Jealousy

Ayukawa sighed. She…liked Mitsuki and respected him…sort of. But sometimes, he annoyed the holy hell out of her.

"I'm sorry to hear that you missed your wedding because of Yubel's interference, but will you close your mouth long enough for me to get an accurate reading of your temperature?"

"If you really feel sorry for me, you can honor my request for a dinner date."

"I'd love to…but I can't. There are children still recovering from the aftershocks of the Dis-Belts and I need to be there for them. Mouth closed. You'll draw flies. And I won't know if you're sick or not."

"Aren't nurses supposed to care for their patients who trekked through the arctic wasteland and then dueled a polar bear to fasten a teaching position at North School, all because he was fired by some heartless bastard who was offended by a broken man's attitude because he missed his wedding day due to a hermaphrodite's Taoist vengeance?"

What is it with this man and making absurd remarks when he's angry? "You'll be fine without me. You're a grown man, Mitsuki-san."

"A grown man without a wife or love life!" he exclaimed. "C'mon, Emi-chan! Why not just one date? One measly date?"

"You seem to have no temperature. You can leave whenever you're ready."

"I have a headache," he complained.

"You can take these pills."

"Goody."

"Suppository pills."

"…double goody. Are you denying my heart because you have a fling for Tenjoin Fubuki?"

Emi's reaction was expected: her calm previously composure shattered as her face turned a deep shade of red. "Wha—that's ridiculous! He's a student!" she sputtered rather unconvincingly in Mitsuki's opinion.

Mitsuki poked a finger in the direction over her shoulder. "…he's in front waiting for you," he deadpanned.

In complete contradiction to her former denial, Emi immediately abandoned her current patient rushed over to the wounded Fubuki. Outwardly, Mitsuki kept an indifferent pretense. Inwardly, he was cursing the surfer to the fat friar in hell.

"Oh dear! What happened? Are you alright?" he heard her cry with a tone of worry in her voice that wasn't present before.

There was a groan from the surfer. Moments later, she ushered Fubuki into a cot adjacent to the one Mitsuki was sitting on.

"Just rest here, Fubuki-kun. I'll be back soon."

She left, so now that Fubuki and Mitsuki were alone. He glanced over at the surfer and felt a distinct feeling of dislike towards him. He quickly looked away. Hopefully, if he avoided eye contact, Fubuki wouldn't initiate meaningless conversation.

Fubuki ogled at him with squinty eyes before waggling a finger in his direction. "Hey, aren't you…Mitsuki? You're that gardener who always screamed at kids to get off the lawn…" Fubuki looked him up and down, which was mad unfair. "What's with the new getup? Going skiing?"

Mitsuki found a frown breaking his indifferent countenance. For someone who was dubbed 'sensitive' by the majority of the female population, he wasn't very perceptive of the things in front of him. "Hmph. I'm no longer a teacher at Duel Academia. I work for North School now."

"No kidding…" Fubuki scratched his head. "How come I never knew of this?"

Mitsuki looked away. Because I'm as elusive as Kabayama to you juveniles, he thought. He changed the subject. "What happened with you?"

"I dueled Juudai under the pretense of Darkness again...he wiped the floor with me..."

"Big surprise."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Fubuki questioned, vaguely offended.

"Juudai beats everyone. Island hero. He may not have the grades or the motivation of a hero, but he's done more for this island than anyone else has."

"…point taken." He sighed. "But y'know. I can't help but feel like I'm a failure."

At his sudden change in personality, Mitsuki raised an eyebrow. The lightheartedness was rapidly leaking out of the atmosphere.

"What do you mean?"

"I feel like the past three years has been a complete waste. The chicks, the publicity, the pina coladas, flower leis, and spending nights strumming my ukulele on the beach—it's been a blast being scotch free from big bads and the gloom-and-doom motif, but when it comes to it, when was the last time I actually did something useful?"

Fubuki made some frustrated gestures with anger directed towards no one.

"Maybe your time in this school has passed," Mitsuki replied. Like mine...

"Passed, huh? Passed already? You mean that's it? We get to be top dog for one year and let a bunch of kids in nappies take over? Heroes get younger every year—look at Rei! She can whup half of the Obelisk Blues in the school and she's only thirteen." Fubuki covered his face with his hand. "My generation… Me, Ryou, Fujiwara—we were the best of our class—what the heck happened to the three of us? Fujiwara vanishes off the face of the planet, Ryou gets royally thrashed by some kid in his first shot in the pro leagues, and I get my ass whupped by my baby sister in a public school duel!"

"There's no point in arguing the reality. You're being selfish."

Fubuki rounded towards Mitsuki with a hard look. "My selfishness is your selfishness. Don't tell me you haven't felt jealousy towards those kids. Towards Juudai."

Mitsuki clutched his heart. Inwardly, he knew Fubuki was right.