Cathycat

So I went into a deep dive in my last two posts (1, 2) about all the problems I had with Vrains, and you'd think I didn't enjoy it, but in fact as I was watching, there was a separate, parallel version of Vrains that was playing in my head, a Yugioh I think we were robbed of and which fixes every problem I had with the first season, and that is Secret Identities AU.

Yusaku needs FRIENDS

This is YUGIOH.

This dynamic is everything I wanted from Vrains. Yusaku developing unexpected fondness for these bozos who think he needs a defense squad. I want Miraculous Ladybug levels of secret identity shenanigans. I want Yusaku slapping his duel disk every time Ai tries to blow their cover.

This AU sprung forth from the scene in the duel club where he shows Naoki his decoy deck. Having Yusaku passing as a bad duelist is 1) so funny, but 2) Yusaku needing to maintain his low profile is a useful contrivance for other characters to get more duels, and 3) I think it would be a really fun one-off episode where Yusaku has to duel using his bad deck. When he wins, Naoki is so proud he cries.

Having Yusaku actually have to interact with the other characters in the real world opens up Greek play levels of dramatic irony. The crux of a secret identity story is that every single interaction builds up anticipation, because you the viewer know that the other party is being deceived, and that the tension will snap when the secret is revealed.

I have zero anticipation about Playmaker's identity being revealed, because Aoi would be like "oh.... I guess he goes to my school" and Go would be like "have I seen that guy before?" But SIAU Playmaker? My guy is making friends just so he can betray them. Insane.

Go needs A ROLE IN THE STORY.

I said in my first post that Go isn't a rival or a best friend character. SIAU fixes this by making him both simultaneously.

Having him be the ace of the duel club is a natural replacement for his whole hero of the orphans schtick, while placing him directly the circle of relevance with the other characters. Instead of being disgruntled that the orphans suddenly like Playmaker more than him, he's disgruntled that Naoki and the duel club mooks are fawning over Playmaker -- which is actually just Naoki's character anyway.

I would kill for a big dramatic moment where Go learns that Playmaker and Yusaku are the same person, and even though Go feels betrayed that Yusaku has been deceiving him, he stands by Yusaku anyway because they're friends.

With a secret identity story, every conversation is working on multiple levels because each character is working with asymmetric information. You get these fascinating, layered scenes of two characters talking past each other because they cannot give up their secret.

Which would go especially hard with Go and Yusaku, because Go has legitimate criticisms of Playmaker in canon and Yusaku has legitimate reasoning behind the things he does, and as Go Onizuka and Playmaker they could never come to an understanding on them, but as Go and Yusaku, two friends in duel club, that door becomes open to them.

Aoi needs WRITING THAT ISN'T A TRAINWRECK

I made a whole post on this. Basically every problem would be solved if Akira doesn't know that she's Blue Angel. There's no reason for her to lose grotesquely against Yusaku, or have her basic autonomy called into question constantly. 

Having her actively deceive her brother is delicious. Like I said in my last post, it's so obvious how Akira's overprotectiveness has taken its toll on Aoi, and pushed her into developing this other persona, Blue Angel. I want this absolutely dysfunctional sibling relationship so badly. The Blue Angel vs. Zaizen duel would make me lose my mind.

And a secret identities setting works so well with the potential themes of VRAINS as a stand-in for the internet and Blue Angel as an idol. Give me that Perfect Blue Satoshi Kon good stuff. Give me those themes about identity, and the different lives we live, outward and inward, online and offline.

This also helps Akira's character, because I think he would be much more interesting and relevantly positioned in the story if he stayed a SOL Technologies baddie. SOL Technologies has very little presence in season 1 despite being critical to the story. After Zaizen is replaced by an irrelevant clown, they don't do anything but send out mook AIs to get destroyed. By having a three-way standoff between Yusaku's squad, the Knights of Hanoi, and SOL Technologies, both Hanoi and SOL Technologies become more compelling. They've both got all the reason in the world to want to take down the other. Zaizen vs. Revolver or Spectre? That's good shit.

Thank you for reading till the end~ Please go read Home is Where the Heart is~! The fic is beautifully written~

The Price of Having a Forte (Oneshot)

Word Count (2,900)

Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Sickfic, Fever/Illness Whump

Fandom: Master Detective Archives RAINCODE

Characters: Yuma Kokohead, Shinigami, Halara Nightmare

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There was a string of locked room murder mysteries around Kanai Ward lately. For 6 months they kept appearing. All these cases involved the victim being killed by countless nails while the corpse was surrounded by a crowd of porcelain dolls. The murders seem like an Urban Legend in Kanai Ward done by a figure known as The Nail Man.

On his first morning in Kanai Ward, detective trainee Yuma ends up dragged into a mess by his ghostly partner Shinigami. Literally dragging him by a chain to eventually get him involved in the most recent case, involving a child whose father was arrested by peacekeepers thinking he was the culprit.

Yuma takes it upon himself to help this child save his father by finding the true culprit. But he realizes he’s in way over his head and will need some help. So, he seeks out Halara Nightmare, a master detective who charges a little too much for their services. Sadly, this meant Yuma ended up in debt to them. With a bill of 5,500,800 shien.

Unfortunately, the duo’s interference in the case caused the Amaterasu Peacekeepers to hold their Chief hostage as punishment, and they only had three hours to solve this case, or they would arrest him.

Over time investigating the cases, Yuma can investigate the case in the past with Halara using the aid of their forensic forte, Postcognition. Able to see the past of the case when it was discovered by a third party. This proved very helpful because Yuma also had a forte of his own (though he thinks it’s Shinigami’s power) The power of Coalescence. The ability to share someone else’s forte by holding the person’s hand.

Halara sadly showed some reluctance at first due to despising all of humanity, so the thought of touching Yuma mortified them. But Yuma persisted with using Halara’s greed against them.

Thus, his bill becomes bigger.

The duo had just finished investigating their second case in a mansion. They were on their way to the third crime scene in the art gallery in Ginma district. But something was wrong. Yuma was starting to feel tired, dizzy and on the verge of collapse. He even started coughing.

It wasn’t even sudden. The more he used Coalescence with Halara during the investigations, the more he grew fatigued. At first it was just some light tiredness and a small headache, but now it was becoming unbearable.

As the two of them walked towards the center of ginma, Yuma was moving slower. Causing Halara to turn around and face him. He was hunched over, looking down to the ground panting slightly.

“Pick up the pace Yuma, I won’t allow time to be wasted.” Halara said looking a little annoyed.

Yuma didn’t look up. Great. He was already a burden to Halara.

“S-Sorry… You go on ahead…I’ll…catch up….” He said in a winded voice.

Halara doesn’t argue and goes on ahead of him.

“Master come on!! Another dead body awaits us!” Shinigami said in a nagging tone.

Yuma let out a few raspy coughs. His head was killing him. He just wanted to sit down. But he had to keep going.

“I-I know… I’m coming…” he responded under heavy breathing, coughing again.

“What the heck’s going on with you?? You’ve been looking pale since you kept holding hands with Hellara.” The spirit said. “Don’t tell me you’re sick.”

Yuma groaned holding his head. He clearly was.

“Okay, I won’t…” he said in an aggravated tone.

Yuma’s body was giving out. He coughed again before wrapping his hands around his body. He started feeling hot and cold now. The endless rain was not helping him at all, his cold rain-soaked body had begun shivering. The dizziness wasn’t stopping.

Did he have a fever too? Or did he have one this whole time and it just got worse?

Yuma tried to take another step but ended up tripping and collapsing to the floor. His face hitting the wet ground.

“Master!!” Shinigami cried. “Get a hold of yourself!!!”

Yuma’s fatigue levels were skyrocketing. He tried to get up, but his arms were like jelly and wouldn’t move. His entire body was in pain, and he couldn’t stop shaking.

“I can’t…move…. H…help…” he said quietly.

“There’s nothing I can do when you’re the only one who can see me!! Dammit!! Where’s Hellara when you need them!?” Shiniagmi said in an annoyed tone.

Meanwhile.

Halara had just arrived at the destination, but they noticed Yuma wasn’t with them by the time they arrived at the art gallery. This wasn’t their case; they were just assisting him. What took him?

Halara did realize something as they thought to themself on Yuma’s absence. Every time the trainee held their hand to use their forte, over time he felt… a bit warmer?  And come to think of it, he was coughing a little bit too. And he was too tired to keep going.

Halara’s eyes grew slightly wide as they put the pieces together.

Yuma may have been in trouble. And in that state, if peacekeepers saw him…

They immediately rushed back to where Yuma was to see if their deduction was correct.

When Halara got back, they noticed a crowd of people circling around where Yuma was.

“Is he okay?” a ginma civilian asked.

“What happened? Did he get hurt?” another said.

“Maybe someone should call a peacekeeper…” a third said.

That was enough to set Halara’s defensive mode into action. If the peacekeepers found him, it would be over.

They walked over, not even bothering to say excuse me, practically pushing people away. They found Yuma’s unconscious body on the floor. They stood in front of it in defense.

“He’s with me. You can leave now.” Halara said giving an intimidating look.

This was enough to send people away. Halara was hesitant to touch Yuma at first, but he needed to be taken somewhere safe. They reluctantly picked him up and rushed to a small dark corner close to the art gallery.

They set Yuma down against a wall.

“Yuma wake up.” Halara said shaking him a little. “Hey, pull it together…”

Yuma slowly opened his eyes.

“w-who…?” he quietly said. His vison was a little blurry.

“Calm down it’s me.” Halara said. “Are you alright? What happened?”

“H…hala…ra…” Yuma’s breathing was heavy; he could hardly speak.

“Hey now, stay with me Yuma…!” they quietly exclaimed.

Yuma’s eyes were fluttering. He looked as if he’d pass out any minute.

Then he broke out in a harsh wet coughing fit.

He was in BAD shape.

Halara paused for a moment, they really didn’t want to touch him again. But they had no choice, the trainee was clearly ill, and he needed help.

They swallowed their hatred for people and placed a hand to his forehead.

Their deduction was on point.

He was burning.

They moved their hand to his cheek and behind his neck. Then removed it.

“Yuma, you’re burning up.” Halara said.

Yuma’s coughing settled down before he had a dizzy spell and passed out falling in front of Halara and landing on their chest. Due to Halara’s shock, he almost knocks them down.

But he was too small.

Halara was still paused in shock but as they heard the trainee’s heavy panting, they knew the rain was only making his state worse. He was shivering and felt hot. He likely needed medical help.

Not good. Not now… They were on a timer! At this rate, the chief will be…

Halara tried to remain calm. This wasn’t good. They had to do something.

First, they had to get him out of the rain. They picked him up again and ran over to the café.

The staff worker was surprised to see the customers they had just hours ago in such a panicked state. Practically running at full speed into their entrance.

“What happened?” The staff member asked. “You look distressed.”

Halara sits Yuma onto a chair keeping him upright holding his shoulders before turning to the staff worker.

“Call an ambulance. He needs help.” Halara said in a minorly panicked tone.

🚑~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The ambulance arrived, and the two were in a waiting room of one of the emergency clinics in Kanai Ward. Halara was seated with Yuma sitting next to them, laying on their right shoulder still panting with their eyes closed.

Eventually the nurse staff takes Yuma away to have him examined.

During his small bit of times in and out of consciousness, Yuma wasn’t sure of what was going on. He could see blurry silhouettes surrounding him, he could feel cold hands touching him, lights flashing in and out, and even the prick of a needle in his arm at one point.

Soon he was out cold once again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When he opened his eyes again much later, he looked around him and saw he was in an unknown room. It looked pretty fancy, and he laid tucked into a large and very comfortable bed. 

He took a moment to look around, but his head was hurting a bit too much. Although the immense dizziness and heat from before subsided and he felt a little more stable, he still felt very tired, and the fever was still very much present. But he didn’t feel as bad as when he was outside. Maybe it was because he was out of the rain, dry and in a warm bed.

“Where…am I…?” he said quietly.

“Master? You awake?” Shinigami said floating beside him.

“Shinigami…? What happened?” he asked.

The small ghostly spirit shrugged.

“I wish I could tell you, but you kept passing in and out of consciousness. And since the two of us are connected, when you pass out, so do I.” she responded. “All I know for sure is that you’re sick as hell. You may as well be a corpse right now.”

He thought to himself.

That’s right… I felt dizzy on the walk to Ginma and couldn’t move much… I guess I fainted.

“My mind feels hazy…I can’t really remember how I got here…” Yuma said holding his head.

“I think that’s normal for an amnesiac like you!” Shinigami said in a teasing tone.

“But you took my memories…” Yuma said. “Anyway, I wonder how…I even got in this state…”

Was it because of all the rain? The lack of sleep? Maybe the stress of this case?

Shinigami pondered for a bit.

“Y’know this is ONLY a guess, I think that maybe, juuust maybe, using Coalescence too much might’ve caused your body to deteriorate like this.”

“Now that you mention it…the more I held hands with Halara…the more tired I became…”

“Yeah, so maybe you can only use it a specific number of times.” Shinigami said.

“You didn’t know about this? Isn’t this your power Shinigami?” Yuma asked.

“Th-That’s not important right now! Look over there, Master.” Shinigami said pointing to a bag on the desk beside him.

Yuma turned his head and noticed there was a prescribed medical bag. It had his full name written on it and instructions and numbers per dosage taken. He reached his hand for it and grabbed it looking it over.

“I wonder if… Halara may have taken me to a clinic.” He said deducing that from observing the bag.

“Yeah, I think I remember from the black in-and-out visions, I saw a lot of white and some people in scrubs. I think you were taken back.”

“I do remember feeling something poke me… Maybe they had to give me a shot.”

“Not surprising with your weak body. I bet the lowest fever would cause you to be taken to the medical ward. Sheesh you’re so lame Master.”

“Again… This is your power…” Yuma protested.

But before they could argue further, he heard the opening of a door.

Yuma looked over and saw Halara holding a bag as they walked in.

“Yuma, you’re awake.” Halara said, putting the bag down.

“Halara…where am I?” he asked quietly, placing the prescription bag back on the nightstand table.

“You’re in my hotel room. You collapsed outside Ginma. I took you to a clinic and they told me you had a fever of almost 102 degrees. You need to rest.” they said.

“S-Sorry…that you had to go through that trouble…” Yuma responded meekly. “Thank you, for helping me Halara…”

“You owe me an extra 500,000 shien for that.” They responded, putting the bag down. “And I didn’t have a choice, we’re on a timer and I couldn’t just leave you there to die.”

Yuma remained silent. It must have been hard for Halara to do that since they didn’t like touching other people. To see them go the extra mile for him was surprising but kind of them, nonetheless.

Halara reached into the bag and grabbed 2 things.

“Now, I got you a glass of ice water from the restaurant as well as some vanilla yogurt. You’re free to eat it later. Before I leave, you should take the medication to help you sleep.”

Yuma tried to sit up, but his body was not cooperating. The shot from earlier seemed to make his body limp and the fever was still making his world spin a bit. He was only more stable due to being out of the rain outside and somewhere warm and dry. He couldn’t move if he wanted to.

“S-Sorry…I can’t…move…” Yuma responded.

“That’s to be expected. The nurse told me the injection you received would make your body feel limp for better recovery purposes.” Halara said as they walked closer to Yuma placing the water glass on the stand beside him. “Why do you think I’m still here? I will assist you.”

Halara knelt on the floor so they could be at Yuma’s level. They grabbed the medical bag on the stand and took the prescribed medicine tablets out of it. They punctured one of the blue and white pills out and set it on their palm. Then they grabbed the glass of water with their other hand, along with a small straw that was included with it. They unwrapped it placing it into the glass delicately.

“Okay, now open your mouth.” Halara said as they held the pill in between their fingers.  

Yuma opened his mouth as Halara gently set the tablet where his tongue was. Yuma closed his mouth, not swallowing the tablet, but didn’t want to look awkward with his mouth hanging open while waiting for what Halara would do next.

The taller detective took the glass of water then moved it and the straw close to Yuma’s now closed mouth.

“Here. Drink up.” Halara said.

Yuma opened his mouth again then closed it once he had the straw and bit down onto it, the tablet still on his tongue. He drank the water quietly swallowing the pill in the process.

“Huh… Guess even Hellara can be pretty nice every once in a while…” Shinigami said floating above his head looking down at the sight before her.

Yuma closed his eyes as he continued drinking. The ice cool water felt good going down his throat so even if the pill was already down, he kept drinking. It was refreshing and it was just what his feverish body needed.

Once he was done with his cold beverage, he released the straw exhaling.

“Thank you Halara…” he said with a weak smile.

Halara didn’t speak putting the glass down and stood up walking toward the door.

“I will solve this case alone. You cannot continue in your state.” They spoke.

“Wait…but you said…”

“I know what I said. But circumstances have changed. The chief is still being held hostage by those peacekeepers, and you’re too ill to continue the case. There is no time to hesitate…you will owe me greatly for this, but we do not have many options.”

Halara closed their eyes. “I may have an idea on the culprit…just leave it to me, Yuma.”

Yuma looked up at Shinigami.

“Hate to admit it but, Hellara’s right. You can hardly move in the condition you’re in and pretty sure that rain would boom-kill you before you solve the case anyway. Plus, if you pass out, so do I, and that wasn’t a lot of fun for me y’know!”

Yuma sighed as he looked back at his temporary caretaker about to leave.

“Thanks… I’ll leave it to you Halara…” he responded.

Halara nodded. “Get some rest. When you wake up again, we will be back in the agency with the chief unharmed.” They gave a wink.

“With my logic, anything is possible.”

Yuma nodded as he watched Halara leave the room making sure the door was locked so nobody would barge in to bother or even attack Yuma. They made sure the windows were locked too and the lighting in the room was dim.

They really did think of everything.

Yuma yawned as he slowly turned his head sinking it into the soft fluffy pillow. This bed was much more comfortable than the sofa he slept on back at the agency. He felt he would fall asleep any minute.

“Hey, Master? I think you should probably be careful how much you use Coalescence from now on…” Shinigami commented. “Maybe only use it just once or twice…”