Disclaimer: I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.
Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh GX
Title: The Lucky Pen
Character: Shou
Word Count: 999||Status: One-shot
Genre: General||Rated: G
Challenge: Written for the Diversity Writing Challenge, section B, #12, write a fic between 950-999 words; Written for One Character Boot Camp, prompt #15, pen
Summary: There was only one reason that Shou passed the written portion of his entrance exam: the Marufuji Family Lucky Pen. At least, that's what he believes, with all of his heart.
Shou twirled the pen between his fingers, trying to remember just how his father had done it. It always looked so easy when he'd watched it being done. Doing it was another matter altogether.
The pen slipped from his grip and dropped toward the floor. He squeaked and grabbed for it, heart pounding as it hit the train floor and began to roll out of sight. He could not lose this pen. Any other one, he wouldn't have really cared. It could be replaced. But this pen? No.
This was the lucky Marufuji family pen. His father told him many stories about how he'd passed tests in high school and college with it and Shou was determined to carry on the tradition.
Oddly enough, Ryou hadn't ever needed it. He'd politely turned it down when their father offered it to him when he'd entered high school, and sailed off to make perfect grades even without it.
Shou's fingers scrabbled onto the end of the pen and he pulled it back up, sinking back against the cushioned seat with a quick sigh of relief. Losing it would be bad enough, but losing it today? No, if that had happened, he would've just turned around and gone back home, because clearly every omen said he didn't belong at Duel Academia.
He tucked the pen into his bag and zipped it up. As much as he wanted to master that fingertwirl, he wasn't going to try doing it here in a place where pens could be lost so easily.
Looking out the window showed him that they weren't that far from his stop. His heartbeat picked up even more, but in a different tempo this time. Instead of absolute terror at the loss of the family lucky pen, now a mixture of excitement and fear skittered through his veins.
Can I do this? Really? He wanted to. He wanted to make something of himself and he wanted to be a duelist. Nothing else in life appealed to him as much as that did. Even if he wasn't ever as good as his brother, maybe he could at least save enough money from dueling in the pros to fund a college education, so he could figure out something else from there. He wouldn't at all be the first person to try that path.
What stood before him was a test. One single test, in two parts: the written exam and then the practical exam. They took place on different days and in different places, and while it was possible to pass one and not the other and still get in, passing both of them with reasonably high marks meant that there was a good chance at getting into Ra Yellow instead of Osiris Red.
Ryou had told him all about the different dorms and how one got into them. If he'd been sparked by ambition just a little sooner and made an attempt to get into the junior high like Ryou had, then if he'd passed all of his exams there, he could've gone right into Obelisk Blue. Just like Ryou.
I don't know if I really am good enough for that, though. He wanted to think he was. He knew that his parents thought he was. But they didn't understand dueling. They never had. They were happy about Ryou's successes, but that was because he was their son, not because they completely understood how he made those successes.
Shou understood. He wasn't able to duplicate them, but he knew how Ryou dueled. Every moment of his brother's duels that he'd seen remained seared into his mind. He could recall any of them at a moment's notice.
Sometimes he thought he could even think of ways to counter some of his brother's moves. He'd seen so many of Ryou's duels that he could predict what his brother would do in almost any situation and it was only natural to think about what he would do, if the cards favored him.
As if that would ever happen. He let out a long, deep sigh as the train pulled to a stop. Big brother would never want to duel someone like me. He duels people who can give him a challenge. Who are good at what they can do.
That didn't describe Shou at all. If he even passed this exam, it would only be because of the blessings of the lucky pen.
Not that he was going to complain about that at all. It would give him a chance to get better. Maybe not a very good one, and he might screw it up even then, but it was a chance.
It was also all he could do to keep his stomach under control as he headed to the testing building. Butterflies whooped and swooshed inside of his stomach. He almost wished that Ryou had come with him. Seeing his big brother's impassive demeanor would've given him something to strive for.
As it was, he just barely managed to get himself into his assigned chair and start the test without succumbing too much to his jitters. I'm going to do this, he told himself firmly, taking out the lucky pen. I've got the luck of the whole family with me!
He started his test. He would pass this. He would finally be able to look his brother in the face. He would be a duelist. He would win duels one day.
He stared down at the first question. I have no idea of what the answer is. How many attack points did a Kuriboh have and what was the special effect?
Shou swallowed. He took another look at the lucky pen. Man, I hope you've got enough juice for this. He bent over the test and threw everything he had into it.
Maybe he did something right, because the lucky pen came through for him.
He kept that pen for the next three years. But he never was able to get that twirl right.
The End