Her name was Takako Koki.
She was a casual Yu-gi-oh! player, playing often for fun and enjoyment. It brought her peace, even in the moments where she got bad hands or dealt with annoying decks. It was just something that gave her happiness at dark times. No matter what, be it the physical game, the anime or mangas, the PSP games, or the phone game, she enjoyed it. Of course she enjoyed other things, but Yu-gi-oh! just made her sparkle from joy.
So of course, some days she liked to replay some of her favorite of the PSP games, just for nostalgia's sake. GX was her favorite era, mostly because she loved the idea of a school for something that seemed so easy, but in reality, was very complicated and required some strategy. There was also her love of the characters. Even if some were more developed than others, she enjoyed them all and their uniqueness.
One day, however, nostalgia decided to bring something much crazier to her, changing her life drastically, in a way she would never expect.
Her PSP glowed brightly when the game was inserted, and seemed to go the same as usual. The logos and the title screen, the same as ever. But when she went to start a new game, the screen started to glitch. "What in the...?" She muttered, staring as the faces and background slowly distorted into blacks and reds and blues, and for a moment, it froze. She stood up, staring, pressing the power button, mashing and pressing, trying to do anything to get the screen to move again. "Aw, cmon...why won't it work?" There was a huff, and Takako's face puffed until she noticed new words slowly popping onto the screen, barely legible due to the glitches.
T̴͓͓̈́͂ͅȋ̷̟̣̙͆m̵̰̈́́e̴͎̅ ̶͙̗̙͘r̵̦̱͎̀e̸̲̠͂͠q̷̡̼͌̆͑ù̴̫̿i̶͎̙̐r̸̖͖̎͑e̵̻͔̮͠͝s̵͇̲̤̽͠ ̴̳̣̓̂c̵͈̖̋ọ̸̠̈r̵̨̭̾̄͝ͅr̸̫̀e̷͚̰̔c̴̛͔̘͖̽̐ẗ̴̨́i̴̡̠̾̄̓ớ̸̰̠͘ǹ̴͈̙͒ͅ.̷̡͓̤̂̍
̵̧̤̌M̵̟͋e̶͍̖̞͋͠r̸͍̺̈́̇̕c̴͙̫̋ṵ̴̏͝r̴̮͍̅y̷̮͆̌͌ ̸̫͍͎̄̌h̷̭́ạ̵̏͛s̷̯̍ ̸̟̦͈͐͘͝c̷̹̤͔̈́̽h̷͓̓̔ȏ̷͔̖s̷͔̿͜e̵̼͊n̶͉͓͇͊͐ ̴̣̗̈ͅỳ̸̟̪̦̅̄o̵̳̖͗ư̵̻̥̦͗͝.̷̛͙̯̕͠
"Uh...Mercury?" Who was Mercury? Since when has PSP allowed messaging services like this? Did it even allow people to message via PSP like this during games anyways? Maybe she was experiencing some kinda creepypasta version of the game. But it's never done this before. Was this a glitch in the game? Who even knows. She switched to her phone briefly, searching up forums to see if anyone else had experienced this. Her hand absently touched the other handheld as she googled, and a loud, glitched sound came from it, causing her to jump a bit. She tried to back away from it, but found herself stuck instead. "W-What-?"
Her hand was in it.
"No, nononono, I'm not about that Persona life! I've played that game, I know what happens! I'm not dying today-!" Takako frantically tugged at her arm, phone dropping on the floor as she tried with all her might to free herself. "Let me go, let me go, let me go, let me go-!" She tugged and tugged, but nothing worked. There was kicking involved too, and she was trying her best to pry it out. But nothing worked. Nothing! If this was just some kind of horror rom hack or something, she'd actually be impressed. But she was full of fear and adrenaline.
Just then, glowing white pixels starting flowing up her skin, up the arm, slowly but surely engulfing her. By the time her brain processed what exactly was happening, a pause in her mind from how ridiculous yet scary this situation was, the white had crept all the way upwards, covering her mouth and torso, slowly moving to cover her head and legs. Her life practically flashed before her eyes. Was she dying?
Her mind went blank.
She was gone.
"U-Ugh..."
Consciousness slowly came back to her, eyes blinking softly as her mind came back to her. Takako's memory slowly came back to her, right up until she remembered what had happened. She sat up quickly at that memory, of her getting sucked into her own game. Her first instinct was to pinch herself, and she yelped from the pain. Yep, definitely alive. If that didn't kill her, though, what had it done? She took notice of her surroundings more, noticing trees and people around her. Was this a park? She patted around her, noting some mushrooms and grass under her. Ah, so it must seem like she fell asleep to the people around her. Takako also noted a deck box at her side, patting at it slightly. It was attached to a belt, thankfully, so there was no losing it.
Takako slowly got up, shaking her head slightly, but quickly paused as she noticed weird green, possibly teal, strands moving along with her shakes. "Wait a second." She tugged at her hair slightly, bringing a clump up to her face. How did this happen!? Did someone dye her hair while she was unconsious?! "Nononononono-" She was so getting in trouble when she got home.
Well. If she knew how to get home in the first place.
Her head softly shook again, trying to focus on something other than her hair right now. No, this is a minor problem compared to anything else. She was lost in some park, she had no idea where she was...Takako hopped out from the grass to the stone path, rubbing her head as she gathered more of her surroundings. Ok, so...she was in a park, there were people wandering around...it would probably be wise to ask someone for help. She moved once more, reaching out a hand, about to ask where she was, until something rammed into her from the back, causing her to fall to the floor. She hissed, slowly picking herself up. So many things were going wrong now. "Who the heck pushed me over and why, because I have a shoe with your name on it-" She mumbled, rubbing dirt from her eyes, before slowing down, eyes meeting the body of the one who ran into her.
Judai Yuki?
He was so easy to recognize, from that hair of his, and she wanted to scream in amazement. Either this was a really good cosplayer, or this was actually Judai. Normally she'd be leaning towards the former, but after what's happened thus far, she wouldn't be completely surprised. Just extremely happy.
"Sorry!" He said, trying to gather his cards up. This seemed familiar; this was the first episode of season 1, wasn't it? Except he crashed into an older Yugi, not some brunette - er, 'blunette' - who was from another world. That'd be a wildly different series otherwise. Unless, well, he already ran into him and this is more of a offscreen event. Takako was about to ask him questions, wanting to know more about the protagonist of her favorite era, but paused. Wait, right, this is season 1. All he would know is a vague 'he's late for Duel Academia' things. Besides, it'd probably weird him out.
She patted her cheeks softly, trying to calm herself down, before coming to his side and gathering some of his cards for him. 'Keep it cool, Takako," she thought "just keep it cool.' She poked the other, holding out the cards with her other hand. "These are yours, right?"
"Oh hey, thanks!" Judai softly took the cards, dusting them off and blowing on them to get rid of any dirt that got on them. "Sorry for running into you like that. I'm late to the Duel Academia entrance exam, so I didn't really get a chance to stop."
"It's fine, don't worry about it. I'm, uh, also late to go there, haha." It was a small lie, but what else should she have said? This person, who was normally just a character to her, was the only person who she actually knew around here. Might as well tag along, and hope that she can somehow sneak into the entrance exams. If she can't figure out how to get home, she might as well spend her days at a duel school. If this was some kind of hell, they made it seem more like heaven. "How much time is there before exams are over-"
"Not good!" Judai shouted, looking at his watch after having already put his cards away. "It's all the way across town! We have to hurry!" He scrambled to his feet and started running. Takako started running after him.
"W-Wait, wouldn't a taxi or the bus be faster then running it-?!" She shouted after him, hand extending in an attempt to slow him down. Really, he could avoid his issue with being late if he took a taxi or something, right?
One error.
"Huh?" She skidded to a stop, looking around for a moment. What was that, a duel spirit? Couldn't have been Winged Kuriboh. The voice was more...feminine. And, well, it didn't say kuri kuri. Judai also seemed to pause in the distance, allowing Takako to catch up. "W-Wait for me-!"