There was a lot Sawatari had put up with to pursue a career as an entertainment duelist. His father had almost blown a gasket when he had dropped out of LDS to enroll in You Show. Leaving LDS meant losing out on a lot new cards, and dear lord had dealing with those B-list stars been painful at times too. Still Yuya at least had potential. His presence alone had made it bearable. Getting to face and challenge his rival at any point kept his skills sharp in ways LDS had never been able to.

Still even that small advantage was slowly being taken away from him now.

When that Dennis fellow had arrived in Standard, Sawatari had found no reason for them to accept that traitor. He had never felt completely comfortable about that Sora guy, and this one had been unstable enough to apparently card himself. Still apparently Yusho knew him, so that was that. He might have been able to tolerate at least having to see his face around occasionally if Yuya didn't all of a sudden become so attached to him.

It just didn't make sense. Dennis was hardly flamboyant and showy anymore. Sure sometimes he could put on a show for the younger students, but there was nothing he could do that Sawatari couldn't. It wasn't like he was jealous of him for getting Yuya's attention. It wasn't like his blood boiled every time Yuya brought him to a lesson with his arm hooked in the crook of Dennis', smiling and laughing and doting on the pathetic traitor. He wasn't jealous of all. He had just decided that Yuya might need some persuading on who the better entertainer really was around here.

"You want to do what?" Yuzu shot him a wilting look once he proposed his idea.

"It can't be that hard to pull off can it?" He sighed in exasperation. Neither of them were too fond of the other, but she had already managed to tolerate him for all these years as it was.

"I'm just not sure how well our decks will mesh together." She shrugged, but Sawatari couldn't help but think there was more to it than that.

"If you're worried about losing, then don't. I can carry the two of us perfectly fine, but I know they won't accept unless it's a 'fair' fight." He cupped his head in his hands with a nonchalant smile, waiting for his words to set in. And oh, she tried so hard at first, but it was plain to see her competitive side was starting to grow heated.

"Don't kid yourself Sawatari," Blue eyes hardened. "I can handle it."

"Then how about we challenge them before my Pendulum lesson to the kids?"

"As long as it doesn't cut into my Fusion one, then we're good."

"Alright," He walked away with a smug grin. He couldn't waste a second if he was to properly fine-tune the details of his deck.

The next day, Sawatari cut right to the chase. As soon as Yuzu finished the last of her curriculum, he swung into action.

"Boys and girls, and students of all ages, for your good behavior this week, Miss Hiragi and I will challenge Mr. Sakaki to a duel for you!" From his position broadcasting the announcement to the entire school, Yuya appeared completely caught off-guard while Yuzu gave him that 'I can't believe this is really happening, but it is so you might as well go along with it,' look.

"And that's not all. If I am defeated, then I pledge to take the entire class out for ice cream!" He darted out of the room before he could observe the kids' reactions, but when he joined the Yuya and Yuzu, their expression told enough.

"Well Yuya, are you going to disappoint your audience so?" Sawatari couldn't hold back the excitement in his voice.

"2 against 1 isn't very fair, you know,"

"Oh, well you can pick a partner of your own," He tapped his chin as if pondering the subject. "How about Dennis? Or is he asleep at this hour?"

A quick yet painful glare from Yuya told him he had crossed the line with that conflict. Thankfully before he could start to feel real guilty about it, Yuya's expression turned neutral.

"If he's up for it, then I guess why not have some fun?"

The next five minutes were spent wrangling Dennis, preparing the tag duel, and making sure all the kids were there in one piece. While they counted as students too, with the expanded Junior program, Mr. Hiragi requested them more and more to take on part-time teaching roles. It wasn't half bad if he was honest with himself (at least not when the kids weren't crying). Still Sawatari was too caught up in his dream of stardom to think about settling in a boring job like that.

Soon you'll see up close why I'm destined for greatness, Yuya

The two teams took their sides and with a flourish of an arm, the duel began.

Sawatari and Yuzu got off to a great start, bringing out their aces quickly. Still Yuya and Dennis held their own. It was to be expected. Excitement took time to build, no use ending things too soon. Sawatari kept adding more sparkles and pizazz as each turn proceeded, outshining Yuya's and Dennis' individually. Frustratingly, Yuzu wouldn't go along with the act at all. When he complained about her not cooperating, she'd just give a tired sigh and insist she was simply doing things her way.

When she ended her turn once more, Sawatari was about to complain again when suddenly, a call came in on her duel disk.

"Hold up a second, while I take the call," She motioned to Yuya right as he was about to pendulum summon again. "Yeah…Dad?!…wait a sec…alright I'll be there," With that she took off her duel disk and began strolling to the exit.

"What are you doing! We're in the middle of a duel here!" Sawatari couldn't hide the panic bubbling up his throat.

"I got more important matters to handle than your jealous tiff. I'm off."

And like that, she was gone.

The duel didn't last much longer after that. As great as he was, 2 against 1 really wasn't fair, and Sawatari's deck wasn't designed to handle multiple opponents. He fought until the bitter end, but that annoyingly endearing phrase of Yuya's sealed his fate.

"Are you ready?" Dennis said with a smile brighter than usual.

"Mmhm, the fun has just begun!" Yuya returned to him an equally intense one, and Sawatari tried to ignore the way his heart shriveled up. "With that, Odd Eyes attacks you directly!" Sawatari went flying as his life points hit zero.

So much for outshining them

The defeat hurt more than the impact had. All this time he had been chasing Yuya and he was still as far behind as usual. Maybe Dennis really deserved to be his rival instead.

"Hey, you alright?" Sawatari looked up to see Dennis approaching him, almost looking concerned.

"Considering I was just humiliated, no."

"What for? It was a good duel." He shot Sawatari a quizzical look.

In that moment, it occurred to Sawatari for the first time that maybe this competition was only one-sided.

"If you're worried about paying for the ice cream, I can pitch in," Dennis offered his hand to help Sawatari up.

"Please, my father is the mayor," He sniffed and turned his face away. Besides considering Dennis was still living with the Sakaki's it was unlikely he had much cash of his own.

Still in the end he took Dennis' hand.

"I guess you can repay me with a rematch later."

After all, who said you could only have one rival?

A.N. This is part of Tumblr's Arc V Secret Santa Exchange. For imaginarystormz on tumblr, merry christmas!