love of dueling. He spends most of his time in his room, blaming himself for current circumstances, and he only duels when he really has to for the most part. For someone who in season one played for love of the game more than for victory more than most other characters in the series, this is a big change in Jaden. Characters who were inspired by Jaden’s love for the game in season one get mad at him for losing his perspective completely in season four.

In fact, for most of season four, he only duels specifically to win. Having fun while dueling is the furthest thing from his mind.

Does this sound familiar?

I only bring up Jaden and compare him to Yusaku here to really contrast something big between the two, though.

One of the major plot points of season four is Jaden regaining his love for dueling. His friends are upset about how he’s changed, and this change surfaces itself as one of the symptoms of Jaden’s depression. This isn’t really surprising. Depression often involves a loss of interest in hobbies and activities that were once loved and enjoyed. But the very last duel of the season is Jaden’s duel against Yugi, where throughout the duel Jaden finds himself learning how to have fun dueling again. Yugi, the King of Games, is a very difficult opponent who also enjoys playing the game, and his combination of skill and energy bring out the same in Jaden as he rises to meet Yugi’s level. We never see who wins the duel because that was never the point. That was never the purpose. Jaden didn’t duel Yugi specifically to win, he dueled Yugi as a step in healthily coping with his depression, and in that aspect, Jaden certainly won.

Yusaku’s loss of enjoyment in dueling is a result of his traumatic experiences related to dueling when he was six. It’s likely part of his own depression, too. Yusaku has a habit of closing himself off and isolating himself. But even as Yusaku deals with his trauma, even as he deals with his depression, the narrative never tries to push him too hard and force him to enjoy it again. Yusaku just doesn’t want to duel anymore, and his is completely accepted. Yusaku was changed by his traumatic experiences. And no one who really knows what happened to him is upset by how he changed, or tries to force him to change back to who he was before.

This isn’t to say that one is superior over the other. I think Jaden regaining his love of dueling and Yusaku being allowed to leave dueling behind him are both pretty powerful. Jaden being allowed to reclaim dueling is an important story. Yusaku leaving behind the thing that hurt him is also important. I’m not here to rank one story over the other. The point is just that... Yusaku is really unique within Vrains, and I appreciate that.

But Yusaku still not loving to duel by the end of the series isn’t just showcased by his attitude, his lack of enthusiasm towards dueling itself which stays constant throughout all of Vrains. It’s not just shown by what he says.

You can see it in his dueling record.

Looking at the Yugioh wiki, Yusaku has about 35 duels throughout Vrains. If we ignore flashbacks, he duels about 30 times. All these duels result in either a draw or a win for Yusaku. This isn’t a surprise. Yusaku is literally crafted to be a dueling machine that cranks out wins the way a pencil sharpener sharpens pencils. There’s almost never doubt that Yusaku will lose, because he literally can’t lose. This doesn’t make for an unenjoyable series, though, at least not for me. There may not have been much tension in who would win this week’s duel a lot of the time, but for me it was more about how each duel happened, how Yusaku won, and what happened along the way as he fought the fights he couldn’t ignore. The way that each duel showed that Yusau becoming a winning machine wasn’t just about him learning combos that would always win, but how his his experiences taught him to always be flexible and to always learn as he dueled, how each duel he still became a better duelist.

Let’s break down Yusaku’s 30 duels in the series.

Of his 30 duels, about 19 took place in season one. About 11 took place in season two. About 2 took place in season three. Of his season three duels, one duel was literally just meant to stall him; Yusaku’s opponent only dueled with the intention of wasting time, not trying to beat him. Yusaku only had about 1 serious duel in season three.

Takeru’s introduction in season two is part of the reason Yusaku dueled less, of course. As Takeru proved himself not only competent but trustworthy, Yusaku trusted him to win more and more duels. And a lot of the time, Takeru did win, because Takeru is a lot like Yusaku, and Takeru is extremely skilled in his own right of course. But there’s one big difference between the two in that Takeru let himself enjoy dueling again while Yusaku didn’t. And so Takeru volunteered himself for a lot of duels, willingly throwing himself into battle in Yusaku’s place. Takeru never minded this, and Yusaku only minded it when it put Takeru in danger, never because Yusaku wanted to duel instead.

Takeru has about 8 duels in season two and 3 duels in season three, 11 in all not including flashbacks. Of Takeru’s season three duels, one duel was literally just meant to stall him; Takeru’s opponent only dueled with the intention of wasting time, not trying to beat him. Takeru only had about 2 serious duels in season three. Takeru only ever lost one duel, his last season two duel against Bohman, and the rest either had no result or were wins for Takeru.

Season three is of course very short compared to the other two seasons of Vrains, and there are a lot less duels in general. But looking at ratios of season duels... Yusaku’s ratio would be 19:11:2, and Takeru’s would be about 0:8:3. Takeru duels almost half as much in season three as season two. Yusaku duels almost half as much in season two as in season one, but almost a fifth as much in season three as season two. Yusaku’s dueling curve is a lot steeper than Takeru’s.

No one’s ever upset about Yusaku dueling less as the series goes on, though. He’s allowed to just duel less as the series goes on and I think that’s cool. His friends never really try to encourage him to duel more. In fact, in season three, he’s encouraged to abandon the fight altogether, and he only duels at all because it’s Ai, and he wants to help him. Yusaku doesn’t really enjoy his duels either, and the show doesn’t really cast a negative light on this. 

You know, as opposed to Jaden from GX, and characters from the XYZ dimension from Arc V, who are encouraged and pushed to like dueling again.

I think the big thing here is... Recovery is different for everyone, and everyone deals with trauma and depression differently, you know? For some people, it’s about re-exposing themselves, re-associating the thing, and for some people it’s about avoiding the thing altogether, and different approaches are good for different people. And I think that it’s really cool that Yugioh has approached this same topic multiple times in different ways over the years, and none of these approaches are ever really ranked over each other, and none of these approaches are ever invalidated. It shows that healthy looks different in different people and I think that’s important for people to see.

And for a show that largely exists to sell a card game, it’s pretty radical that Yusaku’s allowed to not like the card game and I think that’s cool.

[gold-from-straw]

The Nature of Trust - part 7

Leon felt as if ages could have come and gone in the time he was grappling with his spinning thoughts. He fought to bring them under control, and looked up at the king, standing with his head bowed, grief weighing his shoulders down. “Sire,” he said, but didn’t know how to continue.

“I thought he was my friend, Leon.�� He shook his head and laughed, cold and hurt. “I should have known, a king has no friends.”

Leon set his jaw. “Of course he was your friend, sire. Merlin worships you, that’s clear for us all to see.”

“Does he?” he snapped. “He spent seven years playing the fool for me, getting close-- What was his plan, Leon? Who was he working for?”

“My Lord, you cannot possibly think-- he has been closer to you than anyone else for years! If he had any plans on your life do you not think he would have enacted them by now?”

“I don’t know what to think!” He glared at Leon, breathing hard, one hand tearing at his hair. “All I know is that he lied to me, and he never bothered to tell me this fundamental thing about himself until after he had manipulated me to free that sorceress.”

“Sire,” snapped Leon, shocking himself. “Think, please. Merlin was unconscious for most of the time the sorceress was in the dungeons, you could say I manipulated you much more than he.”

“Why are you on his side?”

Leon looked at him sadly, and remembered the young prince he had trained, his teenage heartbreaks and childish feuds. Arthur was so much more than he had been, he was a king, he was Leon’s sworn lord, and he would have followed him to the end of the earth, but he was also young, and hurt. “I will never be on anyone’s side but your own, sire. I pledged my loyalty to your family before I reached my own manhood, and I am proud to be your knight. But…” he frowned and thought his words through carefully. “But there is a chance that Merlin’s side is still your side, and as long as that chance exists, I would see it through. For your own sake, my Lord, please, I hope you will see it too.”

Arthur was quiet for a long time, looking down at the scattered items he had thrown across the room. At last he nodded. “Come, then. Let’s hear what he has to say.”

Leon followed Arthur down the wide stone staircases to the physician’s quarters. As they neared the door, it was flung open, and Leon saw Gwaine’s back disappearing down the stairs to the courtyard. Arthur took a breath as if he wanted to shout after him, but shook his head and turned instead to Gaius’ door.

“Merlin, please, I beg you. Listen to Gwaine. You must leave Camelot now!”

Arthur paused, his hand on the door handle, and Leon saw the shock freeze his expression.

“I’m not going anywhere, Gaius,” said Merlin, his voice thick with tears, and small.

“You know what the penalty for sorcery is in Camelot, please.” Gaius’ voice was almost a wail. “Do not make me watch you burn. You know you… you are like a son to me, I can’t…”

“I can’t, Gaius,” said Merlin. “I’m sorry, but… I can’t leave him. I said I’d be happy to be his servant until the day I die and I stand by that. I can’t…” He sniffed, and Leon heard the movement of fabric. “It means nothing if Arthur hates me, anyway.”

Arthur closed his eyes for a moment, then pushed the door open. Lancelot had his arm around Merlin, whose shoulders were shaking with silent sobs. Gaius was slumped against his work table. All three of them stood as Arthur walked in, and Gaius, his eyes wide in terror, stood in front of Merlin. “Sire…”

“Stand aside, Gaius,” said Arthur.

“Gaius, stop,” Merlin cried, pulling him to one side, actually scuffling with the old man.

With a clattering sound, Gwaine leaped into the room, followed by Elyan and Percival. “Back off, Princess,” Gwaine snarled, and to Leon’s horror he saw him reach for his sword.

Arthur’s jaw tensed and relaxed, his face stoic. “Is this what you all think of me? Is this the trust you have for your king?”

“It’s not that we don’t trust you,” said Gwaine, moving sideways to stand in front of Gaius. Leon thought hysterically that this was getting a bit ridiculous, that they were going to end up with a veritable queue of people between Arthur and Merlin. “It’s more the fact that you don’t trust Merlin, isn’t it?”

Arthur frowned. “I’ve always trusted Merlin,” he said, indignation almost engulfing his grief. He looked around at his men, but Elyan and Percival avoided his eyes. “I have!”

“With all due respect, sire, you kind of don’t,” said Elyan, his face twisted with his awkward words.

Arthur looked insulted for a moment, then bit his lip and looked up at Merlin, who was now trying to disarm Gwaine. “I do trust him,” he said softly, and Merlin released Gwaine’s sword arm and looked up at the king with his sad eyes flickering with hope. “I may not trust him to know what he’s doing in battle - and magic doesn’t change that,” he said, raising his eyebrows and pointing at him. “But I trust him to be a good man. And… I guess… I suppose magic doesn’t change that, either.”

Merlin’s face crumpled and he buried it in his hands, shaking with sobs once more. Arthur laughed, low and fond, and stepped forward to pull Merlin close, patting him between the shoulder blades. Merlin immediately tangled his fingers in Arthur’s shirt and wept into the junction of his king’s shoulder and neck.

“I thought you’d hate me,” Merlin whispered. “I couldn’t bear it if you…”

“I could never hate you, Merlin,” murmured Arthur, voice low and fond. He smiled, Leon could just see his cheek lift from where he stood, and hear it in his voice. “It would be like hating a kitten.”

“Shut up, Clotpole,” he snuffled, thumping Arthur.

“A tiny, helpless little kitten. Ow!”

“A magical kitten sorcerer,” snorted Gwaine.

Arthur held Merlin back by the shoulders and looked at him sternly. “I want to know everything,” he said.

Merlin paled and hung his head, but he nodded, wiping the tears off. Leon felt the world settle into its rightful place again, and turned to the knights. “Come on, men, I’m leading drills today.”

Gwaine moaned. “Oh, but story time was just beginning.”

Leon rolled his eyes and grabbed him by the scruff of his neck, shoving him out after Percival and Elyan. Lancelot caught Merlin’s eye and gave him a nod and a smile, following behind.

Leon let him pass them and slowed Gwaine down, pulling him around. “You drew your sword on the king,” he said, his voice flat.

Gwaine cocked his head to one side. “Aye, and I’d do it again if I feared for Merlin’s life.”

“You swore your allegiance to Arthur.”

Gwaine huffed and looked away. “Arthur’s a good man. The best king, the best nobleman there’s ever been, I’d wager.” He shook his head and looked back at Leon. “But I’m not.”

“Gwaine—“

“No, I’m not. Not like you and the others. I’m twisty.” He shrugged. “I like it that way. All this absolute loyalty, following someone to the ends of the earth - I’d do that for Arthur, sure. But only if I agreed with him. I’d do it for you too, if I thought you were in the right. And Elyan, and Perce. But, Leon, I know Merlin’s right. In his soul. Arthur’s a good man, but… Merlin’s something different.” He shrugged again. “Guess we all know that for sure now. But my point is, the only person I could swear allegiance to and follow blindly is that skinny little bastard in there. But I can’t. So I follow his master.”

Leon was quiet for a moment, marvelling at the ferocity in Gwaine’s eyes. “Why?” He said at last.

Gwaine laughed and flicked back his hair and the depth disappeared. He was the silly, flirtatious drunkard again. “Dunno, mate. That’s just how it is.” He slapped Leon on the back and walked out of the castle. Leon followed, shaking his head.

Only 1 more chapter to go! @pttucker and @fandomtrumpshate

[bastion-erasure]

Stage Mission: Summon Skyscraper three times in one duel

[bastion-erasure]

Chilling out with duel in the schoolyard.

[bastion-erasure]

Bubbleman joins the battle!

[kuriboo]

Offline Blues

(also available on ao3 @ tatersalad5001)

"I wish you were here."

Takeru stared down at his duel disk. Empty.

For years, this duel disk had been shoved as far out of sight as he could manage. He didn't want to even think about dueling. The void dueling left was filled with detentions and entire days spent wondering what the point of everything was.

Then, the duel disk saw the light of day again. Takeru was used to looking down at it and seeing Flame staring back up at him. Flame ready with some joke at Takeru's expense as Takeru drew his next card. Each duel, each turn the result of the partnership they'd forged.

Takeru still wore the duel disk on his wrist. He still kept his cards in it. But now there was no one else there. Flame was gone.

A noise pulled him out of his thoughts. He looked up to see Yusaku picked up his own duel disk from the ground. Takeru was used to seeing Ai pop out of the duel disk with a pun at the ready, too, but Ai wasn't here now either.

"If Lightning hadn't tried to unite all the Ignis and start a war against humanity, Flame would still be here," Yusaku said. "They all would be."

Ai was still supposed to be around, somewhere, but he'd simply vanished one day after the final duel against Bohman. The rest of the Ignis, however, including Flame, were gone for good now. This wasn't the outcome any of them had fought for.

"It wouldn't have even mattered if Windy hadn't brought Flame down." Takeru wiped a hand against his duel disk's screen. It was getting dusty. "I lost the duel anyway."

"You fought at his side to the end and dueled with everything you had for what you and Flame believed in," Yusaku reminded him. "I'm sure he knew that. No one could've done any better than that."

"Someone could've. Someone else could've won."

Yusaku placed his hand on the duel disk, over Takeru's. "No one else could've had the same bond with Flame that you have. Your deck is the result of that bond. You and Flame rose up together like a phoenix after the Lost Incident and the destruction of Cyberse World. No one else could've played that deck. And no one else could've fought so hard for Flame, either."

"He should blame me."

"We both know he wouldn't. So you shouldn't, either."

Takeru stared up at the ceiling. "It's not fair that Flame and the others never got the coexistence they were fighting for. Life's just never been fair to any of us. But it's better than not fighting back at all. We got to coexist for a little while, and I don't regret a second of it."

[bastion-erasure]

All your heart of the cards are belong to us

[bastion-erasure]

Do not fear! OUCONG is here!

[kuriboo]

Vrains Rarepair Event 2019 - Day 1

Time and Limits

The Vrains Rarepair Event is being run this year by @vrainsrarepairweeks! You can find the list of prompts over here! Also posting over at AO3

⁂

Skye couldn't stop thinking about how long it'd been since she'd met Miyu. How much time they'd lost.

They hadn't known each other for long, and it'd been years since they'd seen each other. But Skye still considered Miyu to be one of the best friends she'd ever had. Maybe that was stupid. Maybe that was really cheesy. But Skye hadn't ever really had close friends before she met Miyu, unless you counted her brother. And after? Akira worked for SOL Technologies now. That was common knowledge. So most people only ever tried to befriend Skye to get something from her, because of her brother. New duel disks? Something in Vrains? It was relentless, it was obnoxious, and the attempts at friendships were incredibly empty.

At least the members of the dueling club shared the same kind of passion for dueling that Skye felt, but that still wasn't the same.

Miyu never wanted anything more from Skye than friendship. Someone to laugh with and play with and enjoy life and living with. And Miyu wanted that friendship from Skye, not just a link to her brother. When Skye hadn't been sure she'd be able to be happy and make real friends again, Miyu had proved her wrong.

They'd had so little time together before Miyu's mother put a hard end to the friendship, but it had still meant the world to Skye. Would Miyu's mother even let them be friends now?

Would Miyu even want to see Skye again? Skye couldn't help but worry that she didn't mean as much to Miyu as Miyu had to her. That too much time had gone by with too little shared between them. How much had Miyu ever really missed her?

Not to mention the Lost Incident. Ten years would change anyone even without going through something as horrible as that. Skye knew she wasn't the same person she was when she met Miyu, but Miyu probably was a very different person now, too. Skye was sure she'd still like Miyu no matter what, she wasn't worried about that. But even if Miyu had wanted to be friends before, who could say she would still want to be friends now?

"If you're that worried about it," Akira told her one day, "if you want to know that badly, then just go and meet her. Find out for yourself. Then you'll know, and you won't have to worry so much. But I'm sure she'll want to see you again, and I'm sure she'll want to be friends. Why wouldn't she?"

Skye could think of a lot of reasons why. But she hadn't gotten to where she was today by listening to her doubts and hiding behind fear. She was Blue Angel, beloved by her fans and successful even without her brother's permission. When there was something she wanted to do, she did it.

So, fine. She'd go do it. She'd go and meet Miyu again. Maybe they'd pick up their friendship where it left off, maybe they'd start over, maybe they'd never see each other again, but no matter what happened, she was going to try.

Skye talked and thought about the meeting so much from then until the actual meeting itself that Akira joked she was getting ready for a date, not a reunion be friends.

If Skye was being honest, she was open to that, too, if Miyu was. If and when they were both willing and ready, and not before. But she just wanted it to go well.

Akira went with her to meet Miyu.

And the reunion...wasn't like they picked up where they had both left off. How could it be? So much had happened since then, so much was happening now, and they'd both grown up and changed in the time they spent apart. Their friendship didn't quite pick up where it had left off, but that was okay. Because something new blossomed in its place.

A new friendship, that was still more real than any other Skye had ever had.

And eventually, a romantic love, too. It was Miyu who asked Skye out on their first date. Skye had never been happier to accept anything.

Years down the line, Miyu and Skye would be able to tell people how they'd defeated both time and the limits that had been placed on them as children to be together.

[bastion-erasure]

I play Syrus, which lets me draw two cards from my Ancient Gear Golem and add them to my hand!

[kuriboo]

Vrains Rarepair Weeks - Day 11

Sweets / Music

Prompts can be found over here! Also posting over at AO3

"The holiday concert for school back home is coming up," Takeru said.

It's a pretty abrupt conversation topic, but then, neither of them had spoken in at least an hour. With everything else going on in their lives, both Yusaku and Takeru had fallen behind on homework. Yusaku didn't consider it a problem, but Takeru apparently did. The two of them were sitting together at a table in front of Cafe Nagi, working in silence to catch up.

Or, it had been silence, but Yusaku wasn't complaining. He was starting to get sick of trig. Sick of silently reciting SOHCAHTOA in his head for every problem. Sick of slowly punching expressions into his calculator. He needed the break.

"A holiday concert?" he repeated.

"The school's music department puts one on every year around this time. All the band and choruses at the school perform a few songs and a bunch of people in the community come to listen," Takeru explained.

Did their high school do something like that? Yusaku honestly wasn't sure. He never paid attention, never had any reason to. Music wasn't his forte, and he kept himself pretty busy, between his illegal hacking activities and being Playmaker.

"Kiku and I have gone together for years," Takeru went on. "It's fun to see what songs they do each year, and how often some of them get repeated." He laughed. "Kiku joined one of the choruses this year, though, so she can't watch it with me. I still plan on going, though. Even more so, now, to support her. It's the least I can do, after she's done so much to support me."

"I see." Yusaku frowned. Takeru was from a ways away where they were now. He'd probably be gone for at least a day, then. Takeru was certainly free to live his own life, and Yusaku could probably handle Vrains alone until he came back. He'd done fine against the Knights of Hanoi dueling on his own, after all. If they were lucky, SOL and Lightning would take a few days off, too.

"Do you want to come?" Takeru asked. "It's a fun concert. And you could meet Kiku, meet my grandparents. I'm sure they'd love to meet you."

Yusaku blinked. The invitation caught him off guard, he hadn't been expecting that. And it was...touching, that Takeru was offering him into a tradition he had with his friend.

The holidays were coming. Everyone deserved a break. Even himself, he supposed.

"Sure, if you don't mind having me along."

"Why would I? The more the merrier."

"There's Kiku!" Takeru whispered as the first chorus group began to make their way to the risers. As Kiku got into place and turned to face the audience, Takeru waved at her. She glanced over at him at smiled brightly.

So, this was Kiku. Takeru's friend before he transferred schools and became Soulburner.

It wasn't like Yusaku had much to base his opinion off of, but the concert seemed nice. It sounded good, anyway. And everyone around him seemed happy. That was the most important thing.

Then the last song in the program was announced.  Audience members who knew the song were encouraged to go up front with the performers and sing with them. Booklets were handed out to everyone, audience member or chorus member, who went up front. It probably had lyrics or notes in it, that would make sense, right? It looked long.

"I'll be back. You can stay here." Takeru stood up. "It's rude if I know the song and don't sing, right? Kiku and I have been enough of these that we know the song, we've sang it with them a few times now."

Yusaku watched Takeru walk up front and take a booklet.

(Takeru forgot to tell him before, but the school did this every year during the holiday concert. Every year, everyone would come together and sing Handel's chorus, Hallelujah, together.)

The song was long, but Yusaku decided it was one of his favorites from that night's concert.

"Takeru, you came for the concert!" Kiku greeted him with a grin.

Once the concert was over, it took them a little while to find Kiku. But Kiku never would let them hear the end of it if Takeru left without talking to her, and there was no way Takeru was leaving before he saw her, anyway.

"You thought I wouldn't? We come every year, there's no way I'm going to miss it. Especially not since I get to see you," Takeru told her.

"You've started styling your hair differently since I last saw you," Kiku noticed. "It looks more like it did when you were younger... I like it."

"Doesn't look like you've changed much since the last time I was home, but that's okay. I like you just the way you are." Takeru laughed.

Yusaku thought they would catch up for longer at first, but Kiku turned to him after that. "So, I see you brought someone to take my place."

"I'm not..." Yusaku began.

Takeru rolled his eyes. "It's not like that. I figured you wouldn't believe me if I told you I'm making friends at my new school, so I brought Yusaku as proof."

Yusaku mentally caught up; both their voices were ripened with sarcasm, neither of them really meant what they said. He offered Kiku a handshake. "I'm Yusaku."

"And I'm Kiku. It's nice to meet you." Kiku accepted his handshake. "You're more polite than Takeru is."

"I'm not that rude," Takeru protested. "I'm trying to be better, now, I swear!"

"Then thank you for being a positive influence on his life." Kiku giggled. "I hope he's attending class and keeping up with his work."

Yusaku blinked. "He's the one who pushes me to keep up with my work, actually."

"Oh?" Kiku turned to look at Takeru. "You really have changed, haven't you? But that's a good thing. I think I like this Takeru better. I think your grandparents will, too"

"I'm not really that bad, am I?" Takeru groaned, running a hand through his hair.

"But, really." Kiku faced Yusaku again. "Thanks for being his friend, I mean it. Takeru had a tendency to push people out, so he didn't have many friends."

"I'm usually the same way, so I can related," Yusaku admitted.

"Then it sounds like it's  good thing you found each other," Kiku said.

[bastion-erasure]

He used to claim he was going steady with Dorothy.

[kuriboo]

i’m not kidding when i call revenge return a masterpiece i spent years just planning it and it’s well worth the payoff. all that effort was worth it and made some really good shit and i don’t just say that about anything i write

[bastion-erasure]

Jim looks to stare down the dueling cards controlling his friend.

[bastion-erasure]

Axel and Jim set off to confront the Emergency Provisions.