herobox | [UAU: fast-forward]

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[UAU: fast-forward]

[Today has been...interesting, for the both of them.

Well, maybe less interesting on Juudai's end. He's probably used to ignoring Saruyama's scripts and hiding the new deck by now, which is really something that Kaiser should talk to him about. There's going to be serious danger to both of them if this continues.

Right now, though, he's busy picking mangoes out of a pile and trying to ignore his crippling shame.

(He really hadn't expected that to happen in the ring. He'd barely even noticed it, in the state he was in, blended in with the usual sick excitement of the duel. But he had taken a shock and for the first time he was truly prepared for it, ready for it, and...)

He shakes off the thought and turns back to the cart with his bag of fruit.

...There are considerably more cookies in the basket than the last time he checked.]

...Juudai.

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Hm?

[ Juudai is currently very thoroughly examining two different bags of rice, with a very thoroughly absorbed expression, as if he had been doing this for hours and would keep doing it for more hours. ]

What do you think, medium-grain or short-grain?

[ He turns to Kaiser with an expression so innocent that it could not possibly be he who suck a couple boxes of Meiji Panda Cookies into the cart. ]

[Don't play dumb, kouhai. He knows. These are certainly not his cookies, so unless they have a grocery poltergeist about he is fairly sure that they are yours.

...He sighs.]

Short-grain. It chills better.

[The cookies make a detour to bop Juudai lightly on the head on their way to the shelf.]

[ Juudai scowls after the vanishing cookies. Kaiser, are you going to deprive a growing young man of his snacks? How cruel. He puts the bag of short-grain rice into the cart, sliding a slim box of pocky beneath it from his black jacket sleeve as he does so. It unnerves Juudai a little whenever he forgets he's not wearing his Osiris jacket and then sees no red when he glances at his arms. But he's getting used to it.

These days, he only wears that jacket in the ring. ]

What next, daikon? Cucumber?

[ Grocery shopping is good because they don't have to think about their next match for an hour while they do it. ]

[Luckily for Juudai, Kaiser doesn't notice the pocky.]

Both, I think.

[But, unluckily for Juudai, he's got something to talk to him about. They don't get their hour-long reprieve from the underground today. Not with what Juudai's been doing.

He turns to inspect the packages of nori on the shelf, not looking at Juudai when he first speaks.]

...I found the script you threw away.

[ Juudai, who had turned to face the opposite direction, examining the cucumbers, stiffens. That script, which he had buried at the bottom of the trash can? Kaiser found it? For another minute, he turns one single cucumber over and over, scrutinizing it for microscopic flaws, until he finally sets it down and picks up another one. ]

It wasn't me. [ Juudai is aware that this is a variant of the same argument he has been using for two weeks now, and one that Kaiser is sick of hearing. ] I mean - it was like. I couldn't have pulled it off. Not convincingly. I don't know who he's got writing them.

[ Juudai taps a rhythm with the short, thin cucumber against his palm like a drumstick, lost in thought. ]

[...so, it's this again. He sighs softly, pulling a few boxes off the shelf.]

He writes them.

[He's been reading the scripts, all of them, even the ones he never brought up, and he's seen the progression. They were almost cartoonish, at first, played up and exaggerated for the ring, the kind of persona that you can put on and take off with the costume, a rubber mask. But as they went on, as Saruyama saw more and more of what Juudai is like when he's under pressure, when he's desperate, when he's in pain...

(as he gets the chance to see of Juudai what he saw of Kaiser in those ten gut-wrenching losses)

(the scripts have been moving closer and closer to the truth)]

...He's reading you, Juudai.

[ The thought makes Juudai want to shudder. He realizes that he's gripping the cucumber so hard he might bruise it, and drops it into the cart behind him. He still hasn't made eye contact with Kaiser. ]

No, he's not. He's just running through random ideas. I told him when it started. He can't turn me into something I'm not.

[ He runs a hand through his hair once and readjusts his jacket, to make sure that the collar obscures the red, spidery scars on his neck from the nodes. ]

Why does he need two heels, anyway? We're doing great as we are.

[...He doesn't want to get into this, not now. He wants to drop the subject and keep on shopping and forget this conversation even started.

But this can't wait until later. This can't wait until the next time, because if Juudai doesn't see it now he might not until it's too late.

And if Kaiser backs down, he might dismiss it even more completely.]

Saruyama only keeps heels. Turns are his specialty.

So he doesn't try to make someone something they're not. Not if he can help it.

[He finds what you have buried in you, and he digs it out and bares it to the world. The only choice is whether he'll be gentle about it, or whether he'll corner you and rip it out.]

[ Not if he can help it.

(the script that was at the bottom of the trash can hit uncomfortably close this time.)

( In Saruyama's brusque hand: 2-3 turns, don't lose more than 2k. opponents will be the Insecto Brothers. their specialty is to have the younger brother absorb the elder's damage with effects. he usually collapses within 3-4 turns. HAVE DAMAGE COMBO READY.

JUUDAI: 'how could you use him like that?'
banter. he will not be remorseful.
JUUDAI: 'i see... so it's like that, for you... you've never understood him, because you haven't felt his pain. i think maybe that's what's keeping you from understanding his feelings, isn't it? he suffered for you! you can't understand him without suffering yourself!'

damage combo. continue to target elder. hell kaiser will pick up on your lead and follow.

JUUDAI: 'i see you now. i see what you really are, when you suffer.'

convey emotion: you are beginning to realize that pain conveys truth, in the underground. if successful, we will develop this characterization in further duels. )

That pain was truth. (That pain made you free. Free from masks. Free from shame.) Juudai had gone cold, reading this script, because it was as if Saruyama had been there, had heard what he'd thought that night with Kaiser, or what he sometimes thinks in the ring, tells himself when the collars bite at his neck and arms. ]

Well - [ Juudai's voice is abrupt, difficult to work. ] - well, maybe he needs a new specialty.

[Kaiser can be perceptive, when he needs to be, and it doesn't take much on his part to know that Juudai is lying.

He turns to Juudai, finally, after a glance up and down the empty aisle.]

Juudai.

I can tell when you're afraid.

[Juudai can't hide from him, not when he's already opened himself so much. Kaiser reaches out to grip his shoulder, for a moment, because this is important and it's so much harder not to listen when there's contact.]

Take his next script. It's going to get worse every time. He's going to read into you further.

[...his hand moves away.]

The ring isn't reality. Keep it that way.

[ Juudai turned his head away when Kaiser grabbed his shoulder, but it didn't matter. He was listening. Kaiser had been gently hinting that Juudai should turn for a while now, probably because Saruyama was leaning on him. Juudai knew Kaiser was just trying to protect him. Heels often get less challenging duels, get thrown in against the faces and the new people who aren't used to the collars yet. (And Juudai had an inkling that Kaiser hated the way he screamed when the collars activated. Heels were... encouraged to suppress the instinct.)

It didn't take the sting out of it, though. Juudai could rationalize Kaiser all he wanted, but it hurt a little that Kaiser was taking Saruyama's side over his. (Maybe it hurt more than a little.)

So when Kaiser lets go, Juudai jerks his shoulder forward a little. The ring isn't reality. Keep it that way. ]

[ And suddenly, Juudai's rounding on Kaiser and he can hear himself snap: ]

I don't think you're the person to lecture me about keeping his private life out of the ring.

[ (Well, yeah. He saw it, but.)

Instantly, Juudai regrets it. ]

[Oh.

He'd have thought that he'd still be ashamed of that, like he was ringside after the adrenaline and the bloodlust had worn off. He would have thought that being reminded of that

(of hanging forward from the mesh of the cage, hard and panting and wild-eyed as he recovered from the shock)

would at least give him some sort of pause.

His expression darkens.

He's not ashamed. He's just irritated. He's angry that Juudai would pull sonething out of the cage and use it against him.

(the ring is sharp and clear and more real than reality and nothing inside it can be trusted because that kind of focus and clarity and heat warps things, Juudai must know that)]

...Exactly.

Hell Kaiser didn't come out of a script. I had no such luxury.

[He mutters something about meat, then, and turns away (presumably to go locate it), walking as quickly as he can without drawing undue attention.]

[ When Kaiser turns the corner, Juudai turns around and thunks his head a few times against the steel shelf, rattling a can of panko crumbs. Awful. Dumb. Stupid. Bad. He shouldn't have said something like that. Kaiser had a weird relationship with the ring; Juudai had come to see that when he went in, he wasn't putting on a mask, like a lot of the other duelists. Kaiser went into the ring and took his mask off.

Kaiser went into the ring to get some kind of dose of a reality too strong to live every day. Then he came out, and was Kaiser again. Not the Hell Kaiser. But he didn't want that for Juudai. It was dangerous for the ring to be real. And Juudai knew that. It was just...

(he couldn't explain what it was just.)

Anyway, Juudai didn't need a reason to defy Saruyama. It was a reason in itself. That guy needed to learn he didn't have everyone in his hands.

While they're separated, Juudai grabs the panko, some crisp daikon radishes, and a small bag of bean sprouts. Balancing them carefully in his arms, he goes to look for Kaiser again. ]

Edited 2013-03-17 03:43 (UTC)

[He...doesn't look particularly pleased with either of them, by the time Juudai finds him. He's found the meat he's looking for, at least.

He sees Juudai approaching out of the corner of his eye, and sighs heavily.]

You're putting both of us in danger.

[He knows, though, that Juudai's not about to change. He knows what Juudai's like, when he decides something is right. More than anything, he sounds resigned to whatever fate the discarded scripts have brought them.

There's something else bothering him, though, and he looks suddenly uncomfortable with his surroundings, distinctly out of place. His posture seems to tighten, his body curls in on itself very slightly.]

...we should finish here.

[ Juudai opens his arms and dumps the food into the basket, and then Kaiser tells him that he's putting the both of them in danger. (And Juudai knows that. He knows, or else he'd have gotten himself killed by now by rebelling, trying to run, trying to turn on the audience beyond the cage, even trying to hurt the higher-ups. He hasn't done any of these things because he and Ryou are tied together, because Saruyama is smart enough to exploit their bonds. If one of them runs, the other will be hurt. If one speaks out, the other pays the price. That wouldn't work on most of the thugs in the underground, but on Juudai and Kaiser, well, that's their disadvantage.

(The day it stops being a disadvantage is the day they've forever lost to the underground, anyway.)

Kaiser's posture suddenly changes. Juudai's does too, in response; he anxiously looks around. ]

What is it?

[He's already moving towards the cash register, and his reply comes low, just loud enough for Juudai to hear.]

We're being followed.

[He doesn't know by whom, exactly, not from the glimpses he's gotten. He doesn't even know how he knows. But he's quite sure it isn't a good thing.]

[ Juudai's not adjusted to the nervous-wreck lifestyle enough to be able to sense when people are following them, but he trusts Kaiser enough to assume he knows exactly what he's talking about.

Juudai turns and matches stride with Kaiser, and keeps his voice low: ]

Some guys from the ring? Cops? Saruyama's goons?

[ Guys from the ring could spell trouble if they want to work out a grudge. (Possibly violently.) Cops could be bad because sometimes names get leaked to the police, and usually the underground's network of thugs step in to neutralize any potential informants if they get arrested or "rescued." Saruyama's goons would probably just want to make sure they're not trying to escape, but any extra personal information those guys pick up is information Saruyama can somehow twist to his advantage. ]

[They're at the checkout now, and Kaiser fumbles with his wallet, obviously concentrating on other things.]

Not cops. Not sure otherwise.

[His whole body is tense. He's never been followed on a routine trip like this before, not that he can remember (or that he noticed).]

[ Juudai turns so that his back is touching Kaiser's back, scanning behind them for anyone who looks particularly suspicious. The cashier is giving them very nervous glances, and the "thank you" he gives them is particularly shaky.

There's a tall man in the next aisle over who is only buying a few things, but he's dressed like a salaryman and seems to be in a hurry. Juudai finds himself scanning necks for node-scars from the collars, for tattoos, for anything suspicious.

He's not good at this; he can't pick out any one person. ]

I got nothing. [ he whispers this as they walk towards the door. ]

[He nods minutely, shifting the bag in his arms.]

Maybe I was wrong.

[But no, he doesn't think so. He can still feel eyes on him.

He walks quickly, and as they come through the door he begins to hear footsteps matching theirs.]

[ Juudai hears them too, but they seem to be coming from multiple sides. He adjusts his grocery bag so it is securely nestled in the crook of his left arm. His right arm stays up by his face, defensively, as he tries to determine the footsteps' source. The angle of the buildings on either side of this parking lot bounce sound very easily between them, which is why Juudai can't pin down who is there.

He is amateurishly obvious about the fact that he knows someone is following them, and that he is nervous. ]

[He doesn't know where the footsteps are coming from, at first, but that changes as they get closer. Whoever's following them is just behind them, and he's...trying to catch up?

(Trying to catch up, which would be idiotic if it's someone following them for information.)

(If he's closing in, that means they're in danger.)

The footsteps come closer, closer, and he tenses as they draw in almost directly behind them

(it has to be an attack, couldn't just be a casual approach)

before he whirls around, dropping the bag, and aims his fist at their pursuer's jaw.]

Edited 2013-06-16 22:41 (UTC)

[It's only as the man drops to the ground that he notices the attire. Tie, nice shirt, well-groomed.

(He wasn't an opponent. He was a mole.)

(Kaiser just attacked one of Saruyama's moles.)

He freezes.]

[ Juudai freezes, too. He'd turned around just in time to see Kaiser whirl and punch the man pursing them, and in the blank silent moment after he hits the ground, Juudai soaks in his tie, his suit, his hair slicked back in that favorite style of Saruyama's types, and - oh god, it was Saruyama's people after all, and Kaiser just punched one. ]

Oh shit.

[ The words are out of his mouth before he even registers saying them. ]

Oh shit.

[The man stands up, clutching his jaw, and makes a run for it.

Kaiser is too paralyzed to try to stop him.

He nods, mutely, in response to Juudai's words. "Oh shit" sounds about right, yes.]

[ Juudai can't help but reach out and grip Kaiser's arm at the wrist. Just to hold it. (They're in for it, now. Saruyama's going to find a way to use this against them.) ]

What are we going to do?

[ The way Juudai says it, it's like a rhetorical question. What can they do? ]

[He shakes his head slowly, staring at the retreating figure of the man before he disappears around a corner.]

I don't...

I don't know.

[He's doing an excellent job of composing himself on the outside, at least, but his heart is pounding and his mind is racing with the most important question.]

Which of us...

[Which of them will take the punishment, for this?]

[ Which of us will be punished? Juudai knows exactly what Kaiser is thinking, what he meant to say. His hand slides down Kaiser's wrist to intertwine his fingers with Kaiser's, over the back of Kaiser's palm.

Kaiser struck, so it will probably be Juudai. This is good. Juudai can handle this. He feels strangely better now that all the tension has ruptured.

It's over. He can handle Saruyama. ]

Come on. [ He squeezes Kaiser's hand again, then goes to a knee to pick up the dropped groceries. ] Let's get home with this stuff. I'm hungry.

[...ah.

The hand in his makes the pounding of his heart slow, lets him breathe.

And...they can survive this, can't they?

After everything in the ring...they can survive it.

(even if he still feels sick deep down he can take the time they have remaining before Saruyama finds out)

He reaches down to gather everything back into the bag, and spots something spilled out onto the ground.

He holds the box of Pocky up, waves it slowly.]

You continue to be a master of stealth.

[ Juudai just grins. ]

Aw, come on, I'll let you have some...

[ They finish getting the other grocery bag put back together, and Juudai takes the Pocky box, opens it, and sticks one in his mouth as they walk back to the apartment. Yeah, punching Saruyama's guy was bad, but what could he have been tailing them for anyway? Protection? Probably just trying to see that they weren't going to make a break for it. It can't be that bad. Kaiser could defend himself by explaining they thought it was a thug or a robbery. (They'll be okay.) (He hopes.) ]

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[UAU: fast-forward]

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