strongyuzu | Short Story + Post

"Dad...look, there's something I have to know about!"

"O-of course...what is it, Yuzu?" Shuzo asked. He and Yuzu usually talked on the phone about once a week. But that was just about school, how she was doing in the Super Junior League, that kinda stuff. This time, she'd called him out of the blue demanding answers about something.

"My bracelet...where did it come from?! Did you get it for me from somewhere? Where is it from!?"

"Ah, well..." Shuzo rubbed his head, nervously. "Near as I can remember, you've always had it, even when you were a baby..." He said, kinda knowing that wasn't a good answer even as it came out of his mouth.

"Wh-who ever heard of a baby coming out with a bracelet?!" Yuzu snapped.

"L-look, all I know is that you've loved that bracelet ever since you were small! Whenever you didn't have it or you lost it...you would always get really upset. Once, you lost it and you cried all night until we eventually found it."

"That's..." Yuzu scratched her head. She...vaguely recalled something like that. She remembered her dad turning the house upside down...and she remembered being really relieved when he had found it. But why would she be so attached to a simple piece of jewelry?! Only one thing occurred to her that made sense. "...is it..." She looked at the silver bracelet on her wrist.

"Dad...is this...did this bracelet belong to my mom?"

Silence hung on the line for a long, long time after that.

"Yuzu..." On the other end of the line, Shuzo's eyes quietly shut.

"I-I know...you don't. Remember."

"I wish I did, Yuzu. I really do."

They'd had this conversation a lot of times before. Neither of them remembered anything about the woman that was Yuzu's mother and might've been Shuzo's wife. It didn't make even a little bit of sense, but...it was what they'd had to live with and they tried not to think about it too hard. It was a huge part of both of them that just felt like it. Wasn't there. Thinking about that kinda thing too much was just a little bit too painful.

"Don't suppose you know anything my twin sister, either," Yuzu said sardonically. That actually got a laugh out of Shuzo.

"If I did, don't you think I'dve told everybody about it by now!? Even if she is apparently a troublemaker!"

"A really bad troublemaker! She keeps doing stuff and I keep getting blamed for it!" She said with a huff. A moment after she spoke, she let out a breath. "...dad," she said, nervously. "...some weird stuff's been happening around me lately. Not like. The normal weird stuff that always happens here and at school, but I think, stuff that might...actually. Directly involve me."

"...because of your bracelet, right?" Shuzo asked.

"M-mmn." Yuzu sounded nervous. "...I-I've known about magic and spirits and stuff for a while now, but I just. I thought...that stuff only happened to others and I was totally normal. But I'm starting to think." She looked at the gem in her bracelet. "...m-maybe there might be some weird stuff about me too." She hesitated for a good moment or so before pushing forward. "What if. What if there's a good reason that I don't remember anything about my mom? And what if...it has something to do with my bracelet?"

"Yuzu..." Shuzo could tell where she was going with this. He wanted to encourage Yuzu, always...but he didn't want her to get her hopes up, only to be disappointed later.

"I-I know, dad," Yuzu said, catching herself. "I was just. Thinking out loud, I guess." She let out a sigh. "The truth is, I wouldn't even know where to begin figuring out what's up with my bracelet."

"Ahhh, well, you should be able to do something with that, at least!" Shuzo said, not wanting his daughter to get discouraged. "You told me about those psychics you helped, and those Barian guys and your teachers...one of them has to know something about it! Right?!"

"...mmn! You're right!" Yuzu nodded. "I'll ask my teachers! And Jeanette! And the Barians! And Juudai-san! I'm sure at least one of them can help me figure out what it really is!"

"THAT'S RIGHT, YUZU! SHOW THEM YOUR RESOLVE! MOERO! NEKKETSU DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Yuzu had to hold the phone back from her ear whenever he did that.

---

Soooooooo.

Who here knows stuff about magic.

Specifically, like. Magic items? That do magic stuff?

Just. Curious, not really asking for any specific reason here.

Also, um. Yuya and Sora. Sorry for running away from you guys like that! I was just a little...freaked out. By some stuff.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

*Yuya arrives on the roof and heads over to Yuzu when he spots her, giving her a smile and a wave as he does.*

Hey, Yuzu!

*Once he reaches her, he sits down beside her.*

Hi, Yuya.

[She looks at Yuya. Then looks at her bracelet.]

Umm...how's your arm doing?

Oh! It's doing really well!

*He moves the arm to show how well he can move it again.*

I've been told to just ease back into stuff slowly, but otherwise, it's pretty much healed!

That's great!

[She smiles, that at least is genuinely good news.]

So...y'think you'll be able to rejoin the league soon, then?

It's possible!
Though, I have some training to do with Wakahisa-sensei first. She offered to train me in stuff, like dodging attacks and such, and adding it into my Entertainment Dueling, so I'm better prepared against opponents, such as Ryozanpaku.

I guess it'd be better to take some time to do something like that for a bit.

*He then gives Yuzu a big beaming smile.*

I'm really happy you're getting another chance at being in the championship though! You've been working so hard with your training with Sora! You really deserve that second chance!

You deserve a second chance more than me, you were ahead of me in the rankings...

...b-but, I'll try my best! To represent our school for both of us! [She smiles.] Then, when you're ready to come back, we can duel each other again, except...this time we'll be at the top of the league!

*Yuya happily gives her a nod in agreement. Though after a moment, the smile fades a bit as he rubs the back of his head.*

So, er, I guess this isn't what you brought me up here to talk about.

...m-mmn. [She shakes her head. She looks at her bracelet again.]

...y-yuya. If I tell you something, we can. Keep it between us, right?

*He nods, looking at her with a mixture of curiosity and concern.*

Of course.

...

That time, when you saw me at Ryozanpaku...? That didn't go exactly how I said it did.

When I went there, I challenged Kachidoki to a duel. And I was about to go through with it. When a boy showed up.

He. He looked exactly like you. He had the same face as you...and he stepped in and dueled Kachidoki instead of me. But his deck was completely different from yours. I didn't really understand what happened at the time...before I could talk to him, my bracelet started glowing. Then he vanished...then you showed up a few seconds later.

...b-but then, when I was training with Sora, he showed up again, with Kurosaki this time. Kurosaki was calling me some other name, then he and the boy were about to duel Sora...then my bracelet started glowing again and they vanished again. And...you showed up a few seconds later. I dunno who he is, but. Twice now he's shown up near me. Then my bracelet has started shining and then he's vanished. And then you've been right there.

I panicked before, 'cause -- I dunno what's happening right now. People keep saying there's a girl who looks like me, and I've seen a boy who looks like you three times now. And now my bracelet is starting to do these things...

[She looks up at Yuya. She looks really confused and anxious.]

Up until this point, whenever weird magic stuff has happened around us, Yuya, it's just been...us trying to deal with stuff like Desperado causing Dark Games, or helping Yuma find the Legendary Numbers or helping the Barians, or going to the Naturia Forest or the Mental Sphere...w-we've always been normal people just trying to handle the weird magic stuff that happens around us. [She grimaces.]

H-have you ever wondered if...maybe...there's something more to us than we know, too?

*Yuya listens to her in silence, his eyes wandering down to the bracelet on her arm when she mentions it and how it's been glowing every time he came near while the guy who looks like him has been with her. He'd never thought of the bracelet being anything out of the ordinary. Yuzu had always had it. He remembered how, when they were little kids, she wore it around her neck like how he wore his pendulum, because it was too big to stay on her arm.
He remembered the bright flash of light when he entered the room Yuzu and Sora were training in only weeks before. So that came from that bracelet?

Gradually he looked away and down at his pendant, before clasping his hand around it.*

I guess, I had wondered a little about myself, even back before any of this recent stuff happened. I mean, I created a summoning technique and didn't remember it afterwards and I've had those dragons appear to me from nowhere over the last few years.

Though, it's something I kept to the back of my mind. In the end, they're just things that happened. Maybe it's an ability or maybe I was just lucky or tapping into something by chance... who knows. All I know is that three of those dragons were the results of duels involving you, Gongenzaka and Yuma.

But now we have these people who look exactly like us running around and if something keeps happening with your bracelet whenever I come anywhere near the other guy, then why is it doing that? And why do these people look like us?
Maybe there really is something more to us, but I'd have no idea what.

*He lets out a sigh. He looks quite confused and anxious himself.*

But other than somehow finding a way to talk to them, or to Kurosaki, I'm not sure we'd really get any answers.

If either of them even know, anyway.... [She sighs. She remembers that boy...he looked pretty surprised when her bracelet started acting up.]

Hmnnn.

[She looks at Yuya's pendulum. Then, at her bracelet. When she speaks again, it's in a very small voice. Like she's afraid of admitting it out loud.]

...I've been thinking about our parents, again, lately.

Your dad and...my mom.

Yuzu...

*Yuya's expression becomes more solemn when she brings that up.
Yuzu didn't talk about her mother often, but he knew it was a difficult subject for her to talk about. She didn't remember her mother, or knew anything about her.
No-one did.

He's silent for a moment, before replying hesitantly himself.*

Do you think they... might of known something...?

I mean -- I dunno, maybe?

I just thought. What if. What if this bracelet belongs to my mom? What if that's why I've had it since I was a baby?

And your dad vanished before his duel with Strong Ishijima...and you discovered Pendulum Summoning a year later when you dueled Strong Ishijima. And since then, you've discovered your dragons as well...what if those are connected somehow?

I can't help but think about all of that stuff and then think maybe...maybe by figuring this stuff out...what if that would let us see the two of them again?

Everything is really confusing right now, for the both of us, but... if there's a chance that figuring all this out could lead to us finding them, then it's something I'd like to try. I'd really like to know what exactly is going on with the both of us too.

*Eventually he gives her a small smile.*

But, I know that we'll find a way to figure it out for sure and no matter where it leads, we'll face it together.

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