Akaba, Reiji (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ruleroftheend) wrote2017-06-04 11:35 am
ruleroftheend) wrote2017-06-04 11:35 am
[Story Time]
A companion piece to this one.
'Tonight, I'll do it.' Akaba Reiji thought to himself. 'Tonight, I'll sit down for five minutes and show her Revival Zero. She deserved to know.' He paused for a moment, thinking. 'I keep falling asleep. It's unacceptable.' Reiji scowled to himself. He marched to the elevator.
But he was driving himself into the ground. He knew it. But he had this dominating feeling it was 'crunch time'. That Academia would be coming soon. For Serena. He might as well be a hostage.
'No.' Reiji thought to himself, scowling, pressing the button. 'I know hostages are useless to him. My father doesn't want prisoners. Or accept hostages.' He closed his eyes remembering the thoughts in his head when he last met Serena at Academia. The look in his father's eyes. They were cold. Brutal. Uncaring. But there was a madness in those eyes. A madness that haunted him. An intensity. An insanity in Akaba Leo's eyes.
He needed allies. He needed friends. He wanted her to be at least the former. She didn't like his father. Leverage. That was leverage. ... He needed to stop thinking about things in such cold business like terms. That would only make things worse. But he needed her. Needed her as much as she needed allies.
He drummed on the elevator wall, as it slowly crawled up to his penthouse. His eyes dipped. He tried to hold it off, to moderate success. Needed to test the new Duel Disk from Kaiba Corp that Kaiba-san had personally been designing. The new fields. Finalizing work on the Duelist Festival. Wonder Quartet. ... The complaints about Ryozanpaku.
The ever growing complaints from parents about Ryozanpaku. The never ending complaints from teachers about Ryozanpaku. The only ones that seemed to be happy were corporate sponsors. But after Sakaki and Kurosaki's joint injuries, even they were getting nervous despite the record profits and ratings. Something was going to give. He didn't want Reira thinking they were right. He honestly didn't. But he needed.
He needed to make sure there were Duelists strong enough to take on a trained military of Duelists. An entire world. Two. Three. Nations worth of highly trained Duelists. All answerable to his father. And Ryozanpaku were as good as a substitute for the ferocity of Academia as he was going to get...
He leaned on the door, so tired. Tired from the work. Tired from the likely audio hallucinations he was having from not sleeping long enough. Tired of worrying about enemies he couldn't see. He just wanted five minutes to sit down with her. Talk with her. Talk. So tired. Reiji closed his eyes, frustrated. Before sleep took him, as his body stood erect in the elevator.
'Tonight, I'll do it.' Akaba Reiji thought to himself. 'Tonight, I'll sit down for five minutes and show her Revival Zero. She deserved to know.' He paused for a moment, thinking. 'I keep falling asleep. It's unacceptable.' Reiji scowled to himself. He marched to the elevator.
But he was driving himself into the ground. He knew it. But he had this dominating feeling it was 'crunch time'. That Academia would be coming soon. For Serena. He might as well be a hostage.
'No.' Reiji thought to himself, scowling, pressing the button. 'I know hostages are useless to him. My father doesn't want prisoners. Or accept hostages.' He closed his eyes remembering the thoughts in his head when he last met Serena at Academia. The look in his father's eyes. They were cold. Brutal. Uncaring. But there was a madness in those eyes. A madness that haunted him. An intensity. An insanity in Akaba Leo's eyes.
He needed allies. He needed friends. He wanted her to be at least the former. She didn't like his father. Leverage. That was leverage. ... He needed to stop thinking about things in such cold business like terms. That would only make things worse. But he needed her. Needed her as much as she needed allies.
He drummed on the elevator wall, as it slowly crawled up to his penthouse. His eyes dipped. He tried to hold it off, to moderate success. Needed to test the new Duel Disk from Kaiba Corp that Kaiba-san had personally been designing. The new fields. Finalizing work on the Duelist Festival. Wonder Quartet. ... The complaints about Ryozanpaku.
The ever growing complaints from parents about Ryozanpaku. The never ending complaints from teachers about Ryozanpaku. The only ones that seemed to be happy were corporate sponsors. But after Sakaki and Kurosaki's joint injuries, even they were getting nervous despite the record profits and ratings. Something was going to give. He didn't want Reira thinking they were right. He honestly didn't. But he needed.
He needed to make sure there were Duelists strong enough to take on a trained military of Duelists. An entire world. Two. Three. Nations worth of highly trained Duelists. All answerable to his father. And Ryozanpaku were as good as a substitute for the ferocity of Academia as he was going to get...
He leaned on the door, so tired. Tired from the work. Tired from the likely audio hallucinations he was having from not sleeping long enough. Tired of worrying about enemies he couldn't see. He just wanted five minutes to sit down with her. Talk with her. Talk. So tired. Reiji closed his eyes, frustrated. Before sleep took him, as his body stood erect in the elevator.