#yusaku x aoi

[kitsuneoftheorganization]

Vrains: Valentines Day

A/N: this is a week late shhhh... (pretend it was posted right on time) i just wanted to edit a few things and somehow added several paragraphs, and it's now nearing 4am... aha ;-;

(also forgive me for characters not being on here, i haven't gotten through the entire show yet and wanna do them justice :] )

characters: Ai, Playmaker, Skye, Varis

warnings: none!

Ai

• you best prepare for every cheesy pun he can possibly think of involving his name

• clingy clingy clingy (i mean, think back to his joke in duel links "love me touch me feed me hot dog sandwiches!") he's gonna be wrapping around you like a backpack so get used to not getting any alone time the entirety of the day, or not going out without an eldritch monster clung to your shoulders like a witch and their familiar

• when you finally convince him to stay in his smaller form to be less conspicuous, he'd substitute holding your hand by holding your fingers since he's stuck in the duel disk, and constantly asking you to log into vrains so he can "properly hold your hands".

• there's something comedic about a tiny ignis with his hands on his hips and an exasperated look pouting about holding your hands... you keep saying you're busy to tease him and this frustrates him greatly, but it's so cute you can't help it

• anytime you bring your wrist with the duel disk attached near your face, or check it for some reason, he'll reach over and (comically because he's so tiny) try to kiss you

• but even though his puns, cheesy jokes, and constant talking can get a bit annoying, how can you stay mad when he's giving you the sweetest looks ever and smiling like the adorable lil creacher he is? he'll look away whenever you catch him though, and insist he was looking at something else... very unconvincingly

• he also wants to make up for all the things he didn't get to express to you beforehand, what with everything that went down and being tracked by the hanoi, and today's holiday is a good ice breaker for that topic

• before he confessed to you, he'd look extremely squirmy and anxious all the beginning of the day especially when you ask Yusaku why he seems so awkward and tense

• you had been friends and allies for a long time, fighting alongside Yusaku and the others to protect his fellow ignis as best as you both could, so there was no reason you could think of for him to be nervous around you

• Yusaku would just sigh exasperatedly and give a glance to Ai, who would immediately try (and fail) to look natural, leaving you very confused

• little did you know, he'd been talking with Yusaku for weeks about how he'd go about telling you while simultaneously roasting him for being no help and having no experience... leaving Yusaku to question him why he was asking in the first place. if only you could overhear their banter...

• he'll hack into your duel disk later on to talk to you, and look as though he'd be sweating bullets if he could

• just... stares at you silently for a solid minute leaving you like ???

• finally after a second he sighs and unloads all of it on you at the speed of a commercial actor reading fine print

• once he slows down though, he gains his confidence and is actually very eloquent explaining his feelings. you can hear the sincerity in his voice and tell he's being completely serious

• when you told him you returned his feelings, the tone switches in an instant and oh boy his old self is back in a flash

• "hah, i knew you could never resist this hot bod!" and now he's posing dramatically on your duel disk... and you immediately wish you had the power to mute him

• afterwards, he'll try to catch you off guard by kissing your cheek every time your face is near the duel disk, or making heart eyes to fluster you

• it would be endearing and fluffy having this little creacher so head over heels for you but it's incredibly flustering when you remember he's also a six foot tall, incredibly attractive, peircing eyed, fancy-vampire-extravagently-dressed tumblr sexyman that towers over you and is very intimidating

• even though he jokes a lot, he's incredibly smart and does care deeply, so i can imagine him setting something up somehow, whether it's ordering something to your door, hacking some big screen in the city for a message that would confuse other citizens but that you'd recognize, or leading you to cyberse cards he created to put in your deck because to him it's both a gift and a way to always be present with you and remember him by, and shows you're his using his cards

• if he has access to a soltis body, he'll want to do things he didn't get to do much before, to just go out for a walk and see the city with you without the whole pretend-i'm-a-villain-to-save-the-future thing going on

• will grab your hand and kiss the back of it because he saw it in a drama and wanted to try it

• you end up seeing a video later from someone in the area that had seen you both holding hands...

• "who's vampire lookin ass boyfriend is this lmaooo"

• it's all you can do to stop him from angrily replying with 10 different accounts he made...

• after all that though, I think he'd want to make cookies together at your home, or just something fun and domestic, since originally when he was left at Yusaku's apartment he was always bound to the duel disk. will probably throw a little bit of dough at you when you aren't looking though (he'll swear it wasn't him despite you being the only two there)

• probably tries all the things he's seen in dramas that he watched with roboppi in Yusaku's apartment, and it's very obvious (let him have his male lead moment okay)

• at the end of the day, he actually becomes somewhat uncharacteristically shy for once when he asks if you'll watch tv and play games with him

• if he's in his soltis, he'll put you on his lap and wrap you both up in a blanket, his arms around you, with his head just in place to whisper in your ear...

• he leans in close, lips right next to your ear, his hair brushing against you, sharp amber eyed gaze firmly on you, breath on your skin and...

• "do you and Yusaku actually think hot dogs are sandwiches"

• you cut him the most deadpan look ever, even putting Yusaku to shame while he laughs in complete satisfaction, locking his arms around you when you tried to get up

• even if he isn't in a soltis, he'd be in his monster form with his arms completely engulfing you, and head laying on your chest as you both watch dramas he insisted on

• will pout unless you let him kiss you, even though that form has a mouth full of sharp jagged teeth

• he's actually really warm, and his closeness is comforting, the only issue is that he's so tangled around you getting up would be a monumental task

• eventually if you fell asleep, he'd stay with you the rest of the night, as close as he can possibly be while going into whatever sleep state it is that ignis are capable of

• he'd let you use one of his arms as a pillow, and if you tried to move or get out of bed to get water or anything, he'd tighten his grip and dramatically whine about you "leaving your poor ignis"

• tells you he loves you after he thinks you've fallen asleep :>

Skye/Aoi

• considering her brother has sheltered her to an extent all her life, I think she'd want to do fun things with you!

• especially on a day like valentines, she'll want to do something thrilling

• in real life, she's someone who doesn't always have the confidence to do what she really wants to, to say what she really means

• though you met each other through VRAINS, you had become a huge support to her in real life, and helped her in ways you weren't even aware of. she never told you, but when she'd log out of VRAINS and leave her persona, and the confidence that accompanied it behind, your words and encouragement stayed with her

• did she really deserve it? if you knew the real her, would you still say the same things? she didn't know, but she knew that she could at least log in and have your presence waiting for her each day, something to look forward to

• even though she was the duelist in the public eye, personally, she admired you highly, not only for your dueling skills but for who you were and what you stood for, and what you would say to her

• it may have been in passing for you, but it echoed in her mind for hours

• that she mattered, not only as Blue Angel, but that her life was inherently valuable and meaningful no matter who is behind the mask, that though you'd been through many things, at the end of the day no matter where we find ourselves there is always more than it appears to life, that you can choose your destiny, and that there is always light even if we can't see it at the moment

• sure, anyone could pass them off as cheesy and forget it, but when things got to her and she felt alone, like no one knew her truly, and like she'd be in the cage her brother's concern had made for her forever, on the lonely late nights when no one was home... they comforted her. she desperately wanted to believe she could choose her own destiny, considering her and her brother's lives had so far felt like leaves being blown in every direction by the wind of circumstance

• you were a friend who treated her like a person instead of a celebrity, and didn't try to use her for internet fame, and so she had begun to feel like she truly could trust you

• the free spirit in her envied the fact that you were someone who had no leash unlike her, fighting the hanoi, going wherever you pleased, holding your own against the threats to VRAINS

• the longer you remained friends though, she'd realized that she'd begun to develop feelings for you beyond friendship or idolization

• even when you both had finally met in person, she'd never had the guts to say anything, too afraid she wouldn't measure up or that upon seeing her real self you'd think less of her than as Blue Angel and never think of her in that way

• little did she know you had grown to care for her strongly as well

• when she'd finally gained the courage to confess to you, she'd texted you with a friendly invite to go grab a snack since you were both alone today, and you both occasionally would do things together (Akira felt she was protected with you, thankfully)

• at least that way, she could back out if she got too nervous and let things between you remain the same

• she messaged you to meet with her at a cafe in the city, somewhere she liked, to eat something tasty and unwind after the stress you'd all been through

• you'd thought nothing of it, since you were just friends after all... you supposed you were lucky to spend time with her, even if it wasn't under the circumstances you wished it was

• you had kept your feelings quiet, not wanting to place any more pressure on her, so if friendship was what she needed, so be it

• you'd notice there was something on her mind, but as you're both finishing your food, you'd see some spark of confidence rise in her eyes and she'd grab your hands that were sitting on the table, take a deep breath, and start to explain the real reason why she met with you there (surprise bitch, this is a date!!!!)

• it takes you a moment to take in her words, because THE Blue Angel wants to be with you, THE Skye, the Skye you've been friends with for so long... the fact that she saw you the way you saw her was enough to make your soul jump through the roof

• she's overjoyed when she learns the feeling is mutual, and a streak of excitement and energy comes over her, thinking of all the things she wants to do with you

• this was the real Skye, you felt, someone with energy and spirit and that spark of adventure in her eyes that was shining through in this moment

• you'd agree to go to an amusement park straight afterward, something she'd always wanted to do but had never been able to since her brother was always busy and would've never let her go alone

• somehow, you'd fit almost every ride into the few hours you were there, from rollercoasters to the ferris wheel overlooking the city, and you both tried all the out-of-the-ordinary foods they had at stands

• she holds your hand on every ride, and everywhere you walked through the park as if you'd melt away if she didn't feel you beside her <3

• if you're a bit nervous of rollercoasters, she'd sit beside you and let you hold onto her... definitely doesn't try to get you on one again for that specific reason

• after you rode a bunch of rides, i think she'd like to just walk with you and see the sights of the park, talking about everything that's happened so far, her hopes for the future, and about how she's determined to try and find aqua if there's a chance she may have also been revived, and how cute she thinks you look holding the cotton candy you'd both gotten and the sunset illuminating your features ;>

• later when you got home, she'd invite you to come over, and you'd both log into VRAINS and either sightsee on a board, or speed duel with each other, and then meet up with the others to talk and because she wants to tell everyone about your relationship

• no one is surprised, because you both complimented each other so well even before and they could sense your chemistry

• being basically a celebrity duelist, i think she'd like to announce that you're together by a duel, if she's gonna introduce you it has to be perfect

• everyone else agrees and cheers you both on, wondering who will win

• if you were anxious about all the publicity though, she'd understand and would keep it on the low until/if you want to or are ready :)

• if you do though, at the epic conclusion of your duel, she starts to speak up in front of the reporters who had caught on and started filming, and everyone in the crowd is watching with baited breath to see what she'll say

• she announces that you've not only been her friend and a great support to her, but that meeting and being with you has been a new freedom and adventure she thought she'd never get to have

• and then she kisses you, above the city lights of VRAINS, riding on the wind, with the cheers of everyone surrounding you

• after all that, when it's really late, you'd both have a bunch of late night snacks and make cookies together, occasionally checking people's posted reactions to you being together, or if you didn't anounce it, see people's speculations on the hot mystery person she dueled with ;] and then play video games until you both got sleepy

• overall, i feel like her love language would be experiencing freedom and fun with someone she loves, letting loose with no restrictions

• you'd both end up asleep on the couch leaning against each other, game controllers still beside you both

Playmaker/Yusaku

• yusaku is a man of very few words, but he's someone who you know means every word he says, and you'd always admired that about him

• he also is someone who expresses things through actions moreso than words

• i think Ai would push him to confess to you on a day like valentines, something Yusaku would never do by himself, but Ai would annoy him to no end about not acting on his feelings until somehow he finally got him to do it

• I think Yusaku is someone who on the inside would want to be physically close, but the walls he's put up keep him from giving in, and his focus has been on a singular goal for a very long time, so a lot of what he does is based on protecting himself

• you had piqued his interest initially due to you seeming to also posess something akin to link sense, always sensing situations that he could feel too, which was what led to you two crossing paths often

• since you respected his privacy and didn't try to fight his battles for him, he came to respect you

• you'd eventually offered to aid him, and despite your skills and similarities, he was firm in going about his business alone. as time went on though, all your small acts of kindness and silent way of being there for him in the background without prying or invading his boundaries started to chip away at those walls a bit

• he'd catch himself with a strange feeling of curiosity when you'd leave after mopping the floor with the hanoi, watching as your figure would dissappear, finding himself deep in thought.

• Ai had of course taken notice of this and teased him relentlessly for it, and though he denied it repeatedly at first, maybe there was some truth to his teasing...

• once he wasn't so single minded in his goals, and had more time to think about things, it really hit him just how much he did appreciate your company, and he found himself forming something of a friendship and bonds with you and the others

• outside of VRAINS, he'd catch himself absentmindedly wishing he would run into you, or wondering if he'd see you in person somewhere, hoping to find you somehow, but telling himself it was strictly because he wanted to know your motives and connection to the situation at hand. yes, you were friends now, but you both didn't fully know each other's motives, much less what your appearances were in real life

• when Ai couldn't take it anymore and knew he wouldn't make the first move himself, he came up with a plan, which Yusaku only begrudgingly agreed to after a long back-and-forth

• you'd received a message to meet Playmaker in a certain spot outside VRAINS, which came as a shock, but you were also excited to meet him in real life, if it was indeed not a trap set by the hanoi

• you'd showed up, cautious at first, but immediately recognized the hot dog stand you were familiar with, having visited it once, and though you didn't know it was him at that moment, Yusaku was sitting by the food truck, outwardly calm, but you could see he was a bit stiff, as though internally nervous. He was talking to the man grilling the hot dogs, and as you got closer you noticed just how handsome he was... that he had familiar green eyes, and finally the unmistakable aspect you could always identify him by: the yellow eye of the ignis on his duel disk.

• It was a bit awkward at first, but after you had approached the seats and spoken up, he introduced you to Kolter and himself formally now that you were all in person

• you both talked for a while, speaking about your goals, your hopes, and how you both had a shared interest in protecting Ai and the ignis from the hanoi

• eventually, Kolter had given him a knowing glance and made an excuse to go "run and grab something he needed from the shop close over"

• Yusaku seemed to mentally facepalm at the obviousness of his actions, but had nevertheless turned to face you after he left

• "There's something i've been wanting to, uh... ask you about." he'd said awkwardly, and it was almost strange to see someone so usually stoic and confident be as unsure as he was now

• He'd stated how he was wary of you in the beginning, but that he was glad the two of you were friends despite his initial coldness, that he trusted you now and could tell you had a good heart.

• by now your cross between flattery and confusion was growing, and as he continued to speak, jt seemed as though he was dancing around what he actually wanted to say

• after a shared look between himself and the ignis who was now standing on his duel disk and glancing between you both (in... anticipation? entertainment? you weren't sure) he sighed and looked you in the eye.

• "I... wanted to ask if you would... stay with me," he paused momentarily between words, seemingly flustered as he spoke. "And there are three reasons why".

"One, you're a good hearted and skilled duelist who adapts well, and have a connection to the network that proves a valuable aid. You're a very strong ally in this regard. "

"Two, you've been incredibly kind and respected me despite my being wholly dedicated to revenge and not exactly being friendly in return. You're understanding, and you've been there for me on multiple occasions, putting yourself in danger even when I assured you it wasn't necessary. I thank you for this."

"Three, because after some time, I can't help but find myself deep in thought every time we encounter each other. I can't help but catch myself wanting to stop you every time you leave, but never knowing exactly what I wanted to say, and I've found I... enjoy your company. So, I-"

• He was cut off by Ai, who by now had his arms crossed and an exasperated look on his face

• "what shakespeare here's trying to say is that he's got feelings for you and he appreciates that you put up with him and care about him, but he's too cool and grumpy to say that outright. Also, he thinks your dueling skills are hot, and he's been like a puppy secretly hoping to run into you everywhere we go. And he should be thanking me as his brilliant, intelligent wing man who helped him with getting this far because he was never gonna pull you by just staring at you all mysteriously and brooding all the time and never saying anythi-"

• Yusaku shot him a glare that could've fried the rest of the hot dogs in the stand were it pointed that way, and Ai dramatically fell over and ceased talking, though he had a satisfied, smug look across his face

• taking a sigh, he spoke up again. "I'm saying I want you to be with me." he was now directly looking into your eyes, piercing green filled with hope, and behind that it seemed, anxiousness

• when you replied that you felt the same way about him, he'd done something he's rarely ever done with anyone: hugged you. it was slow and sheepish (you knew he wasn't one much for talking, much less any physical contact, so you were flattered by the gesture), and you could feel a thousand emotions through it: relief, shyness, and his muscles relaxing against you after a moment, like it was something he'd long needed

• the whole time, Ai was cheering as though he was watching the moment in a drama

• the rest of the day, Yusaku wouldn't initiate much physical contact, but he would often have his eyes on you.

• it's something very new for him to have mutual feelings of this sort, as he's always focused on other goals, so it would take a long time for it all to sink in for him, and considering he's always on guard, keeping his eyes on you feels like his way of keeping you safe

• he'd want to do things that were usually soothing for him with you because it would feel as though it's sharing a part of himself with you. having dealt with the trauma of the Lost Incident, he's extremely guarded and private, and so to include you in the things that ease his worries is an incredibly huge gesture

• he doesn't exactly have much money. his apartment isn't the most comfortable, and he isn't always able to eat well either, much less go to restaurants, but the gift he later gives you is something far more meaningful and thoughtful than anything a store could offer on a day like today, something from his own knowledge and skill that he had made himself

• he had coded you a modification that would attach to your duel disk and would cover all your tracks in VRAINS, protect you from viruses, and keep your identity secret, similar to the programs he used with Playmaker, that he had started making a few months back for you and not mentioned

• he'd be extremely shy giving it to you and would deny any thanks or compliments with a blush

• he would want to spend the rest of the day calmly in your company, just able to enjoy the peace for once

Varis/Revolver

• like Yusaku, he's someone who's very guarded and honed in on his goals, and he has the world on his shoulders in his belief that he should also be responsible for the situation his father created

• though you had opposed his views on the ignis, you also understood his motivations, and that he was caught in the trap of his father's shadow, no matter how hard he insisted that it was purely his choices

• the fact that you two had somehow formed a bond despite being enemies was something neither of you could explain, nor something either of you would mention verbally. having investigated as many secrets of the hanoi as you possibly could had helped you gain a better understanding of why he did what he did, though, and discovering he was a pawn in his father's chess game had changed your view of him

• after a handful of encounters, though, you could tell by the way his eyes would soften when they landed on you, the way he almost seemed careful to never place you in danger, and the fact that you had noticed less and less members of the knights of hanoi trying to duel you unprovoked, almost as if they had been ordered to do so, meant something was going on

• while you were concerned that he was dedicating his life to someone else's cause, he was concerned that you were endangering yourself by associating too closely with the ignis

• every situation with him was tense, but not in a negative way. In fact, your run-ins with him whether his trying to get information out of you on Ai's whereabouts, or your challenging him to deter the hanoi, there was something unspoken in the air between you two

• it came to a head at one point during an intense duel, where the building you'd both been standing on in VRAINS had been engulfed by a stronger than usual data storm and crumbled beneath your feet

• you'd both scrambled to catch your boards in an attempt to avoid falling, but yours had slipped from your grasp at the last moment

• and then the next thing you knew you were being suspended in midair by Varis balancing precariously on his board, his arms having curled around you just in time while you were both whisked into the storm

• you'd met his eyes for a moment, and there seemed to be a million thoughts and emotions swirling, before he closed them and sighed as if resigning himself to something he'd been battling internally

• when he'd reopened them, the expression he gave you was uncharacteristically caring and concerned

• it was over as quickly as it happened though, as in the blink of an eye you'd been set down on a building nearby, and he was nowhere to be seen, leaving you to wonder what had just happened

• you'd not seen him for a while after that, leaving you confused and mulling over the situation, thinking you'd just overthought it or misinterpreted his actions

• a couple months later, though, you'd been stopped in your tracks by a knight of hanoi, but to your surprise, it wasn't to challenge you. it was extremely strange: they'd calmly handed you a message and monotonously informed you "this was to be delivered to you", and then disappeared without another word or trace

• you'd worried it may have been a trap, but cautiously opened it: a message straight from Varis himself, reading, "I need to speak with you. you likely know why. Meet me at..." followed by what seemed to be coordinates. he was asking to meet you in person.

• when you had gone to the specified location the next day, having had to find the directions by phone, it'd led you to what appeared to be docks

• there was a young man at the end of one pier, turned toward the ocean, hands in his pockets. he was tall, and the breeze was tousling his white hair gently

• once he heard your footsteps approaching, he'd turned to face you, and you immediately knew it was him, steel blue eyes softening as they fell on you

• you couldn't deny how handsome he was, and seeing the real him, without his avatar's outfit, without the mask, was almost like seeing him without chains: this was him as him, not a pawn of his father, not the leader of the hanoi, but-

• "Roken" he'd broken you out of your thoughts, his voice softer than the usual stern roughness he usually spoke with in VRAINS. his gaze was locked firmly onto you, flustering you slightly, and you'd told him your own name in return

• the conversation that followed was less awkward than you had expected, but you could tell after a few minutes of talking he had decided to face the inevitable and address what you both knew but had thus far left unaddressed

• he was calm and collected, but you couldn't help but feel your heart pounding since you'd both tiptoed around it for so long, being enemies. it was easy that way, always being able to hold that subject second to you and your friends' rivalry with him

• he'd bluntly asked you if you had feelings for him, and stated coolly that aside from your stances he respected you as a duelist and had come to care for you, that he'd wanted to meet you in the real world, to see the real you outside of the "fake world" of VRAINS

• upon hearing you returned his feelings, he'd stepped forward and wrapped you in a firm embrace. his head came to rest on your shoulder, and you could feel his heartbeat

• "I'm... speaking not as Varis when I say this, but I do want you to stay away from that ignis. I know you have noble intentions, but you're in real danger every moment you accompany it. I know you will not agree with me, but I'm asking you to focus on this... My heartbeat, my arms around you right now, my breath on your shoulder. We are real, this is what's real. This world matters. That world is a world of facades, and those ignis within it will only endanger this world. I'm not asking you to be on my side, but I'm asking you to at least protect yourself. I don't want to see you hurt because you chose to protect those A.I."

• His words had touched you, but you'd replied that not all the ignis were as dangerous as he believed, that their free will meant no simulation could ever predict how things would turn out, that they were not the enemies he perceived them as. You asserted you would not back down from your stance, and that you wished he would not remain a prisoner of his past and his father and open himself up to you and your friends' perspectives

• Though you both disagreed, there was no argument, instead he'd tightened his grip around you, and you both stayed silent for a moment

• "I just want you to be safe."

• for the rest of the day, you'd just be walking with him through the city, places he must frequent when spending the little time he has away from his position as the leader of the hanoi

• there's a mutual acknowledgment between you that you are enemies and the entire situation is complex, but that you do indeed mutually want each other's safety

• he'd not realize what day it was, because despite wanting to deep inside, he's never really paid too much attention to holidays. he feels too much responsibility to his father's wishes to pay too much attention to "frivolous" things like that, but in reality, i think he'd want that normalcy. he's just too caught up in everything that's been dumped onto him to enjoy things as he should be able to

• nonetheless, the rest of the day he would want to spend time with you, walking through the city and stopping to get food, a chance to be Roken, and to talk to you without your opposition in the way, if only for a while

• like Yusaku, I feel he'd be the protective type, one who keeps his eyes on you a lot, but respects your abilities, skill, and personal space at the same time. unlike Yusaku though, I feel he'd be more open to physical contact, and would hold your hand in public

• part of why he admires you, is because he doesn't see himself as a good person. he carries around a lot of guilt, and can be quite ruthless, but he views you as someone who very much is good hearted, just from his view on the wrong side of the ignis situation

• so i feel like he would feel as though he doesn't deserve you deep down, and that's part of why he maintained distance for so long. deep down, he seeks atonement, and doesn't want you swept up in the midst thought you've chosen to be

• even though he is still seemingly cold and gaurded on the exterior in person, it feels as though he lets you in in his own ways. he doesn't talk much, but he can communicate his feelings best through eye contact and the way he holds your hand, and his actions, the way he holds you against him like the words could flow through touch

• you'd part your ways at the end of the day, wondering what your next encounter would be like, the feeling of his hand still lingering in your thoughts

• when you got back home, you'd realize in addition to your keys, there was something else that had been added to your pocket: a small note and a duel monsters card: one from his deck.

• the note read, "This may serve you well should you find yourself in particular trouble... Don't let your guard down with that ignis. I trust you will do the right thing should the situation come. Until our paths cross again, - Roken."

• it was his way of extending an olive branch and simultaneously protecting you - expressing through action what he couldn't through words.

[lavenderr-starrs]

I wanna try and figure out an ot3 ship name for Aoi x Yusaku x Ai if there isn’t one that exists already out of spite and boredom

[pico-farad]

vrains season 1 reaction pt. 2 - going off about aoi

I had to give this one its own post because I had... a lot to say.

Part 1

Aoi

haha... goddamnit.....

What's frustrating is that all the pieces are there for her to be a good character. Of all the characters in S1, she's the only one who is given a dynamic internal conflict. Every duel she has is about more than just the duel, it's about her, and that's the heart of Yugioh. That's what's missing in Yusaku.

Her duel seeking out Playmaker is in direct response to her brother telling her to stop going into Link Vrains. Her duel against Baira is about reconciling being put in a coma, and developing her own resolve to fight Hanoi, to protect others from the same fate. And her duel against Spectre is about their clashing ideals, mirrored in their dueling styles (healing vs. burn). Even her throwaway duel against a literal NPC robot furthers her character, as she rebels against her brother who's forbid her from even leaving the house.

The problem with these duels... is that the writers don't actually care about her character growth. 

So, I think a lot of discussion by Yugioh fans about whether X character "deserved better" tends to centralize around "X should have gotten that duel" or "X should have won that duel," which really comes up a lot when it comes to female characters, but I think often misses the point of how duels are devices for storytelling in Yugioh.

Aoi was not shafted because she lost against Yusaku and Spectre. Yes, the virus corruption and falling on her head scenes sucked and were gratuitous. But losing duels is good for characters. Losses are where we see major turning points in their arcs. That's the basic modus operandi for a Yugioh rival, and the same logic can and should apply to the Yugioh girls.

The problem is that the reason Aoi loses those duels has nothing to do with Aoi. She is put in a coma during the Playmaker duel because the writers needed to engineer a conflict between Playmaker and Akira (in other words bring SOL Technologies into the picture). She loses to Spectre because the writers want Yusaku to go into the final battle alone.

Even if they really wanted to contrive these scenarios, they still could have given Aoi something to work with story-wise. They could dwell on her self-doubt, after her brother is proven right that Link Vrains is dangerous. They could have her question her beliefs after the duel with Spectre, perhaps a parallel with her brother, whose duel with Yusaku similarly has him extending what he thinks is compassion toward Yusaku, but which falls flat because he's failing to understand Yusaku.

Even though Aoi has a repeated story beat of trying to prove to her brother that she's autonomous and capable, the actual writing tries to stomp it out at every turn. Either she loses, which reinforces her brother's belief that fighting is too dangerous for her and she needs to be coddled. Or she wins, but her brother continues to think she's incapable, and neither of their characters develop.

Which brings me to what I think the biggest flaw in her writing is -- Akira.

The show romanticizes Aoi and her brother's relationship, but it's SO obvious the toll that Akira's overprotectiveness takes on Aoi, how it's led her to be isolated and insecure, and how the Blue Angel persona is a form of release for her.

Akira cares about Aoi, but he doesn't respect her, and it's damaging to Aoi's sense of self.

This is what aggravates me, because I think that would be a great story to tell with her character, but the writers cannot see what's right in front of them.

And this would strengthen Akira's character too. It is good that Akira is a controlling, flawed person. It is also consistent with his duel with Yusaku, where he's also very patronizing, and misguidedly believes he's doing the right thing by sheltering Yusaku from the truth about the Lost Incident. In which Yusaku rightfully tells him to fuck off, Akira has no business prying into his trauma and telling him what he should do about it.

Which would have been a great moment for Akira to connect some dots about how he thinks he knows what's best for other people and how he infantilizes his sister. But instead the duel ends with Yusaku saying some real bullshit about how Aoi and Akira deserve to stay together and protect each other.

Anyway... there are still two seasons that I'm going to watch, but I have my doubts that they'll pick these particular strings back up. I'll just have to hope that they don't fumble whatever new thing they give her... but things tend to get bleaker for female Yugioh characters as the show goes on and whatever initial involvement they had in the story fizzles out.

A few positive notes to end on...

I like both of her designs, she's the only character who takes advantage of contrasting the expressiveness of the Vrains avatars with her plain real appearance. And it's a little funny that Blue Angel is... just Hatsune Miku. 

I like her Blue Angel voice. It's still an idol girl voice, but it's very unique. The Trickstars are aesthetically kind of boring (they're too similar to Yuzu's Melodious cards imo) but seeing a burn deck is cool, since anime duels tend to distill to Attack With Big Number. Even though it's a crime that she doesn't win her duels in a 4000 LP format.

I think ultimately, I still do like Aoi even among the Yugioh girls, because of the missed potential I talked about. I've got one more planned Vrains post coming, which goes into that.

But also, at the time of writing this, I just finished the Soulburner vs. Blue Girl duel in season 2 and holy moly was that the biggest bullshit I've ever seen. So maybe the Vrains thoughts will continue.

[overobsessedfanboy23]

My Opinions on Every VRAINS Ship

Well, every VRAINS ship that has an official ship name here on Tumblr, plus three bonus ships at the end that don’t have names but I’m familiar enough with to talk about. Gonna go in alphabetical order by their ship names because that’s the easiest and most unbiased way to do it. Gonna be rating them on a scale from: NO, not my thing, funny or cute idea, like, and love.

Because fair warning, I really don’t like some of these ships.

Abyssalshipping (Ai x Aqua)

NO. The one thing I dislike about Manjome in GX is his weird, sometimes creepy crush on Asuka and… yeah, it’s the same thing here. Not nearly as bad, as it’s less focused on and Ai doesn’t try to make her be with him or anything, but still, really weird and unappealing ship. I much prefer them platonically, which is what they are in Flame of Life.

Aiballshipping (Ai x Yusaku)

This is my OTP of VRAINS, and probably in all of Yugioh if I’m being honest with myself. I love their dynamic, their back and forths, all the build up and little moments throughout the series leading up to that gut punch of a finale. Their relationship is also the one thing keeping the VRAINS storyline of Duel Links afloat for me don’t @ me.

Algorithmshipping (Kengo x Shoichi)

Honestly, I had never heard of this ship before I read the list so I have no real opinion on it. Not really sure how it would work but I don’t mind its existence I suppose.

Altarshipping (Aoi x Ema)

NO. I always saw Ema as more of an older sister figure to Aoi, emphasis on “older” because Aoi is a minor and Ema… never had her age confirmed to my knowledge but watching the show, I always interpreted her as in her twenties. Early twenties sure, but too old to be with a minor.

Almondshipping (Aoi x Miyu x Yusaku)

Each of these individual ships are coming up and I have wildly different opinions on each of them so for now I’ll say I’m indifferent to this specific throupple, but throupples in general are nice to have.

Angelmakershipping (Aoi x Yusaku)

No. Out of all the ships here that aren’t like… illegal or messed up on this list, this is the one I hate the most. Because it feels so obligatory. Like in the blissful days before the god awful VRAINS dub, it was only a ship because “he was a boy she was a girl can I make it any more obvious” when they don’t have that kind of relationship at all. I think it’s actually novel and really nice that despite some pointless teasing early on, they were only ever friends and Aoi had a character arc and development completely separate from Yusaku. I feel like making their relationship romantic would’ve just ruined that. It’s not my bias to Aiball, trust me, I ship both Yusaku and Ai with other characters as well (as you’ll see coming up). This ship just really rubs me the wrong way, especially because the dub warped the text of the show to push this ship more, which coupled with their gay erasure, comes off as gross to me.

Blueghostshipping (Aoi x Spectre) NO. Even harder NO than the last one, jesus christ. Spectre is a huge creep to her, psychoanalysing her out of nowhere, manipulating her, and then beating her to death… in a card game but that’s basically assault in the YGO universe.

Blackholeshipping (Jin x Ryoken)

Really random (with only one canon interaction that is not good) but I honestly really like this ship. It has some really fun content here on Tumblr and the way I personally characterise Jin is this really cheerful upbeat person, who isn’t fazed by others’ rudeness. So Ryoken’s bluntness wouldn’t faze them at all. I just really like the whole “the sunshine one lifts up the grumpy one” trope and this ship, and really any Jin ship for that matter, is that dynamic to me. Plus I love Ryoken so putting him in that dynamic is really fun.

Braveangelshipping (Aoi x Shima)

No. I don’t have a strong take on this one like I do some of the other no’s, it’s just… no. He certainly has a crush on her, but I can’t see her ever requiting.

Bulletstormshipping (Ryoken x Windy)

Okay so this one’s tricky. I enjoy shipping Ryoken with Ignis and I really love both of these characters. There’s also pretty good content for this ship out there. But… the way I characterise purple eyes Windy (aka: Windy’s true personality) is really sensitive and kind of clingy, and he would be especially emotionally vulnerable after finding out that after his data was rewritten, he killed his origin. And blunt Ignis racist Ryoken would not be a good match for that. This is why the only WindRyo piece I’ve written is set at a point where they’re far into their relationship for the record. Ryoken taking in Windy as his partner (in the Ignis way but potentially the human way eventually) is a very cute potentially funny concept as long as one or both of these sides of them are scaled back. So while I like this ship, it’s not one I can see myself writing much.

Canineshipping (Akira x Kengo)

Like the ship name, don’t care for anything else about it. Okay come to think of it, maybe I just don’t care much about Kengo, because his ships are the only ones I’ve had virtually no opinion on so far…

Cauterizeshipping (Flame x Takeru x Ryoken)

My most recent currently ongoing fanfic, Flame of Life, is about this throupple. I love every individual ship in it, and I love the dynamic the three of them have. (Especially Flame and Takeru teasing the hell out of Ryoken, last week’s chapter was probably my favourite to write in the whole fic.) This is my favourite polyship in Yugioh, by a landslide. It doesn’t have any basis in canon, but the potential was enough to suck me in and write my own narrative for them that I’m really in love with.

Celebshipping (Go Onizuka x Yusaku)

I don’t really like Go Onizuka because he’s a different person every time we see him so it’s hard to get invested in him but this ship is fine. Go is a bit old for him but three years isn’t as bad as some of the other ships’ age gaps. It is a ship that exists I suppose.

Charismashipping (Aoi x Go Onizuka)

Same as above. This is indeed a ship that exists.

Chatshipping (Shima x Yusaku)

Similar to Braveangel, I think Shima has a crush on Playmaker, but I can’t see Yusaku ever requiting that, especially since he canonically finds Shima stupid and annoying. So no.

Chesspieceshipping (Go Onizuka x Queen)

No. She was willing to let him die with that AI chip implant stunt. Also, I don’t like either of them, but I hate Queen far more.

Cobrashipping (Go Onizuka x Ryoken)

I love Ryoken and am not attached to mister Go so this ship is not my thing. Their duel was pretty good though.

Coexistshipping (Ai x Pandor)

Uuuuuuuuuuh.

I mean, I see Ai as gay (or attracted to men I guess) but if I had to ship him with a girl, Pandor is probably the best option? So I don’t ship it but it’s fine. It’s harmless.

Conduitshipping (Akira x Ema x Shoichi)

No. I’ll elaborate on why in the Ema/Shoichi section.

Crystalheartshipping (Aqua x Earth)

Finally another ship I like. Earth’s crush on Aqua was cute, as much as I make fun of the whole “pushing Aqua off the hoverboard” thing. Still, it’s cute. Basic, but cute.

Cybersedragonshipping (Firewall Dragon x Topologic Bomber Dragon)

I have no idea why this is a ship, but I’m glad it is because it’s really funny. I don’t like Datastorm, but I can get behind this.

Darkcrystalshipping (Ai x Aqua x Earth)

Normally, I would say/joke that the best solution to a love triangle is polyamory but in this case… Aqua does not like Ai, and I do not like that ship. So I don’t care for this one.

Darkfireshipping (Ai x Flame)

Meh. I only ever saw this as platonic but it’s perfectly harmless. Would make a funny enemies to lovers fic honestly.

Datastormshipping (Yusaku x Ryoken)

I never saw the appeal of this one. I still don’t get why Yusaku was so desperate to reform/reach out to Ryoken after Ryoken said to his face that he regretted saving his life and the fact that this ship is just… everywhere and often characterises these two in ways I don’t personally agree with makes me really not care for it. I don’t hate it like I hate some of these other ships but I do feel nothing toward it. So it’s a no.

Daybreakshipping (Yusaku x Jin)

Nah. I always think of these two as siblings so I can’t see a romantic relationship between them.

Any Haru ship

I have this opinion for every ship involving Haru: I know he’s an AI, but he looks and acts like a little kid so I don’t feel comfortable shipping him with any of the teens or adults. So all of his ships are a no.

Dischargeshipping (Jin x Lightning)

This one’s weird for me. I really ship my version of it in Blissful Ignorance: where Lightning isn’t a human hating serial killer that tortures children, they’re just kind of a jerk and Jin has no memory of them so their dynamic is essentially a “tsundere/deredere” and “the cheerful one lifts up the grumpy one” dynamic and also Jin is getting revenge without either of them realising it. And that’s how I like the ship. Other renditions of the ship… vary because the canon foundation is just awful and fucked up. So this ship is a yes in very specific circumstances.

Disastershipping (Ryoken x Takeru x Yusaku)

Really funny name and throupples are fun but I really only care for one of the pairings in this set romantically so it’s not my thing.

Elfinshipping (Ema x Hayami)

I hate Hayami so no. Ema is a lesbian probably, but Ema also deserves better.

Embershipping (Ryoken x Flame)

My favourite Ryoken/Ignis ship. Not really for anything canon (although I do like the scene where Flame tells Takeru that it’s possible Ryoken was trying to apologise to him) by throwing their duel but because of how I wrote in my story, Flame of Life. It’s just both precious and hilarious.

Emissaryshipping (Yusaku x Playmaker)

…what? No.

Entrustshipping (Takeru x Kiku)

Confession time: the first time I watched VRAINS, I thought Takeru and Kiku were brother and sister. Now that I know they’re not, I just find it really odd that Takeru asked this random friend of his to look after his grandparents while he fucked off to another city with no indication he intended to ever return until the very end of the series when he’d already been gone for a long time. Maybe Kiku was just his only friend at the time, the only person he could trust with something as big as this, which… sure, okay. But still, not telling her he intended to return and just taking off like that? That’s weird.

So I never really got into this ship. It feels like another obligatory “he was a boy she was a girl,” though I don’t vehemently hate this ship like I do Yusaku/Aoi. So it’s… fine. It’s a ship that exists.

Extinguishshipping (Flame x Windy)

Again, I really like these two platonically, and I can see where the ship comes from, but I don’t quite see it romantically.

Fireballshipping (Flame x Takeru)

Yeeees, love these little beans. I’ve always loved their canon dynamic and I always love reading fics about them. I love that Flame supports him but also isn’t above roasting him.

Firestormshipping (Takeru x Yusaku)

…yeah, I never got into this one. I honestly expected to ship it more than I did, but I vastly prefer it platonically than romantically. Nothing wrong with the ship, it’s just not my cup of tea.

Gateshipping (Ema x Ryoken)

No. She seems a little too old for him. I know Ryoken is 18 but that still seems too young to be dating someone who’s seemingly in her mid twenties.

Hireshipping (Ema x Akira)

I mean… I admittedly shipped this a bit on my first viewing, despite my meme about Ema being a lesbian. But like… I can kinda see this ship and her being bi instead. So, this is a very light “I ship it” but… yeah, I kinda do.

Hotdogshipping (Yusaku x Shoichi)

No. They’re stupidly far apart in age (with Yusaku also being a minor) and I always interpreted their relationship as more of a brotherly one.

Hydrogenshipping (Lightning x Aqua)

Absolutely freaking not, I might like Lightning as a character but Aqua deserves way better than them!

Ignisshipping (Ai x Aqua x Earth x Flame x Lightning x Windy)

…okay, I don’t particularly ship any pair in this romantically (besides Aqua/Earth) but I’m gonna say I ship it out of the humour and chaos factors alone. This is hilarious.

Infectshipping (Aso x Kyoko)

Yeah sure. I get behind this. I can especially get behind these two being a couple and also acting like parental or older sibling figures to Ryoken. That’s cute.

Lieutenantshipping (Aso x Genome x Kyoko)

I don’t like Genome. This ship is better without him.

Manipulateshipping (Ema x Kengo)

HARD NO. THEY ARE SIBLINGS.

Yes, half siblings, but they’re still related by blood and know they’re siblings. If this ship came about before it was revealed they were siblings, then I get it, but they’re siblings now so this ship is a hard no for me.

Mascotshipping (Ai x Shoichi)

Nah. Although the reason behind the name is funny.

Monkeyshipping (Ryoken x Shima)

Again, really funny ship name but I don’t particularly ship it. I wouldn’t be adverse to reading about it though. I have plenty of ships that revolve around the concept of annoying the shit out of Ryoken and honestly? The more the merrier. It’s what he deserves.

Monopolyshipping (Poly SOL executives)

…okay this is the best ship name out of all of them. It’s funny as shit but also legitimately clever. I’m won over to it by that fact alone… even though I don’t know exactly what the ship entails XD

Moonlightshipping (Miyu x Yusaku)

Wow. What a pretty ship name for a ship I give absolutely no shits about. I’d take it over Yusaku/Aoi, mostly because I can imagine Miyu’s adult personality to be whatever I want it to be (which for me is very positive and extroverted, so a good contrast to Yusaku’s introverted pessimism) so I can see them having actual chemistry beyond friendship. Plus Aoi and Ai acting as wingmen to Miyu and Yusaku respectively is a really cute idea, especially if it’s with the intent of inducing them into a polycule.

…actually you know what? I take it back, I can actually get behind this ship. It’s obviously not one of my favourites or anything, but I could see it being potentially cute.

Motherearthshipping (Earth x Spectre)

Yeah, I ship it. Spectre needs someone in his life he can feel close to who doesn’t have power over him in some way. Uh… spoilers for a later take I guess. This ship is good though.

Pathwayshipping (Ema x Shoichi)

No. I’m pretty sure the only reason this is a ship is because of that dub exclusive scene where Kusanagi… really crosses the customer service line and flirts with one of his customers. Gross. No. Bad.

Patronshipping (Ryoken x Shoichi)

Speaking of shipping Kusanagi with his customers! Yeah, I don’t like this one either. I’m sorry, the art is really pretty and some of the concepts are neat but Kusanagi is waaay too old for him. An 8 year age gap might not be a big deal for people who are 30 and 38 or something but Ryoken is 18 and Kusanagi is 26. You can argue Ryoken acts older but within the show, it is plot relevant that he is around the same age as the lost incident kids, one of which is Kusanagi’s little brother. Ryoken is closer in age to Jin than Kusanagi, who is also a lot older than Jin. So it’s uncomfortable.

Perennialshipping (Aoi x Kiku)

Huh. I didn’t know Kiku was shipped with anyone other than Takeru to be honest. Blue Maiden and Swift Storm should duel. Maybe date I dunno. Cute idea.

Phoenixshipping (Aoi x Takeru)

Okay, super dope ship name, don’t really care for the ship itself. Though that being said, out of the “Superhero” throupple (which I’ll get to) this is probably the pairing I can most understand. Takeru’s fanboying over and admiration for Blue Girl could easily turn into a crush and post canon they could comfort each other over the losses of their Ignis. And maybe bond over them if they ever got them back. I like that better platonically since I prefer other ships, but I can understand this ship.

Pistolshipping (Kengo x Ryoken)

Great ship name but like Kusanagi/Ryoken, Kengo is too old for him. Actually, I think it’s even worse in Kengo’s case because he’s quite a bit older than Ema, who’s also too old for Ryoken, something we learned was the case before these two even met. I’m sorry but a character being “legally of age” does not make large age gaps like these less uncomfortable for me.

Piushipping (Ai x Ryoken)

Ha. And I thought TakeRyo was a hate ship before this ship made its way into my life. I just think that the funniest way for Ai to get his revenge on the Ignis hating dirtbag would be for Ryoken to catch feels for him. Especially if Ai… well, I want to keep this post SFW so let’s just say that while I do ship this, it’s mostly for the memes and *clears throat* NSFW reasons.

Poltergeistshipping (Ema x Yusaku)

No. She’s too old for him. Moving on.

Proveshipping (Aoi x Akira)

No. That’s incest and has a stupidly large age gap of ten years, not to mention he sort of raised her. That’s gross. Moving on.

Rainwatershipping (Aoi x Aqua x Miyu)

Yes! Water throupple! The two water ladies should absolutely have shared custody of the sweet water bean!

Respectfulshipping (Spectre x Ryoken)

I am so sorry, MerryFortune, I love your work, but uh… Ryokie here has too much power over Spectre and recently (while writing Flame of Life especially), I’ve been thinking of these two like siblings. I’m not gonna cry incest or anything, as that’s just my interpretation of their relationship but that and the power imbalance make it really hard for me to see this as a romantic pair like I once did.

Yeah about that… this is actually the only Yugioh ship I’ve ever fallen out of love with. I shipped it when I first watched late season 2, as I disliked both of them at the time and those episodes made me take notice of the fact that despite everything, Spectre and Ryoken actually cared about each other, which I thought was really cute. And I still do, it just… doesn’t work romantically for me. I’d take it over Datastorm though.

Recoilshipping (Takeru x Ryoken)

Damn. Going right from my first Ryoken ship to the one I dropped that ship for. Well, okay, it’s not that simple, but I did start getting into TakeRyo around the time that SpecRyo began falling from grace in my mind. So TakeRyo is like the foundation of what I want out of a Ryoken ship: someone who’s his opposite, who’s willing to call him out on his BS, and be forward enough to annoy/fluster him. Well, in my writing at least, Ryoken was the more forward one at first, and for this particular ship, both work for me but yes I do have a preference for Takeru being the more forward/confident one, at least when they actually start dating. So yeah anyways I ship it. I like how they went from hating each other to being actually kinda okay with each other by the end of the series and damn is their second duel one of my favourites in the whole series.

Roboaishipping (Ai x Roboppi)

No. The jokes about them uh… being intimate in early season 1 feels like early series weirdness with their relationship in season 2 and especially season 3 shifting to more of a brotherly bond. And unlike SpecRyo, that is actually canon: at least to an extent, Roboppi calls Ai “big bro” and just generally looks up to him like an older brother. Even if they aren’t blood related, that is still the relationship they have so I can’t bring myself to ship it. Plus like Haru, Roboppi is baby, he is my son, I can’t ship him with someone who’s far more mature and just older seeming!

Wait a minute… Haru and Roboppi… Haru and… Roboppi… okay, new ship. Haru/Roboppi, Robobroshipping, named so for them both being robots with older brother figures, who’s with me? :D

Rockdustshipping (Earth x Ryoken x Spectre)

Merry, is this ship name your handiwork? :) I know you ship it and as much as I don’t like SpecRyo, I can actually kind of get behind this. Because shipping Ryoken with Ignis is a fun pastime plus EarthSpec and polyamory are certified bangers.

…I just realised it might have been important to note that I’m polyamorous earlier in this post.

Royalghostshipping (Queen x Ema)

No. Ema deserves better. I don’t ship her with Hayami either but even that would be better. Although the most ideal outcome from this set of characters would be the two mean girls getting together and creating the most toxic workplace on earth… okay I probably shouldn’t have described that as ideal. Oops.

Safeshipping (Akira x Shoichi)

Uuuuuuuuugh. Soft nah on this one. There’s nothing wrong with it, I just don’t see the appeal.

Saviorshipping (Ryoken x Spectre x Yusaku)

I don’t like either of these two with Ryoken because he has too much power over both of them, Spectre more so but Ryoken/Yusaku also has the problem of Yusaku putting Ryoken up on a pedestal, just to a lesser degree. And, it’s an issue that would probably be exacerbated by putting the three of them together. So this ship is a no from me.

Scytheshipping (Ema x Kyoko)

Yay! A decent lady for Ema! I ship it!

Yeah, she was a cyber terrorist I guess but she eventually did the right thing :)

Stauroliteshipping (Earth x Aoi)

I am confused why this is a ship (because Aoi took in Aqua maybe?) Cool ship name though, really creative.

Subservientshipping (Jin x Spectre)

Back when I disliked Spectre I hated this ship. Now I’m pretty neutral to it. I can’t think of a particular reason to dislike it but I can’t say I care for it either.

Superheroshipping (Aoi x Takeru x Yusaku)

I love these three as a group of platonic friends. These three plus Ai, Ryoken, and Miyu are pretty much a clique in my VRAINS long fics but I don’t particularly care for it being romantic.

Teardropshipping (Aoi x Aqua)

I mean as you could probably tell from my cheers of “water throupple! :D” earlier, I ship this. I think it’s cute how Aoi took her in and how supportive Aqua was of her in their duels. I wish we could’ve seen more of them together. Duel Links, I’m still pissed at you for fucking up Revolver so badly, but make this happen!

Tornadoshipping (Windy x Lightning)

No. Lightning is so bad at making friends they have to either create them or brainwash them. Sweet lil Wimdy would never have gone along with Lightning’s plans if not for them brainwashing him! Which is 100% canon, rewatch Lightning vs Revolver, they explicitly say this.

But yeah anyways my point is Windy deserves better.

Trickmirrorshipping (Ryoken x Aoi)

Eeeeeeeeh. Ryoken did try to kill her back when he was evil, but I ship pairings who’ve done far worse to each other. And having another character on team Ignis punching Revolver in the face with their lips is always a good thing…

Wait, am I only considering this because I ship Ryoken/Aqua?

Okay, well, uh, I’d never write this (because I see Ryoken as a gay man who only initially made an exception for Aqua cuz tentacles) but this is honestly a decent ship. Like, if I was tasked with shipping Ryoken with a girl, and it had to be a ship with an official name, this would be my pick.

Vaporshipping (Flame x Aqua)

Meh. They get along pretty well so I can understand where this came from. Not my thing though.

Vestashipping (Ema x Flame)

I’m not surprised this ship exists since they’ve canonically flirted. But uh. No.

Wildfireshipping (Takeru x Spectre)

This seems like it would be very messy. Could work I suppose, though it’s not a ship I’m all that drawn to.

Wisteriashipping (Yusaku x Spectre)

One of my newest ships. I got into this one while straight up searching for characters to ship Spectre with and out of the human pairings, this one stuck out to me the most. So I read a fic about it and… yeah I really like it. I’m very into opposites attract narratives if you can’t tell and these two had the exact opposite reaction to the Lost Incident. Interesting drama :)

Zinniashipping (Aoi x Miyu)

More flowers. Guess these two are water girls and flower girls. Maybe they’re mermaids? :D Anyways, Aoi/Miyu is a yes. They were the tertiary ship in The Lost is Found (even in the bonus chapters) and are featured again and Flame of Life so I think that was obvious. Maybe childhood friends to lovers is also just a favourite trope of mine because I started shipping it pretty much as soon as it was introduced. Maybe it’s the Lion King fan in me.

Okay, bonus ship time! Disclaimer: these are all Ryoken ships, he’s probably my most shipped character in anything.

First off, Ryoken/Miyu. Aka: a rarepair I respect enough to not steal its name, Watergunshipping, after I realised it was being unofficially used for them. Like Ryoken/Aoi, it’s not my thing at all due to my preferences/headcanons but like if people wanna make it an official ship I’d vote in the polls for its name.

Next, Ryoken/Lightning. I suggested a ship name for them but it was generic and I didn’t care enough about this pairing to come up with a new name or push any harder for it to have an official name. Because the only reason I wrote about it was to complete a set, it is not a functioning pairing in the slightest for many reasons. They cannot stand each other. And between the two of them, I actually root for Ryoken more than Lightning so the concept of Lightning getting revenge isn’t even particularly appealing.

Finally, Ryoken/Aqua. My one true exception to Ryoken being exclusively into men. Came for her tentacles, stayed for her cute, beautiful, wonderful soul- I have a crush on Aqua, I admit it. But also pairing the lying gruff tsundere disaster man with the sweet gentle living lie detector Ignis is just a hilarious idea to me. Some of the other Ignis might openly flirt with and try to seduce him, Aqua would just exist around him and watch with a smile as he falls further in love. This is probably the reason I’m a little more okay with Ryoken/Aoi and Ryoken/Miyu. I don’t ship either of them but if he’s with them, Aqua will be close by. Neeheehee :)

[kanamori-kamper-moved]

23, 18, 16, 1, 7 for the askgame :-)

23. Ship I’ve unwillingly come across?

Probably skyshipping or the fact that there are like 10 yusho x Yuya (which is literally FATHER AND SON INCEST??) fics on ao3. Life is pain.

18. A ship this fandom has been sleeping on

DEFINITELY Kazuma x Vetrix from Zexal. They literally have chemistry and like a good half of the WDC arc is dedicated to Vetrix planning his revenge on Faker because he believed he killed his boyfriend. Vetrix was in LOVE with that man I tell you. There are multiple times where Vetrix says how Kazuma was the most intelligent and crafty man he knew, and even if he was evil, his plans were started with good intentions. YUGIOH OLD MAN YAOI IS REALLLLLLL

The character everyone gets wrong

it’s either Syrus or Yusho for me. It feels like the GX and Arc-V fandom has a hateboner dor both of them when both of them have done almost no wrong. Syrus is literally just a Self conscious teenager who’s worried he won’t amount to anything and while Yusho is kinda stinky poopoo for leaving his family, by the time he was reintroduced to the story it was at the time where the shows writing was imploding on itself so technically it’s not his fault. HES JUST A DAD WHOS TRYING TO BE JOYOUS

16. I can’t understand why people like this thing

I don’t See the appeal of main girl x main guy yugioh ships. I was a big fan of peachshipping when I was a child but now I’m just kind of annoyed with it.

Yugiohs writing has an issue with mysogny and general sexism, to the point where the woman don’t do anything unless it’s for the sake of a man. Hell, it’s even worse in Zexal. Half of Yumas female friends are just apart of his harem and have no personality than “I like Yuma” and contribute nothing else to the plot. It’s really sad because their designs are VERY cute yet they do nothing with it.

The worst example of this is the fact that people legitimately ship Kaito x Droite/Dextra when it’s origin comes from sexism. Dextra was randomly made to have a crush on Kaito just so Vetrix could beat her ass in a duel like five minutes later, then her crush was forgotten entirely after this.

In conclusion, straight ships in yugioh are not that good!!!

7. What character did you begin to hate not because of canon but because of how the fandom acts about them?

No character, but I have mild annoyance when I watch Vrains because the way people treat Aoi Zaizen is absolutely disgusting, stop acting like she’s a damsel in distress and that Yusaku has to save her like HOLY SHIT. Also Yusaku is canonically gay so nice job calling yourself out on your bigotry!

That’s it, I think

[fullanimebyfunny]

What If MMX-Multiverse-Anime Were in KHXhero

Team X:

Mega Man X

Alia

Zero

Axl

Iris

Layer

Pallette

Steel Massimo

Cinnamon

Marino

Nana

Kirby

Tiff

Tuff

Meta Knight

MegaMan.EXE

Lan Hikari

Dino Rey

Max Taylor

Chomp

Naruto

Yuri Lowell

Duke Pantarei

Yusaku Fujiki

Aoi Zaizen

Sailor Moon

Shrek

Team Sonic

Sonic the Hedgehog

Sally Acorn

Tails

Knuckles

Shadow the Hedgehog

Amy Rose

Cream the Rabbit

Sora

Kairi

Riku

Roxas

Xion

Axol

Vex

Aqua

Terra

King Mickey

Donald

Goofy

Danny Phantom

Ratchet

Clank

Jak

Daxter

Lincoln Loud

Jake Long

Ben Tennyson (Omniverse)

Captain Japan

Marshall

Star Butterfly

Marco

Mordecai

Rigby

[duelistkingdom]

Favorite ships beside Aki and Yusei

i more or less listed them in my card

but some of em i forgot to mention now that i'm working thru the spin offs (and rewatching some of them)

dm/s0:

mokuba x rebecca mai x aileen

i also am very partial to my oc/canon ship of yugi/kazuko, keket/atem, and yugi/kazuko/keket/atem

gx:

fubuki x ryo choiceshipping's getting 2 me as of late

yubel/jaden seems crunchy, and johan/judai is DEFINITELY a little bit cute

zexal:

so far i really like a lot of yuma pairings! sharkbait seems cute and skyshipping is pretty cute. yuma/fuya was ALSO pretty good negl. and whatever cathy/kotori seems like it'd be a hoot

vrains:

i love the concept of aoi/yusaku so far. i also think ai/yusaku is crunchy in terms of dynamic. idk, vrains's story just winds up being more fascinating than shipping to me

[crazychiyomiwa]

Top 3 fav anime pairings?

Hmmm my current favorite anime pairings will be:

#1) Seth x Melie (Radiant) < This is kinda obvious as the story goes. Plus this is some real OTP qualities here plus this is the first time I actually like a ship better than NaLu from Fairy Tail lmao! My top 1 favorite ship currently.

#2) Asta x Mimosa (Black Clover) < Tbh, Mimosa is way better in terms of romance development with Asta than generic tsundere Noelle-chan here. Mimosa all the way! #TeamMimosa.

#3) Yusaku x Aoi (Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS) < Generic Main male and female protagonist pairing in Yu-Gi-Oh! and my favorite among all Yu-Gi-Oh! series aside Judai x Asuka from Yu-Gi-Oh! GX. But seriously, they look really good together especially on personality wise.

[kusanagistan]

for @duelistkingdom 💙

[gigiheart]

Interviewer: What's Playmaker's best quality?

Blue Angel: His ass.

Interviewer: Can you repeat that--

Blue Angel: His assertive personality.

[wojira]

if someone were to ask me about it i wouldnt even know where to start

[zexal--arc-v--1412]

I love this ship!!!!!

Yusaku and Aoi ftw

Please leave any constructive criticism!

[alexandrite-dragoness]

YGO VRAINS: Saved by the Greeting

(Idea of after series or sometime in the future)

It was a nice breezy afternoon. Yusaku sits on a bench by the hot dog stand and eats his lunch, Ignis still stuck inside his duel disk, looks bored out of his mind.

“Man, I wonder what food taste like,” If AIs could get hungry, Ignis would be one of the craviest. “How how things are made I bet it’s tasty.”

Yusaku just ignores his comment, still eating on the hot dog he just ordered. Ignis decided to get his attention this time, for sure.

“You knowww...” The AI starts. “I bet it would be better for you to have company than sitting on this bench by yourself...”

Yusaku still doesn’t show any sign of attention. Ignis continues.

“How is Aoi doing anyway? I haven’t heard much from her recently... Have you two been seeing each other?” Ignis looks at Yusaku eagerly for any reaction. The young man then looks down at it.

“That’s because we haven’t seen each other since spring break. Now how about you mind your own business for once?”

“Fiiiiinnee...” Ignis rolls his eye, but couldn’t help but to speak again, having something in mind. “Come on now you should hang out with her more often. It’s not healthy to be anti-social you know.”

“I have Schoichi. That’s someone.”

“Noooo I mean accompany with a female. Not some older guy who practically lives in his own van. Come on,” The AI then shows what appears to be bedroom eyes. “Don’t you want to give her some lovin’?”

Yusaku couldn’t be more oblivious. “I’m not understanding your kinks here.”

Ignis doesn’t mind going into more detail, being a sly AI like he is. “Ahhh you know? Hanging out at home, having some privacy with her....alone~”

“I’m done talking to you.” Was Yusaku’s plain response.

“Weeelllllll too bad. Come on Yusaku, be a man. Make out with her for crying out loud...” He then glances at his lunch, even danced with the idea a little. “And maybe even sliding that hot dog of yours into her bun while you’re at it. Huh, huh?”

Yusaku then lets go of his grip and dropped his hot dog onto the ground, looking very stern when hearing his last sentence. “That’s it, time to get rid of you.”

“Wait, what!? What are you doing?” Ignis begins freaking out.

Yusaku then takes out his own laptop and plugged his duel disk into it. He definitely looks frustrated. “All I have to do now is erase you from existence. You’re no use to me anymore anyway.”

“You wouldn’t!” Ignis’s eyes narrowed.

“I’ll give you three reasons.” And surely enough Yusaku was one click away from erasing him for sure. Ignis became nervous.

“Wait wait wait I was just playing. Whatever you do don’t--!”

“Yusaku~”

The boy stopped and looked over, seeing a honey brown-haired girl coming from a distance. She waves a hello to him and walks over.

“How are you? It looked like you dropped your hot dog over there.” Aoi asks curiously, happy to see him after a while.

“Fine.” He simply answered. “How are you?”

“Alright so far.” She smiled, then looked away shyly. “Hey, uhmm I was wondering... uhh maybe...?”

Yusaku looked in concern, making Aoi more nervous already. She made a sigh before continuing.

“W-Would you like to come over later this evening? I’m free if... you don’t mind...”

Yusaku then puts his laptop away, still sitting down. “I’m sure there’s no harm. Your brother’s working late tonight?”

Aoi just nodded. “So... you’re free tonight?”

Yusaku blinked, but then returns a nod. “I am.”

“G-Great! I mean...” She felt she went a little too excited, clearing her throat to cover that up. “Good. You know my address?”

“I can find out myself actually.”

Aoi then looked uneasy. “You’re not planning to hack to find out aren’t you?”

Yusaku made a silent chuckle in his throat, something rare to see from him. “You can just text me the address. I’ll know my way there.”

“Alright.” She takes her leave. “See ya later then.”

Yusaku watches as she leaves out of sight, not knowing what to feel about visiting her. He accepted her request, but without thinking through. He wasn’t sure about the idea, but... turns out they’ll be meeting at her place later in the day.

Ignis sighing in big relief. “I’ve been saved by an angel...”

[merryfortune]

Legend & Lore: the Deep Sea

AN: Posting this now seems like a good idea :3c

AN: Inspired by artworks by @insanitytragedy [specifically this one]

Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh! Vrains

Ship: Yusaku/Aoi

Warnings: Character Death, Madness, Dark Themes, Canon Divergent

Word Count: 3832

Synopsis:  Nowadays, they say that you can’t have legends and lore without a little bit of blood and gore.

In which the mysterious hacker pursues the mysterious siren that inhbits the patches of corrupted game data known as the deep seas.

  Game lore states there are monsters in the winds; in the harrowing winds of the Speed Duel. Yusaku knows. He’s reached into the depths of the unknown and pulled one out and tamed it.

  Legend, however, states there are sentient, living creatures in the pockets of patched up and ruined data known as as the “deep seas”. Not quite AIs, definitely not players looking to stir up trouble either. True, living creatures with thoughts and actions that are not predetermined by a real person using an avatar nor predetermined by a computer doing its best to handle the output.

  Legends that are unreliable. Friend of a friend. Quibbles over the massive chat log that get lost in between the hundreds of thousands of conversations between no one. And everyone. Yusaku doesn’t pay much heed to baseless rumour. To what amounts to creepypasta. He doesn’t need to.

  Game. Set. Match.

  Yusaku logs out and pulls himself out of hiding spot with a sigh. He’s sweaty and frustrated. He had come too close in that last Duel to losing. Every game is life or death and he’s already lost too much; he’s got so much he can win back.

  Kusanagi greets him with a sparkle in his eye. Impressed. Yusaku sits down next to him and is impressed. He hands him a bottle of water; it’s lukewarm in Yusaku’s hand.

  ‘Well done, Playmaker.’

  ‘I almost lost.’

  ‘But you didn’t. And you should be thankful.’

  ‘…I am.’

  Kusanagi swivelled in his chair and chucked his thumb over his shoulder to indicate the monitor. Yusaku showed little interest but acknowledged that Kusanagi wanted to bring something up.

  ‘You and I both know that artificial intelligence is somehow muddled up in this whole Knights of Hanoi business. But you and I also know that independent artificial intelligenc isn’t… fully functional. Yet. However,’ Kusanagi paused and Yusaku glared, sceptical, ‘I have reason to believe it will be soon. During that Duel, I picked up… unusual patterns. Someone – or, more specifically, something – managed to get past my barrier. Before the Duel, that zone was empty. No one came in, no one left. But something was there. And it ws moving erratically. I think you have a fan, Playmaker.’

  Yusaku slumped over the desk. He tapped his cheek.

  ‘Doubt it.’

  ‘Clear your schedule, tomorrow, you’re logging in and we’re going to go deep sea fishing. Let’s see if we can find ourselves a piece of artificial intelligence.’

  Yusaku straightened up and yawned. He flexed his hands. ‘Well, we better route the parts of data most susceptible to deteriorating and becoming part of the so-called deep sea system. If we’re lucky, since it’s only been a few minutes since I logged out, we might be able to get a trace on my “fan” but we shouldn’t get our hopes up. It could have just been… a bug.’

  ‘I dunno, Yusaku. I think we’re going to get lucky.’

  The two spent a good portion of the evening making preparations for their deep sea fishing, as Kusanagi had called it. Unfortunately, mere hours later, an unforeseen disruption to their exploration had occurred. Said disruption came in the arrogant, inhuman form of a popular charisma duelist known as “Ignis”.

 Ignis was the Vrains persona of an as of yet unknown person; presumably male but there were rumours of Ignis belonging to a female Duelist. Given Ignis’ avatar, it was hard to tell if Ignis was supposed to be male presenting to begin with. There was little in the way of either clothing and anatomy, instead some cartoonish-looking character with inky black skin and a purple web pattern and bulbous head. Despite being of small stature, Ignis carried quite the large demeanour and prescence on the Vrains.

  Ignis has been vying for the top spot of number one Charisma Duelist for a while now: cocky, arrogant, but puts on a great show. He and GO had been at odds for ages but now Yusaku – no, Playmaker – is the number one duelist in Vrains and Ignis is aggressively eying that title. He’s issued challenge after challenge but today, Playmaker finally accepted for this was no fight for popularity. No, there are larger forces at play.

  Ignis had been instated, albeit temporarily, as a Knight of Hanoi.

  It was a dirty fight. Trick after trick, deception and traps abound but Playmaker pulled through. For himself. For the crowd. It was a riveting duel but a selfish one. Flashy, spectacular, and full of twists: a conversation, of sorts, wherein it was two people greedily yelling at each other but tactfully disguising it as fair play and civility.

  But Playmaker pulled through, at the last second, after a destiny draw and sealed Ignis’ fate in a loss. The evil planted in him dissipated and his card, token of the Knight of Hanoi’s affection for him, banished. It was all well and good but Speed Duels are always a matter of life and death.

  Ignis made one mistake and it almost cost him his life.

  He was making rude remark after rude remark. Yes, he had enjoyed the duel but he didn’t enjoy the loss. That was the kind of person Ignis was. As such, he was passing off his dissatisfaction in cuss words and taunts. Playmaker couldn’t have cared less. He was about to make his temporary escape.

  He turned his back on Ignis but in the corner of his eye, he saw Ignis slip. Such a mistake would likely kill his corporeal form especially from this height. They were above the city and a vicious wind was raking the space between them and the virtual cement; cracked and turned to something akin to water.

  There was a single moment that felt like an eternity. Ignis’ eyes widened as he fell back and his arms outspread by his side. His mouth gaped and he blinked. Like, he didn’t quite believe what was happening. Fortunately, Playmaker could believe that the foolish duelist had fallen off his D-Board.

  Ignis hissed before he screamed. Playmaker whipped back around and instinct took his mind before logic could. Before Kusanagi could.

  Playmaker grabbed Ignis and yanked him back, they traded places in peril. Then Ignis rolled over and blew a raspberry at Playmaker. Playmaker braced himself for the worst and snuck a glance over his shoulder.

  ‘No one beats Ignis-sama and gets away with it.’ he taunted.

  Ignis floated in the digital space. He happily hung out like he was on a gently swinging hammock. Meanwhile, Playmaker was plummeting. He could feel the rush for real. His heart pounded in his chest.

  Yusaku closed his eyes and accepted that, for the first time in years, Vrains will have claimed another casualty. Finally, the mysterious hacker’s identity would come to light. He just wished that he could have reclaimed his past first. He has no doubt in his mind that Ignis would have no qualms over his death.

  Playmaker, no, Yusaku slips into the unknown.

  It’s not like a dive into a pool. It’s more like slipping into a recuperating sleep. Unfeeling but welcoming. His body goes numb but he’s not dead. He’s not dying.

  But that makes it sound too serene. Phasing through the protected realm of vrains into the deep sea is far from peaceful. He’s just experiencing a terrible dissonance between what is happening and what he’s feeling. He actively recognises that nothing is real. He can’t feel anything in his fingers because, technically, they’re not real; not to mention gloved too but some part of his brain refuses to accept that so, his fictional clothes become heavy with fictional water. His eyes sting and he’s gulping down water in lieu of air, not on purpose of course but nevertheless, his lungs are filling with imaginary sea water.

  His eyes flutter shut. He feels infinity at his fingertips. Infinity feels strangely like electricity. Tingling and gradually getting hotter. Yusaku sinks further into the unknown depths of zeroes and ones; of bubbles and seaweed. There was a grave pressure on his chest and he could hear his bones creak and bow beneath it; not snapping, yet, for there was nothing actually pressing upon them. He truly feels like he was at the bottom of the ocean; if the bottom of the ocean was a fault in a highly complex video game data.

  No one’s ever clipped through into the deep sea. The deep sea is highly protected and strongly guarded. It was thought to be impossible to clip through, and yet he had. Playmaker had phased through the other side of where the internet was thought to be impossible to touch. No one expects him to return alive.

  Nor does Playmaker. Nor does Yusaku.

  However, there is one. An unprecedented “one” in this cold, watery sea of “zeroes”.

  A giggle. A light chortle with something deviant lurking beneath its innocence. It sounds almost like the chimes of bells. Yusaku opens his eyes and everything is glitching. He thinks. He’s not certain. It could be his eyes playing tricks on him. It could be the game playing tricks on his eyes. But then, he sees her.

  And she’s beautiful.

  Or, at least, her avatar is.

  She comes closer and Playmaker sighs. He grimly accepts his fate. She comes closer still and clasps her hands either side of his face. She’s curious. She can’t be felt. Her fingers clip through part of her face and her tail twists and sashays to keep them both afloat. The loose, fluttery white fabrics of her outfit are battered by the inertia.

  She feels around the data of Playmaker’s persona and learns of him. She smiles to herself and decides that she will try and save him. After all, this is not their first meeting. It would appear the final hour was upon them: the hour in which Playmaker, no, her beloved Fujiki Yusaku would deliver upon his promise.

  So, she saves him so he would have the opportunity to return the favour like she always dreamed he would.

  She removes her fingers from his face and he falls in love with hers. It’s like a fairy tale for the modern age: superficial and nonsensical whilst maintaining the long honoured traditions of disturbance and cruelty. She is careful to not breach the sensitive data keeping Playmaker’s avatar in tact so she can remain strong enough to pull him through. Unlike him, the data that comprises her is far more flexible. No barrier can keep her out or in. He’s a lot more difficult and cumbersome but, nevertheless, she succeeds in bringing him to the surface.

  Kusanagi, meanwhile in the real world, succeeds in keeping Yusaku alive and breathing. Safe.

  She decides that she doesn’t want to leave the water. She remains by his side though. She idly watches as Playmaker spasms. She watches his back arch as he slams himself down, trying to rid himself of the imgarinary water in his imaginary lungs. He grunts and moans. She giggles. She thinks its funny. Cute even.

  Playmaker comes to and doesn’t log out. He’s hazy and aching. He’s definitely dying now that he can make sense of what he’s trying to process. He turns his head and she catches his eyes. He is quickly ensnared by her unearthly appearance. She’s too solid. She’s too real. She’s not real.

  But she’s beautiful. Large eyes and a button nose. She’s busty but it’s hard to tell with all her jewelery slung around her neck and how the fabrics she’s wrapped up in flutter. She looks as though she has wings. She looks as though she might have had wings once. There is a sense that she is ripped up and broken despite seeming as perfect as a porcelain doll.

  ‘Who are you?’ Playmaker asked; his hands shaking by his side as he tries to make sense of her. Of himself. Of his surroundings.

  ‘Blue Angel.’

  Again, she laughs.

  ‘Are you a duelist?’

  ‘Not yet. I’m still putting together a deck. It’s very difficult, you know when you have to steal the data.’

  ‘Who are you?’

  ‘A siren.’

  Yusaku glares at her. There’s all sorts of weirdos on the internet but Blue Angel doesn’t strike him as one. He examines her avatar. Blue. Lots of it. Blue hair, blue eyes a blue tie around her neck. She basically blends in the water. She’s vaguely angelic too with her fluttering fins at her lower back where human-like skin turned to azure scales. Yusaku couldn’t help but be reminded of the old adage: the more beautiful and colourful, the more venomous.

  Blue Angel huffs. Sick of Yusaku’s scepticism.

  ‘Fine. I’m a rogue AI.’

  ‘And here I thought I would find you.’

  ‘I’ve wanted to meet you for a while, Playmaker. You and I… we’re alike.’

  ‘We are?’

  ‘Well, if we’re ever found by the wrong people, we are doomed to be deleted, correct?’

  ‘…Correct.’

  ‘See? Plenty in common already…’

  Playmaker got to his feet. He craned over his shoulder. He need to escape. He needed to go to the hospital.

  ‘Promise you’ll come and play again.’

  ‘I make no promises. Especially not ones I don’t know if I can keep.’

  Blue Angel became mournful.

  ‘I’ll wait. Forever.’

  She slunk into the water and her eyes became luminous. Her lips move beneath the water and bubbles and ripples shatter the stillness of it. It also caused disruptions to the water’s rendering. It spreads and breaks: unnatural waves.

  ‘Bye, bye.’

  Playmaker logs out once she leaves. Blue Angel gave him a bad feeling. It was deep and torrid. Visceral. It revived an unknown emotion in him: one he had long forgotten. One that he couldn’t explain. Especially not in a state like this. But he could connect it to his voided past. He just didn’t know how.

  Yusaku skipped school for the next few days to recover. He wasn’t the same after his accident; after his encounter with the siren AI known as Blue Angel.

  When he was in good enough shape to think clearly, his first matter of business was to dissect the Vrains for Blue Angel from the safety of his monitor. Not from the inside of Vrains. He hacked through every strain of data and information he could find with Kusanagi in tow. The information that they reaped in return was not what they expected.

  They found old player records belonging to a Zaizen Aoi. She had been Blue Angel before her account was forcibly deleted. The avatar Aoi used, parts of it, had become the rogue AI calling itself Blue Angel: the face, mostly. The AI had transformed the avatar from a winged human to a mermaid. Little wonder: wings would be useless submerged in the depths of the fictitious ocean.

  ‘Do you think we can believe her?’ Yusaku asked as he folded his arms.

  He wanted to believe. He wanted to meet her again.

  ‘We have no login or log-out records for the Blue Angel you encountered. The commandeered avatar is almost definitely its own entity. A simple stalk of Zaizen Aoi’s internet history show that she hasn’t logged into Vrains since her account was forcibly deleted. I have reason to believe that she hasn’t been in a duel since.’ Kusanagi replied with a shrug.

  ‘We have to keep her safe.’

  ‘Zaizen or Angel?’ Kusanagi raised an eyebrw.

  Yusaku shuddered.

  Kusanagi sighed then diplomatically stated: ‘We need to find out if there are other rogue AIs.’

  ‘Blue Angel takes first priority.’

  Kusanagi glanced at Yusaku. His eyes had been taken over by an obsession that twisted them a darker hue of green; or maybe, it was just the light from the monitor slightly discolouring them. Kusanagi hummed. He folded his arms.

  ‘A little obsessed, aren’t you?’

  ‘She’s an improbable existence. She’s fascinating.’ Yusaku admitted. ‘Scientifically speaking.’

  He hastily added that after he had come to a complete stop in his dialogue.

  ‘Mmhm.’ Kusanagi nodded. He sighed. ‘Well, assuming all the deep seas are connected then we’ve already narrowed it down. We can rule out downtown Vrains as well. Too many people know she’s been there so she’s likely avoiding it like plague.’

  ‘But there’s still thousands of digital kilometres that she could be spanning. And we don’t know the full extent of her abilities, she could have the ability to leave the Vrains and enter other internet accesses.’

  ‘I don’t think that’s likely given that her entire existence hinges on Vrains. I don’t believe she would be able to sustain form outside of Vrains.’

  ‘Do you think she can be captured?’

  ‘Captured how?’

  ‘Do you think we could download her to a duel disc? Like the other AIs? Presumably, she has cannibalised one of those and from that, she cannibalised Zaizen’s Blue Angel and likely gained sentience along the way.’

  ‘You want to take the mermaid’s freedom?’ Kusanagi asked. Genuine concern filtered into his voice and it scared Yusaku to his core.

  He hadn’t expected defiance from Kusanagi. Questioning from Kusanagi. He put his hand over his heart and bunched the fabric separating them in his hand. He couldn’t really feel it. His sensory understanding was still numb at best. At this point, he wasn’t expecting for it to return to the way it was before his accident. At least he could feel the movement of his heart though: a slow and steady pulse. It reminded him that he was real. Lately, that simple little fact was slipping form him mind. Frequently too.

  He took a breath and closed his eyes. ‘Yes.’ He decided at long last.

  ‘…Interesting.’

  Kusanagi didn’t further interrogate Yusaku from there but Yusaku’s feelings on the matter were as transparent as glass. His intentions quietly reflected.

  But to Yusaku?

  He could barely decipher the bits and pieces of emotion he felt. He felt tinkered with and now, whenever he moved he could hear the rattle of something having been broken but couldn’t place it. On top of that, because he was still functioning, he couldn’t decide if he was broken at all. Instead, he was just rattling. Something had come loose.

  Yusaku swallowed. A desire as deep as the depths of the sea filled him. He refused to name it but he was apparent. Love, lust, obsession: Blue Angel. He took a breath and for a split second, he was drowning again. He widened his eyes and willed himself to remember he wasn’t online. He was Fujiki Yusaku. He wasn’t Playmaker. This was the real world, not Vrains. He swallowed again as his breath hitched his throat and a sweat broke out on his brow and dripped down his side. He clutched harder onto his shirt.

  ‘Are you okay?’ Kusanagi asked, panicking as he got his feet.

 His hands moved rapidly before Yusaku’s eyes but he could barely see them. They were blurry and Kusanagi was quickly moving out of focus as well. Yusaku shook himself. Took a breath. He willed himself to remain in a conscious, healthy state of mind but he was muddled nonetheless.

  ‘No. Yes. Just let me find her. I have to find her.’

  He heard that laugh again. Light, airy, twinkling like the chime of silver bells. That was Blue Angel’s laugh. He could hear her perfectly. Clear as day. Somehow, it calmed him down. The tension stringing along his shoulder in tight threads relaxed. Kusanagi relaxed too upon seeing Yusaku’s grip on himself lighten.

  ‘Are you okay?’

  Kusanagi sounded like Yusaku had water in his ears. He was vague and murky. Yusaku blinked then stared. And stared. But he could barely see a thing.

  He resolved to find her. He had to find her.

  Yusaku got up and grabbed his Duel Disc. He stormed off and he was unknowingly playing right into Blue Angel’s plans for him. He slams the door behind him and enters the virtual slipstream where he was likely to abandon the air – the winds – forever.

  Playmaker finds her easily enough. She was waiting for him. She watches him with her big, glittering blue eyes and beckons him to the pool where she waits. It’s a puddle in the virtual sidewalk. It’s quiet here. Almost abandoned. It’s almost like someone put a block on the area so only select people could visit.

  Blue Angel begins to sing. She sings a heavenly song that bubbles up from the depths of her throat. She doesn’t speak like she’s speaking through a microphone. That’s one thing that makes her distinct from the players. The players have a crackle of static electricity when they breathe. She doesn’t breathe.

  So, it’s to little eerie wonder as to why Yusaku becomes so entranced by her song. It pulls him in like the moon pulls in the tide. She’s haunting. Lovely. Indescribable. He thinks he’s in love.

  She’s lonely, you know?

  It’s awfully dark and dreary at the bottom of the ocean. She wants – needs – some company down there. Someone who understands how difficult it is to hide when they are everything the other – the commoners – desire in a celebrity. Someone who understands what it is like to hunt and be hunted; to always be teetering on the edge of life and death. Someone who understands what it’s like to phase through life and death. One and zero. And he was the only one to have ever done that. Now. And when he was smaller; younger.

  Finally, they can be together. Forever. Like Yusaku promised her when she was just… Blue. The tame AI. Like she had desired when Yusaku was just that: Yusaku, not Playmaker. He was a chosen child from the experiment. The one that went horribly, horribly wrong all those years ago. Of course, no one remembers. Why should they?

   Yusaku slips. He’s the one who makes the fatal mistake now. He’s too entranced by Blue Angel and her charm to care. He has no one looking out for him from the corner of their eye. So, he slips. He phases through the zeroes and ones once more except this time, he doesn’t emerge as a survivor.

  He sinks. Down and down. In a listless spiral and Blue Angel playfully joins him. She most certainly thinks it’s a game. She batters at him as his hands reach out. A slow regret poisons him. Perhaps, he shouldn’t have trusted the silver song of a siren. She’s not real. But then again, he’s not real either. Not anymore anyway as he sinks further into the deep sea where is transformed into Playmaker for the last time.

  Together… forever. Just like she always wanted. Like he thought he wanted in those tragic days of unreality.

  And now, it’s not just a siren you can find at the bottom of the deep seas but a ghoul: waterlogged and once human… if you believe the stories. The ones fools type out in the group chat: to everyone and no one.

  Nowadays, they say that you can’t have legends and lore without a little bit of blood and gore.

[xxxcrimsondreamsxxx]

UPDATE: Toxicity

08: Lights

"Oh! A festival!” Daisuke exclaimed suddenly as they left the school, walking back home together as usual.

Yusaku stopped next to him, and guided his gaze to the distraction of his partner, who read the poster like a blind man: "Bono… dori" he said. “That’s spanish, right?!

means

Will they give us a bonus?!”

The emerald-eyed boy sighed, keeping his hands in his pocket as he continued walking. "It's bon odori, a parade to say goodbye to the deceased," he explained simply, lately Yusaku was more expressive when addressing Daisuke, he was used to his way of acting as curious as If he didn't come from this world.

Yusaku waited for more questions to come about it, instead not only did he not hear Daisuke's voice, but also his footsteps, so he stopped his walk to turn slightly and glance at him, noticing that the boy looked stunned.

"Daisuke, are you okay?" He asked, frowning, barely hiding his concern from him. Sure, a festival to say goodbye to the deceased would be something pretty tough for Daisuke since he lost his entire family. He was about to offer to go, even though he had no plans to participate, but perhaps the stuff that applies to this festival will relax Daisuke's heart and allow him to send a message to his loved ones by bringing the lights to the river.

Yusaku couldn't do that, he had no dead family but no family that he remembered, they just left him to his fate after the incident. It was all based on absences, but not on clearly stated deaths.

Like Ai ...

What would Ai think of this festival? Would he want to send some lights for the Ignis? Perhaps he should participate for him, and wish the fallen Ignis a peaceful journey, wherever the AIs went when they died.

In the end he could not offer his participation to Daisuke because Daisuke had already started to speak after shaking a bit his head.

.

"I'm fine, why do you ask?  It was just a little curious to me," He laughed nervously."But, it's boring, I don't want to go. Well! See you tomorrow!” He just wave his hand, running in the opposite direction before Yusaku could stop him.

Daisuke probably knew of another shortcut to his residence, or he wasn't really coming home. Be that as it may, Yusaku knew that Daisuke needed to be alone, because death was a subject that he shouldn’t touch in front of him.

Suddenly, Yusaku's concern disappeared as quickly as an intense shudder appeared that made him tremble to the tips of his fingers. The weather suddenly turned cold in his solitude, and when he least expected it, he realized that it was snowing …

…in summer.

Keep reading on AO3

[seiya-starsniper]

have we come up with a formal name for aoi x yusaku yet? playangel? bluemaker? zaijiki?