heyo, i’m back finally, and looking for a boost on my dash and follow counts! reblogs appreciated if you’re interested in having an akira on your dash or if you’d like to interact at any point now i’m on a fresh start! it’ll be nice to meet you all!
heyo, i’m back finally, and looking for a boost on my dash and follow counts! reblogs appreciated if you’re interested in having an akira on your dash or if you’d like to interact at any point now i’m on a fresh start! it’ll be nice to meet you all!
“Good…” She smiled gently as she felt his warmth again. There was really nothing like a hug from someone you care about. It just felt…better than a normal one, at least that’s what the young Zaizen thought. Finally, the two were seemingly on the same page for once. Why didn’t they just do this sooner? Guess they were both stubborn, and had their minds set on other things.
She then heard a knock at the door, turning her head slowly to see one of the court members enter the room. Oh please…please hope they didn’t hear what they were talking about…
“Sir, it is time for the meeting. You are…running late. That is most unusual for you. Is something…wrong with Lady Aoi that would cause you to neglect your duties again like you did last night?”
Akira enjoyed the moment of solace, the air finally feeling clear around them for once. He was sorry that it had taken so long, and then a rather traumatic morning to finally get them talking and on the same page. But alas… it seemed their peace was always disturbed.
By a court member, no less. It appeared he hadn’t overheard anything they had said, which was a small blessing, but the cogs in Akira’s mind whirred while trying to think of a reasonable excuse - he couldn’t get angry again like he had at Kitamura last night, or the court would surely think he was even more unfit to lead.
“My apologies. My sister felt unwell last night, so I wanted to make sure that she was alright. You understand the blood moon can have an adverse affect on the young…” It was a weak excuse, but was a good explanation for why he still might be holding his sister. “Regardless, I think she’s feeling a little better now. We’ll be down shortly.”
“We?”
“Yes, both of us. I trust that that won’t be a problem?” He supposed there was no time like the present to keep his promise.
Aoi was rather surprised when her brother asked about her extracurricular activity time at school. She had only joined once club at school - the duel club. Honestly, Aoi had only joined it to start off with to make sure no one knew about her secret identity. Luckily for her, no one suspected a thing. It honestly wasn’t a big shocker, considering the difference in personalities between the two.
After all, people would always prefer Blue Angel over Aoi Zaizen.
“It’s been fine.” Aoi answered, her hollow gaze falling to the pavement, feeling rather guilty for lying, but what could she do? How were you supposed to tell your brother that you had no friends? That the only reason people even approached you was for first-dibs on new duelling technology or for an internship or job at SOL Technologies once they graduated?
She couldn’t tell him about her personal struggles at school. She… probably never would.
“We mostly go over the rules of Duel Monsters and we…” She trailed off, quickly glancing at her surroundings to make sure no one was there to listen to her conversation, “we occasionally talk about Link VRAINS, I guess.”
Aoi sounded a little reluctant to talk about her club, Akira noted. Perhaps he had overstepped his bounds a little. It struck him as a little strange - if Aoi really liked being in Vrains so much, why would she not enjoy a club devoted to Dueling? Even if she hid her identity, surely she went to Vrains for the game itself?
Maybe it was the club members? Or the actual matter of the meetings…
“Hm, so nothing too advanced, then? I imagine it might get a little boring, in that case.” Akira still remembered the game well, even with his deck gathering digital dust. Considering Aoi was stuck with beginners in the club… it was likely she wasn’t going to be very intellectually stimulated. That might be another factor in her being so active in Vrains… but he probably would never learn her true reasons.
“You’ll have to test me on the trivia over dinner. It could be interesting.” he joked slightly, the tone sounding odd in his voice, but he hoped the sentiment had crossed the phone line.
“…No. T-That can’t be…” Brown eyes widened in shock from the sheer horror of her brother’s words, confirming her suspicion. Aoi couldn’t possibly believe those court members would do something so…heartless, killing her and Akira’s loving and kind parents for the sake of their own gain. What rotten souls headed the court of the Zaizen clan. If only her brother and her could do something about them! But…that would mean breaking the bylaws, and that wouldn’t be good for either of them…
When he mentions his failure and seems to be hiding himself from her, Aoi can’t help but feel horrible. She didn’t mean to upset him so much, just like he didn’t mean to upset her. Communication was honestly their biggest issue besides the court. If they just talked more, then maybe things couldn’t be going on as they were. In order to survive, the Zaizen siblings needed to work together, and Aoi was determined to make sure Akira wouldn’t slip away again.
“Akira…” The vampire slowly approaches him, gently touching his cold hands and lowering them so he can see her face as she talks. Aoi needed him to see her sincerity. “It’s okay…I know now why you were doing it all, and…I understand your choices. While I don’t outright agree with them, I know why you were so protective…It’s clear you just wanted to make sure I was okay, and not become a target…”
Aoi then wraps her arms around her brother in a gentle hug, resting her head on his chest as her eyes closed. “Just…just promise me whatever happens, we will face it together, okay big brother?”
Akira was ashamed of himself, to be frank. He’d ran them both into an inescapable situation, and hadn’t even given Aoi the tools to protect herself should he ever be taken away. The court was a mess, yet a necessary evil with the system they had in place - there was no way they could overthrow the court without something going horribly, horribly wrong.
Aoi deserved much better than this life. So much more. He had thought for some time about maybe asking their closest neighbours to take her in, but selfishly he couldn’t bare to see her leave. Likely she would have hated him even more for doing that. He just couldn’t communicate.
Akira wanted to keep his face covered, but didn’t resist when Aoi lowered his hands. Her words meant a lot to him, and he was just glad that at least… she’d forgiven him. Even if it was only in part, she didn’t hate him for it, truly. He didn’t mind if she didn’t like him for what he did, but he wouldn’t be able to stand it if she actually, genuinely hated him for what he had done.
“…Thank you, Aoi.” Surprised at the hug, Akira gingerly held Aoi close. “Of course. From now on, I’ll be with you. I won’t abandon you again, I promise you. We’ll face whatever the future holds together.”
Shun checks the time and shakes his head “No, I left looking for SOL way before my meeting time so I still have plenty of time,” he replied, smiling at Akira, “You’re good.” A thought occurred to him and he started laughing softly. “I just realized…both of our companies have something to do with the sun…SOL is the name of our sun and LEO is a sun sign in the astrology chart.”
“Thank goodness.” Akira was glad that he hadn’t inconvenienced the other with any idle chatter. While it was nice having a good conversation, he would have hated to have caused the other trouble with his own company.
“Oh? How strange. You didn’t strike me as the type to be interested in astrology and the like. It’s a little… fanciful for me, personally… but an interesting observation nonetheless.”
“T-Ten years ago? What do you mean? That was when our parents…passed. Are you saying they had something to do with…t-that?” Every word he was saying about the court just made her skin crawl. She knew selfish people existed, but knowing the people who had high authority being like that was unsettling. No wonder Akira had to try so hard to make changes. The court wouldn’t allow him too because he was outnumbered.
Her eyes gazed at the floor, hands slightly tapping at the sides of the couch in worry. Aoi had Akira all wrong, or at least in part. Sure, his methods were extreme, but he was just doing what he could to keep her from becoming a puppet. That’s why he left her out of things, and kept her a secret even when guests from other clans were visiting aside from the one headed by that young Yusaku boy. It was to make sure she was okay. Aoi couldn’t hate her brother for doing that.
“Akira…Why didn’t you ever tell me any of this? Why did you feel the need to keep things a secret? You cannot protect me for eternity…despite our lifespan. If something happened to you, I would have to take over. I need to know these thins…”
He slightly regretted his words, having no solid proof of who exactly was responsible, but he supposed it was unfair to keep Aoi in the dark any longer. “I’m… almost certain some members of the court had something to do with it. I can’t tell you who,” he rubbed at his temples, a slight headache growing there. “But I have more than enough suspicion that they were involved somehow. They all benefitted far too much for it to be a coincidence.”
Aoi’s comment about his own mortality made his heart sink a little in his chest. He had… never considered a world where he was no longer around, was not by Aoi’s side (even in the strange way he did so now) - he always thought he would be around to keep her safe. But if the court were not above killing their parents… if he became too troublesome… an accident could surely be in the cards. And then what would happen to Aoi? And it would undoubtedly be his own fault. Akira sighed. He had been a fool.
“I… never considered that possibility. I’m sorry, Aoi. I’ve failed you.” he buried his face in his hands, not feeling able to look her in the eye again. “I’ll try to get you more involved in things from now on. I’ll try to be around more… I’m sorry.”
