This ties into my fics Fear and Absence, so I'd recommend reading those first. But this will be understandable without reading those, although Fear does explain why Yuu is hanging out with Masumi and Yaiba. Unlike in Fear, I'm referring to Yuu by his surname in this fic, since it's from Masumi's perspective, and I don't think she and Yaiba would be addressing an older classmate by his given name.

"The problem is," Masumi whispered to Yaiba as they walked down the halls of LDS together, careful to keep her voice down so that passerby would not catch any of their conversation, "that even if we have a password, we don't know what terminals can access the footage, or where it's stored, or anything."

"I know, Masumi. But it's the best chance we have to get ahold of it. If only they weren't so damn secretive about it, we would be so much better off in our training!"

Masumi nodded. She knew full well how advantageous it would be to have access to the invasion footage – to study the enemy's methods and adapt counter strategies. And she knew how much it frustrated her that LDS kept that footage to themselves, only allowing the top teachers, the elite of the elite, to view it (except for the brief clips that had been shown after the Maiami Championship and in PSAs put out to the public – hardly anything of real substance).

No one really knew why LDS refused to allow others to have access to the footage. Their refusal only gave fuel to the people who were skeptical of the invasion. After all, it made it seem like LDS really did have something to hide. Masumi thought that perhaps it was because they didn't trust the students to come up with effective strategies on their own, and only wanted the best to figure out THE strategy and teach it to everyone. That was idiotic, she thought. Many different strategies were viable and the one that would work best is not ONE strategy, but the strategy that works with the individual's deck. And sometimes it took an outside perspective to come up with something brilliant, as well. Yaiba had suggested that maybe LDS didn't want other schools to get access to it, wanting to be considered the only school that could teach the kids to defend themselves. Masumi thought that was stupid too, a war was no time for petty school rivalries. But she had to admit that that sounded like something LDS would do.

"Hey, Sakuragi's over there. Maybe he'll be able to think of something," Yaiba said, pointing to where Yuu Sakuragi was leaving a classroom. The two of them quickly dashed over to him before he left their sight.

"Oh, it's you two. Are you challenging me…?" he asked. Masumi shook her head. She knew why he had asked that – she, Yaiba, and recently Sakuragi had made an agreement to challenge each other to surprise duels, at all hours of the day, as part of training themselves, since they were disappointed with how LDS was handling training. She and Yaiba grabbed each of Sakuragi's arms, and pulled him over to and inside an empty classroom, where they released him.

"Listen," Yaiba said. "One of my teachers who's on the Strategic Defense team left out his password by accident. I wrote it down, and if we can only find a computer with access to the restricted footage, we're all set to get ahold of it for our own training. Got any ideas?"

Masumi shifted her focus back and forth between Sakuragi processing what Yaiba had just told him, and the closed door to the classroom they were in. The last thing they needed was for someone to walk in on them plotting to essentially steal from LDS.

"Yeah…yeah, that's great! Let's see…most of the computer terminals wouldn't have remote access to the machine with security's stuff, but…I think the one in the back of the library, the one that students aren't allowed on – that one does."

"Back of the library, got it. Let's go. There's no point in wasting time, before someone realizes the password's been compromised," Masumi said, starting towards the door.

"Wait, but…he said that we're not allowed on it."

"We're not logging on as ourselves, we're logging on as your teacher. And if one of us keeps watch, we'll be able to get on and off without anyone seeing us."

Yaiba exchanged a glance with Sakuragi. "If you say so," Yaiba said. The two boys followed her out of the classroom and over to the library. No one said anything, and Masumi could tell the other two were trying to act as naturally as possible. She hoped their shiftiness wouldn't give them away. The best thing was to walk with confidence, and few people would be suspicious.

"Here," Yaiba said quietly, slipping Masumi the piece of paper with the password on it as they entered the library. "I'll keep watch and alert you if anyone starts to go over that way. You two go and get that footage."

Masumi and Sakuragi nodded. Masumi sat at the terminal, grateful that it was tucked away in the back, obscured by bookcases. She carefully typed the teacher's name and password in, and held her breath as she waited for the screen to confirm or deny her passage, while Sakuragi looked on in silence. She couldn't help internally cheering when the screen changed to signify that the login had been successful. Now all she had to do was find the footage – something that was easier said than done.

She searched through the file system. Eventually, she found a folder labeled "Maiami City Cameras", which looked promising. Maybe this will be easier than I thought! Her hopes were unfortunately dashed as she stared at the incredibly long list of video files, all with names that were strings of numbers and letters that were meaningless to her.

"If only they could just label it 'Top Secret Invasion Footage' so I could just take it," she said quietly.

"You can tell it to display and sort by date added," Sakuragi suggested. "Here." He typed a brief command, and the details about the files appeared on the screen. "If you grab all the ones created during the dates of the Maiami Championship, then that should be what we're looking for!"

Masumi scrolled through, trying to find the right dates. She decided to grab some from the days leading up to the Championship, as well, just in case there had been some activity before. She pulled out a small flash drive, and plugged it in.

"And now we hope that this transfers fast," she said. "And that these are the right files." Everything had gone so smoothly, she expected it that any moment now, it was all going to blow up in her face. But the library was deserted, Yaiba had given no signal, and the computer didn't protest her copying the files beyond asking for the password – which she had. Still, she had no doubts that this would cause suspicion when it was noticed by higher-ups. They only had so much time before it would be investigated. Every moment crawled by, only increasing her anticipation of LDS Security jumping out of the shadows, demanding what she was doing.

But nothing happened. The transfer completed, and Masumi swiftly removed the drive and logged out of the terminal. Sakuragi checked to make sure that there were no traces of them ever having been at this terminal. Then the pair of them quickly made their way back to Yaiba.

"Done already?" he asked. They nodded. "That's good, I was feeling pretty awkward just standing here."

"So, we've got the footage, what are we going to do with it now? I don't think we want to be caught with it on LDS grounds…" Sakuragi said, starting to sound like he was having second thoughts about taking it.

"No. We'll have to train at our own homes. My papa doesn't like us dueling in the store, and you said that your parents are doubters. Yaiba? You think your place is good?"

"Yeah, should be. Mom's at work right now, anyway, so we'll have the place to ourselves for a few hours."

"Alright, let's go. I don't know how quickly they'll realize that someone's gotten into their precious footage, and we don't want to be here when they investigate."

.

.

.

"Your place is pretty nice. If you don't mind me asking, what do your parents do for a living?" Sakuragi said, looking around Yaiba's living room, where Yaiba was currently attempting to set up his laptop.

"Oh, uh…Mom works at the hospital, so we do pretty well for ourselves. 'Course she's almost never home…And my father, well…I don't see much of him. Mom kicked him out years ago."

"Oh…I'm sorry…"

"Nah, don't be. Ah…there we go!" Yaiba said. "Now, we'll see if we got anything worth looking at!"

Masumi handed him the flash drive, and he put it in, pulling up the first video.

"Are you ready for this?" Yaiba asked Sakuragi, who gave a weak smile.

"I don't think I'll be any more ready tomorrow. So…no point in delaying it."

"This is just general camera footage," Masumi said. "So just click through until we see something interesting."

It was dozens of camera feeds and many minutes before they did, and interesting may have been an understatement.

"That's me? And Hokuto? Why…I don't remember this…" Masumi said, confused as she watched the footage of her and Hokuto walking down dark streets. She felt apprehensive as she watched herself confront Kurosaki in an alleyway. Why didn't she remember any of this? She turned to look at Yaiba with a wordless question in her eyes as he, too appeared on screen. Yaiba shook his head. So he doesn't remember either…

When she saw their combined strategy against Kurosaki, she could no longer keep silent.

"What is this?! I don't remember any of this! Why would we use such a strategy against Kurosaki – we know how his deck works, we know that this is the worst thing we could have possibly done! Why…?"

"I don't know…I have no recollection of this either," Yaiba said.

"That's weird that you guys don't remember," Sakuragi said. "But it's right here on camera, and you were talking like you were on some mission for LDS…"

"And that's another thing!" Masumi said. "Kurosaki – why would he attack LDS? Why is he insulting it? Why are we acting like he's our enemy? He's been at LDS with us for so long…yet it's like he's an outsider, a stranger here! I said that I was the only one who knew what he looked like, but if he was enrolled at LDS, then…"

"Oh, that looks painful," Sakuragi commented as the screen showed Kurosaki annihilating the trio. "He's very brutal…maybe that hit knocked it all out of your heads…"

They continued watching as President Akaba appeared and confronted Kurosaki. The exchange brought no answers, and Masumi's confusion only deepened when it was revealed that she had given information on Kurosaki looking for someone named Ruri, something she had no memory of either. Then, the three of them were shocked as Kurosaki revealed his motives.

"Do you mean to tell me…"

"That the founder of Leo Corporation and LDS…Akaba Leo…"

"…is the one who sent the invasion? The one who attacked us?!"

"He disappeared all those years ago…everyone assumed he was dead and forgot about him…but all this time, he was…!"

President Akaba and his accompaniment departed, as Kurosaki chased after them. A team of LDS physicians appeared in their wake, and gathered the trio carefully on to stretchers. One of them pulled up his phone and spoke to someone on the other end, presumably another physician:

"Get the memory adjustment team on call – we need these three taken care of as soon as possible."

"Memory adjustment?!" Masumi and Yaiba shouted in outrage.

"LDS would go that far?" Sakuragi asked.

Masumi felt betrayed. But no wonder they wouldn't release footage, if it were revealed that LDS did things like this to their students, or if it were revealed that the founder of Leo Corporation was connected to the invasion…there would be outrage. Still, this didn't stop Masumi from being angry about this. Why couldn't LDS have trusted them? She felt even angrier as it occurred to her that Hokuto might have been alright if he had kept his memories of this fight. She clenched her fist by her side, barely even registering as Yuzu came into view just after the medical team left with the three of them. She did feel a bit of an odd twist in her stomach as Yuzu called out for her, but Masumi ignored it.

"Damn them," Yaiba said, irritated. "They used us! It's already bad enough that we're just left to the sidelines while they focus on training the less competent, but to find out that they did this to us, too!"

"But why would they do that? Was it because they didn't want anyone questioning Kurosaki's involvement in the tournament? It always did seem a little odd…and the way he spoke…he didn't sound like an LDS Junior Youth – no offense to you two, of course. But he seemed pretty dismissive of us – though I guess in the end he was right…"

"We could spend all day guessing at what this means," Masumi said. "But we won't get any closer to the truth. Let's just find what we're actually looking for. We can demand answers from LDS once we've seen that."

The other two agreed, and they continued searching through the footage for more. Nothing interesting appeared for some time, until it came to the You Show kid, Sora, confronting a masked man in a park. Masumi didn't find it terribly interesting, actually, but Yaiba insisted, and was rewarded as Sora revealed that he was with the enemy. Though, now that Masumi thought about it, he had confessed that in his duel with Kurosaki, hadn't he? Only, they hadn't known about the enemy then.

The footage cut out to static. Yaiba clicked through it, but it seemed that there was nothing after that point.

"Guess the camera failed somehow," Yaiba said.

"Doesn't matter – even if that Sora kid was with Academia, we've already seen his dueling. We're into the championship time now, so we should be getting closer to the invasion, so keep going," Masumi said.

Yaiba nodded, and continued clicking through footage. He nearly clicked past Hokuto's frightened face, but backed up instantly.

"Hokuto…is this where you fell?" he asked. The video played on, answering Yaiba's question as a bright light shone from the assailant's duel disk while Hokuto backed away in terror, before being turned into a card. The assailant fanned the card, and turned around, facing the camera.

Masumi instantly slammed her hand down to pause the video. She breathed sharply as she stared into the face of Hokuto's killer.

Into Yuzu's face.

"I'm…I'm sorry for your loss," Sakuragi offered awkwardly as Masumi and Yaiba stared at the screen in shock.

Masumi felt as though the world was spinning. Everything she had thought she had known – was all of what she knew wrong? First learning that her memories had been tampered with, then finding that Hokuto fell to Yuzu…Yuzu, of all people! Masumi hadn't…she never would have thought that Yuzu…but if Masumi couldn't even trust her own memories, could anything be trusted, really?

"DAMN YOU!" Masumi suddenly shrieked, breaking the silence. "Damn you, Hiiragi Yuzu! So you were with the enemy all along? You killed Hokuto?! Was it all a ruse, then? Losing to me, then suddenly being able to Fusion summon…should I have seen it the entire time? I thought of you as a worthy rival – I thought of you as someone who shone, but in the end, I was deceived by the glare of a rhinestone. And to think, I even gave you Crystal Rose…!"

"Wait, what?!" Yaiba demanded, suddenly. Masumi was slightly startled – in her rage she had forgotten about the others, who she now noticed had backed away from her during her outburst. "You gave her your card?! It wasn't an ante match; why would you do such a thing? Just what is Hiiragi Yuzu to you, Masumi?"

"I…" Masumi started. How was she supposed to answer a question like that? She didn't want to think about what Yuzu was to her. Or had been, anyway. "She's nothing to me, if she's killed Hokuto. She's one of the enemy, and I'll make her pay! I'll…!"

"Masumi," Yaiba said firmly. Masumi froze. Yaiba very rarely challenged her when she was angry. If he was pushing this, he was absolutely serious about it. "You're not answering the question. Why did you give her your card? You had no reason to do that, you barely even knew the girl, right? You had defeated her at You Show, and that's it. Yet, she was calling out for you after we faced Kurosaki in that video, wasn't she? And you…I'm angry too, Masumi, and I want to see justice against our enemies for what they've done to Hokuto – but you…you're acting like this is a personal betrayal. Like you trusted this girl. Like…you're acting like…like when my mom found out my father was cheating on her! You're reacting in exactly the same way! So I'll ask you again, just what was going on between you and Hiiragi Yuzu? Just what was she to you?"

"It doesn't matter!" Masumi insisted. She was not ready to deal with the question of what Yuzu meant to her. Not even on a good day was she ready to think about that, and especially on top of having her entire conception of reality pulled out from under her? No way. She was not dealing with this. She was going to find out the truth, and she was going to establish some sense of the world again. Right now. She stood up, and started for the door.

"Where are you going?" Yaiba asked. "You still haven't…"

"I'm going to get answers! No matter who I have to wrest them from!" Masumi said, running outside.

"Wait!" Sakuragi called after her, but Masumi ignored him. She wouldn't let anyone stop her now. She was going to get to the bottom of this.

There was no point in going to LDS – she would have to admit she had stolen the footage, and if they'd tampered with her memories once, she doubted they would hesitate to do it again. She was not going to give them that chance. She was going to go to the only other place that might know anything, and that was You Show duel school. After all, they must have a connection to the enemy, if that Sora kid and Yuzu were both in league with them.

Masumi tore through the streets, running towards the school as though the world was burning behind her heels. She finally slowed down as it came into sight, panting with the effort of exertion as she came to rest against the outer walls of the building. She took several deep breaths, and steeled herself to go in and confront them. There was no use in having a shaking voice or limbs when she did so – that would only show them weakness, something she could not afford if they were truly aligned with the enemy.

She entered the building, her footsteps echoing as she made her way down the hall. She could hear voices from a classroom, and didn't give herself time to think before she threw the door to it open to four startled faces.

"Oh…Hello, can I…help you?" asked Principal Hiiragi. Yuzu's dad, Masumi thought. It was clear from his expression that he recognized who she was. Good. She could skip the introductions and get right to the point.

"What is your and Hiiragi Yuzu's connection to our enemy?"

"What?" he asked, apparently caught off guard by the question.

"I am asking you if you are affiliated with the enemy!" Masumi said, her voice rising. "That Sora kid who attends your school confessed it in his duel with Kurosaki, and now…!" she cut off, her voice choking up. "And now I've seen the footage of Hokuto's death, and the one responsible is Yuzu!"

"That…that's impossible!"

"Yuzu would never do such a thing!" one of the kids shouted at Masumi. Masumi didn't care. Of course they would react negatively to the accusation, but she knew what she had seen.

"Tell me the truth! I want to know how long you've been in league with them! I want you to tell me right now where Yuzu is so I can avenge Hokuto!"

"I'm telling you, Yuzu doesn't work for the enemy! She never has. She was captured by them during the tournament, we don't know where she is or if she's okay…"

"Save your sob story. If I have to force the answer out of you in a duel, so be it. Prepare yourself. If you're with the enemy, I'll show you no mercy."

"Masumi!"

She turned, distracted as Yaiba came running into the classroom, Sakuragi right behind him.

"Thought you might come here," Yaiba said.

"We'll talk about it later," Masumi said, annoyed that he'd followed her all this way just to pursue that stupid question that she wasn't going to answer. "I'm going to beat the truth out of him right now."

"Wait! I…I should have said something earlier, and I tried to tell you as you were leaving, but I don't think that girl was Hiiragi Yuzu!" Sakuragi said.

"What do you mean? Of course it was her. Even if she was wearing a cloak, I know what her face looks like," Masumi said, trying to push down the thought that she knew that face so well because it kept intruding in her dreams.

"The thing is…that girl, I met her."

"What?!"

"She was going to challenge me to a duel – just as she had done for your friend, I presume. He used Xyz like me, right?"

"Yes…but how do you know that it was not Yuzu? She uses Fusion, just as you saw on the video."

"We didn't actually duel. President Akaba stopped her and told me to leave immediately. I did so – I didn't realize the danger I was in at the time, but now I know I could have met the same fate as your friend – or my classmates on the Youth team."

"But that still doesn't…"

"Why would President Akaba allow her to continue to participate in the tournament if he knew she was doing these things? And why would she be one of the Lancers at the end of it all if she was working with the enemy?" Yaiba asked. This gave Masumi pause. He was right, it didn't add up, even if LDS had shown itself now to be less than trustworthy with the whole memory alteration business. But still, that was definitely Yuzu's face. Even if the girl gave off an entirely different gleam…

"And even if that doesn't convince you…at the time she challenged me, Hiiragi Yuzu was in the middle of her second round duel. So it couldn't have been her, just someone who looked very much like her."

"But then…if that's the case, where did this girl go? Did President Akaba take her into custody?"

"I don't know, but I think I saw her again just before we – the Youth team, I mean – went up against the invaders."

"Her name was Selena."

"What?" Masumi asked, turning to Principal Hiiragi.

"When Yuuya returned to us without Yuzu, and we asked where she was, since we thought she had come back with the other competitors…we were informed that had not been Yuzu, but another girl named Selena," he said wearily. "Yuzu…was captured by the enemy."

"Yuzu…is captured?" Masumi echoed. She didn't know what to think now…that it wasn't Yuzu who attacked Hokuto was a relief, but to learn that she was captured… "I won't forgive them! I'll find this imposter and avenge Hokuto and Yuzu both! You have my word…I'll find a way to bring Yuzu back!"

"Oh…thank you…?" Principal Hiiragi said. Masumi felt her cheeks heat up as she realized that her impassioned outburst had earned her strange stares from everyone in the room. After all, she and Yuzu were barely acquaintances, right? It was a little odd to promise a rescue…

Masumi turned and ran out of the room, not wanting to embarrass herself further. Yaiba ran after her.

"Really, Masumi, what the hell is going on between you two?! You're acting so strangely about her!" he shouted.

Masumi ran faster. She wasn't going to answer that question. She wasn't going to even think about it.

Not in a million years.