So Yugen pulled out his student terminal, opened the cafeteria page, and took a look. Curry fried rice, curry beef noodles, curry mashed potatoes. Then he silently closed it.
He suddenly did not feel like eating anymore. Yellow Dormitory was good in every way, except that under Kabayama's influence, the curry density was a little too extreme. To be fair, the dorm head really was excellent at making curry, but no one could live on that every day forever.
Maybe other people did not mind, but Yugen personally had no desire to touch curry lately. Normally the cafeteria offered plenty of variety, with all kinds of food besides curry. But in the middle of the night, most of the counters were closed, so the choices were painfully limited.
Bad planning. He should have kept some snacks in the dorm.
Just as Yugen was wondering whether to give up and simply go to bed early, he noticed the unread message icon at the top of the terminal. When he opened it, he saw that Judai Yuki had sent it an hour ago. The message read, "We're having an outdoor barbecue. It smells amazing. Coming?"
There was even a hand-drawn chibi big-headed Judai Yuki at the end, flashing a V-sign with full dueling momentum. The drawing was crude, but it somehow captured the feeling perfectly. Just looking at the rough sketch, he could almost see Jellyfish Hair grinning brightly and throwing up the same pose.
Yugen smiled and replied, "You still there?"
Judai Yuki answered almost immediately.
"Of course. Get here fast."
So Yugen got up and headed for the place Judai Yuki had marked near the outer area of Osiris Red. The night sky hung low above him, scattered with stars, and moonlight filtered through the branches onto the winding path.
Before he saw anyone, he heard laughter and roughhousing from ahead. At almost the same moment, the rich smell of roasting meat drifted through the air.
"Oh, Yugen is here!"
Judai Yuki spotted him first. He stood up happily and handed over the skewer of meat he had been turning over the fire.
"I saved this for you."
"Thanks. I was just getting hungry and worrying about what to eat," Yugen said as he accepted it without hesitation.
He sat down by the fire and joined the group. Sure enough, early GX really did have that relaxed school-life atmosphere. The current Judai Yuki looked completely carefree, living a happy campus life of skipping class, playing cards, fishing, barbecuing, and going on little adventures every day.
Back when GX first aired, the audience probably never would have guessed that later the Student Council's tone would become that.
"Wow, a rabbit!" Sho Marufuji suddenly shouted.
"Hm?" Hayato Maeda looked where he was pointing. "Where? You saw wrong, didn't you?"
"Absolutely not! I swear on my integrity it was really there!"
Yugen quietly ate his barbecue and thought that his integrity was not worth much anyway. After all, this was "Sho Marufuji."
"Look, right there!" Sho Marufuji rolled up his sleeves. "Don't run!"
Then he dragged big brother Hayato Maeda off to catch the rabbit. Judai Yuki called after them, "You two, don't run too far and get lost!"
A vague reply from Sho Marufuji drifted back from the woods. Judai Yuki could only smile helplessly before turning back to the skewer in his hand.
The meat sizzled over the fire. Fat dripped onto the charcoal with sharp pops, sending up little bursts of smoke, and the smell of roasting meat mixed with burning wood in the air.
"Still, I'm really glad you came," Judai Yuki said with a smile as he kept grilling. "Honestly, when you didn't reply for so long, I was a little disappointed."
"Aren't your roommates here?"
Yugen took a bite of the meat and found that Judai Yuki had handled the heat perfectly. The outside was crisp, the inside was tender, and the flavor was excellent. He had probably gone on plenty of cookouts before.
"Yeah, they are. But how do I put it..." Judai Yuki stared at the flickering flames, looking a little distracted. "Do you remember when we accidentally went to Spirit World? That person called Shell said I was a lot like him, and that no one had ever really understood me."
"Oh, that. You don't need to take it to heart."
But Judai Yuki shook his head. "I can't stop thinking about him. And the more I think about it, the more I feel like maybe he was right."
He paused, as if sinking into old memories. "Did I ever tell you? Parts of my childhood are really blurry. Sometimes I feel like there's something very important I should remember, and once in a while I wake up from dreams with the Student Council, but after I wake up, no matter how hard I try, I still can't remember what it was."
Yugen said nothing.
Of course he knew what was going on. It was Yubel, Judai Yuki's earliest Spirit. Ever since Yubel had been blasted into Macro Cosmos by a rocket from Kaiba Corporation, Judai Yuki had often been tormented by terrible nightmares.
Later, his parents had worried about him, so with Kaiba Corporation's technology, they erased the related memories and severed his connection to Yubel. After that, he forgot the whole thing completely.
"Of course, I know it's normal not to remember parts of childhood," Judai Yuki said with a smile. "It's just that, looking back now, there really was a period when I felt very lonely."
"My parents were always busy and usually not home. And for some reason, when I was little, I never really had many friends. It felt like other people were always avoiding me."
"I always felt different from everyone else. No matter how hard I tried, no matter how warm I acted, it was hard to find a real friend who could understand me and talk to me openly."
This was the first time Yugen had heard that, but he could more or less guess why. It was still Yubel's fault. Any kid who played cards with young Judai Yuki and beat him got targeted by big sis Yubel, so the children and parents around him had probably all heard about it. After that, who would not keep their distance?
"Later we moved, and after I got older, things improved a little. There were always lots of companions around me and plenty of enthusiastic classmates. But now that I think about it, maybe just like Shell said, in the end I never really had even one person I could truly call a friend."
"Maybe it has always been like that and never changed. I just slowly got used to it."
Judai Yuki stopped what he was doing and smiled. "But it's strange. Ever since we came back from Spirit World, especially after talking with you and especially after having Duels with you, I had this thought for the first time."
"Maybe this is what a friend really is."
Yugen fell silent.
"I heard it from Sho Marufuji's brother, that Kaiser Ryo," Judai Yuki said. "This week, the Duel to decide this year's representatives for the match with North Academy is going to begin."
"Kaiser Ryo said the Student Council nominated me. If nothing unexpected happens, then it should be the two of us competing for it."
He paused and looked seriously at Yugen.
"So when that time comes, please give it everything you've got. I really want to see what you look like when you go all out, Yugen."
Yugen gently closed his eyes and smiled.
"I understand."
He gave the skewer in his hand a small shake.
"Then let's call it repayment for the barbecue you treated me to."