heleentje

In the three years she'd been working for Tome-san, Hana had never seen the Osiris Red dorm so deserted. It was honestly unnerving to seen it empty after so many years of being filled with students. In the eight o'clock April darkness, it even looked scary.

Only Yuki Judai still lived in the Red dorm. Well, at least Judai-kun could always be counted upon to cheer up their days at the shop. With that in mind, Hana set off towards the building, clutching the box of cleaning supplies closer to her chest. She really should've brought them over as soon as she got the request, but it had rained all day and she hadn't felt like making the trip.

The building was completely dark. Judai-kun had to be out. Hana shrugged and fished out the spare key Tome-san had given her. It turned in the lock soundlessly. She'd have to remember to thank the maintenance people. Inside, it was even darker than it had been in the forest, a heavy, oppressive darkness that weighed her down. Hana found the light switch and flicked it on. Nothing. So much for maintenance doing their job. With a sigh, Hana shouldered the door closed and made her way through the dark hallway.

"What do you want?" A voice growled right behind her. Hana didn't lose her grip on the box, but it was a near thing. That wasn't Judai-kun, and no one but Judai-kun was supposed to—

"Answer me, girl."

A hand gripped her shoulder, claws —claws?— digging into her skin painfully. Hana struggled to get free. "What are you doing here?" she managed. Who would break into Red dorm? She had to tell someone. If only she could get her PDA...

"If you are here to kill me, I strongly suggest you reconsider," said a second voice. And suddenly there was light, two points in front of her, orange and teal. Hana dropped her box for real this time. Those were eyes! But who had eyes like that?

"You gonna talk or what?"

Wait, that was... "Judai-kun?"

"Wait, Hana-san?"

Light flooded the room. Yuki Judai stood in front of her, eyes still that orange-green combination. Hana pulled herself loose and came face-to-face with... No, that was too much for one night.

"Dropping off cleaning supplies, sorry for bothering you!" she got out, her voice breaking. She bolted through the door, down the stairs and into the forest that suddenly felt a whole lot safer.

"Hana-san, wait!" I'm sorry!" Judai-kun shouted in the distance, but Hana didn't stop. Only when she was back in her room, under the safety of her covers, did she let herself think. There was a monster living in the Red dorm. Even with everything that had been going on lately, that was still too much.

oOoOo

The next day was a Saturday and, thankfully, Hana's day off this week. Saturdays were busy days in the shop, full of students who were stocking up on snacks for the weekend, and Hana had far too many things on her mind to deal with so many people at once.

Still, staying in her room proved equally unproductive. She's already found clean sheets for her bed, cleaned the shared bathroom and reorganized her shelves, and she was still at a loss. Should she tell headmaster Samejima about the monster? Knowing him, he already knew about it. And what about Judai-kun? She had no idea what had happened to him in that other world. Why would he think she'd come to kill him?

With a frustrated groan, Hanna grabbed her bag and left her room. It was a very nice April day, unseasonably warm even though the grass was still wet from yesterday's rain, and best of all, there wasn't a cloud around to block out the light of the sun. Even the beach was crowded when she got there, but Hana had worked at Duel Academia for longer than most kids had been students there, and she knew all the really good, isolated places where she'd have plenty of time to think. She maneuvered herself onto a rocky outcropping, careful to stay away from the wet spots. The ocean wasn't very deep here, as she'd found out last year, but she still didn't feel like slipping and breaking an arm. Again.

"Hana-san?"

Hana lost her footing, slid down at least a meter and scrabbled uselessly at the rock. Two clawed hands lifted her and she found herself face to face with the monster. It pulled her from the rock and deposited her on the sand, right in front of Judai-kun.

"Where did you come from?" she burst out. She had been all alone, she was sure of it! Judai-kun looked as uncomfortable as he could with those eyes once again glowing orange-green. The monster took its place next to him. They had the same eyes.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to sneak up on you. I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

Hana became acutely aware that there was no one else with them and that her hands were stinging where she'd scraped them open on the rocks.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she told him, looking anywhere but the monster. Was it a duel monster? Why was it real? Would it try to kill her like the monsters in the Desert World had? "I'm sorry, Tome-san needs me. I have to go."

"I'll go with you," said Judai-kun. Hana shook her head quickly.

"No, no, I'm sure you have homework or something. Don't bother on my account!"

She knew she was rambling, but she just had to get out of here. Judai-kun looked about to argue, but the monster shook it's head and Hana didn't wait around to find out what it might have to say. Only when she was back among the students on the beach did she dare to look behind her, but Judai-kun was nowhere to be seen.

She asked Tome-san about it the next day, when a lull in customers left them alone in the shop. Tome-san, normally always so upbeat, sat down heavily.

"It's supposed to remain a secret, so I can't tell you everything, Hana-chan. But Judai-chan has gone through terrible things when he was in that other world. He's changed."

The pain in Tome-san's eyes was striking. Hana had only ever seen her like that once, when they'd have to tell a crying second year that his father had died in a car crash.

"Judai-kun thought someone was coming to kill him," Hana asked. She'd expected surprise, even shock, but Tome-san merely shook her head.

"If Chronos-sensei is to be believed, he has reason to think so." Tome-san straightened her back. "And that's all I'll say on the matter, Hana-chan."

What kind of seventeen-year-old had reason to believe someone wanted to kill him? Hana wanted to ask more, maybe about the monster, but then the shop door opened and she slipped back into professional mode.

It was Yuki Judai. Of course it was. At least the monster was nowhere to be seen.

He zeroed in on Hana and walked up to the counter. Running off wouldn't do her paycheck any good, would it? His eyes were actually brown today. She took that as a good sign.

"Judai-chan!" Tome-san greeted. "It's been such a long time. Have you been eating enough? You look a bit thin."

Judai-kun looked rather overwhelmed with the sudden attention. He shifted from foot to foot. "That's alright, Tome-san. Actually, I came to apologize to Hana-san." He turned to her. Hana made a conscious effort not to flinch. "I'm sorry for scaring you the other day. We... We were on edge and overreacted. We shouldn't have taken it out on you."

"Um, we?"

Not the most intelligent thing she'd ever said. Judai-kun didn't immediately reply. He fished a card out of his deckholder without looking and carefully slid it over to Hana. A monster card. The monster.

"Yubel has been with me for a long time," Judai-kun said. "Yesterday, I couldn't reach you in time, so Yubel caught you. Again, we're sorry."

She he had followed her yesterday to apologize. Well, if he'd gone through all that trouble...

"It's okay. Judai, try not to do that to anyone else in the future?"

Judai-kun actually looked like he had to think about that. "Unless they deserve it," he finally compromised.

"I can live with that," Hana said with a smile. She didn't get one in return, but Judai-kun visibly relaxed.

"Thank you. I'll be going now."

"Tome-san tsked. "Now, Judai-chan, you never did tell me when you ate last." She made her way out from behind the counter and grabbed a protesting Judai-kun's arm. "You stay cooped up in your room all day long, you need to get out into the light."

"Not really," Judai-kun muttered, casting a pleading glance at Hana. She just raised her hands and smiled as Tome-san dragged Judai-kun over to the sandwich stand.

"Now you pick one and you're going to eat it all here," said Tome-san. "Free of charge, so I don't want to hear any excuses."

All in all, Hana reflected, Judai-kun wasn't so scary. He wasn't even the scariest person in the room. She leaned back and watched as Judai-kun opened his sandwich.

"Huh." The look of happy surprise at the sight of his sandwich was genuine. "Golden eggwich. Guess I can still do that."