Arc V 30 Days 2015, Day 18: Too Much

[not_krys]

She wasn’t Yuzu.

Even after all this time, it still wasn’t his Yuzu. That fact was sinking in further when he saw, not one, but two girls standing in front of him, both looking so much like Yuzu his heart ached.

But neither one of those girls were his Yuzu, a fact that felt like it was twisting a knife deep into his heart. Was he ever going to find Yuzu?

One of the girls was about to speak, holding out her hand to him, the first syllable of a name on her tonuge, the ‘Yuu’ of his name, but not quite. She even sounded a bit like Yuzu too, driving in that knife even further. However, she never had a chance to finish saying the name, as the other girl spoke up, much bolder and sprinting towards him with open arms.

“Yuugo!” she said, Yuuya’s eyes widening.

That wasn’t his name. She had called him by the wrong name. His name was Yuuya, not Yuugo.

The first girl saw the look on the boy’s face, as if he was in great pain looking at the two of them. Instead, she turned her hand to her clone, her voice commanding and firm.

“Rin-chan, wait! He’s not who you think he is!”

The girl calling out the other’s name, calling her 'Rin’ and not 'Yuzu’, was like adding salt to the open wound, Yuuya closing his crimson eyes to try to calm himself. It did stop the girl called 'Rin,’ however.

'Not who I think… then, it’s that bastard that kidnapped us!?“ She immediately stepped back and put her arms up. Academia had been smart enough to not let the girls keep their Duel Disks, but that didn’t mean they were completely defenseless. Rin was a D-Wheel mechanic and was quite strong from lifting the heavy machines. She could take on this punk easily if she damn well pleased. The bastard that had kidnapped them needed a strong punch in the face, she felt.

"No!” The other hurried to put herself between Rin and Yuuya, putting a gentle hand on each of them, more on accident for Yuuya. Yuuya even looked down at the small hand that was touching him. It was much rougher, the nails cut incredibly short and uneven in places, not the softer, well manicured hands of a lady duelist from Standard. This was a hand that had seen hard labor in it’s time, yet still appeared so young and delicate.

“Well, if it’s not Yuugo, and it’s not that Fusion snake that kidnapped us, then who is he?!” She paused, as if a light then seemed to go off in her head.

“Don’t tell me that he’s your boyfriend, Yuuto…” Yuuya flinched when he heard the name, still not his name, but a familiar name, nonetheless. The girl blushed lightly when she looked at Yuuya again, seeing the resemblance to her once dear friend and comrade, but with her hand on his chest, she could tell that it just wasn’t him. Something about him felt like Yuuto, but she couldn’t quite figure out what it was.

“Yuuto is not my boyfriend, for the last time!” It seems that they had had this conversation quite often. “He’s just… He’s just my…”

Yuuya took a hold of the hand that was on his chest, taking extra care while he was holding it, catching the attention of both girls. If those actions weren’t his own, it certainly felt like it. He felt a strange warmth surging through him. At first, it felt like when those memories of Heartland were triggered inside of him, painful memories that never were his own that ripped at his very soul, raking across it hotly until he lost control, lost himself in the pain.

It felt different this time, however. The memories weren’t painful or searing as they usually were whenever they were triggered. This time, they were softer, calmer, soothing. He could see the girl in front of him, much younger, laughing and smiling shyly behind her hand, then while she walking beside him, calling back to some source behind them. He saw when they had to go into hiding and this girl refusing to leave him behind, holding so tightly onto his hand. He saw the girl from behind as she stood bravely in front of him with her arms out, her legs shaking from nerves and fatigue, but still had enough courage to say how he wasn’t a monster, outright denying it for everyone to hear. He saw the girl laying against his shoulder late at night, asleep with her protective mask on, holding onto his hand loosely. The last memory he saw was her scared face as she was being taken away, screaming his name, screaming Yuuto’s name, as he tried so desperately to save her, save her from the bastard that had the same face as him, but he couldn’t.

Yuuya filled up with a different emotion this time as he looked at the girl in front of him, one that he was definitely feeling at the moment, especially at his own failure to bring back even just one person. His hand tightened around the smaller one, a soft, lost look in his eyes, barely even noticing as the tears started to fall down his cheeks.

“…By any chance, your name wouldn’t happen to be… Ruri, would it?"