Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters presented here and am not making any profit off of this whatsoever.
Title: Ultimate Prize
Rated: G
Word Count: 6,337
Romance: Shou x Black Magician Girl
Notes: This takes place about five years after the end of Yu-Gi-Oh GX. Comments and criticism gratefully accepted.
Summary: At a special tournament, with a unusual card for the prize, Shou crosses paths once more with Black Magician Girl.

Shou yawned and stretched, tightening the tie of his robe as he wandered out of the bedroom. He hated waking up in the morning, especially when he'd been having such nice dreams. Black Magician Girl had been there again, teasing him and giggling. He'd wondered now and then if he could, or should, ever ask Juudai about taking him for a trip to one of those other dimensions, to see if he could meet her for real again.

Maybe next time. Of course, one never quite knew when Juudai would show up. But Shou was in no rush. He had quite a bit to do with his own life anyway. Even if right now was the down time for all of the Pro Leagues. It would be good to rest for a few more weeks.

He wandered over to the front door, still only partially awake, and thinking more about getting breakfast than anything else. But routine was routine, and the routine was that whoever got up first checked for the mail. Mostly that was Ryou, but it looked like his brother was sleeping in today.

The normal circulars and such for the two of them were there in the box, of course. Shou set aside the ones addressed to Ryou, then blinked to see there was one for him, without a return address. But the handwriting on his address was obvious: it was from Juudai.

"I wonder what he sent me," Shou murmured to himself as he opened it up. It wasn't the first time Juudai had sent him something. There was a small collection of odd gifts from all over the world in the living room, actually.

The envelope turned out to hold a clipping from Duelist Weekly. Shou subscribed to it, but he hadn't bothered to read the last few issues. Nothing there had really appealed to him, after all. He read over the clipping and blinked a few times. Why had Juudai sent this to him?

"What is it?" Ryou was up now, and as always he looked fully alert from the moment he got out of bed. Shou envied him that sometime. His own waking up tended to be much slower.

"Juudai sent it." Shou read it over again. "Industrial Illusions is having a special exhibition tournament next week right here in Domino City. Something about a special anniversary." Knowing Pegasus, it was probably the anniversary of his fiftieth cup of green tea. "The prize is a special rare card, autographed by Pegasus himself, but exactly which card it is, no one knows. It's only to be revealed to the winner."

He fished into the envelope again and found a small note in Juudai's handwriting. Hey, Shou! Saw this and thought of you! Why don't you give it a shot? That was all that was written there. Shou blinked a few more times and rubbed his eyes, trying to get his brain to work enough to actually grasp what he was reading.

"Juudai thinks I should take part in it." He didn't really need any rare cards, but the thought was kind of appealing.

Ryou glanced at the article and then at his brother. One teal eyebrow raised a touch. "Are you going to?"

Shou looked at it again himself, then at the note. Juudai generally had good advice, and it wasn't as if taking part in a promotional tournament was going to be a bad thing. In fact, it could turn out to be interesting. It was generally a chance to get seen, if nothing else.

"I think I might," he decided. It didn't really matter what the prize card was. At the very least, he was sure to have some fun. He did wonder how to get in touch with Juudai to let him know that he was going to do, but decided not to stress about it. Knowing Juudai, he'd be there at some point anyway.

There was a number in the article to call to get the information on how to register, and once Shou had showered, dressed, and had enough coffee to get his brain to wake up, he called to start the enrollment process. After five years in the Pros, he knew how to handle this sort of thing without a problem. Once he put the phone down, he and Ryou had a suite reserved during the tournament week in one of the classier hotels near the arena that Pegasus had rented for the event. Domino City was large enough that it just wouldn't be practical for them to stay at the apartment and drive out to the arena every day, after all.

"I wonder if anyone else we know is going to be there," he mused as he rattled about in the kitchen. No one with any sense let Ryou cook food, so he was the one responsible for breakfast, lunch, and dinner in their apartment.

"You'll find out." Ryou did not appear to be all that concerned about the matter, but that was usual for him. Ryou was never concerned about anything. He was going through his deck as Shou prepared breakfast, a cup of coffee near him, and his main attention on the new cards he'd been incorporating into it. Shou suspected that Hayato had something to do with this new line of Cyber cards. An entire new line based off of Cyber Phoenix…

"Right. Here you go." Shou slipped a plate in front of Ryou and went back to finish his own. The tournament would be begin in another two weeks, and would last for a week, giving them another three weeks after that before the regular pro duelists started up again. This would be a really good diversion, Shou decided, even if he ended up losing. Maybe he'd get a chance to see some of his potential competition, too.

He settled in with his own food, thinking over those duelists he knew who might be inclined to take part in something like that, just to have a chance at a rare card or to have a chance to duel without any real loss of pride or position. There were really quite a few of them. This promised to be really, really good.

Everywhere that Shou looked, there were duelists. He recognized quite a few of them, having met them in some professional capacity for some, or having went to school, if only briefly, with others. There were quite a few who were there just to see and be seen, not to bother with dueling. Pegasus had promised a grand post-tournament party once it was all done, and Pegasus's parties weren't anything to be missed.

"Hey, Shou!" He turned at the calling of his name by a female voice, and waved when he saw Saotome Rei coming towards him. "How have you been?" she asked once she got close enough. She had fulfilled the early promise of her beauty, maturing into a splendid figure of a young woman.

"Can't complain," Shou replied with a polite bow. "What about you?" It had been a while since the two of them had crossed paths. The last had been at her graduation, though they were both in the Pro Leagues. It was nice to see her again.

"Just great!" She waved one hand a bit dismissively, grinning some, and he caught sight of the elegant ring there. "I can't wait to see who else is here." Her grin widened slightly. "Is your brother going to duel in this?"

Shou shook his head. "He's here, but he's not really interested in it." The only reason Ryou was there was to see him duel, though Ryou hadn't said that in so many words. Not that he'd really needed to. Shou understood him, as Ryou understood him.

"Too bad. That could have been interesting." The gleam of combat lit Rei's eye. Though he'd bet on his brother any day of the week, Shou suspected that Rei wouldn't make it easy on Ryou if they ever did duel. "Well, I need to go find Martin. See you around!" She waved again and was off, blue hair gleaming in the overhead lights.

"She hasn't changed a bit." Ryou's voice came from behind him, where he had been lurking out of sight. Ryou chose when he wanted to be sociable and when he just wanted to stand around being menacing. Tonight he was obviously feeling a bit of both.

"Are you ever going to duel her?" Shou wondered, heading over to where the refreshments for the welcoming party had been spread out. He could feel rather than see the slight shrug of his brother's shoulders. Ryou could be picky about his opponents.

Shou sipped at the drink he picked up, handing one to Ryou as he did, and looked around the room. He wondered if Juudai was going to be here to participate or if he'd just show up to watch. He would have liked to have a chance to ask him just why Juudai had suggested he take part in this. There had to be a reason for it beyond just having some fun and maybe winning a rare card. Or maybe there wasn't. When Juudai was involved, anything you suspected was likely enough to be wrong, even for someone like him. Juudai was just that unpredictable.

Something that didn't surprise him was seeing Hayato there, talking to a couple of old friends from Duel Academia. But what did make him blink a few times was Ryou moving past him to go right over to the young designer, and Hayato stepping away without a word with him. Shou blinked several more times, and tilted his head just in time to see Ryou getting his deck out, and the two of them settling into a conversation that could only involve the new Cyber Phoenix line. Huh. Guess I was right.

"So, having fun yet?" That voice. Shou whirled around and glomped Juudai quickly. He'd grown a few more inches in the last five years, so it wasn't quite the same as when they'd been in school. But it just wouldn't have been any fun to see Juudai and not hug him like this. Juudai himself laughed and hugged him quickly back.

"Are you going to be dueling?" Shou asked, a thrill arcing through him at the thought of dueling against Juudai again. Sure, when it came to one of those dueling machine games, he'd won against him a few times, but in a real duel? No, not yet. And he wanted to.

Juudai shook his head with a grin. "Just watching today. And cheering for you, of course. And everyone else." That was Juudai for you. Shou hadn't expected anything less.

"So, what is the prize? I mean, you know, don't you?" Shou counted on Juudai to know the unknowable, if he wanted to know it.

Juudai only smiled in a fairly calm, yet amazingly annoying way. "I don't think you'll complain."

There were days where no matter how much Shou liked Juudai, he did kind of want to smack him once in a while. The jury was still out on if today was going to be one of those days or not.

Shou sipped some more of his drink and glanced away to see if anyone else that he knew was around there. "Have you seen my brother?" he asked as he did. "He's been so excited about those new Cyber Phoenix cards that I guess Hayato's been making."

"I had a feeling he would be." Juudai replied. "Hayato thought that he'd like them. They fit." He laughed some. "I know Edo had a few things to say about them too."

That sounded like Edo. Ryou had sounded slightly amused when he and the American duelist had been talking the other night. Now Shou had an idea of why.

"Well, I've got to go say hi to a few other people. See you around!" Juudai waved and wandered off into the thick of the crowd. Shou barely had time to even see him go before he was completely out of sight. It was odd at times to think of this tall, confident, responsible young man as the same guy that he'd met all those years ago at the entrance exams. But then again, it wasn't as if he hadn't changed with the years as well.

As he started back to the refreshments, something caught his eye: a wash of blonde hair. He thought for a moment it might be Asuka, but then he got another look and blinked. That couldn't be right. She wasn't…they weren't there.

He couldn't have seen Black Magician Girl.

Four days of duels had cleared out the competition quite a bit. Shou had dueled three or four people who were really, really good, and he'd enjoyed the duels intensely. He had to admit that he really enjoyed them the most because he'd won them all. There were still several matches to go before the two finalists were decided, though. Most of those would be dealt with during the day, and the last duel would be the next day, in the early evening. Pegasus had a sense of drama like that, after all.

He was settled on the balcony in his rented suite, looking out over the city. Domino City had been the home of Japanese Duel Monsters for years, and the crowds for this tournament were thick. Even though winning or losing wouldn't affect anyone's rankings, everyone loved to see a good duel. Cars and trucks were caught up in a small traffic jam below. Shou had a really good view of it from up there, and he watched in fascination. He leaned over a bit more, reaching up absently to adjust his glasses as he did.

Something must have went a bit wrong, however, as his glasses shifted a little more and then fell completely off of his face, falling downwards towards the concrete below. Shou started, then tried to grab for them, knowing that it was helpless.

At least, it was, until a slender hand wrapped around them, and there before him was a very familiar figure, grinning cheerfully. "Hi there! Did you drop these?"

Shou stared at Black Magician Girl, not entirely certain that he should believe his eyes. "Um…" He blinked and shook his head as he blankly accepted the glasses back and settled them where they belong. "Hi?"

She laughed warmly and settled down in front of him. "I don't think we were ever really introduced. I'm Autumn."

"S…Shou." He stammered a bit, knowing that he had to be blushing from the way that his cheeks were burning. "I'm Shou. Marufuji Shou."

"Nice to meet you, Shou." Autumn grinned at him. "It's been a long time, hasn't it?"

He could hardly believe that this was actually happening. They were on Earth, not one of those other dimensions where Duel Monsters were as real as the cars passing by below. "You…you're the…that was you?" He couldn't be making a good impression. He was acting like such a child!

"The one who came to that party you guys had at the Academy? Yeah, that was me!" Autumn laughed again, and Shou wriggled a little just at the sound of it. "I wish I could have talked to you then, but I didn't have a lot of time to stay. Now's different, though."

Shou shook his head some, trying to get himself to act his age. He was twenty-two, not fifteen! "What's so different?" He thought he knew, though.

"Because of this." She tapped a slender ring of gold around one wrist. "Juudai gave it to me. It lets me stay here as long as I like, as long as I wear it."

Shou bent over to take a look and was struck by how much it resembled some of the Shadow Items that the Seven Stars had possessed. "What is it?"

"He just said it would help me. It's not permanent; I have to go back to my world about once a month for a few days. But other than that, I can hang out here as much as I want!" She grinned at him. "Maybe you could show me around? I know you've got to duel some this afternoon, but until then?"

"Uh…sure!" There was no way that Shou could have ever said anything other than yes to that winsome smile and merry eyes. "Where do you want to go?"

"Everywhere!" Autumn declared, jumping to her feet. "At least as many everywheres as we can. How long do you have until you duel again?"

Shou grabbed for the list that denoted who was going to be dueling who and when that evening and checked for his name, then checked the time. "I've got at least three hours," he said, thinking it over. He would need at least an hour of prep time before his next duel. If he won it, he was pretty sure that he was going to be one of the finalists, too. Not that he thought it mattered. If he got to hang out with Black Magician Girl…with Autumn…then he could win or lose and it wouldn't make any kind of a difference anymore. Maybe this was why Juudai had wanted him to come here, so they'd run into each other? It would be like him.

He turned towards her; there were people who dressed up like various Duel Monsters at events like this, so her outfit wasn't going to cause any real problems. At least he didn't think it would. But…the more he thought about it, there was a problem. The existence of Duel Spirits was slowly becoming more and more common knowledge, but he didn't really think she wanted to get mobbed by people who wanted to know if she really was one. "Do you think you could…change your clothes some?"

"Oh, right…" Autumn tapped one finger on her staff. "Juudai said something like that. What do you think of this?" She lifted her staff and concentrated, with pale pink and blue sparkles falling from it to circle all around her. When it was over, her trademark blue outfit was still blue, but it was now a skirt and a blouse, with some pink trimming here and there, and her hat was still a hat, just one that looked more modern than it had before. She even had a deck holder on her belt, with a deck in it, so she fit in even with that small detail.

"Wow." Shou couldn't have said another word about it. That one said it all.

Autumn wrapped one arm around Shou's and pecked his cheek a bit. "Maybe we could get a snack or something? I've never had a chance to have food from this world. What do you know about…potato chips?"

If Autumn had wanted a coherent explanation, she should have really waited to kiss Shou. With that little brush, his higher brain functions took one look at the situation and decided that Shou and Autumn needed time alone together, and they were better off plotting duel strategy, somewhere out of the way. Thus, the only words he managed to utter that made any coherent sense were, "They're good?"

"Then let's try some!" Autumn headed for the door and Shou went along eagerly. He was really going to have to find a way to thank Juudai for so very, very much.

Shou was thinking a little more clearly by the time they got down to where everyone else was wandering around, having little pick up duels, eating, and having a generally good time talking to each other. He saw Juudai again, but his friend was busy chatting about something or other with O'Brien, who gave only a brief nod to the two of them before continuing his conversation. There was a hint of seriousness in what little he could hear that made him wonder if something was going on somewhere…but Autumn was already tugging on his arm.

"Where would we get potato chips?" she wondered, her eyes shifting here and there through the crowded room. "Wait, there they are!"

Shou barely had time to say anything else before she was virtually charging over to a snack food stand. Indeed, several different bags of potato chips were for sale, in multiple flavors, along with dips and anything else that someone could think of that might be interesting to nibble on. A cooler nearby held some sodas, and he went fishing for one while Autumn stared at the display in blissful indecisiveness.

"Who's your friend?" It was Rei again. She was doing just about as well as he was in the tournament; there was even a good chance that they would end up dueling each other in the finals.

"Oh, hi, Rei!" Shou managed to drag his higher brain functions back for a few moments. "This is…Autumn. We met here." He didn't think now was the right time or place to really tell her about how and when they'd met, or who Autumn really was.

"Nice to meet you, Autumn," Rei said as Autumn turned towards them, two or three bags of chips and a couple of cans of dip in her arms.

"The pleasure's all mine!" Autumn replied, wiggling her fingers in greeting as best that she could. Shou hurried over to relieve her of the bags and set them on the counter to pay for them. "I don't think I know you, though."

"Saotome Rei," the younger duelist introduced herself. "I met Shou at Duel Academia."

"I caught his glasses when they nearly fell over the edge," Autumn replied, tossing her hair back over her shoulder. "He's cuter with them, really."

Shou was certain he was blushing all over again and kept himself busy paying for the snacks as long as he could without bothering the cashier, who looked as if she were a little amused at his difficulty anyway. Once everything was bagged up, he went over to Autumn. "Where else would you like to go?" he asked, holding the bag out to her.

"Maybe we can watch some duels?" she suggested, taking it. "I'd love to watch some. I've seen all of yours so far this week."

Shou wondered why Rei looked very much like Fubuki did when he was trying to plot out someone's love life for them. He tried to remember if anyone who was really a good showman was going to be dueling any time soon. Too bad Fubuki himself wasn't there. That would've been an awesome duel to watch, no matter who won. "Sure. I think there are some good ones coming up."

"That reminds me, I've got a duel I need to get to." Rei pouted just a bit, as if dueling wasn't quite what she wanted to be doing at the moment, then waved and headed off. Shou would've been more curious, if Autumn wasn't already tugging at him.

"Let's go see her duel!" Well that settled what they were going to be doing for the rest of the evening. Or at least for the next half hour or so. Shou wouldn't mind seeing Rei duel again, though. So with Autumn once more tugging him along, he headed on off to the stands.

It might have been a touch of Autumn's magic that gave them very good seats, but whether it was or not, that was what they had. Juudai and O'Brien were near them, and Martin was on the other side, eagerly watching as Rei and her opponent exchanged greetings. If there had been any sort of tension or trouble, neither Juudai nor O'Brien seemed to be all that concerned about it at the moment, and Shou was quite glad to let it lie. No trouble was the best kind to have, especially right now.

"So, you two having a good time?" Juudai asked, his voice drifting lightly over to him. Shou looked over with a wide, happy grin, and Juudai grinned back at him. "Good. I thought you'd like to see her again."

"Juudai…" Shou had no idea of what to say. What would possibly convey what he had on his mind right now? What could be good enough?

Juudai, as always, didn't seem to need words to know. "Hey, no problem. You guys just be happy, all right?"

Shou would do his very best for that. Though the thought of all that entailed bid fair to send yet another fiery blush tearing across his face. So, trying to keep himself under some kind of visual control at least, he turned his attention back to the duel before him. He didn't recognize Rei's opponent, but it only took a little concentration to read the duel before him. Knowing Rei's style, which had matured as she had, he was convinced after watching just for a few minutes that she was going to win.

"She's really good, isn't she?" Autumn whispered, and Shou nodded. "What if you have to duel her in the end?"

That was easy. Shou grinned back at her. "I'll have to win, of course." Just because he had Autumn here now didn't mean he was going to give up the tournament. He was kind of curious to see what the prize card was, after all, and he hadn't come this far just to give up.

A brief flicker of movement beside him caught his eye, and he glanced up to see his brother there. He smiled warmly at him, and got a nod back. Ryou's attention moved briefly over to Autumn, then back to Shou, a slight tilt to his head now. Shou ducked his head, his skin warming up yet again, and now Ryou smiled just a touch before he looked back to the duel, his usual impassive expression settling on his features. A knot Shou hadn't even been aware of inside of himself loosened at this obvious sign of Ryou's favor. Though he was also quite aware that Ryou would probably want to talk about this once it was just the two of them. He was fine with that, though. For now, everything was going just the way that it should be.

Once the duel was over, with Rei being the winner just as Shou had predicted, Autumn leaped to her feet and started to tug Shou onwards again. "Come on, I'm hungry again!" She'd eaten two of her three bags of chips during the duel, as well as one of the cans of dip and a soda that Shou had gotten for her.

Shou started to get up, but even as he did, one of the other people heading out of there placed a large and firm hand on his shoulder for balance. It was one of those rare moments when everything combined to go wrong. When the stranger pressed down on his shoulder, Shou jumped and flailed, not having expected something like that. His head jerked back and he squawked, especially as his glasses, perhaps a bit unsteady still from their earlier fall, skidded off of his face and into the thick of the crowd going by.

"Hey!" The person who had surprised him just kept on going, and Shou forgot about him as he tried to get to his glasses. "Hey! Could someone…hey! My glasses!" He could scarcely see anything at all that wasn't close to him and he flailed helplessly, hating being so farsighted.

Then he heard it. A clear and unmistakable crunch. He froze where he stood; this could not be happening. He hadn't just lost his only pair of glasses. Sure, he could get them replaced, but it would take days for them to come in, and his doctor had wanted him to get his eyes checked again before he got another pair anyway, which would take even more time, to get the appointment set up and then wait for it to happen…

He stared at the mangled mess that Juudai finally extracted once enough people had passed. "I can't fix them," Juudai said softly. Shou wasn't surprised; the powers of the Herald of Gentle Darkness were impressive, but they weren't glasses repairers. "I'm sorry, Shou."

"It's my fault," Autumn said, tears welling up in her eyes. "I shouldn't have been pulling on you like that. I'm sorry. I'm really, really sorry!"

Shou just didn't know what to say. He didn't want to blame anyone. It was just one of those things. "How can I duel like this?" He fumbled for the deck holder on his belt and pulled out the cards. Holding them close wasn't going to do anything. The lighting in the arena itself would be better than this, so if he could see now…

When he held them at arm's length, he was just barely able to see them. It required a bit of head tilting and thinking, but with the pictures of his monsters on the cards and how well he knew his deck after over ten years of dueling with it, he thought that he might be able to do it. It wouldn't be easy, though.

"Can you?" Ryou was looking down at him. Shou hesitated a little, then nodded. He would, even if he couldn't. He was a Marufuji.

He looked around, trying to find Autumn so he could tell her it was all right, and frowned. He would have thought her bright gold hair would have made her recognizable even without his glasses. "Autumn?"

"She left." Juudai said softly. "She said she'd be back later, but she had to go for right now."

Shou bit his lip and nodded some. He really wanted to talk to her, but he also wanted just to go sit down for as long as he could before his duel. At least he would be able to get back to the suite without any problems. He hoped.

By the time his last duel before the finals came around, Shou had adjusted to the situation as best that he could. He still hadn't seen so much as a swish of Autumn's hair, and figured she was probably off beating herself up over what had happened. Or worse, finding out who had stepped on the glasses and beating them up.

But, there was little to nothing that he could do about that, so he did what he could, which was duel against an older duelist who used a classical warrior deck. Shou just barely managed to pull off a win, spending a bit more time than he had to staring at the cards to be certain of what he was seeing, and relying more on his memory and the pictures than he had in a long, long time.

"So, it's going to be us for the finals." Rei said, looking at him as they both stood in front of the wide electronic board in the lobby that gave who would be dueling who for everyone to see. She hesitated some. "If you want to see if we can wait until you can get yourself some new glasses, that's okay."

Shou shook his head sadly. "I already checked. My doctor insists on a new eye exam before I get them replaced, and President Pegasus only rented this place for a few days. Tomorrow's the last day and it can't be delayed. He would if he could, even Juudai asked him, but President Kaiba has something planned here once everyone's gone."

Rei nodded some, and Shou turned to look her as much in the eyes as he could. "And don't you even think about trying to forfeit for me! If I win it's going to be because I beat you, not because I can't duel! Because I can!"

She blinked once or twice, then grinned. "Good. I'll see you tomorrow, then." Before Shou could think of a single thing to respond to that with, she was gone. He sighed; he meant what he said, but it was still going to be rough to duel like this once again. His eyes already hurt from straining them the way that he had, and while he was going to have time to rest before then, it wouldn't be easy.

But, there really wasn't anything else that he could do.

He made his way back up to the suite, moving carefully so that anything that was too close to him didn't get bumped into, and spent an hour or two sorting through his deck, making certain every picture was as clear and perfect as he could supply. The last thing he wanted was to mistake Drillroid for Patroid or something like that.

He closed his eyes and got ready to duel. Virtually everyone was in the stands. He'd seen most of them. He could all but feel their eyes on him, each one worried to some degree or other. Shou had to admit that he wasn't exactly as sanguine about this as he wanted them to think that he was. But what else could he do? Just forfeiting wasn't possible. He just couldn't.

"Duel!" His eyes flashed open as the word cracked across the distance between himself and Rei moments later, and he drew his first five cards. She had the first turn, and he held his out to get a better look so he could think about what he was going to do.

He had a good opening hand, and he was pretty sure he knew what he wanted to do. Though his eyes did hurt again, and he wished that he'd thought to bring some eye drops. He'd have to get some later, no matter how this turned out.

"Turn end!" Rei declared, finishing her first move. Shou nodded and drew a card, holding it out without even thinking about it. Right. This didn't change his strategy too much. In fact, it helped it along.

Though, it was starting to get annoying to hold them out, and it was a lot harder to conceal what he was thinking without being able to hold them so close to him. He rubbed a little at his eyes and wished that Autumn had shown up just a little, just so he could talk to her. Focus, Marufuji, he told himself, and started to get his opening move going.

Turn by turn, the duel ticked by, with neither of them getting anything like a clear advantage over the other. If he didn't know Rei so well, he would have wondered if she were holding back just to give him a bit more of an advantage.

He drew another card on his turn and once more held it out. This was getting so exhausting, emotionally and mentally if not physically. He wanted this over with. Would it be all that bad if he did forfeit? Maybe Rei would let him see the card, at least, when she won it?

Shou. Shou. The voice was nothing but a whisper, but he heard it regardless. It was familiar, too, familiar and feminine. Shou, it's me!

His eyes widened and he whispered softly, "Autumn?"

Shush. I'm really sorry about what happened yesterday, but Juudai told me that it's just one of those things. No one's really at fault. So, I'm here to help you. That was confusing. She couldn't help him duel, that would be cheating. As if she'd read his mind, she continued, I won't tell you how to duel. I'll just tell you what cards you've drawn. So you don't have to keep holding them out like that.

That…that would be all right. And despite knowledge of Duel Spirits, no one would be able to call this cheating. He would still make the moves himself, after all. He nodded a little, drawing his hand closer in, just as if he had his glasses on, and waited.

"Shou?" Rei sounded a little confused, but he just smiled a confident smile at her. He was going to win or lose the duelist's way: on his own.

With Autumn's voice murmuring the card names in his ear, his confidence built itself back up firmly and strongly, and the duel was his from that moment onwards. He could see a brief glimpse or two of Autumn to one side as it progressed, and as far as he could tell, no one else, except those who could see spirits anyway, could tell that she was there. That was just as well. He'd rather not have to explain some things.

"Steam Gyroid, attack!" His favorite monster leaped forward and destroyed Rei's only defense monster, and then he used De-Fusion. Gyroid and Steamroid finished off the duel, and the cheers that filled the stadium were quite plainly led by Juudai's strong, happy voice.

"Good move." Rei said, grinning a little. "Congratulations. But…your eyes…"

"Lots and lots of practice," he said. It wasn't a total lie.

He turned to see President Pegasus coming over, with the box that held the rare card held in his hands. "I'm quite glad to see that your difficulty did not hamper you from being a true duelist, young Marufuji Shou," the president of Industrial Illusions declared. "And I'm even more pleased to present you with this card. It is not quite so rare as some, but it is a first edition holofoil, autographed by yours truly." And that, in and of itself, made it all but priceless. Shou accepted it and carefully unwrapped it, noticing as he did that Autumn had joined the throng that surrounded himself and Pegasus now. He smiled at her even as the wrapping fell away and he lifted the lid to see…

Black Magician Girl.

The winning card was Black Magician Girl.

Oh. So that's why Juudai…

He'd known all along. Shou looked at his friend and saw nothing but a grin of joy. He was still going to have to find a way to thank him. Maybe Autumn would have some ideas. They were going to have a long time ahead of them to find out, he suspected. And he liked that idea very, very much.

The End