ONE! TEN! HUNDRED! THOUSAND!

Shoji laughed, short, sharp and sneering. “So there is a spine in you somewhere, is there? Too bad I’ll have to break it. Where do you get off, treating me like this in my own home? You’re a guest here, now. Respect your host or…” and here, Shoji leaned in conspiratorially, forcing Jun back against the wall, and lowered his voice to a purr.

“Fuck off.”

Whatever Chosaku might say, Jun was no longer part of the family, and Shoji would do his utmost to make his stay most unwelcome.

Breathe in, breathe out, in, out... Keeping his breathing at a normal rate and intensity required conscious effort, and even though Jun knew he did just fine on the amount of oxygen he was getting like this normally, right then it felt like not enough.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

The Ojamas at least seemed to have gotten the hint and were keeping their traps shut, though that didn’t stop them from nervously flitting about the edge of Jun’s vision. In the battle for his attention, Shoji’s presence won out over the temptation to look at what the hell his monsters were doing, but that didn’t make them any less annoying.

“Guess that was a stupid question, huh…?” Seeing Manjome reaching for his deck, Johan also reached for his own deck and although he felt nervous about giving up his beloved family, he knew they would be in good hands with Manjome.

Even so, he could hear the worried concerns of his family as several asked them if he was sure of what he was about to do.  Giving them a smile and a silent nod, he held the deck out for Manjome to take, also taking Manjome’s deck in the process.

The feeling of someone else’s deck in his hands was a bit of a strange one, even if all of the cards looked and felt the exact same.  Gently placing the deck back into the holder on his belt, Johan tried to handle them with the utmost care, feeling as though he’d been entrusted with a tremendous responsibility.

“Ah yeah, it will be an interesting few hours,” He agreed, nodding his head at this.

“I’m looking forward to getting to know your Ojama family, Manjome!”

“After all of this, let’s see how the Ojamas stack up against my Crystal Beasts!”

The feeling spiked in intensity for a fraction of a second - something like betrayal - and then his cards were in Johan’s hands, and Johan’s deck was in his, and the feeling was gone. A very different feeling took its place, but that was fine. He wasn’t going to keep the Crystal Beasts from their darling chosen duelist (blegh!) for more than a day, so they could just deal with it.

Jun saw the care with which Johan handled his cards, which - well, he wasn’t going to complain and say they didn’t deserve. If Johan treated Jun’s deck the way he himself did, there would be hell to pay. Still, he rolled his eyes, even as he returned that respect he was being shown and put Johan’s cards where he usually kept his own with just as much care.

“This is a pretty strange weird of doing that but if you think that it will strengthen your bonds with your cards, then I’m happy to try and help,” He didn’t really know what he could do with the Ojamas aside from taking care of them for a few days, but if he could help Manjome that much would be enough for him.

Maybe this could even be a chance for him to try and come up with possible strategies for them! Just for fun, of course - Johan was always the sort of guy who tried to match cards together, see what effects would compliment each other and bring out the best possible potential in the deck.  He didn’t even consider the underhanded part of it - to him it was just all in good fun.

“Well if you change your mind, Manjome, then you know where to find me…” He was still a little hesitant as to whether or not this was a prank but it seemed that Manjome’s mind was made up.  “…In the Red Dorm with Judai, of course!” He added quickly, smiling dumbly as he wondered whether or not Manjome actually would know where to find him.

“Armed Dragons, huh? Can I duel against them sometime?”

“Where else...” Jun rolled his eyes and pulled the stack of cards that made up his deck from its place on his belt, and held it out for Johan to take. Somehow, despite having made the suggestion himself, the gesture felt like he was making himself vulnerable. He shoved aside the irrational anxiety.

The Ojamas were fussing about around him, their cries of “whaaat” and “right now?” going ignored, though it wasn’t without effort. Even with practice, their grating voices were near impossible to tune out.

There was something else too, though, not a noise or image, but an uncomfortable feeling that wasn’t his own, shooting up his spine like a warning.

He ignored that too.

“I think I can handle the full 24 hours of peace and quiet. The question is, can you?”

“Yeah, I need some comfort on my feet, sit in front.”

“...”

Well okay, but he’s going back to dragon form for this one.