Chapter 27
(following anime episode 93)
----> and a little Demotivational Poster MEME, because I don't feel like drawing these days 😝
Only few days were separating Team 5D's from their first battle on W.R.G.P. tournament and everything seemed to be ready. With their riding suits prepared, their runners having new engines and programme incorporated, all that was left was to wait for the sun to arrive tomorrow above the horizon, and the tournament can begin! And just when everything seemed perfect, Yusei received a call from Security to bring Bruno to them in order to have a little chat with the guys. In attempt to help Bruno gain his memory back, Yusei asked Hanako to come with them, so she accompanied the guys to the Public Security Maintenance Bureau, where Ushio and Mikage were waiting for them.
"I see", Ushio growled silently, muttering with disappointment in his eyes, "So your memory hasn't returned yet?" He questioned with his eyes locked on Bruno, while Hanako and Yusei were sitting on Bruno's left and right side each.
"Yes", Bruno answered with a deplorable tone in his voice, bowing his head in shame, "I can't remember at all..."
Seeing his reaction, Yusei decided to speak up, "Wasn't Security able to find any clues?"
"We inputted his fingerprints and photograph into the database, but", Mikage tried to explain, keeping a serious expression on her face, but her face contours soon gave up and were altered into disappointment and pity, "There was no file!" She added, as her words explained sudden change on her face, while she placed a file on the table, showing Bruno his profile that showed no successful results in their database.
"Is that so?" Bruno murmured silently with his voice abruptly fading away into thin air.
"In any case... The investigation will continue!"
Ushio's words immediately made Hanako smile with her face all lit up, "Does that mean we can keep him, Gramps?" She shouted, almost squealing at Ushio, while her bright smile was followed by a happy and cheerful shimmer in her dark sapphire eyes.
"Well", Ushio tossed quickly, moving his eyes to Yusei, "If it's OK with Yusei..."
"Please!" Hanako followed the path of Ushio's eyes' focus, moving her gaze to meet Yusei's, pleading him with both her voice and her eyes to accept this one little wish, so she can spend more time with Bruno. She really grew attached to him, because she was spending more time with him than with Yusei, since he was busy with helping Aki around her homework and riding skills. And being around Bruno was not that bad, in reality it wasn't bad at all: they were talking about mechanics and were enjoying late night conversations about engines, so Hanako was not willing to let him go so easily.
"Yes, leave it to me!" Yusei nodded with a smile curled around his lips, soon followed by the same expression on Hanako's face, because hearing the news made her facial expression to reiterate Yusei's.
"I knew it!" She shouted chirpily, leaning her body against Bruno's arm, wrapping her hands around his neck, "Thank you, Yusei!" She whispered, feeling her heart dancing in sheer happiness inside her chest.
"B-Baby", Bruno's voice started stammering at her gesture, making his cheeks to turn slightly pink, "I am not Yusei", his voice kept leaping, while Hanako cuddled him in the middle of the meeting room, "He's the one you should be thanking like this!" He slowly moved his head towards the direction where Yusei was sitting, seeing him chuckle at what he seemed to be seeing, making Bruno realise he has never seen Yusei like that.
"Well", Yusei shook his head, realising from Bruno's gaze he must have fallen into his daydream, so he decided it was the best to move the focus away from himself, "If that's all you wanted to talk about, we should go!" He addressed his words to Mikage and Ushio, watching their faces giving him a permission to do as he decided to, implying how there was probably nothing else they could do about Bruno's' identity; at least for now.
Moving out from the table, Hanako, Yusei and Bruno thanked Ushio and Mikage for their effort, before they moved to the lift of the Public Security Maintenance Bureau in order to reach the ground floor and go back home. Once in the lift that had a glass wall with the view above the entire Neo Domino City, Bruno kept gawking through the glass, looking distant and lost in his thoughts.
Seeing his hypnotised facial expression, Yusei decided to talk to him, "What's wrong?" He asked, when his voice drew Hanako's attention too, so she moved her eyes to Bruno.
"When I see the city like this, I wonder", Bruno started, speaking slowly, like part of his mind was still loitering the never-ending path of his thought, "Is there someone out there waiting for me?" He finally spoke again, keeping his eyes focused on Yusei's, but looking right through him.
"Don't rush yourself!" Yusei answered, while Hanako was attentively listening to their conversation, "Somehow, the time to know the truth will come!"
"The time", Bruno reiterated Yusei's words while mumbling, "To know the truth, huh?"
"When Yusei says it like that, it makes you really believe it, right?" Hanako chuckled sweetly, feeling like Bruno was not indifferent to what happened to him, so she assumed he was probably haunted by his own past that he knew nothing about. Her eyes softened at the sight of his frowned face, watching him nod his head in agreement even though he showed no signs of joy inside, "I wish I knew more about you, too!" She added, with a soft smile, trying to make Bruno think about something else, to distract his thoughts, "And where did you learn so much about mechanics!"
"Me too!" Bruno nodded again in response, "Every time that I'm working on D-Wheels, I feel like-"
He stopped abruptly, because the space inside the lift turned dark, because electricity was cut. There were no more lights inside and the lift stopped working, leaving all three of them trapped inside in the middle of the Public Security Maintenance Bureau building, "A bomb has exploded. Everyone, please evacuate!" The sound started coming out of the speaker, so Hanako immediately realised that this was not about cut electricity, something else was going on, "Repeating! A bomb has exploded. Everyone, please evacuate!"
"A bomb?" Yusei questioned in a lower, almost whispering voice.
"T-This is horrible!" Bruno answered with a mutter, terrified by the realisation of what was going on and why their lift stopped going down.
"Calm down, Bruno!" Hanako placed her hand on his forearm, doing her best to comfort him, "We'll get us out of here!"
"She's right", Yusei nodded in response, "We have to be calm to think straight!" He explained, looking at the buttons on the elevator, knowing how there is a way to get out of the construction, even though it was blocked, "We're going to need a screwdriver!" He murmured into his chin, keeping his eyes' focus on the controls.
Seeing Yusei's facial expression, Bruno immediately realised what was on his mind, so he opened his jacket and looked for a screwdriver Yusei asked for, while Hanako was watching him completely speechless, feeling her cheeks blushing at the sight of tons of tools being kept inside the inner pockets of his jacket. And no matter how many times she saw him do this in the garage, she was still stunned and elated by the sight, she couldn't help herself, "Here!" Bruno said with a smile, taking a screwdriver from his pocket, so Hanako snapped out of her dazing gaze, shaking her head.
"All right", Yusei answered, taking the screwdriver and opening the control of the elevator, screwing with its wires, while Hanako was just watching his hands moving around like he knew exactly what he was doing, when suddenly... The elevator produced a strange sound and Bruno and Yusei separated the door in the middle, opening it up.
"Hurry, guys!" Bruno shouted with strong determination in his voice, moving to the side and letting Yusei and Hanako go outside first, as he followed them behind.
"Yeah, let's go!" Yusei answered, nodding his head, so Hanako followed him, having a wandering eye on Bruno, just to make sure he was keeping up with their pace. As they kept running through the Security building, they reached the end of the hall, entering the centre of the building that had an open space in the middle, so Yusei leaned over the fence, seeing other floors below them, when something caught his eye, "Those two are..."
"Do you know them?" Bruno questioned after he leaned over the fence, seeing two people running through the building, looking like they knew exactly where they are heading.
"Sherry LeBlanc", Hanako muttered into her chin, furrowing her eyebrows over Bruno's forearm, watching Sherry on the floor below them with Mizoguchi following her steps.
"I'll be right back!" Yusei's abrupt shout made both Bruno and Hanako snap out of their thoughts, as they moved their eyes in sync towards Yusei, watching him already far away from their spot, running towards Sherry's direction.
"Huh?!" Bruno mumbled in confusion, blinking his eyes, before he remembered why they were even running around like crazy, "Wait! The bomb is going to explode!"
"Let's hurry up, Bruno!" Hanako glanced at the fear and concern in his eyes, before she started following Yusei's running steps.
"Yeah!" Bruno nodded, following Hanako behind, trying to catch up with her speed. He kept looking in front of him, seeing Hanako's steps speeding up, while he was slowly losing his breath, but he refused to quit! He had no idea who he was or where he came from, but he knew he found his place, he found a group of true friends that cared for him regardless of his unknown past and he was determined to help them and keep their side no matter what! So he kept running and running, reaching the lower floor where Yusei was heading, while Hanako was close to him, trying to catch Yusei in the process.
"Sherry!" Yusei called out loud when his run came into a halt with his eyes piercing through the wide space between him and Sherry, who was standing few meters away from him with Mizoguchi by her side.
"Yusei Fudo!" Sherry's proud voice thundered through the hallway, "It's been a while! Have you decided to join my team?" She smirked at him, not showing any signs of worry on her face.
"This isn't the time to talk about that!" Yusei roared through a low concerned shout, as Bruno and Hanako approached him, stopping right next to him, forming a group that was facing Sherry and her bodyguard.
"We have to leave here quickly!" Bruno stepped in, trying to stop Sherry from going any farther, "A bomb's been planted here!"
Hanako was keeping her eyes focused on Sherry, watching her face contours, but once she realised none of Bruno's or Yusei's words managed to alter her facial expression, she came to a conclusion, "She planted it!"
"Oh, isn't that little Yusei-girl?" Sherry taunted with a smirk, "You should have told them that before, kiddo!"
"Stop playing around, Sherry!" Hanako answered back, trying to keep her voice strict, not wanting to show her any signs of grievance.
"I already did!" Sherry just kept smiling proudly, steadily standing before them completely untouched by everything they threw at her, "The one before was just for show... There's no bomb anywhere!"
"You two couldn't have", Yusei's voice started mumbling through a whisper, while his mind was slowly beginning to understand that the bomb was just a decoy, because obviously Sherry had some plans within the Security building, "Why?"
"Who knows?" Sherry played dumb, shrugging like she had no idea what Yusei was referring to, "Sorry, but I don't have the time to explain my circumstances!" With that said, Sherry just nonchalantly turned her back on them and walked to the control room of the Public Security Maintenance Bureau, so Yusei started running towards her with Hanako and Bruno soon doing the same, but Mizoguchi jumped in front of them with his strong, muscular arms spread widely, not giving them a chance to follow Sherry behind.
"Causing such disturbance, I won't let you off easily!" Yusei was determined to stop Sherry and her plans at all cost, while his head was peeking over Mizoguchi's forearm. His voice was thundering over Mizoguchi's appearance, shooting Sherry straight into her back, but she just kept on walking away towards her finish line.
And even though she wanted to stay silent, Sherry could not resist Yusei's voice, so she turned her head over the shoulder and answered him with a wink, "I'm already prepared!"
"You flirt!" Hanako gasped in shock, clenching her teeth in the process, while her fingers curled into a fist trying to threaten Sherry, but all it did was leaving her unnoticed, so she narrowed her eyebrows angrily and started following Sherry behind, sneaking through Mizoguchi's tall and bulky body. Thanks to her small and potty appearance, she was able to escape Sherry's bodyguard, while Bruno tried to catch her, causing Mizoguchi too much trouble to keep them all in one place.
With Hanako being able to slip away, Mizoguchi turned around to see where she went, so Bruno took this opportunity and sneaked through, following Hanako's path, making Mizoguchi throw a tool at Bruno and Hanako, while the gates to the control room slowly started closing and shutting down. Seeing that, Hanako sped up her pace, sliding down on her knees and leaning her upper body to the back, sliding through without breaking a sweat, while Bruno tripped over the tool Mizoguchi threw at him and fell down on the ground, sliding through the door unintentionally right behind Hanako, before the door were shut completely, "They got through!" Mizoguchi coarsely roared through his teeth, displeased about the outcome of the action scene.
"Baby!" Yusei's voice thundered through the gate once Hanako and Bruno were inside the control room, so she got up on her feet and cleared the dust from her knees, before moving to the closed gate, placing her palms against them.
"Yusei!" Her shout was daunted, but strong... And it managed to bring out Yusei's response from the other side.
"Stop Sherry!" Yusei's voice reached her ears again, so she gently nodded her head, understanding his words, even though she refused to leave him behind all alone, "You Bruno take care of her!"
"Got it!" Bruno answered quickly, wanting to make sure Yusei won't be worried over Hanako while they are separated, "Leave it to me!" He was not a part of their team for long, but he was able to understand the deep connection between them and sense that something was going on, even though he was not able to dig into the deeper reason of that, so he just decided to stick with what he was feeling. He soon snapped out of his determination, when Hanako's voice cracked through his eardrums.
"Yusei!" She shouted, anxiously protesting against the situation they were brought in, while her clenched fists kicked the door.
"I will be alright, Baby!" Yusei answered, calming down his voice, trying to sound cool-headed, "Just stop Sherry!"
"Let's go, Baby!" Bruno said softly, reaching Hanako with his hand, gently placing his palm on her shoulder, trying to turn her around, but she just kept standing frozen in place, altering her fists into spread hands, leaning her palms against the door and sliding them down powerlessly, "We can't let her escape!" Bruno added, trying to find the best way to move Hanako away from the door, so he softly smiled when he saw her nodding her head in agreement, watching her turn to him with a wild and strong fire burning inside her eyes.
Without saying a word, Hanako started running towards Sherry's direction, seeing the path she was following, while Bruno was running next to her, "Oh, no... She's going to the control room!" Hanako's eyes widened in concern, as she could only think about all sorts of problems Sherry could cause, if she reaches the control room of the Security.
"So what?"
"The Main Computer is located there!" Hanako explained her reaction, "That machine has such power, you can't even imagine! If she gains access... She could", she kept muttering through panting caused by the speed of running, knowing how Bruno was the first person who should be able to understand the serious damage Sherry could cause by reaching the control room, but as she kept explaining herself and was so dragged into her thoughts, she didn't realise Bruno was gone.
"Wait!" Hanako heard Bruno's voice coming from the control room just few feet before her eyes, so she kept running, until she reached the room, seeing how Bruno managed to jump in front of Sherry with his arms spread in attempt to stop her intentions, "What you're doing is a crime!" Bruno explained, doing his best to find words proper enough to dissuade Sherry, but she just swung her leg in order to hit Bruno and knock him on the ground. Seeing what she tried to do, Bruno managed to dodge her proffer of attack that made his body fall down, with his behind glued to the floor, "W-w-wait!" Bruno started to stutter funkily, "Time, time out!" He shouted in fear, guarding his face with his forearms, but Sherry just kept going, swinging her legs at him, so Bruno kept grovelling at her feet, trying to escape her assault, "I-I said wait!"
"Hey, Blondie!" Hanako shouted angrily and abruptly, realising how Sherry won't stop until someone prevents her from swooping down on poor Bruno. She smirked proudly as soon as Sherry stopped and turned around to meet Hanako's gaze, "You may have laid your eyes on Yusei, but landing your legs on Bruno is a bit too much, don't you think?" She provoked with teasing and edgy tone in her voice.
"Sorry, Baby", Sherry shook her head indifferently, "I don't have time for side characters!"
"Look who's talking!" Hanako shot back at her, feeling her chest vibrating from the raging beating of her heart, as adrenaline started flowing through her veins, making her palms to sweat and her hands to shiver, so she clenched her fists, getting ready to fight back, but then Sherry's phone rang.
"What's wrong?" Sherry picked up, standing between Bruno and Hanako, "I understand! But I've run into something and I can't analyse", she explained on the phone, so Hanako assumed she was talking to Mizoguchi, which probably means that Yusei succeeded in holding him aside, "I can't give up here!" Soon after she hung up the call, she started looking around like she was searching for something, "Now, where was I?"
Using Sherry's defocus, Hanako ran to her with her fist raised in the air, because she was trying her best to stop Sherry or at least keep her down before Yusei arrives. She was never much a fighter and was rarely a part of the conflict. Back in Satellite, when she was struggling to survive, she would usually just start running away, escaping the trouble and moving to some place safe, which is probably one of the reasons she was so fast in running and chasing other people. And regardless of her fears and her inexperienced fighting skills, she kept running towards Sherry, feeling like it was the right thing to do, while her entire body shivered in fear. Her mind tried to stop her, but her heart and her soul were scared and shivering, even though her body kept listening to her brain, giving Sherry a good punch. But what seemed like a great opportunity to do so, suddenly turned into Hanako's biggest failure, when Sherry turned to her in an instant and grabbed her wrist, stopping her attempt to hit her, "Oh-oh!" Hanako muttered with her eyes sparkling in fear and disappointment.
"Stay out of this, Baby!" Sherry growled, strengthening the hold around Hanako's wrist, making her wince in pain.
"Sherry", Hanako managed to let out a murmur, clenching her teeth in pain with her eyes quickly closing shut, before she opened them again, "Leave Bruno alone!"
"Watch carefully, Baby", Sherry pulled Hanako closer to her, getting right in her face, hissing vehemently, "Because you're next!" She pushed Hanako's hand away forcedly and after losing her balance, Hanako's body finally reached the ground.
"S-stop it already!" Bruno shouted, which made his voice bumble and crack, while he kept watching Sherry's furious look coming closer and closer to him. He felt fear growing stronger inside of him, as his heart skipped a beat when Sherry grabbed him by the collar and pulled his body up, pinning him against the wall harshly.
"Sherry!" Hanako's shouting voice thundered behind Sherry's back, but she showed no interest in turning around. She furrowed her eyebrows even more, sliding her hand up Bruno's neck, cupping it between her fingers and pressing her palm roughly against his throat.
"You'll be... caught if you don't... run away... soon", Bruno tried to mutter while choking, as his voice started coming out piece by piece.
"Mizoguchi will stop Security even at cost of his life!" Sherry answered indifferently and bluffly, "I won't waste that resolve!"
"You went too far, Sherry!" Hanako's voice shouted once more, while she managed to get up somehow, standing firmly on her feet.
"My parents lost their lives for the sake of one card!"
"A card?" Hanako blinked her eyes, questioning in confusion.
"If I analyse that card, I can get one step closer to the revenge of my parents and Yliaster's true motives!" Sherry added, explaining herself for no reason, like she tried to convince both Bruno and Hanako to let her finish what she started, because she knew her intentions were for a better cause, "That's why I won't let anyone interfere!"
"Revenge will not take you anywhere, Sherry!" Hanako protested with slice of guilt in her voice, because she could only imagine the pain Sherry was going through. And she had her rights to break the law and to find the answers to all of her questions, but in Hanako's opinion, she was doing it the wrong way, so Hanako kept being persistent in her attempt to make Sherry change her mind. And no matter how hard she tried, Sherry just wouldn't listen! She pulled out a shocker from her pocket and turned it on, reaching it towards Bruno's face, "BRUNO!" Hanako cried out in concern, but just when she thought that Sherry is going to succeed in her idea, Bruno froze completely and his eyes started glowing in bright neon red, as if he was a robot that got activated after his system has been turned on, "Bruno...?" Hanako murmured through a whisper, watching his strange behaviour; how he managed to grab Sherry's neck and throw her on the floor like she was a tiny doll. Her eyes widened in shock and surprise, but she was too aghast to do anything. Sherry somehow managed to land on her feet, as if she was a cat, but Bruno did not stop there. He just approached her and grabbed her neck, pinning her against the wall manically, turning the tables. Hanako watched them, frozen in place, seeing Bruno aiming his clenched fist towards Sherry's face, making Hanako cover her eyes, gently spreading her fingers to peek through at the scene. But instead of hurting her, Bruno just stopped so suddenly that even Hanako was left surprised, as he just let Sherry go, because his eyes were focused onto something else.
"R-return it", Sherry started pleading with fear in her voice, when Hanako saw a card Bruno took away from her that made her change her approach in a second, "That card is the truth that I've been searching for!"
"Truth", Bruno froze again, muttering into his chin while reiterating Sherry's words slowly, being completely hypnotised, "You've been searching for..."
"Bruno, snap out of it!" Hanako's voice broke between their argument, "What's wrong?" She lowered the tone of her voice, nearly whispering to herself, watching how Bruno suddenly let Sherry go and started walking towards the Main Computer in the Control room. His body looked like it was loitering, but he had the destination in his mind he tried to reach, it was unquestionable! "Bruno, what are you doing?!" Hanako raised her voice at Bruno, angrily watching him place the card on the Computer, before he started typing something in, "Don't tell me you are trying to hack the system!" Hanako added worriedly, "Have you forgotten why we came here in the first place?!"
Sherry looked at Hanako's facial expression, realising how something was not right, because obviously, Bruno was not acting according to their plan, "What are you planning to do?" She looked away from Hanako, moving her eyes to Bruno while approaching him to see with her own eyes what he was doing.
"To operate this machine will be difficult for you", Bruno answered abruptly, focusing on his task, "I'll do it myself!"
"Bruno!" Hanako shouted crossly, trying to make Bruno snap out of it, "You can't help her commit a crime!" She started running towards the Main Computer, reaching Bruno and Sherry, but when she treid tos top Bruno from analysing the card, it was already too late, "Why, Bruno?" She murmured, while her eyes started shivering in disappointment and sorrow, because Bruno's actions hurt her feelings and her heart.
"I don't know myself, Baby", Bruno's voice was calm and collected, "But... Everyone has the right to know the truth about themselves! Me, you... And even Sherry!" He added, explaining himself and it was more than enough for Hanako to understand why Bruno was acting this way.
"Bruno", Hanako mumbled softly, looking at Bruno's facial expression, while her heart was aching in pain, sorrowfully grieving due to the pain she felt coming from him. Even though his aura was so cold and distant, he seemed like a kind and sensitive person, who was hurt and marked by the Past unbeknownst to him, "It's because of what you told us in the lift today, isn't it?" She asked softly and caringly, moving her eyes to the card, seeing a name of it, as it spelled Z-ONE.
Hanako's proffer of cooperation from Bruno's side wasn't fulfilled, but in reality she wasn't even salivating in anticipation for that to happen, because she understood him so well it started hurting her too much to say anything in return again. She just waited for the analysis to be done, when Bruno spoke, entirely uncalled for, "The results of the analysis... Impossible!"
"It's a lie!" Sherry's eyes widened in shock, "This analysis is wrong!" She started shouting in panic and disappointment, "That nothing could be found on this card... That can't be!" She added, protesting against the analysis that Bruno ran over the card Hanako knew nothing about.
"Maybe the card has another purpose, Sherry", Hanako assumed, watching how Sherry slowly started losing hope, when the piercing bright light started radiating by the card, blinding Hanako's eyes, making them close shut.
"Baby!" Hanako's attempt to hide herself away from the light was provoked by Yusei's shouts that echoed through the Control room, "Sherry! Bruno!" Yusei kept calling out for the group, with his voice soon followed by Mizoguchi's.
"My Lady!"
Hanako immediately opened her eyes, turning around to see a flash of Yusei's character before her eyes, "What is this?" He questioned and by the sound of his voice, Hanako assumed how he was not so close to her as she thought he was.
"Yusei!" She decided to call out for him, feeling her voice trembling in fear, because she had no idea what is going to happen. The light that kept radiating from the Z-ONE card was distorting her vision and the whole scenery was followed by roaring thunder and lightning struck.
Bruno heard Yusei's voice in the background, while he was holding himself tightly onto the Main Computer just like Sherry, because the whirlwind started forming around them, coming from the rooftop, making it hard to see anything around them. He was fighting his best not be sucked in by the by the force, while bringing Hanako closer to him by wrapping his long arm around her shoulders, trying to protecting her just like he promised Yusei he will.
"Baby!" Seeing the terrifying surroundings and the scene that welcomed Yusei and Mizoguchi when they entered the control room, Yusei decided to approach the group of his friends, running towards them when a bright flash covered his eyes bringing his body into a halt. As soon as he snapped out of it and uncovered his eyes, he was already transferred somewhere else. His eyes were opened and he was trying to balance his distorted vision slowly and safely, but even though everything was blurry around him, he could easily tell he was no longer in the Public Security Maintenance Bureau building. Once he came to his senses, he saw Bruno, Sherry and Hanako standing right next to him, surrounded by nothing but pure never-ending whiteness. The entire space around them looked like a dimensional open space with no walls, no ceiling or floor below their feet... It was like they were moved into the programme! "Where it this?" He questioned nearly whispering.
"I don't know", Bruno answered, looking around and studying his surroundings.
"We were supposed to be in the Computer Room", Sherry muttered into her chin, reiterating Bruno's gesture of studying her surroundings, while Hanako was the only one seemingly too agitated by what happened.
"It looks like a programme simulation", she expressed her opinion, sharing it with others, when an abrupt feeling of being haunted started vesting her body.
"Baby", she heard an unknown deep voice that belonged to a man, there was no doubt about it, "You finally came!" The voice echoed again inside her head when she looked at Yusei and Bruno just to see that there was no reaction to the to the voice from their side, so she assumed how she was the only one that was able to hear it.
"Who are you?" Hanako answered back with a question, making everyone turn to her, focusing their eyes on her with confusion lightly spread all over their faces, "So you guys haven't heard that voice, huh?" She questioned while whispering, softly blushing in embarrassment, feeling like the ground will swallow her completely, but then Yusei moved his eyes away from her, as if something else sucked in all of his attention.
"What is that?" He asked inquisitively, pointing to the strange thing with his eyes only, keeping his hands close to his body.
Hanako immediately shifted her eyes to the direction Yusei's eyes were pointing to, spotting a strange shell-shaped construction turning around few feet above the ground, if the ground even existed in this place. She blinked her eyes few times, before they widened in surprise, because she was able to recognise the shape of the thing she saw... It looked like a part of Yusei's D-Wheel, only it was turned upside down. As soon as that realisation reached her mind, her body started to shiver, "Yusei", she murmured weakly, feeling a strong and piercing headache pulsating around her brain, making her fall on her knees.
"Baby!" Yusei ran to her at once, calling out her name in worry and concern, before he kneeled down before her, moving his eyes to the machine they both saw, feeling like someone was watching him, like someone's eye was piercing right through his soul like a sharp blade!
"It hurts!" Hanako groaned in pain, hissing through her teeth peevishly while curling her body on the floor, sitting on her knees. She felt Yusei's hands wrapped around her, but it wasn't enough to stop her body from trembling and shivering... And the amount of pain that was being pushed over her body made her dizzy and feel sick in her stomach.
"Baby", Yusei whispered softly, not wanting to cause any more pain to her, assuming how she was probably sensitive to the sound due to the state she was in, "What's wrong?"
"We finally meet, my love", that strange and deep voice echoed again inside Hanako's mind, making her muscles to lose their strength.
"W-who are you!?" She muttered with her shivering voice, as she covered her ears tightly, not being able to bear the deep sound of his voice messing around with her brain.
"I came for you to take you to a better Future, Baby!"
"A better Future?" Hanako whispered, reiterating his words slowly and weakly, feeling like she was about to lose her consciousness.
"Yes", the voice roared loudly inside her head, making Hanako feel like every time she heard the sound of that stranger calling out to her, her energy was being sucked and drained from her body, weakening her more and more. The voice kept echoing radiantly like it was pressing the back of Hanako's neck with a strong force, squeezing her body between two imaginary walls that she was not able to see... Even Yusei's soft touch and his strong hands made her feel like she was choking and losing her breath, while her heart was beating faster and faster, trying to deal with the intense pain her body was going through. She had a feeling how it lasted a minute or two, even though it was only for a few seconds, before she completely lost the feeling of control over her body and her soul started vanishing into some other dimension, leaving only pitch black space before her eyes and nothingness spread all around her. Before she even knew it, Yusei was no longer there, she was feeling pure nothingness around her and all she was able to hear was the deep sound of that unknown voice again, flooding over her like a cold splashing wave of electricity, "Let me show you!"