#makesplays

          immediately when ai had gotten home from school, he dropped his bag and ran straight to his and yusaku’s room. “NII-CHAN ARE YOU FEELING BETTER?!” he was nearly in tears as he yelled. he hadn’t meant for it to come out so loudly, but yusaku had been sick for a few days now and ai had been very worried about him.

           it didn’t seem too bad (at least not bad enough for him to go to the hospital), but ai couldn’t help getting scared every time yusaku came down with something. he wished he could stay home with his brother and take care of him along with ryo and edo, but he wasn’t allowed to. their dads said he had to go to school, so he begrudgingly listened. but he was home now! so he could spend time with yusaku! “d-do you need anything...do you need more medicine...or food...or water...”

                     she had expected him to pull away immediately, but when he didn't a small smile couldn't help but form on her face.  her eyes look down a bit, a light pink appearing on her cheeks.  this was ... nice.  perhaps the first time she genuinely felt completely at ease in a while.  

          “i wish we could get our hands on those bastards already...” shoichi was, of course, talking about the people that stole jin’s consciousness. he hadn’t been able to sleep since he saw it happen right before his eyes. when he did sleep, the memory of losing jin just played on repeat. on top of that, he had nightmares of losing yusaku too. no, he couldn’t handle losing someone else important. but god, he felt so useless. he could only watch jin’s data be taken and even now, shoichi couldn’t go into link vrains and save him. not that he was against relying on yusaku and takeru, but he wished he could do more. he felt so weak. “it’s not fair...it’s not fucking FAIR--!! WHAT DID JIN EVEN DO TO DESERVE THIS?! HASN’T HE BEEN THROUGH ENOUGH?!” he was at his wits end. he couldn’t take this. his hands were balled into fists, his knuckles nearly turning white. “why do these things keep happening...i just...i just don’t get it...”

“That’s a rather interesting Duel Disk you have there.  One of the older models if I’m not mistaken.”

He didn’t expect everyone to immediately begin the new Duel Disks - sometimes it came down to a matter of personal interest or finances, both of which were perfectly understandable reasons.  Still, it was rare for him to actually see an older model.

ignis didn’t need to sleep, so ai had been watching yusaku. it was partly out of boredom, but also because he was concerned. he knew how often yusaku had nightmares and if need be, he wanted to be here to comfort him. though yusaku was never very open with him when it came to things like this. still, ai would do his best. that was all he could do. 

when he saw how much yusaku was tossing and turning, he crawled onto his body until he was near his face. “yusaku, yusaku, wake up!” he slapped his tiny hands against yusaku’s cheek, hoping it would help him get up. he must be having a nightmare. ai was determined to wake him up. “YUSAKU, COME ON!”

          was...that a good reaction? or a bad one? ryoken wasn’t sure. he felt uneasy. he had expected yusaku to be happy that he said such things, but his body language suggested that may not be the case. though ryoken wasn’t the best at reading people. he wasn’t able to pinpoint if his words had a positive effect on yusaku or not. he wouldn’t understand why they wouldn’t, but ryoken still found himself concerned.

          “did i say something bad? are you alright, fujiki?” he took a step closer, placing a hand on yusaku’s forearm. “i’m sorry if i upset you...i was just being honest. i thought it was something you would be happy to hear.” should he have not said anything? he was quite worried about all of this. “i didn’t mean to make you cry.”