(86) Long time no see

The white door to my room slides open, and a tall man with spiky white hair walks in. His face, once smooth as silk, is now etched with wrinkles, and his black eyes look tired, as if he hasn’t slept in days. He walks in with a slight limp, and I can see the muscles on his face tightening when he looks at me. Looking to the side, he draws a deep breath through his nose, and when he turns back to me, standing close to the edge of my bed, he exhales, greeting in a tense voice, “Good morning Yuumi… How are you?”

I look up at him, furrowing my brow a little. “Long time no see, Director. I’m feeling good… I would ask the same of you, but I can already see you’re not well.”

He exhales, his eyes turning to the ceiling. “It’s that obvious?”

Shrugging, I answer. “Pretty much.”

The Director draws another deep breath through his nose as he looks back down, telling in a breathy voice, “Well, what can I say?” He goes on in an increasingly intense voice, unconsciously putting emphasis on some words as he speaks. “This whole mess just had to blow up in my face at The. WORST. Possible. Time…” He lets off another annoyed sigh, this one followed by a bout of silence.

I blink a few times in surprise; I haven’t seen him so pissed off since he was dealing with the blue rank bullies.

After rubbing his mouth with his hand, the Director looks down at me with wide eyes and speaks, “Well, that’s enough of me. Let’s talk about you for a change.” He pulls a chair close to the bed and sits down on it. “Since I’m here, let me ask this: How much do you know about what happened?”

Turning to him with weak eyes, I tell him the basics. “I know a bunch of Union soldiers attacked the station—” Right away, the Director moves to cover my mouth and looks around the room with even wider eyes. I swat his hand away with my bionic one and gripe, “Hey! What was that for?!”

After looking around, he leans in closer and whispers, “Alright, I didn’t think you’d know about that part. The official narrative is that they were Union defectors and Protectorate soldiers. You’d do good to relay that narrative.” He leans back up, asking, “Alright, what can you tell me about the confrontation with the ‘Protectorate’ soldiers on the hotel floor?”

I roll my eyes at the whole blame game, and ask, “That depends, what do YOU know?” ‘If you’re going to be so anal about the official narrative, then tell me what it is, goddammit!’

He rolls his eyes, grumbling, “Alright.” leaning back on the chair, the Director starts, “From the statements gathered from present civilians and your colleagues; We know that station security, fulfilling their duties while facing an unprecedented situation, ordered the civilians gathered at the official meetup spot at the hotels to dig in and conscripted the present duelists into defending said hotels.”

I bob my head up and down, concuring, “There was an earlier confrontation, but everything’s matching up so far.”

As he nods, he assures me, “It should be. There were many witnesses.”

‘Aka, there are too many people present to shift the story…’

Although I mentioned a confrontation, he seems to disregard it and keeps going. “After the protectorate soldiers arrived, they gave the security staff an ultimatum,” he says. His eyes narrow as he speaks those words, and then he continues, “They accepted it, allowing everyone except the NWDA students to escape.” In a deeper tone of voice, he adds, “I suppose it was a wise decision on their part, given what happened next. However, I can’t say I’m entirely satisfied with my students getting singled out and put in danger alone.”

I sigh, telling him in a low tone. “It was more complex than that… They wanted me… The rest was just a bonus…”

The director’s eyes narrow. “Then why did they remain?” He asks in a curious tone.

Looking down at the end of the bed, I shake my head and tell him, “Well… As far as I know, they asked for Aiko, Mia, Yasuna, and Aya. There was also Anna, who stayed behind for Aya and then the cheer squad stayed for me…”

Light nods along and continues. “From the accounts your colleagues gave, I know you all fiercely defended yourselves when the soldiers charged, but then power went out…”

“And Haruna got shot because of it…” I complete in a somber tone, my voice barely a whisper.

Light’s piercing eyes narrow as I mention Haruna’s name. I can feel the weight of his gaze on me as he speaks. “The tall cheerleader, right? She left the hospital two days ago, no permanent injuries. It's okay, Yuumi. You don’t have to worry about her anymore.” His voice is smooth, but there’s an underlying edge to it that makes me uneasy.

I shift around, the hum of machines filling the air. My heart beats faster as I meet Light’s gaze, my eyes narrowing in frustration. “With all due respect, Director,” I say in a low, heavy tone, “You don’t get to tell me who I worry about, okay?” The words feel like a weight on my tongue, but I refuse to let him speak as if she’s just a burden,

The Director gazes at me, his eyes locking with mine before he lets out a deep sigh and looks away. The room is quiet except for the faint hum of the air conditioning.

“I will never understand what you see in those troublemakers,” he says finally, his voice laced with frustration. “But if that’s what makes you happy, then I guess it’s a small price to pay.” He looks up at me, his gaze unwavering. “Thanks to Aya’s prototype duel disk having a battery, you were able to beat back the soldiers using a large-scale attack. But then the details get foggy…” He pauses for a moment, his eyes scanning the room before settling back on me. “Your colleagues saw you jump into the fray and a duel started… But not much else.”

He glances down at my left arm, which is now a bionic replacement. “Yet somehow, you suffered such extreme damage to your left limb it had to be amputated,” he says, his voice softening. “My condolences, by the way.”

“Heh, thanks? I’m guessing you told them to get me a bionic?” The speakers said they would call my emergency contact and then he showed up. It’s not a big stretch to assume he’s my emergency contact.

The Director nods, confirming my suspicions. “Yes, with your training for action dueling, cybernetic limbs may have been the better choice, but I didn’t want to tell them to chop off your other arm without your express consent.”

I look to the right, away from the Director. “That’s… Nice of you?” I turn back to him with lightly raised eyebrows. “But… What do you get from this? I’m guessing this shit wasn’t free.”

Light scoffs, gazing at the ceiling with a smile. “And let you wander around without an arm? Give me a break, Yuumi, we all know you’ve gotten offers from everyone to leave the NWDA, I’m not giving them anything else to offer you for leaving.”

I narrow my eyes. “Like by paying me ten times what you are? If not more? Just so you know, the CSG’s director offered a mil’ a month.”

His head snaps and his eyes burrow into mine as he demands in an astonished tone. “She did what!?”

A puff of air escapes my nose, and a smirk grows on my lips before I shrug and tell. “Yup, with some other neat incentives, too.” I turn to the wide-eyed director and urge, “But we can discuss compensation at a better time.” My eyes narrow as I go on. “You wanted to know about the duel, right?”

The Director snaps out after shaking his head and stutters. “Oh, Y-Yes. The duel…”

I nod slowly and speak. “There isn’t much to say, really. As I was examining the downed soldiers, I found myself ambushed by the unit’s Commander…” I lean in and whisper in his ear, “General Tychon of Union SV forces.”

Light’s squints his eyes as I say the name, but he whispers back. “You can say that out loud. The Union is making him out to be a traitor who defected for the Protectorate and carried out this operation on their orders.”

“Oh… Okay,” I whisper before leaning away to continue the story. “After I met the General by the forested area, he attacked with a duel monster and that started a duel.” I bob my head around as I summarize the duel. “I used my pendulum magician deck and won by the fourth turn. However, I made a few misplays which resulted in me taking some heavy damage before then.”

Light’s eyes hover over the hospital bed. “Yup, I can see that.” But then he stops, focusing on my bionic arm. “Still, how the hell did you manage to lose an arm? And it wasn’t even a clean dismemberment, your arm straight up decomposed in place.”

I close my eyes tightly, breathing deeply through my nose. “Honestly…” I trail off, shaking my head. “I don’t remember… Truly, I blacked out right after dealing the finishing blow… And sure, my arm was bruised, but they both were, I don’t know why my left one specifically would turn out like that…”

He looks me in the eye, narrowing his own and questioning in a skeptic tone, “Is that so?”

By returning the gesture, I try to keep a poker face on and confirm. “Yes…”

‘Please! I’ve been rolling nothing but zeros in these perception checks, let this be the one!’ I pray internally.

Drawing a breath through his nose while keeping his eyes pointed forward, Light lets out a sigh as his serious expression drops with his shoulders. “Ahf, I guess that was too much for me to expect after a duel which left you bedridden.” He looks away to the door before continuing, “The doctors say you should be ready to leave by nighttime, 5PM or so. I was going to tell you where your room is, but I’m pretty sure your colleagues are going to want to greet you out front, so giving directions for your room is pretty useless.” He gazes at me before asking, “Are there any other questions you have? Other than ones I’m sure you could get an answer to just by looking at a public news page?”

‘Yes! He believed me!’

Barely containing my excitement at having successfully convinced Light, I peer over my shoulder with a question ready. But I stop myself and go to rubbing my chin instead. Sure, I could ask him what the public outlook on this incident was, but I can also just look it up. Other than that, I try to think of another question I could only ask him, and I eventually come up with one…

“Where the hell were you during all of this?” I ask while glancing at Light.

His tense expression breaks as he takes draws in a breath while closing his eyes. “Dealing with the consequences of my actions...” He whispers while turning away, following a deep exhale. Light turns my way again and affirms, “I was at the service deck, which they appear to have bypassed.” He looks around the room before asking, “Now, do you have any other questions?”

My eyes narrow, and I follow by asking the obvious. “What do you mean by the consequences of your actions? What did you do?”

Light shakes his head, telling, “I’m sorry Yuumi, but that has nothing to do with you.” He looks to the side. “Anything else?”

I lightly shake my head as well, suspicious of what he's leaving out. Yet, I ultimately decide to leave him be, and say, “No… I don’t.”

Hearing that, the Director smiles, carefully patting me on the shoulder while nodding. “Alright, then I’ll be going. Be sure to get some rest. It must’ve been exhausting speaking in your state.” He stands up from the chair and walks towards the door, which slides up. Before he walks through it though, he looks back and says, “Oh, and Yuumi? Don’t beat yourself up too much about what happened to Haruna. I don’t think I could’ve done any better than you if I was in your shoes that day; Good job.”

Giving him a troubled nod, I tell, “Sure… If you say so.”

He doesn’t humor my skeptical acknowledgement, exiting the room while shaking his head instead.