ENVOY.

                                   hearing ryoken’s words gave yusaku the courage to look him in the eye again, though he couldn’t help feeling nervous about what was going to happen next. for once, yusaku felt like he was experiencing a normal fear -- anticipation -- instead of panic. the touch on his cheek made his heart speed up even more, and ryoken’s words filled his chest with warmth all the way up to his face. 

                                                  the kiss was soft, and even though it was obvious neither of them were experienced kissers, yusaku felt that their lips fit together perfectly. this was yusaku’s first kiss, and he was certain that he only wanted ryoken to kiss him for the rest of his life. it was a soft touch and lasted only a second or two, but that moment sent sparks up and down his body, an exhilaration he never wanted to forget. he didn’t think he ever could. 

                                   “ me, too- ” he started, but stopped when ryoken kissed his cheek. he flinched slightly, face heating up– he hadn’t expected it. that wasn’t to say he didn’t like it. he just didn’t know how to react to this sort of thing. yusaku could barely even look ryoken in the eyes, until he stepped closer and yusaku thought his silence must be making things really awkward and–

                                      truth be told, yusaku had woken up earlier than ryoken, but he pretended to be asleep so he wouldn’t have to get up so soon. it was so nice just being with ryoken. he didn’t think anything like this would ever happen to him. it felt like a dream. even in simple moments like these, his heart still raced when he was close to ryoken like this. 

                                   when yusaku got back from link vrains, all the energy left his body and he fell to his knees. he forced himself to recover, though, because he heard kusanagi and ryoken talking outside. besides, he knew takeru was going to check on him soon, too. because he lost-- no, he tied. but he didn’t win. his lp hit zero. no, no, he had to keep moving forward. he couldn’t get jin back if he was lost in his thoughts. 

                                                  he left the van, taking a seat across from ryoken. everything felt distant. still, he reached out and took the card from him. he leaned back against the seat, but he glanced up at ryoken when he spoke. so ryoken noticed -- or he didn’t notice, but he knew yusaku well enough to know that even though he wasn’t obviously reacting now, he would. “ i’m fine. thanks for the program. ” he inserted it into the duel disk, ignoring ai’s squealing and arguing as he did so.