(Canon) Confrontation
Apr. 21st, 2017 12:55 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
togepi_writes- Confrontation -
Characters: Yuma Tsukumo, Kotori Mizuki
Synopsis: Kotori confronts Yuma about his lacking schoolwork, but gets angry when Yuma lies to her about it.
It had been a really great first day. Kotori had met up with Yuma for the first time in just over two years and had spent the day on Duel Academy island getting to see around the island and meeting the friends Yuma had made there. She'd been amazed by the scale of the island and how big it actually was, as well as the weather. Yuma had mentioned that the island was much warmer than Domino, but she hadn't really expected weather she could be without a coat in. Although it wasn't incredibly hot, the weather still felt very spring-like and pleasant at this time of the year.
The other thing that she was amazed over was Yuma himself. Granted, he acted like the same old Yuma she'd grown up with, he was still brash, loud, clumsy... but she really hadn't expected the physical differences. Back before he left for the academy, he had only been slightly taller than her, but now the difference in their height was much more obvious. He'd certainly had a growth spurt in the last two years. It was something she just hadn't realised until she was stood next to him.
But there had been something bugging her about him all day. She had made a post to the school's social networking site to introduce herself that morning and had met Bright, Yuma's student-tutor, who was currently helping him with his re-take of his second year. She had sadly confirmed what Kotori had already slightly feared.
Yuma was still not doing well in his studies.
Sure, he was doing "better" and he'd told her that much, but he'd made it sound like he was doing better than he was in his e-mails and talks over their D-Gazers. He was always doing "better" or "great", but he'd never say any more than that.
Although, technically, he hadn't lied to her, he hadn't been telling her the complete truth either and she wondered why.
Growing up, if Yuma had an issue or a problem, he often chose to tell her or ask her for help out of everybody he knew. Maybe it was because she was always guaranteed to help him, but he obviously had a lot of trust in her too.
So why did he feel like he had to keep things from her now?
All she knew was that she had to bring up the issue with his school-work to him, or he'd risk going down the same path of failing again.
In the later half of the afternoon, as the sun was setting over the island, Yuma had taken her to the last place he wanted to show her. The beach.
Since it was the holidays, and there were only a small amount of students on the island, they were the only ones there. After a day full of meeting those that Yuma knew, she was glad for a little downtime, but this also seemed the best time to confront Yuma.
Stood in front of the ocean, Kotori took in a deep breath to prepare herself, before looking over at her best friend.
"Yuma. There's something I need to ask you about."
"Hm?" Yuma looked back at her, raising his eyebrows curiously. "What about?"
"I got to speak to Bright this morning, over the Academy's social network..."
At that very sentence, Kotori could see the expression on Yuma's face drastically change, from that of almost childlike curiosity, to a very nervous and uncomfortable look.
"I-Is that so...?" he stuttered, forcing a smile at her. The one person they had not met during Kotori's visit was Bright and Yuma had been making sure all day that the two of them didn't meet while she was there.
But although he knew Kotori had made a post on the journals, he hadn't thought of them meeting through that.
"She mentioned to me that she feels that you're not doing as well as you should be. Is that true?"
Kotori waited for Yuma's answer, but she could see the growing nervousness on his face as he searched for an answer to give her.
"A-ah, she said that??" Yuma replied, rubbing the back of his neck, looking away slightly from her as he did. "Y'know, she kinda has some really high standards!! I'm doing fine, really!!"
Kotori frowned at him. "Yuma."
"Really! I-I'm doing better! And it's something I'm still working on, so I'm sure I'll get even better than that!! You don't have to worry, Kotori...!!"
Kotori gritted her teeth a little.
He was lying to her.
He was rambling and stumbling all over his words. He wasn't looking her in the eye when he spoke. All his body language was obvious. He didn't even seem to believe his own words he was saying to her, so how did he expect her to believe them.
But he just continued, telling her everything was "fine", that he was doing "okay", that she didn't have to "worry". Then he began to try and change the subject.
Kotori not only felt disappointed in him, but angry. Did he really think this was going to fool her? Did he not trust her anymore? Whatever it was, she was not going to let him run away from it.
SMACK
Kotori's hand hit Yuma on the side of his face. She almost felt like she wanted to apologise for hitting him so hard straight afterwards, but she knew right now that she had to stand her ground and be tough with him.
"I know you're lying to me, Yuma!!"
Yuma had fallen into a stunned silence. He couldn't bring himself to even look Kotori in the face. The only movement he made, was to raise his hand to the part of his face she had hit. It stung, but honestly, the pain from that was no where near the level of the discomfort he was feeling in his chest from the guilt at that moment.
"Just... what's gotten into you, Yuma!?" Kotori continued. "You always used to trust me and tell me things, but now you're stood there blatantly lying to me when I asked you to be truthful with me!"
Yuma continued to remain silent. Slowly, he turned away from Kotori and sat down in the sand. He then simply placed his head in his hands, much to Kotori's surprise. She'd never seen him look this frustrated before.
But this alone told her what she needed to know.
Calming down, she gently sat beside him on the sand.
"Yuma. I want to help you, but I can't if you lie to me or to yourself about this.
You really don't believe you're doing the best you can, do you?"
Yuma let out a heavy sigh as he removed his hands from his face. He remained looking down at the sand with troubled eyes.
"When I bombed my second year, I think the worst thing about it was the feeling that I'd let everyone back home down. You, Tetsuo, Sis, granny... Heh, Tetsuo even refused to reply to my e-mails for two weeks until you talked to him for me.
It was probably the worst feeling I'd ever had.
But I was given another chance and I absolutely promised that I would never let any of you down like that again and that I'd kattobing and do my absolute best!"
"But... what happened? Bright told me that you goof off during her lessons and that you've been a bad influence on Yuya. I know the two of you are friends but... you're a more senior student than he is and you should be setting a better example."
"I know. I don't mean too! It's just..." Yuma sighed and rubbed his head with frustration. "... argh! I guess even WITH the tutoring I'm just...
...I'm just finding the work really difficult."
"Is that why your concentration has been so bad?" Kotori questioned. Yuma gave a slight nod.
"I guess..." He broke off as he looked out to the ocean in front of him. "... I try, but then the stuff gets really hard and no matter what I do I can't seem to understand it! Even Yuya gets the stuff before me sometimes! Somedays I just pretend I understood so I don't look like an idiot."
"But that won't help you, Yuma." Kotori placed a hand on his shoulder. "I know back at Heartland Academy you weren't the best student. You slept in class and tried to copy my test answers all the time, but you weren't the worst student either. I know I helped you a lot with your studying back then and sometimes it took you two or three times to understand something, but you shouldn't be ashamed of that. I'm sure Bright and your other friends here don't mind having to explain something a few times to you for you to understand it.
It's not like you to just give up, Yuma."
Yuma's head snapped up as he heard Kotori's last remark.
It was true. Not trying his best, not giving it his all, that was just the same as giving up. His motto was "Kattobing", to never give up no matter what the challenge and his school-work was just another challenge for him to overcome.
Somehow, he'd kind of forgotten to look at it that way. The work, to him, had felt so difficult and daunting, he had allowed it to lower his confidence with it and get him stuck in a rut.
Slowly, he clasped his hand around the pendant that hung from his neck, as a slight look of determination appeared back on his face.
He needed to prove himself this year, not just to his friends, his family and the academy... but also to himself. He needed to face his school-work like he faced his dueling, to take up the challenge and do whatever he could to overcome it! If there was any step backwards, he needed to make sure that gave him the drive to take several more steps forward.
He looked over to Kotori and grinned.
"Thank you, Kotori. You're right. It's not like me to give up! I need to do the best I can to face this challenge head on!!" He paused, as his expression softened slightly. "I'm... sorry I tried lying to you, when I should of been asking for your help."
Kotori just gave him a mischievous grin in response. "I can read you like a book, Yuma. You should know I don't fall for things like that. Besides, you make it too obvious!"
Yuma chuckled a little at her response, as Kotori's own expression also softened.
"I'm sorry I ended up hitting you. Does it still hurt?"
"Ah, no!" Yuma responded. "I think it actually helped bring me to my senses a bit!"
The two laughed a little, before they stood up from where they were sat.
"Yuma. If you let me know which day this week that Bright is tutoring you, then I'll come over here that day. If Bright is okay with it, I'll work with her to come up with a study regime that might suit you a little more."
"Okay. I will. Thanks, Kotori." Yuma smiled and nodded. "Let's head back to Osiris Red! We can hang out with Yuzu and Yuya for a bit before you have to go back! We found some board games out so maybe we can play one of them!!"
"That sounds great!"
With that, the two began walking back over the beach and towards the Osiris Red dorms. As they did, Yuma looked over at the golden sunset in the distance with a renewed spirit.
He was going to prove himself this year and he was going to do everything in his power to make sure of it.
KATTOBING!
Characters: Yuma Tsukumo, Kotori Mizuki
Synopsis: Kotori confronts Yuma about his lacking schoolwork, but gets angry when Yuma lies to her about it.
It had been a really great first day. Kotori had met up with Yuma for the first time in just over two years and had spent the day on Duel Academy island getting to see around the island and meeting the friends Yuma had made there. She'd been amazed by the scale of the island and how big it actually was, as well as the weather. Yuma had mentioned that the island was much warmer than Domino, but she hadn't really expected weather she could be without a coat in. Although it wasn't incredibly hot, the weather still felt very spring-like and pleasant at this time of the year.
The other thing that she was amazed over was Yuma himself. Granted, he acted like the same old Yuma she'd grown up with, he was still brash, loud, clumsy... but she really hadn't expected the physical differences. Back before he left for the academy, he had only been slightly taller than her, but now the difference in their height was much more obvious. He'd certainly had a growth spurt in the last two years. It was something she just hadn't realised until she was stood next to him.
But there had been something bugging her about him all day. She had made a post to the school's social networking site to introduce herself that morning and had met Bright, Yuma's student-tutor, who was currently helping him with his re-take of his second year. She had sadly confirmed what Kotori had already slightly feared.
Yuma was still not doing well in his studies.
Sure, he was doing "better" and he'd told her that much, but he'd made it sound like he was doing better than he was in his e-mails and talks over their D-Gazers. He was always doing "better" or "great", but he'd never say any more than that.
Although, technically, he hadn't lied to her, he hadn't been telling her the complete truth either and she wondered why.
Growing up, if Yuma had an issue or a problem, he often chose to tell her or ask her for help out of everybody he knew. Maybe it was because she was always guaranteed to help him, but he obviously had a lot of trust in her too.
So why did he feel like he had to keep things from her now?
All she knew was that she had to bring up the issue with his school-work to him, or he'd risk going down the same path of failing again.
In the later half of the afternoon, as the sun was setting over the island, Yuma had taken her to the last place he wanted to show her. The beach.
Since it was the holidays, and there were only a small amount of students on the island, they were the only ones there. After a day full of meeting those that Yuma knew, she was glad for a little downtime, but this also seemed the best time to confront Yuma.
Stood in front of the ocean, Kotori took in a deep breath to prepare herself, before looking over at her best friend.
"Yuma. There's something I need to ask you about."
"Hm?" Yuma looked back at her, raising his eyebrows curiously. "What about?"
"I got to speak to Bright this morning, over the Academy's social network..."
At that very sentence, Kotori could see the expression on Yuma's face drastically change, from that of almost childlike curiosity, to a very nervous and uncomfortable look.
"I-Is that so...?" he stuttered, forcing a smile at her. The one person they had not met during Kotori's visit was Bright and Yuma had been making sure all day that the two of them didn't meet while she was there.
But although he knew Kotori had made a post on the journals, he hadn't thought of them meeting through that.
"She mentioned to me that she feels that you're not doing as well as you should be. Is that true?"
Kotori waited for Yuma's answer, but she could see the growing nervousness on his face as he searched for an answer to give her.
"A-ah, she said that??" Yuma replied, rubbing the back of his neck, looking away slightly from her as he did. "Y'know, she kinda has some really high standards!! I'm doing fine, really!!"
Kotori frowned at him. "Yuma."
"Really! I-I'm doing better! And it's something I'm still working on, so I'm sure I'll get even better than that!! You don't have to worry, Kotori...!!"
Kotori gritted her teeth a little.
He was lying to her.
He was rambling and stumbling all over his words. He wasn't looking her in the eye when he spoke. All his body language was obvious. He didn't even seem to believe his own words he was saying to her, so how did he expect her to believe them.
But he just continued, telling her everything was "fine", that he was doing "okay", that she didn't have to "worry". Then he began to try and change the subject.
Kotori not only felt disappointed in him, but angry. Did he really think this was going to fool her? Did he not trust her anymore? Whatever it was, she was not going to let him run away from it.
SMACK
Kotori's hand hit Yuma on the side of his face. She almost felt like she wanted to apologise for hitting him so hard straight afterwards, but she knew right now that she had to stand her ground and be tough with him.
"I know you're lying to me, Yuma!!"
Yuma had fallen into a stunned silence. He couldn't bring himself to even look Kotori in the face. The only movement he made, was to raise his hand to the part of his face she had hit. It stung, but honestly, the pain from that was no where near the level of the discomfort he was feeling in his chest from the guilt at that moment.
"Just... what's gotten into you, Yuma!?" Kotori continued. "You always used to trust me and tell me things, but now you're stood there blatantly lying to me when I asked you to be truthful with me!"
Yuma continued to remain silent. Slowly, he turned away from Kotori and sat down in the sand. He then simply placed his head in his hands, much to Kotori's surprise. She'd never seen him look this frustrated before.
But this alone told her what she needed to know.
Calming down, she gently sat beside him on the sand.
"Yuma. I want to help you, but I can't if you lie to me or to yourself about this.
You really don't believe you're doing the best you can, do you?"
Yuma let out a heavy sigh as he removed his hands from his face. He remained looking down at the sand with troubled eyes.
"When I bombed my second year, I think the worst thing about it was the feeling that I'd let everyone back home down. You, Tetsuo, Sis, granny... Heh, Tetsuo even refused to reply to my e-mails for two weeks until you talked to him for me.
It was probably the worst feeling I'd ever had.
But I was given another chance and I absolutely promised that I would never let any of you down like that again and that I'd kattobing and do my absolute best!"
"But... what happened? Bright told me that you goof off during her lessons and that you've been a bad influence on Yuya. I know the two of you are friends but... you're a more senior student than he is and you should be setting a better example."
"I know. I don't mean too! It's just..." Yuma sighed and rubbed his head with frustration. "... argh! I guess even WITH the tutoring I'm just...
...I'm just finding the work really difficult."
"Is that why your concentration has been so bad?" Kotori questioned. Yuma gave a slight nod.
"I guess..." He broke off as he looked out to the ocean in front of him. "... I try, but then the stuff gets really hard and no matter what I do I can't seem to understand it! Even Yuya gets the stuff before me sometimes! Somedays I just pretend I understood so I don't look like an idiot."
"But that won't help you, Yuma." Kotori placed a hand on his shoulder. "I know back at Heartland Academy you weren't the best student. You slept in class and tried to copy my test answers all the time, but you weren't the worst student either. I know I helped you a lot with your studying back then and sometimes it took you two or three times to understand something, but you shouldn't be ashamed of that. I'm sure Bright and your other friends here don't mind having to explain something a few times to you for you to understand it.
It's not like you to just give up, Yuma."
Yuma's head snapped up as he heard Kotori's last remark.
It was true. Not trying his best, not giving it his all, that was just the same as giving up. His motto was "Kattobing", to never give up no matter what the challenge and his school-work was just another challenge for him to overcome.
Somehow, he'd kind of forgotten to look at it that way. The work, to him, had felt so difficult and daunting, he had allowed it to lower his confidence with it and get him stuck in a rut.
Slowly, he clasped his hand around the pendant that hung from his neck, as a slight look of determination appeared back on his face.
He needed to prove himself this year, not just to his friends, his family and the academy... but also to himself. He needed to face his school-work like he faced his dueling, to take up the challenge and do whatever he could to overcome it! If there was any step backwards, he needed to make sure that gave him the drive to take several more steps forward.
He looked over to Kotori and grinned.
"Thank you, Kotori. You're right. It's not like me to give up! I need to do the best I can to face this challenge head on!!" He paused, as his expression softened slightly. "I'm... sorry I tried lying to you, when I should of been asking for your help."
Kotori just gave him a mischievous grin in response. "I can read you like a book, Yuma. You should know I don't fall for things like that. Besides, you make it too obvious!"
Yuma chuckled a little at her response, as Kotori's own expression also softened.
"I'm sorry I ended up hitting you. Does it still hurt?"
"Ah, no!" Yuma responded. "I think it actually helped bring me to my senses a bit!"
The two laughed a little, before they stood up from where they were sat.
"Yuma. If you let me know which day this week that Bright is tutoring you, then I'll come over here that day. If Bright is okay with it, I'll work with her to come up with a study regime that might suit you a little more."
"Okay. I will. Thanks, Kotori." Yuma smiled and nodded. "Let's head back to Osiris Red! We can hang out with Yuzu and Yuya for a bit before you have to go back! We found some board games out so maybe we can play one of them!!"
"That sounds great!"
With that, the two began walking back over the beach and towards the Osiris Red dorms. As they did, Yuma looked over at the golden sunset in the distance with a renewed spirit.
He was going to prove himself this year and he was going to do everything in his power to make sure of it.
KATTOBING!
