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"Ash, we should really get in there, look at how hard they're fighting!" Elizabeth looked down at her arm, prepared to draw cards after confirmation from her partner in crime. There was no answer. She looked to her left and Ashley was gone; she quickly snapped to her right, looking for her: nowhere to be found: "Ashley?" Elizabeth questioned. It was about then when she realized she could hardly hear anything. She looked forward and could comprehend the things happening around her, but heard nothing. Ashley was with the crowd of others, cheering them on and doing all she could to keep morale high. Elizabeth was frozen by something. Fear? Paranoia? She looked down at her arm, and the sensation only grew larger in the back of her brain. She took a few steps back, sensing such a feeling would only disrupt the ambition of positive emotions fueling their fight. She looked behind her and began to stumble back towards the door. She backpedaled as quickly as she could, nearly falling a few times, were it not for the trained dexterity in her lifestyle. Even still, her palms grew clammy, and the sense of dread grew stronger. She fell backwards through the door she had entered in, her rear slamming hard against the cold tile floor and prompting her duel disk to shoot her late brother's cards all over the floor. Elizabeth let out an agonizing gasp as she quickly scrambled to pick up the cards, sweat dripping from her forehead. There was one, faint whining in the back of her head as she collected them as quickly as she could, struggling to keep her hands from shaking while picking up cards gently from the floor to keep them as pristine as her memory. She stopped, unable to continue as only a single card laid on the floor. She focused in on the sound, and it was a voice: "This isn't your fight Beth. They don't need you." What had started out as a whine, perhaps the sound of grinding machinery, came into the form of a voice that was clear as day: "...Todd? What are you talking about?" she stared at the lone card on the floor, now broken into a full sweat. "THEY DONT NEED YOU BETH! Quit chasing them!" His voice became angry; tempered. She began to shake. "I...I don't" The voice continue to repeat itself while Beth struggled and crawled towards the card. As she approached it, hands quaking with fear, the voice only got louder. It took her entire power to touch her fingertips to the card when suddenly a boot planted itself on the other side of the card. She looked up to see Kyata's face: "There's nothing you can do Beth. They don't need you." Elizabeth snapped back into focus, taking a sharp breath. She was still standing in the circle. with all the other duelists. Everything was how she had left it. Ashley had run up with Kai, throwing cards into the struggle even, while the group slowly won the war against their assailant. She looked down at her arm: the deck was still there. Was it all a dream? What did it mean? "Maybe they don't...but I need them." Elizabeth spoke softly to herself and drew a card: she felt warmth from the card. What was this sensation? Comfort? Familiarity? She would have to go through the steps to be positive. Left foot planted firmly forward, with her right elbow ever so slightly tucked back. Championing the card into the air, Elizabeth exclaimed a summoning call, "It might not look like much...but you're in some serious trouble now, Mate!" she slammed the card down into her duel disk, causing a glitchy, metallic snake dragon to wriggle its way out of thin air. The coils and links kept on coming and coming until it had coiled itself up tall, screaming loudly, albeit frequently interrupted by a glitched sound or two. Elizabeth could not help but think that her summoning call did not sound as good as his, but it mattered not what it sounded like to them. She refused to be remembered as the one who did nothing. She wanted to be remembered as someone who was there when she was needed. At least for once. "Proto-Cyber Dragon, help Melissa and banish that wicked beast with your Electric Tail!" The beast shot over with great speed, slamming into the side of the beast attempting to snuff out Yushiro. The beast's great length would seek to scoop up the monster and serve it in the air like a volleyball to the Monster Melissa had summoned to do the same. Elizabeth looked down at her wrist once again: the voice was gone.

"AW HELL!" Maybelle threw her hands up at the ban of gambling "Them hicks down at the bar aren't gonna believe this!" She turned to her partner in crime, literally, with a scowl, "Which one of them there knuckleheads you think gone and put our weekly game 'a cards out to pasture?" She looked back to the crowd, disapprovingly. "We're surrounded by rookies." He said, tilting his head towards Maybelle. "Shame. We were makin' bank on the side with that." Maybelle sucked her teeth and shook her head in response, "Well tie me up and put me on a spit." She continued shaking her head. It wasn't long, however, until her partner made his way over to the break room with a deck of cards in his hand. A smile crept across her face, nearly ear to ear. She simply grabbed the loop of her jeans and strutted over with the typical gait of a cowboy's. "Cards?! Well now you have gone and gotten my interest. Gin rummy! If I see you cheatin cards, boy you're becoming target practice now, you hear?" Maybelle was mostly uninterested by what had transpired around her, as the cowboy led a simple life. She couldn't get all caught up in whatever these hoity toity city folk were saying. Besides, there was a game of cards to be played, and Maybelle NEVER missed out on a hand of cards. It was why most nights ended with a few too many beers and an empty wallet, but she didn't mind too much. As long as everyone had a good time and there were only up to 2 bar fights. "Anymore than that and you got yourselves 1 bull short of the whole rodeo. Reckon it'd be a riot or something." She spoke to herself, mostly, as she approached the breakroom door.

Sigh. That's your date, Beth. Out there being the hero. Elizabeth wore a look of exasperation as the piper not only brought a majority of the group's monsters to their knees, but empowered his own beast with Yushiro's dragon. A sense of despair washed over the group; it was a feeling she could detect immediately. Elizabeth looked around, waiting for someone to react; in a strange way, she felt pressure mounting on her shoulders, as if her seniority over the group somehow made her responsible. She swallowed the lump in her throat, scanning her deck with her brother's deck with her mind, trying to remember what was in there. It had been a while since she looked at it with any intention of playing cards from it. Just as she began to open her mouth, the others sprung into action, bringing a wave of relief along with them. She was perfectly content to be a bystander in this situation, ready to pounce as somewhat of a last resort. She thought to herself that perhaps Hitomu should have been here for this, but then again, he would have nothing to play anyway. She had to remind herself to get back on him for that. What was a Duel King without a deck? Preposterous. Most of what was happening was pretty standard; so much so that it had been somewhat predictable to her inside of Elizabeth's mind. She was hardly paying attention to anything except for the piper, examining his moves to try and get a hold of what exactly it was they were planning. That was, until the new kid started playing some awfully familiar looking cards. Elizabeth couldn’t help but smile, “Oh wow…” she looked down at her wrist, where the same skeleton of cards lay in a 40 count stack, “Nice card he’s got there.” He even had his own flare on the archetype. She knew it was foolish to assume Todd would be the only one with such a deck, but it was entrancing nonetheless. Something about it felt... warm? It was bizarre. His energy, his cards, they had a familiar feel to them. She had to know his name. --- "Bloody hell, mate. Another new boyfriend? Third one this week I wager. Should I even ask his name?" "Don't be so dense, Todd. He is not my boyfriend, it wasn't even a proper date. Just tea. Besides, I've got no bloody idea what his name is."

Name: Maybelle "Wrangler" Anderson Age: 25 Gender: Female Appearance: It's hard to tell Maybelle's exact height, but she's just shy of 5'10" in her boots, so an educated guess would lead you to believe she's about 5'7". That is, if you ever saw her not in her boots, which is unlikely. Truth is, Maybelle is about as stereotypical as it comes when it comes to the "cowboy" look: very rarely will you see Maybelle in something that isn't a variety of shirts, vests, and coats used by cowboys to protect themselves from the sun, snakes, and other critters that could snap up at you. If she was in the mood to lounge, she quite enjoys the northeastern leisure wear worn by the locals: loose cotton shirts and some baggy sweatpants are unusual, but a fun change of looks. Her long orange hair is typically tied into a tight braid that can be easily managed to rest right above her shoulders. This is in contrast to her pale blue eyes, which are common for people with her hair. Her nose is slightly deviated to the right from one too many bare knuckle brawls with crooks, and she has a few scratches and pocks in her skin from living a rougher life than your average person. Notably, her right ear is missing a small chunk from the outer edge. Ask her all about it; it comes from one of her favorite stories. Personality: "Wild West? Son, this rodeo might be a bit too steep a hassle for you if this'n right here's wild. I'd turn hide and make like one of them jackrabbits before things get ugly round here." Maybelle is one of those folks who does not get caught up in the intricacies of things; she'd rather leave that kind of debate and thought to the doctors and the folks in charge. She'll call things as she sees them and from there, you can just let her know when the shooting starts. In that way, Maybelle can be a bit dry, but it is very obvious, once you've spent some time with her, that she doesn't take up many hobbies, but the hobbies she's chosen she is rather passionate about. While she might lack in academic debate, Maybelle is easy to talk to, and she won't deny you a conversation or an ear, even if she doesn't like you much. The problem is, she might just go ahead and let you know she doesn't like you much. Still, she is loyal to the core, and has a tendency to put the job above her own needs. Not so far to the point where she would risk life and limb, but far enough that she can deal with a great amount of discomfort without a peep. Biography: "Demon's Blood? What in tarnation? Some kind of fancy upstate liquor or something? Can't possibly be worth all this damn money, Ray." What started as a simple, albeit illegal, contraband acquisition and transportation gig, ended in Maybelle playing out her fantasies as some kind of newfangled monster hunter, scouring the Northeast in search of their next "meal" before things get dire. It was not always this way, but "like momma used to tell me, the world works in mysterious ways. That's why we country folk like to focus on the small stuff." It all started in Western Pennsylvania, in a town where things got settled how things used to get settled, back in the olden days: pistols at dawn, and thirsty saloons where the crooks and coppers would drink alike until one of them raised a gun after a dishonest game of hold 'em. In that type of town, you're one of two things: a cop, or a robber. Maybelle finished her time in that small town as the latter, and found herself running contraband for a long time with her close friend Ray, another good for nothing crook that she would be hard pressed to trade the world for. It was a hard life, but at the same time it was simple: he would run point, do most of the talking, and grab the goods. Maybelle was there to do the talking, too, but her method usually involved the ending of her twin revolvers. She would dress all pretty to keep the boys' attention, and drop the hammer when her buddy was in trouble. As long as you could deal with getting shot at twice a week on a good week, it was quite relaxing. She was content to do it forever. The only problem was their boss; much like any commoner job, they hated their bosses, who seemingly got more of the reward for less of the work. That would change, they thought, when Ray snagged their latest big shipment: Demon's Blood. Rumor was you drank it to be imbued with some sort of power. Maybelle didn't much buy into the hype, but she figured she would do it if Ray was this convinced about it, and the rest really is history more or less. The job hardly changed, although now they were hunting demons down and drinking their blood as opposed bringing drugs from one cokehead to another. There was still plenty of being shot at and hunted down, and word was that there was some sort of organization that was willing to take in folks like Maybelle and Ray, which she was told was good news for the two hunters. Something about being on the inside, and that they'd be hunted soon if they didn't get something sorted out. She trusted her partner in crime, she just hoped that didn't mean the shooting was about to stop. She was just starting to get used to this whole "lasso" thing that strange blood had given her. Gift: Maybelle has been blessed (or cursed, depending on who you ask) with the power of an incredibly strong "rope" that spawn from her hand at will. She prefers it in the form of a lasso, and can use it to tear down things much larger than her human strength would ever be capable of. It's what gave her the codename "Wrangler" in the business, and she wouldn't have it any other way.

Ah christ. Yeah I'm in.

The girls stayed largely silent on their way to the duel team offices, save for a few quips and idle conversational pieces that would serve few, if any, to repeat. It wasn't until they reached the offices themselves that Elizabeth started rummaging through her bag for two deck boxes; one was significantly more ornate than the other. "Ash, take my deck. I'll use... the tournament deck. You know, just in case." Elizabeth shot a look over at Yushiro, whose back was currently facing the girls while he rummaged through the pile of spare disks. "What?? Liz no you can't use that deck it's-"she paused to observe her best friend's eyes, now coming around on the coded language, "For tournament use only, and you swore that you would only take that deck out for really, really important stuff. You should use your deck." Elizabeth rolled her eyes and scoffed, "What, exactly, would you consider to be more important than our current situation? The Yonder Cup? Mate. Honestly. The Yonder Cup?" she gestured out towards the doors, and up towards the ceiling, for good measure. Ashley shot a plenty descriptive stare back, "I put a lot of work into you and those tournaments, you know." she begrudgingly accepted Elizabeth's deck, practically snatching it out of her hands, and accepting defeat, ceding the fact that they had no time to argue. As they walked over to the duel disks and picked out some dinky looking disks that clearly had not been as well cared for as their budget suggests, Ashley could not help but grab Beth's arm and look her in the eyes, whispering just quietly enough to keep Yushiro from hearing as he ran towards the doors, "Be careful with that thing, okay? Todd's memory is worth more than some holograms. I don't care how much you want to pretend you're doing it to protect me. You'll never forgive yourself if something happens to them." Beth removed her arm from Ashley's grip and gently placed Todd's deck in the slot, sending a brilliant light through to the end of the disk, "I'd prefer having no memories over two. Hopefully I'm just being dramatic. Let's go." Elizabeth immediately, and seriously, made her way to the doors herself Ashley rolled her eyes in return, lazily following behind, "I think we're well past the point of drama, babe." All perceptions of danger and looming battles, however, quickly dissipated after opening the doors to reveal somewhat of a crowd, both monstrous and human. Elizabeth couldn't help but stare in amazement that Melissa, of all people, appeared to be the leader of the aforementioned circle. Geez, sure wish comforting myself had the power to assemble a small riot. Elizabeth thought to herself as she approached the generally sheepish girl. Ashley followed quickly behind, genuinely speechless for maybe the first time in her entire life. "She wanted to get us all to have happy thoughts so we could use duel space to stop the monsters. I don't know how, but it's duel space I'm sure it'll work out." Jun was walking the group through the protocol before Melissa spoke, “I’m really glad you could make it,” Melissa paused and looked directly at Elizabeth. Strangely, she felt slightly blushed; was Melissa waiting for her to arrive? "I'm happy to see you're safe, Melissa. Quite a plan you've put together in a crisis. I was a bit worried about you, among others." “I don’t know what’s going on, but at least we can all ride out the storm together now. Oh, and --” she motioned to their duel disks, causing Beth to look down at her arm, now remembering what was at stake, “-- it would help if you turned those on.” Elizabeth nodded, flicking her forearm to the side, causing the wings of the duel disk to unfold and display its power in all the juicy, dramatic glory she could muster. Ashley snickered quietly and simply hit the button on the side that did the same thing. "I just don't feel quite right about dueling, mate."Ashley mimicked her best friend quietly, out of Elizabeth's earshot, who quickly entered a deep focus, trying to find some source of happiness to avoid dooming them to whatever degree she could. It was worth admitted that... this took some work. At first, in her search for happiness, all she could find were the things that she carried daily: fear that she had lost purpose, anxiety that this was her last year, loneliness for... well, a million reasons, truly, followed by some degree of powerlessness, leading her right up to what had just been said a moment or two ago: memories. It was true that Elizabeth was terrified of losing her memories; she spent far more of her free time than she'd like to admit writing things down, trying her best to make sure she would never lose what she had left of say, her brother, but also times with Hitomu, Ashley, and others. But in the same way that the thought of forgetting those memories terrified her, it also made them that much more special to her. She felt blessed, almost, to have had those laughs, those cries, 3AM fried food on a school night with her brother because they were watching a really good show and couldn't put it down. Those memories were her happiness, and the thought of them warmed her body from the inside out. Her fingertips began to glow with the energy created by the positive feelings, much in the same way their circle had done for the others. "Yo, are we cool with these skeletons? Please tell me we're cool with the skeletons." An unfamiliar voice shot Beth's eyes open, and she turned to the one person who would know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, who that was that interrupted her concentration. "Ashley, who the hell is that?" she looked up and down the male figure, examining him. Ashley groaned, "Pretty sure that's my 3:30 meeting. What a day for him to show up on campus. Hey, kid! Come over here!" Ashley hollered over to the new kid, waving her hands and motioning for him to come closer. Elizabeth simply blinked and waited for something to happen next, "A new student...?" she looked over at Melissa, "Have you met him yet?"

Elizabeth tapped her foot nervously, looked behind them often to check for monsters, which still appear to have not discovered this entrance, or do not care to occupy it. She looked at her phone, then into the annex, then to Yushiro: "Scared? A bit. This day certainly trumps anything I've seen in a while." she folded her fingers in between Yushiro's, looking back up to the annex. Cmon Ash... what's taking you so long? You should have been here by now. That thought alone sent a harsh shiver up Elizabeth's spine; a mixture of fear and deja vu. -- She could still remember the scent of the air when she first realized something was wrong. It was thick with the scent of menthol; she really only smoked casually at parties these days, but as her anxiety grew, she felt herself chewing through the pack a bit faster than one would consider "casual". "Come oooon Beth! The party is inside! They probably just hit another party, we'll see them later, come on!" Ashley was hammered, tugging sloppily on Beth's arm, trying to get her back inside. "What? Ash, no, come on, stop. They both took a few stumbled steps in towards the door, causing Ashley to slosh some ghoulish mix of low-shelf liquors and lemonade powder to the concrete that floored the patio outside, facing the street. Elizabeth stuck her cigarette hand out far to their side, to avoid burning either one of them. Beth pulled back, resisting her best friend, "Stop!" Beth stood up fiercely, in protest of her friend's lackadaisical attitude towards the situation at hand. "If it was just Kyata I would agree with you; he's probably just looking for a chance to black out and **** anyway. But Todd never takes this long to answer me. Ever. Something's wrong. Just...go back inside or something if you want to party, okay? I can't be arsed to have a good time right now. I'm just going to sit outside and wait for them so I can be the first to give them an earful when they show up." Elizabeth turned back around, walking back up to the railing that outlined the perimeter of the patio and leaning on it. She did not have ears open for Ashley's rebuttal; instead her eyes stayed fixated on the pavement, waiting for the dimly lit headlights from Kyata's car to show up on the street, moving towards the party. There had only been three cars on the street in the last 20 minutes; in a way the scarcity of vehicles made the anticipation of one arriving more agonizing. A burst of hope, only to be immediately dashed by the unfamiliarity of the vehicle crossing by. "Ooooookay Lizzy! I'll come get you later!~" Ashley stumbled back inside, blissfully unaware of what was going on. Her reappearance was met with a loud roar of hello's and approval, as if she had not already been there drinking her brain away for the last hour. Beth tried to avoid being cynical but the carefree attitude of the party while Kyata and Todd were missing disgusted her, in a way. Was nobody else worried that they were 90 minutes late, and nobody had heard from them? The other party was hardly 20 minutes away, and they were the ones that wanted to move locations. Well, Kyata had been drinking and.. Elizabeth shook her head, trying to expel the thought from her brain. They were fine. They probably just hit another party real quick; it was like them to bounce from spot to spot. Especially with as popular as those two were, it was more likely Todd was drowning in under-dressed girls and too busy to look at his phone. But even still, she sent the signal. Todd never ignores the signal. Neither of them did. That was their promise after Todd got stuck in a tree for 3 hours back when they were kids. At the time, it was funny, so Elizabeth just laughed at him and walked away, but when he got down they swore to always spring into action if they ever said Pear Tree. It was the sort of thing they could slip into a conversation naturally, but the other person would understand. If Beth was at a party or a bar and someone was getting too handsy, or if Todd was about to get caught cheating on his arithmetic exam, really any kind of emergency of varying severity. Beth looked down at her phone, glancing over the text messages sent over the last hour or so: He hadn't even read them. The mixture of cheap vodka and nicotine in her bloodstream had made her nauseous beyond comprehension, and coupled with the anxiety, she felt like she could probably vomit at any moment, but her stomach simply kept churning instead of producing anything. It was a miserable feeling, being drunk in the middle of an anxiety attack; it was like being ripped away from the controls on your own body. Unable to control anything, even her eyes would occasionally betray her as the shots of liquor worked their way through her body. She was afraid, but it was not the kind of fear you feel when you are worried you failed a test, or broke a bone even. This was deeper; she knew that something was very wrong, and had no way to fix it. Come on Todd, what the hell is taking you so long? You should have been here by now. Beth sat there, being bothered every now and again by a wayward partygoer attempting to pull her back into the excitement inside, or to lean over the railing to her left and empty the contents of their stomach, for about another half hour. It was then that her phone rang; the caller ID said "Mum", leaving Beth's face completely pale; What reason would Mum have for calling me at 11PM? It has to be... Beth quickly answered the phone, and before she could say anything, was quickly met with the panicked voice of her father, "Elizabeth, where are you? Are you okay? Were you with your brother?" His words were coming out of his mouth faster than she could answer; all she could hear was an onslaught of words from her father and the distant sounds of her mother wailing in the background. Elizabeth felt the pit of her stomach drop, like she had just come off the peak of a roller coaster's hill. "I'm at a frat house, maybe 10 minutes off of campus, is Todd...?" Elizabeth choked up; she couldn't finish her question but she knew the answer. Something had gone wrong as she feared, but every fiber of her being was just holding on to hope that he was alive, just hurt. "Stay right there Elizabeth, do not go anywhere I am coming to get you right now, okay?! Your brother was in an accident, we are on our way now to get him. Elizabeth Olivia Hall, I mean it do not move an inch from where you are! I love you dear, see you very soon." "Wait Dad I-" he had already hung up the phone. Her hands started to visibly shake as the gravity of what that phone call meant fell on her shoulders. It was like being crushed by the plate of a hydraulic press, trying to force her into the floor to be pulverized into nothing. She didn't know if he was okay, or if she would feel stupid later, but Elizabeth simply started to cry; mouthing various questions to nobody in particular with no sound coming out from her mouth. Ashley stumbled out once more to entice her best friend, only to be stopped in her tracks by the sight of her best friend crying, "Heeeeeey, Beth! Are you alright?! Why are you crying??" Ashley plopped herself onto the ground; her brain felt like slop, and her ears were ringing out of control from the amount of liquor in her system, but she tried her best to listen, knowing something was wrong. Elizabeth didn't pick her head up from her hands, choking out a few words, "It's T-Todd. They.." Beth was unable to finish the sentence, and continued to weep. -- Ashley whipped open the door, waving the other two inside, "Get in here, quick! Sheesh, I'm glad to hear you two are okay." Elizabeth looked up from her daze to meet Ashley in the eyes, her first words were: "Did you get my texts? Why didn't you answer me?" followed by quickly rushing inside. Ashley stopped in her tracks a little bit, examining the expression writ on Elizabeth's face, "I left my phone in the office, so I could run straight here and open the doors." Ashley frowned, expressing some guilt, "Sorry Beth. I should have answered. That's really thoughtless of me. Why are you guys headed there, anyway? Wouldn't it be safer to go the student council offices? I was going to lock myself in there until I was given the clear until you called." Elizabeth quickly ushered Yushiro into the building, and began walking at a brisk pace towards the general vicinity of the Duel Halls, "Yushiro here says he has a plan to fight back against these things. Noble enough that I thought we would give it a shot. Do you have a deck on you? You should come along. Who knows what this thing is going to look like." Ashley shook her head, bewildered, "Why on Ambrosia would we take care of that instead of letting campus security do it, we're just a bunch of students! Aren't there any adults around here?!" Elizabeth gestured towards the empty halls, "When is the last time you noticed any adults in the immediate vicinity to help us out with a problem? Come on, we've got to go." Ashley simply shrugged, "Fair enough, but I call getting to hold on to Elizabeth if we're vaporized by some sort of Duel Monster related neutron bomb." she looked directly at Yushiro, and continued to walk with the group.

Elizabeth nodded, "Sounds like a good enough plan to me." she took another drag from her cigarette, "Although I won't imagine it will be any less eventful. Say, do you think this means exams are cancelled this morning?" Elizabeth was largely quiet on the walk; stress had a strange effect on Elizabeth. When you live under such a thick blanket of stress as a normal function, particularly stressful situations almost seem to have less of an effect than every day life. At least, that was how she felt. In a way, she was disassociated so far away from what she considered the be the core of her person that anything pushing her even further away felt like it had brought her closer in reality, like maybe breaking through the glass ceiling of stress would actually bring her to the floor she fell through when her life fell apart. Hmph. I should write that one down. She thought to herself. She occasionally looked over to Yushiro, only to meet the harsh stare of a duel monster that had seemingly quickly endeared itself to Yushiro. Some mixture of relief, doubt, and guilt continued to wash its way over her. It would be hard to explain exactly why she felt this way, but she knew that for one reason or another, she felt that she was bringing Yushiro trouble, even if he didn't know it yet. Perhaps it was selfish to think of only her problems in the midst of a campus-wide meltdown, but it was how she felt regardless. Her thought process was quickly snapped by the sight of the monsters congregating around the Duel Hall. She groaned, even more so when Yushiro levied the responsibility for finding a solution unto her. "Alright, hold on. Let me think. It looks to me like they're mostly just in front of the entrance. Maybe there is another way we can approach this..." she quickly produced her cellphone and began calling the one person she knew would most certainly be in the building that connected the Duel Hall to the Student Offices: "Oh my god Beth, so glad to hear you're okay. My phone has been flooded with security alerts. What the hell is going on out there?" Ashley didn't even sound all that panicked, honestly. That was so like her; she viewed everything as a 'situation' with solutions and variables, rather than something that had consequences attached to it. It was almost exciting to Ashley to have an issue as large as this one, so long as nobody was killed. "Never mind all that Ash. Can you open up the annex halls? I need to get to the Duel Hall and it is covered from top to bottom in monsters. Meet me there in 3 minutes?" Elizabeth waved Yushiro to their left, ushering them both towards a much smaller building built into the curve of a hill. The annex was really nothing more than a few dumpy offices that some clubs or presenters rented out for their events a few times a year for cheap, but its main draw was that it connected two of the larger buildings on campus. "Once we're in here, we should be able to cut through a couple of halls and get to the duel team office. Say, what is your plan, anyway?

Elizabeth was not amused. Her look read somewhere between "confused" and "are you s***ting me right now?" but as her ever-blossoming significant other- significant other? Date? Elizabeth shook off the thought; now was not the time for tripping over titles. As her ever-blossoming significant other started to play around with yet another duel monster that had appeared, Beth started to craft a plan. In situations like this, she always liked to lean on a combination of wits and experience to get her through to the other side of things. However, much like her lack of experience with the other major occurrences in her life the past few years, she was at a bit of a loss on how to approach this one. Surely this wasn't just ADMIN's doing? "Yushiro, where do you think all of this is coming from? I mean, have you ever seen something like this? I mean in my four years here, I've never had such a situation. And have you noticed they all appear to be level one monsters?" Elizabeth looked up; even the clouds had begun to take the form of duel monsters, which was fairly ironic, given the source material. She reached down into her bag, grabbing her lighter and cigarette box. Normally, she wouldn't be caught dead smoking in front of Yushiro or in the middle of campus, but when things have gone "tits up" as her mum would say, you don't pay much mind to the rules that normally apply. Well, he was going to figure it out some time, my perfume isn't that strong. Elizabeth took a drag from her cigarette and puffed smoke into the air, "Are you finish playing with that thing? As much fun as it is to wait around and see what pops up next, I can't help but feel like something bigger, nastier, and probably not any friendlier, is coming. That and... I don't have any level one monsters in my deck. I'm not sure if that matters, but it certainly couldn't help. We either need to get you to the infirmary, or to the duel team office; there are some duel disks there. If we're going to be in duel space I at least want to be able to protect myself, and I left mine back at the flat." she gestured to the walkway that travels through the center of campus; there were monsters traversing it almost like students in the middle of the day. Then again, there weren't many spaces at all where monsters weren't traversing the campus. What they were looking for was unclear, but Elizabeth had no intentions on finding out. "Whenever you're ready." --- "EEEEEEEEEK! WHAT IS THAT THING?!" Ashley leaped away, cowering in the corner as the gigantic, slimy monster crawled ever closer to her. She began to sob, praying to whatever was out there that something would come and save her from the beast that sought to trap her and devour her flesh piece by piece. But nothing was coming. This would surely spell the end for our brave, beautiful, intrepid, fearless, intelligent, and humble class president, and as she waited for the end to come- *PSSST* The shower head hit a hitch, causing water to spray all over the walls. Ashley yelped, but she fared off much better than the spider, which was swept away by the water and down the drain. She smiled, thanking the shower head silently for saving her life, "That was a close one! Now where was I? Oh, that's right. It's time for some conditioner. Ashley finished her shower in peace, no longer fearing beasts of all shapes, sizes, and number of limbs. She quickly bounced out and got dressed into her outfit for the day, taking time as she normally does to brush her hair, do her makeup, inspect that one suspicious looking bump that might turning into a zit. You know, the normal stuff. It was pretty much an average day for the class president, and nothing would change that- "OH MY GOD?!" Ashley rushed over to her bed to see her phone buzzing up a storm! She must have left it in the bedroom while she went to shower!! Think of all the gossip she may have just missed! Ashley cursed herself repeatedly, scrambling to get back to the notifications and emails as fast as she could. "Phew! Another close one!" She grabbed her messenger bag that she kept all her binders, folders, laptop, and other school essentials in and made her way to campus. Her walk was fairly mundane; after all, this was just another day at Blue Yonder Academy, and in reality- "THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING!!" Ashley scrambled through her bag in dismay; she forgot her blue sunglasses! She was wearing blue today! She can't be found walking around with green sunglasses!! It was a total fashion nightmare! "My whole day is ruined." Ashley pouted her whole way to the student council office, sending Elizabeth a stream of grumpy texts to let her know how awful her day has been since she woke up. After setting her stuff down, she looked up from her desk to find a large, lumbering man, easily 6 feet tall and ripped, standing in front of her. Ashley glared, as she was clearly not entertained, "Cosplay contest submissions aren't for another week and half, and you need to make an appointment with me, you can't just walk right into my office. Come back at 11, would you? I haven't had the best morning." The monster grumbled, making some gibberish noises that barely registered in Ashley's ears. "What? Yeah yeah fine here's your late pass. Just tell your teacher you were bringing up fundraising ideas and lost track of time. Now please, come back at 11. I've got a lot of emails to get back to!" The monster looked puzzled, and simply turned around and left, more confused by human behavior than the very nature by which he appeared. Ashley looked up and checked out the monster's butt on the way out. "Damn. Should have gotten his number first. Hopefully he comes back."

Beth giggled, "Cute? Mate they're flying beasts with claws sharp as knives, the lot of them." She took a sip from her tea and then looked back at him, "Heavens, next you're going to tell me you fancy the harpies for their unitards and favorable busts." Her ribbing of Yushiro was quickly curbed, however, by the sight of what appeared to be a duel monster. Perplexed, certainly, but more than anything she felt anxiety by the sight. What was more concerning was the familiar hue of duel space washing over the surrounding area. "Wait, Yushiro, I don't think you shou-" As was always the case in Elizabeth's life, she was far too late to warn him. The animal exploded, launching Yushiro back and causing Elizabeth to gasp and drop everything in her hands. She looked around: they were swarmed by the things. "What the f^#( is happening?!" Elizabeth wanted to run over, but they were both being closed in by the things rather quickly. Thinking fast, Beth opened up her breakfast and began calling the creatures, hoping to attract them with the sight and scent of a potential meal, "Here you bloody rodents! Chase the food!" She chucked the muffin and other delicacies into the bushes, causing at least the pack nearest them to inquire about the new sustenance. Beth ran over to Yushiro in a hurry, choosing to survey the damage. "You look hurt, can you walk at all? We have to get out of here." She whipped her head back and forth, panicked. Rather than waiting around, she took action, "Oh, forget it. Hold on." Elizabeth helped Yushiro to a sitting position, standing in front of him in order to pull his arms over her shoulder and crossed across her chest. She then pulled him forward, likely causing some sort of distress on his ankles, until she could slightly squat and use her hips to drive him up on to her back. She was slightly hunched as she wasn't that much taller than him, but it was enough that she could at least carry him to safety for a good while. "My father taught my brother and I this a long time ago when we used to go on our fishing trips. I always used to chaff him for wasting perfectly good fishing time, I suppose I owe him an apology. Just hang tight, let us try and get you to safety." Beth tried to just keep talking to do what she does best: avoid the reality of an emergency, at least until they were in a place that appeared safe. Or if nothing else, less densely populated by monsters. Upon spotting a tree some thirty paces away, Beth quickly hobbled over and laid Yushiro against it gently, now taking a closer look at his legs. "Christ. You look burnt to a crisp. What even was that?! It looks like the whole bloody campus is covered in duel space. I've never seen anything like it, and I've seen my fair share of insane moments in this blasted school." She rummaged through the bag she had Yushiro slumped over, seeing if she had any form of first aid supplies; no dice. She grabbed her phone: tons of messages from various friends or group chats relaying similar strange happenings, along with a... was that hitomu taking a selfie with a reflection of himself?? Beth groaned and put her phone away; she would have to take care of Hitomu later. She looked back at Yushiro, "Can you stand, mate? We should get you to the infirmary. Those burns look pretty rough. Hopefully we can dodge all these monsters on the way and figure out what the hell is going on later. This is sort of scary, innit?" She looked around, trying to keep low, waiting for Yushiro's response instead of simply acting odd her own accord, which she had done to this point simply out of sheer panic. Elizabeth was adept at dodging the reality of a situation, but she wasn't daft; she felt real danger happening around her, and wanted to get out as fast as her and Yushiro could come up with a plan.

Elizabeth smiled, once again, truth appeared to have been the right way. Even if he was more disappointed than he was letting on, she felt relief in the fact that she was able to get it off of her chest before it soured things in her mind. She had enough guilt on her plate as it was; there was no more room for a second helping, especially for something so minuscule. "Well. If you've gone and made such sweeping upgrades to your deck, you may very well be on your way to longer needing my services." she snickered, taking a small sip from her tea, "I've put some thoughts into upgrading my deck lately myself. It's been a while since I've had something fresh; something I enjoy out of my deck. Perhaps a deck change is in order. Who's to say." Elizabeth quickly pivoted the conversation, realizing that perhaps she was veering a bit too far into the depressing end for first thing in the morning, and focused herself back towards school, and classes, "I think after 1st session I'm going to go to the gym to work out; I've been terrible about that as of late, just going straight to the dance studio instead of building muscle mass and all that. What about you? Any other plans for the day?"

Things were going great! Yushiro was enjoying his breakfast, he remembered to come pick her up, things had almost seemed fairly calm, normal even. That was, until, her intestines started to constrict, and the familiar feeling of a nicotine deprived headache came roaring through her body. She felt strangely, keeping so many secrets from Yushiro right off the bat, but it seemed unwise to smoke in front of him. Many people, especially in these times, had been thoroughly turned off by even the scent, let alone the addiction. But this was practically on schedule for the young Senior. She had a drag every morning on the way to class; it may as well have been a part of her breakfast. She took a sip of her tea and tried to focus on the other secret she was prepared to air before it festered: the duel. She knew she had to tell him that she had missed the end, but it was the particulars that got a little murky: she would hate to air Melissa's dirty laundry in such a way, not even counting that perhaps Yushiro knows who Melissa is. She would have to put it in a way that he understood without being too specific. "Yushiro, I have to tell you something about the dance actually."she stared straight ahead; she was somewhat fearful of making eye contact while she said it, even, "I didn't want to distract or ruin our night, because I had a lovely time but I also don't want to be dishonest with you, and I feel it's better to tell you now rather than later. I... well I didn't actually get to see most of your duel." she faced him, wincing a bit, hoping he wouldn't be too angry, "A friend of mine, she was feeling rather overwhelmed and I didn't want to leave her feeling alone. I understand if you're mad, it meant a lot to you. You don't have to say it's okay just for me." she looked sad, but it wasn't an attempt at any form of guilt trip, more just the realization that they have had this problem more than once; he wasn't sure how much he was willing to put up with, and Yushiro truly hadn't even seen the half of it yet. "I was going to see if I could track down video of the duel so I could at least watch how you did it. There was certainly plenty of cheering from the bathroom. Sounded like it was a rather entertaining bout... I really am sorry for missing it. I wasn't sure what to do at the time. Perhaps after I watch over it, though, we could review the duel and keep practicing?" she made her final plea before Yushiro could answer her fully. It was the truth, and for her, that was a good start.

BZZZT! BZZZT! BZZZT! Good morning, Elizabeth. Your local time is currently 6:35AM. The weather today is expected to be slightly cloudy with a light chance of precipitation in the afternoon. In daily news, star Anchor for Andover had another stellar perfor- Elizabeth halted the sound of her chattering alarm clock with a firm slap onto the screen. She rolled out of bed lazily, and got up to begin making her bed. It was the first thing she did. Good morning Elizabeth, shall I start your teapot? You have 3 Earl Gray teabags still in the chamber. "Yes please. Not too hot. Could you also preheat the oven to 175 in twenty minutes? I'll be making breakfast for two this morning." Yes Elizabeth. Your oven will begin preheating to 175° Celcius in twenty minutes. Anything else I can do for you this morning? Please do remember you have Calculus class with Dr. Roberts at 830 AM. "I remember. Warm the shower up, then go back to sleep mode. I'll just be preparing for my morning." The request was met with the sound of water shooting out of the showerhead and nothing else. After Beth was finished making her bed, she turned her attention to the wardrobe, and thus, her uniform. There were various pieces of school spirit wear in her closet that she had collected over the years, and a majority of them passed the school's sniff test on uniform code. The problem was simple: she had to continue to impress Yushiro! Sweats were her usual move for Calculus; being comfortable meant she was relaxed and could think more clearly, if she cared to focus. Earlier this week she had considered taking another mark of delinquency, but she certainly was not going to go to the effort of walking to the school with Yushiro just to walk back. After much hemming and hawing, she settled on light blue high waisted pants that matched the school's primary color, and a white, sleeveless blouse with the school tie. It was a variation on the traditional female uniform, but Blue Yonder was rather sensitive to the idea that not all girls may feel very comfortable walking around in a short pleated skirt in the colder months. This, of course, suited Elizabeth best, who was not much of a fan of skirts in the first place unless it was part of a dress. After taking a lengthy shower, at least long enough that her home automation program barked at her for leaving the oven unattended, she made her way to the kitchen, sliding a small tray of scones and ramekins filled with eggs into the oven. Because the computer that ran most of her appliances was much better at scheduling than she could ever be, her tea pot went off at approximately the same her oven rang, meaning she could have everything nice and hot and in her sectioned travel containers just in time for... *Ding dong DING dong.... ding dong DING dong.... dong..... dong.... dong.... dong* "Oh! That must be Yushiro at the door." Beth quickly grabbed the containers in one hand and her travel mug of tea in the other and made her way towards the door, where she could grab her backpack she packed the night before. She opened the door with a illuminating smile, correctly assuming the guest to be her escort to class for the morning, "Hey Yushiro, I was nervous you had forgotten about our little morning rendezvous! I wasn't quite sure if you fancy a breakfast on your way to class, but I erred on the side of caution and prepared you one if you'd like." she handed him a container as they made their way out of the door, Beth locking it behind them both with somewhat of a dextrous performance with her keys and travel mug in hand, clearly rehearsed, "I made a poppyseed scone, an oven baked egg and some fresh fruit, but if you don't want it give it to one of your friends or something, I've no use for another breakfast. I just want the container back." she snickered and leaned into him to give him a peck on the cheek, "Shall we, then? I'm in Moto Hall first today."

Episode 5.5: Missing More Elizabeth took her dish towel and wiped a small trail of sweat off of her forehead; she was working harder than she would like to admit. After last night's festivities she was hoping this would come a bit easier. Then again, nothing her mother made was ever easy. She looked over the countertop; she had made entirely too much food. That, of course, was not including the two failed batches of Toad in the Hole she had made prior that found their way in the garbage… along with more cigarette butts than she remembered smoking. "Heavens. I sure hope Hitomu is hungry." she tapped her cigarette against the side of her ashtray. She had made a charcuterie board, the aforementioned main course, a pan of brownies, a cherry pie, iced tea, lemonade, you name it and it probably at least crossed her mind today. Now that she was done, however, and the Toad in the Hole was in the oven, she thought to herself: Christ, why am I so nervous? I've seen him hundreds of times. He probably knows the fridge better than I do. she smiled awkwardly to reassure herself, beginning to put stuff away. She looked at her clothes; her baseball tee was covered in flour, all the way down to her jeans. F*** I hope he's happy to be here. It's been so long… I miss having people over. She sat down at the dining table; her hand was shaking. It was hard to discern whether it was the nicotine shakes or anxiety, but either way… probably a good time to put the smokes down. She snuffed it out under the faucet and threw the butt away. The air freshener in her kitchen was blasting away, so she could only hope the combo of "Fresh Laundry" and opened windows and porch door had done enough to do away with the smell of tobacco. "A fresh shower should calm my nerves. My hair is greasy anyway." Her thoughts continued to run rampant in the shower, but at least her hands had stopped shaking. She had opted for a cold shower this time; something about the knocking of freezing cold droplets against her back was oddly soothing. But the feeling of trepidation persisted the second she exited, the constant struggle of hoping he actually missed this time as much as she did, or if this was merely a favor to ease his moral debt now that Tess was gone. Elizabeth was angry with herself for even suggesting such a bitter, hateful thought. She slipped into her fresh clothing. It had been one of many day long battles on what she should be wearing for something as simple as a dinner between two friends: was she to wear something casual and inviting, as she knew Hitomu would? Or should she look nice for posterity's sake alone? Was it rude of her to assume she could both host and look casual? She knew he didn't care, but did she care? A constant back and forth of "Woah Elizabeth what are you a slag? Show a little more skin, why don't you?" and "Might as well call up Melissa now and find your way to the monastery!" ensued for at least an hour, but it was settled on a blush crewneck sweater that she had pulled off her right shoulder and black skin tight jeans. Her hair was let down for the second night in a row, and was brushed down to cover her exposed black bra strap. She nodded in final approval of her outfit and looked down to the golden, emerald faced watch on her left wrist. "Should be here any minute. I better get the drinks and the charcuterie on the table. Elizabeth quickly hustled out of the bathroom and into the kitchen, nervously awaiting his arrival. Knock knock knock. There was a knock at the door a few minutes later. Elizabeth rushed to answer it. “Hey there, Lizzie,” Hitomu’s warm voice greeted when she swung the door open. He was dressed as casually as expected, wearing a black polo and a worn out pair of jeans, but his hair was brushed back and free of his beanie for what seemed like the first time in forever. Still, something seemed off, but it was impossible to place at the moment. “Can I come in, or…?” "Well of course not! I thought you would enjoy the chance to watch me eat all of this food by myself! she smiled and stepped out of the way. But… his body language was different. Was he nervous too? No. Elizabeth banished the thought. Hitomu was never nervous. Ever. He gave everyone a run in that department. So what was it? She decided not to pry just yet. He would need time to settle in and there was plenty to needle in about as it was. "I, well, I hope you like the selection! I made iced tea, lemonade and uhm… well I bought a fresh gallon of milk if you didn't have enough of lattes on the job." she giggled, anxiously. "But if there's something I've missed I'm sure I can rustle it up!" Hitomu gawked at the wide array of food. “... Man, you really went all out Lizzie. It looks more like you were trying to cater an event for the whole duel team,” he said. He grinned and jabbed himself in the chest with his thumb. “Well don’t worry. As the team captain, I’ll make sure to eat enough for everyone. It smells too good to do anything else.” Elizabeth's fears were mildly assuaged by Hitomu's classic brand, as she shooed him in a little bit, "Well, I already had most of the materials. I wasn't sure how long you were planning on staying tonight and well, the best way to entertain a guest is with food, right? Well, go on in then. The entree isn't quite done yet; I wanted it to be hot and fresh by the time we were ready for it. How've you been? I imagine yesterday was a long one for you. Lord knows it was for me, to that point." Hitomu raised his gaze towards the ceiling. “Long day, huh? Yeah. I guess you could call it that.” He shook his head and looked back down at all the food. “Some stuff happened after the dance last night, but it’s not super important, so we can talk about it after we eat, alright? I might die if I don’t dig in soon!” Without waiting for her permission, Hitomu got into her cupboard, pulled out a plate, and began to pile it as high as he could with food. Elizabeth stood up straight and blushed a bit, "Of course!! Where are my manners!" she shot a quick glance at the oven; five minutes plus time to cool?! She had totally mistimed it! She should have expected Hitomu to just bulldoze his way through the appetizer! Oh well; nothing she could do now. She grabbed some of the salad, tea, and a few other small pickings she had offered and made her way to the couch where they could sit down and eat. Hitomu had taken some of every appetizer she had offered, plus a large glass of sweet tea, and his trip back to the living room was anxiety-inducing. Against all odds, he made it back without dropping anything, then sat his plate and cup at the end of the coffee table by the couch. “Mind if I sit down here?” he asked. “Just kinda used to sitting on the floor at dinner time. That’s what we do at home, so… Wait, actually, was I supposed to take my shoes off on my way in? Is that something you guys do? You don’t, right? Trying to remember right now but…” Hitomu rubbed his jaw for a second, awkwardly, and then burst out laughing. “Man. Are you as nervous as I am right now? ‘Cause I feel like I’m about to go crazy.” Elizabeth laughed, 'I've been ashamed to admit it all morning. That's why I made so much bloody food. I was a bit worried you weren't going to want to come. You should have seen my ashtray before. But… why are you so nervous? I'm the one hosting." Beth was confused; he was nervous to see her? The resident hot mess on campus? “Why am I nervous? Hmm. I don’t know. Why am I nervous?” Hitomu scratched his chin as if he was deep in thought. “I’ve been wondering all day myself. I don’t really have any real reason for me to be nervous. Maybe, well--no. I can’t think of anything. I’m not really amazing at reflecting on things though, so that’s nothing unusual. What about you? Why are you so nervous? Was it just because you thought I didn’t want to come?” "I suppose that's it. I've thought for a while about how we all used to study together. At first I had assumed it to be an extension of Todd but… I've missed having you around too, Hitomu. I think… Yes. That's why I was- am, so bloody nervous. At least more than I'll be angry about the dirt marks on my floor." Elizabeth smiled and picked daintily at her plate. “Yeah. I didn’t handle his death very maturely, which is lame, ‘cause I already had experience with it and all that. I kind of ghosted on everyone but Tess,” Hitomu shook his head. “That’s my bad. I’m gonna try to change that, starting n--Wait! Dirt on your floor? I just asked you if I was supposed to take my shoes off!” He feigned indignance, but it was a poor show, because he was sitting cross-legged at the head of the coffee table stuffing his face with food. Elizabeth nearly choked on her food, "And such a gentleman!" she put her fork down and washed down what she had in mouth with some water, trying her best to regain her composure, "I was angry for a while, I won't lie to you. But I don't blame you. I wasn't ready to be with people for a long time. If Ash wasn't so...forceful about her involvement in my life I would have pushed her out too. I wanted nothing more than to have swapped places at the time." Hitomu took a long drink from his tea before saying anything. “Yeah. Sometimes, friends know more about what’s good for you than you do. I don’t always see eye-to-eye with her, but Ashley really is a good person when she wants to be.” He brought the cup back down to the table. “I’m sorry. I’ve been wanting to say that for a long time, for almost two years, but I only managed to work up the courage now.” His face was dark, twisted by a rare somber expression that looked out of place on the happy-go-lucky duelist. "Well, she's just from a different world than you and I, is all. She hardly even plays cards. The gossip, the social media, all of it. That's her world. But if two years was as long as it took, then I think I envy you. I still think about it a lot." She took a drink of water and stood up, "I'm going to grab myself a drink, need anything?" She walked over to the kitchen island on the other side of the long, open room that served as both a living area and a kitchen and filled a glass. “I’m good, thanks,” Hitomu shook his head. “And that’s not what I meant Lizzie. Death isn’t the sorta thing you can just get over. I meant, like… Do you remember very much about when my Mom died?” Hitomu pushed his plate away and followed Elizabeth into the kitchen, leaning on the counter. “I know it’s been awhile and a ton of stuff has happened, so you mighta forgotten, but I haven’t.” "Well, I remember a lot of long nights at the dining table with Mum, but I think Delia and Broderick preferred to keep us out of it, at the time." She turned to face him, scanning his body language again, but found herself unable to dig anything out, "But I remember some, yes. Why?" “I’ve lost a lotta people Lizzie. All my grandparents are gone, and I can remember how each of them went. It hurt at the time, but not bad. It was almost like a dull pain, you know? I was a kid. Death wasn’t something I understood.” He crossed his arms over his chest and exhaled. “Todd, too. He was my best friend. There wasn’t a part of my life he wasn’t involved in; you know what that’s like better than anyone, I’m sure better than me. A lot of what-if stuff came with that. What if I had gone to that party? He probably wouldn’t be gone. I was always the one to talk him outta the dumb stuff. Guilt, shock, disbelief. But my Mom… with my grandparents, with Todd, it was all just bad luck. A cruel world. Accidents and nature. My Mom was murdered. All that grief, all that sadness, all the things that normally come with death? Anger beat it all out. I had someone that I could blame. I knew whose fault it was. You remember how I was back then, right?” "I remember a fair few visits to the doctor, yes. You and Todd were like pouring gasoline on a live flame some days. But hold on a minute. You being absent from that party was not what killed him, Hitomu. He knew Kyata was drunk. Ashley and I asked him to drive with us a bunch of times. It's not like it was with your Mum. Somebody well…" she stopped; she knew it was a long time ago but it was still awkward to talk about, she fiddled with her hair a bit, "Well we both know what happened to your Mum. It was a bit different. “Kyata was an idiot,” Hitomu spit his former captain’s name out like it was poisonous. “And Todd only got in that car to make sure Kyata got home. I had my license Liz--I could have driven. I…” Hitomu sucked in a breath and looked up at the ceiling. When he started to talk again, his voice was strained. “It’s in the past. I can’t change that, but it’s not what I’m getting at with this. When my Mom died, I was pissed off at the world. I wasn’t a good person. I don’t think I ever would’ve realized that if it wasn’t for Todd. You, Tess, even Ashley, you guys just put up with me. He was the only person who really put his foot down and called me out.” Hitomu laughed, tilting his head to catch Elizabeth’s eyes with his own. They were red and puffy, but he was grinning. “I don’t even know if he ever actually told you about this. You ever hear about the time Todd and I got into a fistfight?” Elizabeth was taken aback by a sudden memory of the last time she had even seen Hitomu's face like that. Was it the funeral? It had to have been. "Hitomu, hold on a minute. Todd was getting in that car because Kyata and him invited a few girls over, and I never, ever just 'put up' with you. I was always asking how long you were to stay." She took a step closer, unsure of whether or not to comfort him, "I'm not sure… I've forgotten a lot of the smaller things over time, sadly." Elizabeth, always the sympathetic crier, found herself also starting to get a sore throat, but no waterworks yet; she had steeled herself for now, but suddenly felt some degree of regret for wearing eyeliner. “It was at the end of freshman year. I don’t remember what I did now, something mean I’m sure. I didn’t treat anyone very great back then. Whatever it was, Todd called me on it. I didn’t take it very well,” Hitomu rubbed his jaw and shifted his teeth, reliving the impact. “He mentioned Mom and I hit him. Not that it did a ton; you and Todd were in the gym all the time, and I’d never been in a real fight in my life. He beat the crap outta me. Really, I think he was just venting ‘cause that whole year he only beat me twice in a duel,” he said, shaking his head wistfully. “Man. I couldn’t breathe right for like two weeks after that.” "He was always a bit more into the heavy weights than I was. He wanted to bulk up; he would never admit it, but he wanted to be bulkier than Kyata in the worst way." She snickered, "He had an ape brain, but I loved him for it anyway. But, and I don't mean to take away from your memory, what does this have to do with losing someone? Or Tess, for that matter, if it was at all related to her." She took a sip of her iced tea, and set it on the island. “The fight itself? Not a whole lot. I just like telling the bad with the good. If you only talk about all the good things people did once they’re gone, they feel a lot less real, y’know?” "I suppose so. Todd was nothing else if not a unique individual. Much better for stories of intrigue than I ever was. Larger than life, as it were." “Yeah, yeah he really was,” Hitomu nodded. “But what I was getting at wasn’t the fight. It was what he said after the fight. After he got a few good hits in, he mostly just held me down. I’m nothing if not determined so I kept squirming the whole time. Eventually, probably sick of it, he shoved me away and yelled,” Hitomu put on his best British accent. “‘Would you knock it off already?’ I thought he was talking about the fighting. But nah, he really let me have it. ‘I get it! Your Mum’s dead! So what?’ Man… I had no idea what to say to that. No one had ever asked me something like that before. Really, I wanted to hit him again, but I was exhausted, so I just told him to go fuck himself. ‘No! Just shut up and listen, because you need to hear this and no one else is gonna tell you but me. You’re acting like a giant twat, man. Yeah, it sucks that guy killed your Mum. If I could do something to bring her back for I would, but I can’t, and neither can you so knock it off! You think your Mum wants you out here acting like this?’ Word for word. He really let me have it.” "Christ. Well he was never a very sensiti-" DING! BRRRRRRRRR- The oven was going off, springing Beth into action, "Oh! Sounds like dinner is done. I hope you're still hungry, Tomu." She pulled the tray out carefully and set it on the stove. A lovely golden brown shined from the top of the pan and instantly filled the room with a sweet, doughy smell. "Looks like it came out good! It'll just need some to rest. Hitomu sniffed the air and sighed blissfully. “If it tastes as good as it smells, I just might not leave any for you. I haven’t had a home-cooked meal since the last time I went home.” Beth turned around and laughed, "That's so unhealthy for you! Talk about the gym. Well you can have as much as you'd like in about 10 minutes. I've made myself salmon bowls for the week's lunches already. I can always have one of those." She paused briefly, thinking carefully of her next words, "I hope you know how bloody proud he'd be of you for getting to where you are now, where you're going. Me… well he'd probably give me one of those same talks, although I wouldn't leave with a black eye. Probably. Depends on who threw the first punch." “Yeah. That conversation with him, it was harsh, but it taught me what a real friend was,” Hitomu said. “It’s not about how supportive you are, or how much time you’ve got, or any of that stuff. A real friend is someone who will tell you what you need to hear, even when it’s as harsh as that.” He chewed on his lip for a second, then sighed. “That’s where I was going with this. When I think of it like that, I’m terrible. When you needed me around, I gave you space, because being around you hurt too much. Tess, well, I can’t say I didn’t see that coming either in hindsight. I never really told her what I thought. She missed all my duels, canceled every date we scheduled, and all I did was bite my tongue and laugh it off because I didn’t want her to stress. I wanted her to know that she didn’t need to worry, but I think all I did was make her feel like I had given up and didn’t care anymore.” He crossed his arms again, just to give his hands something to do. “That’s really all of it. There was no huge argument, no implosion, nothing but me being an idiot.” Elizabeth almost reached for her hair again, her usual awkward crutch, but felt herself going for it and stopped, instead holding then to her hips, "Having lived through it, I can say I can see where she's coming from in that regard. But, well." She looked behind her, supervising the pan as if it was going to tell her anything illuminating, "I think I always knew you cared. I guess I can't speak for Tess. I just couldn't stomach the idea of asking you or really anybody for help. I just wanted to smoke my lungs to ash in privacy. But it was the weirdest thing." She gestured over to a corner of the living room, "I'd order a takeaway pizza on our study nights, hoping any one of you three would come through the door. I always had my preferences, of course, but at some point I was hoping for any one of you." She dabbed the corners of her eyes with her pinky in an attempt to save her eyeliner. "I don't much care about it now; therapy has done a lot for me. But I was raving mad for a long time with no desire to tell anyone. Everyone I cared to tell was gone." Hitomu wore his heart on his sleeve, and right now, he looked terrible. “It shouldn’t have gotten to that point. I should have been there. I owed it to you. Not just because you’re my friend. I owed it to Todd to look out for you, too,” he said. “It’s funny. Well, not really, but I think I understood what Tess was upset about now. I want you to be mad at me. I deserve it. The fact that you’re not mad at me kind of just makes it worse.” "What? Well I can't. Not anymore." The distance between them was no more than 4 or 5 feet, but it felt like a rapidly growing canyon as the conversation took a turn for the worst. "Hitomu I've spent the last 8 hours cleaning and cooking so I could maybe see you once a month. Why would I risk losing you again after all this time?" She was starting to become tense, running the fingernail on her thumb around the crease of her other nails, pressing in occasionally to relieve the knot building at the base of her throat. Her body language had become more rigid and defensive. “I don’t want that,” Hitomu muttered. “I promise, Lizzie, I’m not going anywhere this time. Not on my life. That sounded ominous. I just meant--listen, I’m done running, okay? Look where running got me. But… Just being around me puts you on edge,” he said, rubbing his neck. “You look like you’re gonna throw up, and I get it. I know why. Just, well, do you think that’s ever gonna change? How long until I stop being Todd’s-best-friend-Hitomu, and go back to just being Hitomu?” "Imagine how I feel!" She wasn't quite yelling, but had gotten louder nonetheless, "I never realized how little people could be with us apart until Todd died. Any time I talk with anyone it turns into this. I'm just 'the girl with a dead brother.'" She didn't mean it wholeheartedly, but Elizabeth was flustered and beginning to cry an occasional tear or two, "And there were days, weeks even where people looked at me with this… this pity. It was like people were looking at me as if I had already killed myself. Like everyone knew what was coming." she tried to continue letting out her frustrations, but what was more frustrating was that every time she attempted to speak, she was too choked up to say anything. Embarrassed, she turned away to avoid looking at him while she composed herself. “Hey,” Hitomu didn’t know what to say, so he closed the distance between them and pulled her into a hug. For a little bit he just held her. Then, after a moment, he started to laugh. “Man. What a pair we make Lizzie.” He pulled away and sighed. “Why is this so hard?” Elizabeth turned into his chest and he held her. It was mostly silent, followed by the occasional jolt of a sob. After a pregnant silence, they separated, "If I had the answer to that question, trust me things would be different." she straightened out, deciding now to just remove her eyeliner which had began to run beyond repair, "Can we try, though? Try to be friends again? No more awkward half-chats while I'm getting lattes before tutoring your duelists?" “Yeah, yeah I think I can manage that,” Hitomu said. “Now how about we eat? Food should be cooled off, and all this sappy stuff has me even hungrier.” Elizabeth placed her hands on her hips in faux outrage, "Well you're the one who made me cry." Liz forced out a meek smile before she turned to the pan and started cutting out portions, "Speaking of duelists, did you bring any cards? I've been thinking of changing my deck again lately. You know I just don't get much enjoyment out of my current deck. I don't have the heart to go back to Harpies, though. Not yet. Maybe not ever." Hitomu tilted his head to the side and squinted his eyes, like he had remembered something that was minorly inconvenient. “About that. I told you something happened last night, right? Well, someone broke into my dorm and stole my deck.” He said it casually, the way someone would mention that they had forgotten to change their laundry over, or what day homework was due. “I still have all my prize cards and stuff, so I could probably scrape a deck together out of those, but I’m basically outta commission right now.” Elizabeth audibly gasped, and were it not for her already having put the knife down, it would have hit the floor. She grabbed a plate and handed it to Hitomu, motioning him to the living room, "Oh my God Hitomu that's awful! Why did you only mention that now?! Did you alert the authorities? Are you okay? Was anything else stolen?" She took a seat at the sofa, panic stricken on her face. Hitomu waved her off. “I’m sure it’ll turn up. It’s not like most of the cards were worth a ton of money or anything, and nothing else was touched,” he said, then paused to scoop up some food with his fork. “Mmm. This is great. There’s no substitute for home-cooking.” “Well." Elizabeth spoke between bites, “You should take some cards from my boxes before you leave.” she sat back, satisfied with the part of her meal she had eaten, “ I had Mum on speaker almost all morning.” she buried her face in her hands, embarrassed, “She had to have been so disappointed. This recipe was harder than she made it sound! But it was worth having you come. I can’t believe you never cook, Hitomu. That’s terrible. You need to come more often for a meal. Enjoy it for now, but don't think I'm letting you off the hook that easily on Tess." Hitomu stopped the fork halfway to his mouth. “Huh?” The food slipped off and fell back onto his plate. “Whoops. Didn’t mean to do that. Anyways, there’s not a lot to say with Tess. I mean, I’m not gonna lie and say it doesn’t hurt or anything. I really thought I was gonna marry her, but… if she ended it, and I really love her as much as I say I do, I think I’ve just gotta respect that. If she changes her mind, well, it’s not like I’m a hard guy to track down.” Beth squinted at him, and tilted her head to the side, "Come on mate. Think about what you just said for a moment. 'There's not a lot to say'? You two were goals for years and you break up for bloody what, a couple bad dates? Sorry Hitomu, I love you to pieces but I don't buy it." She picked the last of her food off the plate and finished it, allowing for a moment to think of her next words, "When did you even meet her? It was freshman year, wasn't it?" “A couple weeks in, yeah,” Hitomu said. His plate was empty at that point, and he pushed it away. “No one believes me when I tell them, but she asked me out, not the other way around. Couldn’t tell you why either. I wasn’t popular, hadn’t hit a growth spurt, and I didn’t really stand out as a duelist. Plus we had Algebra together and I was failing that too, so…” He leaned back, supporting his weight on his elbow and rubbing the back of his head with his other hand. “Man, feels like a different lifetime, thinking back on it all.” "Hitomu I didn't even like you freshman year and you practically lived with me. She fell in love with you, and badly. You need to talk with her, or find her or something. As someone struggling a bit with their person of interest taking initiative… she's not coming back unless you show you care, yeah? I'm sure Ash could get a copy of her class schedule… if you didn't know what it was." Elizabeth stood up and took their plates away, towards the kitchen, "Would you like to take some of this home?" “Hmm… ” For what felt like the thousandth time that night, Hitomu found himself staring at Liz’s ceiling. Was her ceiling nicer than his? It looked like it. “Yeah, for sure. Thanks for everything tonight, Lizzie. We shouldn’t wait two years to do it again.” [END]

"He didn't ask even once?? Guess it was a good idea to show off a little stomach." Ashley jabbed at her other half, "Oh knock it off. He was being really sweet, actually. I felt terrible about it; the poor bloke didn't have a clue. I should probably make it a point to tell him." Ashley fingered through the tabs on her phone as they made their way back to Elizabeth's apartment, walking the mostly cobblestone road, "For what reason? To hurt the poor kid's feelings? It's definitely not something important enough to tell him. There is such a thing as being too honest, Beth." "Hmm... I'm not so sure of that myself. I know I always felt like Kyata was hiding something from me. Beth pulled out her own phone, deciding to check whatever messages she may have had. A few things here and there, but namely one from Hitomu, asking if she had gotten home safely. She showed her phone to the blonde, "Speaking of poor blokes. I told you something was off with him. Shouldn't I be the one reminding everyone how Todd passed? Why is he? It's this Tess thing, Ash. He's hurt." Ashley shrugged, "Beth I think you do plenty of reminding people. Of course he's hurt, that was his 'soulmate', whatever that means." Ashley put up air quotes signifying her notably dismissive attitude towards the idea itself, "Hey, speaking of getting home from parties... sort of, can I spend the night? I don't want to go all the way back home." Elizabeth nodded in approval, "Sure, sure. But you've got to be out rather early; I've a lot of cooking to do tomorrow for my dinner with Hitomu." "Awesome. By the way, Liz." Ashley paused, "Don't think I'm letting off the hook this easily forever. I want to know more about this Yushiro kid if you're gonna be out and dating him, slobbering all over each other on the dance floor and what not. You two are going to end up bumping uglies before I even know his story at this rate." Beth blushed, "#^#@ing rude, first of all, I'm no slag. Second of all, I'll tell you all about him the second I get this top off. The wire has been digging into me all night. Here, take the key and pour us a glass of wine. Hitomu wouldn't let me touch a drop all night because of my brother. Just expect a lot of boring nonsense, is all I've got to say. We're not a terribly exciting couple just yet." Beth handed over her keys and tapped out a quick response to Hitomu: "We're just fine, dear. See you tomorrow for dinner!