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Yusaku opened his apartment door, glad to have made it home. School had been rather uneventful, as per the usual, but at least it was finally over. Now he just had to find Ai so they could get ready to head out.
...Except when he stepped down the hallway into his apartment, there was no sign of Ai at all, only a giggling Roboppi sitting on the bed.
“Where’s Ai?” Yusaku asked as he stepped down the stairs, eyes darting around, half-expecting Ai to burst out for a surprise hug or something along those lines. He glanced over at his duel disk, but if Ai was in there, he didn’t stir.
“Dunno! Guess big bro isn’t here!” Roboppi shrugged, though there was a smile on the bot’s face, and their eyes kept glancing not-so-subtly towards the cabinet. Yusaku approached it carefully, not entirely sure what to expect. Opening the door revealed a purple envelope addressed to him. Well, more specifically, addressed to Playmaker.
“Did Ai leave thi-” Yusaku asked, whilst turning back around to face Roboppi, only to be cut off by the sound of the vacuum suddenly turning on.
“Sorry!” The bot shouted over the roar of the vacuum. “Roboppi can’t hear you! It’s too loud!”
Yusaku shook his head. Those two were definitely up to something. He just hoped whatever it was, it wasn’t anything too insane. Though he couldn’t say he was surprised, either. Nonetheless, he tore open the letter.
It didn’t take long for him to decipher the contents of the letter and figure out they were coordinates pointing to a specific part of Link VRAINS. Soon, he was logging in as Playmaker, feet landing softly on a long red carpet in the middle of an ornate hallway. Large chandeliers were hung overhead but the first thing he caught sight of was the “Welcome” sign in bright neon lights over a large door. Barely sparing his surroundings a glance, Playmaker headed towards the door.
“Ai?” he said as he pushed open the door, taking in the aesthetics of the room. This one was far different from the hallway before, being full to the brim with monitors displaying all sorts of other rooms Yusaku assumed must be other places in...wherever this was. He could even see a monitor displaying the room he’d just left. The most noticeable thing in the room, however, was the high backed chair that lay in front of the monitors. Before Playmaker had even fully entered the room, the chair turned around to reveal Ai, petting a content-looking Linkuriboh sitting in his lap.
“Well, well, well. Look who’s finally arrived at his enemy’s lair!” Ai announced, his smirk growing more mischievous with each passing second. “Unfortunately, you’re far too late to stop me!”
Playmaker rolled his eyes. Now he knew exactly what was going on. “Shut up. You know I’m here to pick you up for our date.”
Ai lowered his arms to place Linkuriboh on the ground, then stood up, eyebrows raised. “Wow, Playmaker. Trying to ask me out?” His next sentence came out as more of a purr as Ai leaned closer until he was right up in the other’s face. “I thought you of all people would understand how dangerous I am.”
Playmaker didn’t flinch. “This coming from the person who was sobbing in front of my TV yesterday watching rom-coms?” he responded, crossing his arms. He would not be drawn into another one of Ai’s roleplays. Not again.
A brief flash of annoyance crossed over Ai’s face and he opened his mouth to respond, only for the two to be interrupted by the sounds of Linkuriboh cuddling up to Playmaker’s leg below them.
“Ah! Linkuriboh!” Ai leaned over to scoop up the little duel monster then backed away from Playmaker.
“I told you, you’re not allowed to acknowledge him like that!” Ai scolded as he held Linkuriboh close. “You’re supposed to play along with me! I thought I briefed you on this earlier.” However, Linkuriboh just continued to stare at Ai in confusion. Finally, he sighed, giving up.
“Just go back with the others…” he mumbled, allowing Linkuriboh to hop out of his arms. “But we’re definitely talking about this later!” The little duel monster blinked up at Ai one more time, obviously still confused, before hopping away and disappearing.
With the interruption out of the way, Ai cleared his throat before his smile returned. He continued with his speech as if nothing had happened, ignoring the amused look on Playmaker’s face.
“Well! I suppose you must be upset, having to face your former partner like this, but unfortunately, that’s how things have turned out! But I think we both knew it would have to come to this someday, didn’t you? We’re just so different from each other.” Ai sighed dramatically before backing up towards the monitors. Suddenly, he swiftly reached behind him and hit a button on the keypad in front of the monitors, changing the visuals on all of them to what appeared to be a courtyard of some kind shown from all different angles. However, filling the courtyard on all ends was what seemed to be hundreds, or maybe even thousands, of copies of Ai, all standing but unmoving.
“I’ve been ignored, abandoned by humanity for so long, Playmaker, but no more!” Ai gestured around the room before pointing at the monitors. “With these clones, I won’t be alone anymore! And together, we’ll be able to take over the world!” He moved towards Playmaker until he was right in his face again. His next words came out much quieter, though no less triumphant-sounding, as if daring Playmaker to finally react to him. “What are you gonna do about that, huh Playmaker?”
Playmaker sighed again. Ai was as stubborn as always, and it seemed he wasn’t going to back down until Playmaker acknowledged whatever nonsense he was spouting. Fine. He supposed he could humour Ai for a moment.
Playmaker reached forward for one of Ai’s hands and grasped it between them. Confusion crossed the A.I. 's face, but before he could do anything about it, Playmaker took a deep breath and spoke first. “I know you think you’re… a villain now, but we both know that isn’t true. You like people way too much to do something like that.” He squeezed Ai’s hand gently, but his gaze was as intense as ever. “You have friends, like Roboppi and Kusanagi-san. And you have me, too. We are partners, after all. So I definitely won’t give up on you until you come back with me.” Playmaker looked up at Ai and smiled at him gently in a way he only ever did for Ai.
Ai blinked at him, surprisingly speechless, before pulling back, trying to hide his blush. “Yusakuuuuuu! You can just do that to me! How am I supposed to play my role seriously when you look at me like that?”
Playmaker looked smug, dropping Ai’s hand. “Are we done with this then? Can we actually start our date now?”
Ai pouted. “Well, Ai thought we could do something a little extra fun for our date, but you refused to play your part right!”
“I did play my part. If you were a villain, do you really think I would just fight you and be done with it?”
Ai crossed his arms but relented. “No, I guess not… Ugh, you’re way too nice to me! I should’ve known… But I spent all my time programming this place! I didn’t even get a chance to push you against a wall or something!”
But then Ai sighed, draping himself over Playmaker’s shoulders and pulling him closer. “It’s unfortunate… But I guess I just can’t say no to you when you look at me like that! So it seems you’ve stopped me!”
“Alright. Good.” Playmaker smiled again, just a little bit, as Ai pulled back. “Let’s go then. You can show me around some other time, if you want, but let’s do something a bit quieter tonight.” He glanced up at Ai again. “Maybe if you behave, we could even head to that shopping district you like so much instead.”
Ai’s face brightened. “Oooo, that sounds great! We can do that! But well, I do have one more thing I prepared that I’d like to show you before we leave.” He held a hand out towards Playmaker. “Shall we?”
Playmaker looked at Ai’s hand, debating for a brief moment before taking it. “Fine. Just one more, though, okay?”
Ai nodded eagerly in response, then pulled Playmaker out the door and through the hallways of the castle. Finally, they approached a door much larger than the rest. Ai pushed it open, revealing the courtyard full of Ai clones that had previously been shown on the monitors in the other room.
“Alright everyone, it’s time! Let’s get going!” Ai clapped his hands and all of the clones sprang to action, running all over the courtyard. Despite the sheer number of them, their movements were clearly programmed and calculated. Playmaker glanced at Ai questioningly, but the other just smiled at him in response.
Before Playmaker could even begin to guess what was going on, he suddenly heard a large boom, and looked up to see that the sky was now full of fireworks spelling “Ai love Yu!” in bright, colourful letters with little hearts sprinkled around.
Playmaker relaxed, leaning towards Ai. “Much better. Thank you, Ai,” he said, just loud enough so his partner could hear him over the fireworks. Ai’s smile widened. He pulled Playmaker closer and the two stood there, continuing to watch the lights fill up the sky above them.