Everyone had been waiting for this moment, the International Trading Card Tournament, where all kinds of people from all over the world gather, to play every kind of Card Game made. The stadium was enormous; lights everywhere; so much people that standing anywhere you could feel the ground shake. The finals had just ended, and the winner had just been decided…
"/Sugoi! Sugoi/ Absolutely incredible! For the third consecutive year, we got Slash Shirohi, winner of the International Trading Card Tournament!" the announcer cried.
Directly from Japan, that's me, Slash Shirohi! Yes, I'm that green eyed guy standing over there. No, not that one, the one with the semi-long, brown hair! Yes, the one with the loose shirt and cargo pants! Yup, the thin guy with the trophy and the big smile on his face is me.
"/Mina-san/ Everyone! It's The Master!" Whoa! I had to take cover, everyone came running at me! Ha! How could I forget that day? I won such an important tournament, and I still couldn't believe… that I did it three times consecutively! If you don't believe me, I have the trophies in my room in case you want to see.
Oh… why did they call me The Master and not The Card Master? Because, I'm also a freaking expert in videogames! That's right; I've also won many videogame tournaments, as impossible as it might sound. Not only that, I love any kind of anime, and I enjoy reading whenever I have the time (which never happens). And well, you could say I'm probably a show-off.
But, I wasn't really happy with winning. I wasn't satisfied; I couldn't fill the "hole" inside me. That was probably, one of my worst defects. Something couldn't stop me from competing; maybe, one day; I could find what I really wanted in a competition. Maybe it's because I meet so many people, and one of them could hold the key to filling my "hole".
After escaping from the crazy spectators and journalists, I got on my way home. It wasn't very long, just about a mile and a half. I got through a long park, and then a small piece of street. Along the way, I remembered some weird stuff that happened to me on the tournament…
Before the last battle, I went to the bathroom. It was a big bathroom, probably not that big if you compared it to the insane amounts of people in the stadium. The bathroom's walls were colored light brown, while the ceiling and the floor were a whitish color. The place was empty, since the people were already waiting outside for the final match. Sound could be heard even inside the bathroom, the whole building was shaking of excitement. I washed my face with cold, fresh water. While I did, I stared at the mirror. It was as huge as the bathroom; it covered the wall from side to side. Somehow, it happened so quickly I couldn't even distinguish it, but I saw something else reflected on the mirror. It was a strange feeling, like if everything was distorted. I stood on the center… and everything else was just flames, a sea of fire; everything was destroyed and burning like a huge fireplace. There where no walls anymore, the place was in ruins. Red is the perfect way to describe how everything looked. No, it didn't look, it felt. I wasn't seeing anything, I was feeling. I can't describe it better than that; it just felt like something had crashed on the whole place. But, maybe it was just my imagination… it had to be, right? It was probably too much excitement before the last battle, right? Wrong.
"I'm home, mom! Did you see the tournament?" I cried as I entered the house. It was an average-sized, Japanese-style house, with two floors. The whole place was mainly wood, and the ceiling wasn't very high. It's as typical as typical gets. There was a woman at the first room to the right, the kitchen. It was brown, as the rest of the house, but a lighter tone.
"Congratulations, Slash! You won again!" my mom cried, coming to give me a hug. Ah, my mom. What would I do without her? Oh, she's thinner than me, not very tall, and has brown hair, also (now that I think about it, everything's brown around here). She's always been very nice to me, that's why I've try to give her the best of me.
It was getting late, the dark skies where already covering this part of the earth. In a few minutes, my friends Lucy and Ken were coming to my house. I was in my crowded room, waiting for them. It's as crowded as it can get. On the right is a wooden desk, where my laptop and my Manga collection rest. On the left, was the 15 inch LCD television on its' wooden stand, with all the videogames on a separate stand. My bed was located straight across the room, facing the TV. Lucy and Ken were my best friends, they came every Friday to play videogames, eat pizza, and sleep overnight.
"Yo Slash! Congratulations!" Ken said. Cool! Ken and Lucy arrived, ready for an exciting Super Smash Bros. Melee battle! Oh, my friends? Well, Ken was 14, just like me, and Lucy was 13. Ken is strong looking, unlike me, and he has black, short hair. He's eyes are black, and he tends to wear tight shirts so that he can show-off his complexity. I guess we both are show-offs.
"We saw the tournament on the TV!" Lucy said. Lucy? She's very thin, with light blue eyes and brown, long hair. She likes to wear loose shirts and cargo pants, which is totally uncommon for a girl around here. Actually, they weren't only my best friends, they were my only friends. Most other people just came with me for advice on their decks, or tips to defeating a certain boss in a videogame. We've been friends since our childhood. I don't know what I would do without them.
Time to sleep! We turned off the Gamecube, and got ready to sleep. Lucy, as always, was sleeping on my bed. Ken and I were going to sleep on the floor, in sleeping bags.
"Good night!" I told them.
I closed my eyes and went to sleep, without knowing I would never sleep the same way again…