Chapter 107: The Other Self
Couldn't control myself and want to keep writing this week.
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[3rd POV]
Sometime later...
The sound of the school bell chimed rhythmically, and beautiful pink petals gently fell from the cherry blossom trees. At the start of a new school year, the students excitedly caught up with each other on their holidays, creating a warm atmosphere throughout the entire school.
However, in one of the classrooms, the atmosphere inside was nothing but depressing. It was all because of one person sitting in the front row; his silence and gloominess spread through the entire classroom, causing the other students to remain quiet with tension.
Clenching his fists, Seto stared at his desk in a daze. His mind kept thinking about a certain girl who had been worrying him for the last few days...
"Hey Kaiba..." Suddenly, someone called his name, and he slowly lifted his head.
Meeting Yugi's anxious gaze, he stared at him and his friends standing behind him, "What do you want..."
"Is Sano awake yet?" He asked anxiously, "We were all really worried about her..."
Seto flinched when Yuna's name was suddenly mentioned. Instantly, his mood worsened as he was reminded of that incident. It has already been one week since they have returned from the Trial of Memories, and Yuna has not shown a single sign of waking up.
The doctors couldn't identify the cause, and Seto could do nothing but wait. Every day, he stayed by her side, and as time passed, the anxiety in his heart continued to grow.
Clicking his teeth, Seto stood up, not wanting to continue the conversation. As he barged past Yugi and his friends, Seto suddenly stopped beside Bakura, who fidgeted nervously.
Before anyone could react, Seto lifted him into the air by the collar and glared at him with utter hatred.
"Wait, Kaiba! It's not Bakura's fault! It was the evil spirit residing in the Millennium Ring!" Yugi tried to reason with him.
"Calm down, would ya?!" Joey shouted while he and Tristan tried to pull him away, "What will Sano-san feel about this?!"
Suddenly, Seto let go, and Bakura dropped to the floor. Lowering his arms, he slowly turned to Joey coldly, "What did you say..."
"I'm just saying you're not thinking straight right now! Sano-san probably won't be impressed if she heard you beating up people!" Joey blurted out, and his friends frowned at his inability to keep quiet.
Fuming, Seto lashed out with his fist, but it was suddenly stopped when his wrist was caught in midair.
"Kaiba," Atem, who had suddenly taken Yugi's place, spoke firmly, "Stop this at once."
"Or what..." Seto gritted his teeth and broke free from his grasp.
"I understand your anger," Atem muttered dejectedly. His face showed a complicated emotion when his gaze fell onto Bakura, "But we must not vent our anger this way..."
Staring at Atem's eyes, Seto saw his deep understanding as they both shared the same regret. Clicking his teeth, he left the classroom, pushing past the Homeroom Teacher who had just arrived.
Walking through the hallway, Seto sighed with melancholy. Over time, Seto still found himself saddened by Yuna's situation. However, that's not what's bothering him.
What pained him the most was not being there. Throughout the entire battle, he remained unconscious while Yuna willingly sacrificed herself for the sake of others.
By the time he regained consciousness, it was already too late...
If only he were awake...
If only he were stronger...
Will things turn out differently?
*CLANG CRASH*
In a fit of rage, Seto punched the nearby window, completely shattering it and scaring the students nearby, "I will have someone fix this." He said to a nearby teacher, who nodded frantically.
Suddenly, the phone in Seto's pocket buzzed, "What?" He growled but froze when he heard the message. Without even waiting for the other person to finish speaking, Seto rushed out of the school; four words kept repeating in his head.
Yuna Sano is awake...
20 minutes later...
*BAMM*
The door to the hospital room burst open as Seto rushed into the room. His chest heaved with exhaustion, and his eyes fixed on the person sitting on the hospital bed.
Immediately, he wrapped his arms around Yuna, hugging her tightly, "Yuna..." He muttered with relief, "You woken up..."
However, when Yuna didn't respond, Seto noticed her staring at him strangely. Her expression was stuck in a frown as she gazed at Seto's face, "Your. Hands."
A cold but soft voice echoed throughout the room, "Get. Off."
"Yuna?" Seto exclaimed when she pushed him away.
"My first Name." Yuna scowled, "We're not that intimate." Seto paused, caught off guard by her curt attitude.
"Y... Yuna, what's wrong?" Seto asked nervously.
Reaching out his hand, he was stunned when Yuna slapped it away. Her face was full of discontent and disgust, "Stay away."
"Do you not remember me?"
"You're Seto Kaiba." To Seto's disbelief, she easily answered the question, "A classmate from school."
"Is that really all?" Seto uttered in a devastated tone, but Yuna merely clicked her teeth.
"Is there more?" She retorted, "Now leave."
With Yuna's sharp urging, Seto eventually left the room; his heart filled with shock and disappointment.
An Hour Later...
Outside of Yuna's hospital room, Seto stared at the nervous doctor before him. "Based on the tests, we can safely conclude that Miss Sano suffers from a form of memory loss."
"Then how was she able to remember my name?" Seto questioned suspiciously.
"To be exact, she has forgotten everything that happened in the last year." The doctor gulped, "We couldn't figure out the cause of this symptom, and there doesn't seem to be any damage to her brain."
"When we disclosed this information to Miss Sano, she showed a great amount of distress, and apparently, the last memory Miss Sano had was when she was resting in her residence."
"Is there really no way of helping her remember?" Seto asked, and the doctor hesitantly shook his head.
"Unfortunately, at this time, there is no real treatment for memory loss." The doctor sighed and took off his glasses, "We can only prescribe her Anti-depressants to help with her severe reaction towards the news..."
Excusing himself, the doctor quickly escaped from Seto's scrutinizing gaze. Staring through the one-way window of the testing room, he watched Yuna calmly sitting in the hospital bed. Beside her was Mokuba, who was showing her videos through his phone.
"Big Sister, this is you in that video; you were one of the best duellists in the world!" Mokuba said passionately, causing her to frown.
"...Duellist?" Yuna questioned and watched intently on the phone.
It was a video of her duelling against Zane Trusdale in the Grand Champion Ship. It was truly a serene sight, with monsters appearing on the field, battling each other fiercely.
When Yuna's eyes turned to her on the screen, she scowled in disbelief at her confident attitude, which was the direct opposite of her cold and distant personality...
"How is that me?" She questioned doubtfully.
"No, that's really Big Sister!" Mokuba reassured.
As Yuna continued to watch the video, she remembered the name of the card game she was playing. It was a very popular card game that she had seen people in school playing. However, she never imagined herself playing that game as well...
As Yuna continued to scroll through the countless videos on Mokuba's phone. She suddenly froze when she stumbled upon a single photo.
"Ah, that!" Mokuba yelled in a panic and took the phone away from her. However, it was too late, as Yuna had already seen everything.
The picture was taken secretly from a distance, but two figures could be seen clearly. It was an image of Yuna and Seto walking side by side in Kaiba Land. Their hands were tightly intertwined as they smiled bashfully at each other.
Yuna's mind went completely blank in shock and disbelief. She finally understood why Seto was acting strangely earlier...
"That photo." Yuna mumbled callously, "My relationship with Kaiba. What is it?"
"Uhhh..." Mokuba rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, "Big bro didn't tell me much... But..."
"Spill it."
"Ummm, you guys..." Mokuba's face became slightly red with embarrassment, "Kissed..."
The sudden bomb shell caught Yuna completely off guard, and she stared at Mokuba in shock. Covering her lips, she felt an immense discomfort, and anxiety washes over her.
Yuna couldn't believe she had ever acted this way. It was the opposite of her normal behaviour, and the thought of it left her with disgust. Touching her lips, Yuna's pupils trembled, and a terrifying thought crossed her mind.
What if it isn't a simple memory loss? Even if she couldn't remember, there's no way that she could change this drastically over a year...
It's like someone else had taken over her body instead...
What if she's right, and there's actually another person controlling her body like a puppet? That person have changed her life so drastically in such a short amount of time, and Yuna was afraid that they might come back...
"Please leave..." Yuna suddenly spoke icily while bringing her hands close to her chest.
"Big Sister..." Mokuba whimpered, on the verge of tears.
"Go."
Under her firm pressure, Mokuba eventually left the room. When the door closed behind him, Yuna gasped for breath as she stared at her hands, which showed faint blood when she dug her nails into her palm.
At that moment, Yuna could feel her hands instinctively trying to reach out and pat Mokuba's head, which only left her nothing but uneasiness.
Suddenly, the door opened, and Seto reappeared. Knowing her current state, he hid his anxiety and calmly stood by the door.
"The doctors said you can be discharged this afternoon." Seto explained while staring at Yuna, who had her face buried in her pillow, "Would you like me to assign someone to take you home?"
"Why go so far?" Yuna lifted the corner of her face and muttered, "I'm not the same person. Not the one that you know."
"It may look like that to you." Seto replied while glancing into the distance, "But you're still the same, in my opinion."
"I'm not!" Yuna denied loudly and sat up.
Running her hand through her hair, she glared at Seto with annoyance, "I'm not her..."
"Yuna..."
"I want to be alone." Yuna crossed her arms and averted his gaze, "I will go home myself."
Nodding, Seto showed a pained expression before smiling wryly, "I understand... Please be careful, and I will see you at school..."
Bidding farewell, Seto exited the room. Staring at the door, Yuna bit her lips in frustration. Although the interaction was short, she could feel her heart beating excitedly at his presence...
Hours later...
By the time Yuna arrived home, the sun was already setting down. When she entered the living room, she was once again stunned by her other self. The room was completely refurbished with brand-new furniture and electronics.
Compared to her original living environment, this could be considered a full upgrade.
Frowning subconsciously, Yuna entered the bedroom and was relieved to find it like how she remembered. However, there were some items that she had never seen before sitting on her desk.
Picking up the Duel Disk on the table, her body felt an extreme familiarity with the device. Beside it were several Duel Monster Cards stacked on top of each other, forming a deck.
Observing them, Yuna did not understand the premise of the card game, so she eventually set them aside. She had considered maybe throwing them away, but her instincts were screaming at her not to do that.
Finally, Yuna found her phone that had been gathering dust next to her duel disk. Typing in her password, she was glad that it managed to open before scrolling through it to check if it had been tampered with.
When Yuna entered her bank account, she almost dropped the phone when she saw the number of zeros behind a single number, disbelief that the millions worth of USD were her own.
Thankfully, other than the money, there weren't many things changed, and Yuna sighed. Turning her attention back to the Duel Monster Cards, Yuna hesitantly picked up the first card on top of the deck.
It was a picture of a Golden Dragon with red eyes, "Divine Dragon lord Felgrand..." She read out the name, unable to grasp the complex emotions in her heart.
Suddenly, Yuna touched the side of her face and felt the tears streaming down her eyes. Confused, Yuna stared at her finger at a loss.
"Why," Yuna mumbled while collapsing onto her bed. Overwhelmed with exhaustion, she felt sleepiness creep in as Yuna went to bed crying, and in her hand was the card Divine Dragon Lord Felgrand, resting tightly between her fingers...
A few days Later...
For the following week, Yuna quietly attended school. Ignoring Yugi and his friends who tried to greet her, she focused on the lessons taught by her teacher. However, a year of being absent has greatly affected her psyche, causing her to be always tired and in a moment of agitation.
She has no idea what her other self has done to the people around her, and Yuna does not bother to find out. Thus, it continued to act its cold usual self, keeping a safe distance from anyone who tried to approach.
It had always been this way ever since her parents died, and Yuna was content to keep it like this.
Yuna had already stopped feeling lonely because, in the end, people would only disappoint her again, like how her distant relatives never tried to support her after her parent's death or how her friends were never there when she needed them the most...1
Yuna pondered absentmindedly before her gaze wandered to the boy sitting at the front. Yuna must admit that Seto has been bothering her mind as of late. Keeping his promise of not annoying her, Seto has been leaving some subtle hint of kindness when she's near him, and when their eyes met, Yuna could always see a sense of longing in his gaze.
However, each time he tried to approach her, she would heartlessly push him away, leaving him heartbroken. Even if she had truly said some hurtful things, Seto would have attempted to talk to her again the next day...
"Confusing..." Yuna muttered under her breath. Even after all she had done, why hasn't he moved on yet?
As the school bell rang, signalling the end, Yuna quickly left. Passing by Seto's desk, she could feel his eyes trained on her like a hawk. Feeling disturbed, she hurriedly exited the classroom door and made her way home...
Once home, Yuna tossed her backpack to the side. She dragged her body to her bedroom. For several days now, she could not get any sleep, lost in the nightmares of her body being controlled without her knowing, doing things without her consent...
Every time, she would wake up in the middle of the night drenched in sweat. Unable to fall back to sleep unless she takes the medicine provided by the doctors.
Upon entering her bedroom, Yuna sank onto her bed. Opening her eyes, she glanced at the Duel Monsters cards on the table. After the emotional outburst from holding the Divine Dragon Lord Felgrand card, Yuna discovered several other cards that create a similar reaction.
Placing neatly side by side, Yuna ran her fingers along each card. She doesn't understand why these cards could make her feel this way or this deep relationship she had with each one...
The only way to get an answer was to ask her other self. But Yuna was afraid of losing control of her body once more...
"Just who are you..." Yuna mumbled sadly, "Why can't I remember anything... Who was the Yuna during that one year?"
Before Yuna could get lost in her thoughts, the doorbell in her house suddenly rang loudly.
When she opened the door, there was a man with light brown skin in front of her. He's dressed in white and cream robes with a turban over his head. Dangling around his neck was a large golden key.
"Lady Sano." The man greeted Yuna with a smile, "It's about time we talk."
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I hope you enjoy it!