Chapter One: Brave Face


He could feel the soft touch pressing against his shoulder as it disturbed his sleep. He groaned softly as he tried to open his eyes. His head was still pounding from whatever had just happened to him as he attempted to do so. He thought about closing his eyes again to relieve himself of that and drift back to sleep.

"Yuto...!"

At the mention of his name, Yuto opened his eyes again, trying his best to keep them open as the pain still hit him like a truck. He glanced up towards the direction of the sound and saw the familiar face.

It wasn't Ruri. He knew that now. He had gotten used to the face after he figured out that the girl was not the same girl from Xyz. She wasn't his best friend's little sister. She wasn't...

She wasn't his Ruri...

It was Yuzu. The girl who had Ruri's face, however, she did have a different personality. Just little details could easily tell Yuto it was her. They had already met multiple times during his time at the Standard Dimension, and multiple times he was sent somewhere else in the city when he was with her for a while. He definitely could do without the random teleporting that came with her. Though, he couldn't at all say that he wasn't grateful that she was there. It was certainly better than having some stranger finding him. Or Reiji Akaba. Certainly better.

"...Yuzu...?" He asked, the pain in his head worsening as he spoke.

"Yuto, are you okay? Were you in a duel just now?" She asked in a slight panic.

Yuto tried to focus on the question, trying to think about what did happen. There was a duel. With the Pawn of Fusion after the Fusion user Sora had been taken back to Academia. The Pawn of Fusion summoned his dragon and then Yuto summoned his own after...then...

He couldn't really piece anything after that together all that much. There was a blank in his memory at that point. He didn't really understand what happened in between the events of the start of the duel and...

And Yuya. The whole incident came back to him so fast. The blast that went off when the Pawn of Fusion's dragon attacked, Yuto was trying to move, Yuya...

He had disappeared...and practically in Yuto's own arms.

He quickly sat up, regretting that soon after, a sudden strike of pain crashing through his spine. He hissed at the pain, Yuzu placing an arm around his back to help him stay sitting upright so he doesn't possibly hit his head and hurt himself again.

"Yuto, what happened to you?" She asked in concern as she stared at Yuto's pained face.

Yuto took a small breath and glanced around. He was still at the park where the situation went down so thankfully he wasn't unconscious for long.

As his eyes travelled along the ground, he noticed a bunch of scattered cards. There definitely was enough to make a full deck and...

And there was a card there that caught his attention.

Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon.

That was one of the cards that Yuya had used in their duel with each-other. That meant that all of those scattered cards had belonged to him before...

"Yuya..." He said in a voice below a whisper. The blast must've scattered his cards all around before he disappeared.

Yuzu blinked in confusion at the mention of her best friend. "Yuya?" She asked. "Yuya was here?"

Yuto grimaced at the thought of telling her. He mentally cursed at himself for bringing innocent people into this. Neither Yuya or Yuzu were a part of all of this and yet he had managed to involve both of them. Not only that, but with what just happened a few moments ago...

Yuzu worriedly glanced over at the cards, eyes widening as she held her free hand over her mouth in shock. "But...but those are..." She began, trailing off, unable to piece her words together

Yuto's knees shook as he stood up, Yuzu eyeing him the entire time to make sure that he wouldn't fall again, standing up with him, though her own legs were unsteady from what her best friend's lookalike was insinuating.

Yuto struggled his way over to the scattered cards, Yuzu following alongside him the entire time. When the pair made it to the pile after some struggling, with Yuto almost tripping over his own feet a few times and Yuzu stopping him from hurting himself, they both stared down at the cards.

"...Yuto..." Yuzu spoke. "...You can't tell me that you won't tell me what happened here. Please..."

Yuto couldn't make eye contact with her. No matter how much he knew he needed to say it, it was a lot to take in. The fact that he allowed something like this to happen, he couldn't just accept that, he couldn't just shake away the feeling of guilt that was overcoming him.

"Please!" Yuzu begged, as she raised her voice with tears beginning to well up in her eyes. "That's my best friend!"

"...I don't know..." Yuto answered through his teeth. "...I don't know what happened!"

Yuzu clutched her fist tightly as she tried to fight back the tears that were trying to escape her eyes. She couldn't just accept such an answer. It hadn't been long before that Yuya, Noboru and her all split-up to search for Sora, and they hadn't even found him. And the fact that Yuya was nowhere to be seen...

She bent down to look at the cards and gather them up so then a gust of wind wouldn't drift them away, Yuto being able to at least stand still while she did so, until she noticed that shining blue colour amongst the cards. That chain and design...

...It was Yuya's pendulum...

That was not good...definitely not good. Yuya would never just lose his pendulum like that. Sure, the cards were already a surprise enough, but the last gift he had received from his father years ago...Yuzu couldn't just leave any of this alone. With a shaky hand, she picked the pendulum up and held it close to her as she hitched back a sob.

Yuto bit his lip as he watched the scene in front of him play out. He figured that she got the point on her own, but that didn't mean that he felt any less bad about it all. In fact, it all made him feel worse.

Not being able to protect Ruri when she was kidnapped and is who knows where in the Fusion Dimension and now this...all of the people he couldn't help...he hated how helpless he was feeling.

If he could've remembered exactly why it happened, he would've been able to fully explain. Did he miss something in that memory gap to tell him how exactly Yuya just...faded away like that. It was definitely not normal for such a thing to happen.

Yuzu glanced up at him for a moment in thought, causing Yuto to instinctively look away. There was no telling what she could've been thinking at that moment. She was still teary-eyed and biting into her bottom lip, so Yuto could only guess that she was trying to think how or why any of this happened. He truly did feel for her. After all, he went through something similar when the whole situation started.

She looked back down at the cards and picked them all up in a pile with the pendulum still in her other hand and stood up to face Yuto again, trying her best to compose herself.

"Yuto..." She began; her voice quivering as she spoke. "...Why did this happen? How did Yuya...? No, that couldn't have happened...where did he...?"

Yuto glanced at her from the corner of his eye in guilt and shook his head. "I don't know how to answer that..." He replied.

Yuzu tensed up at his words, worried for the worst. "Are...are you telling me he's...?"

Yuto sighed. "I don't know." He answered. "I just don't know how to explain. It happened so fast and...I don't remember parts of tonight..."

Yuzu stared at him in worry before looking down at the ground. "Please try to Yuto...please just try to tell me what happened. Because...because I know that you wouldn't do something like this to him. You and Yuya...not only by appearance, but by morals, you two are alike. Please tell me! This involves me too!"

Yuto shook his head at her again. "...I can't involve you anymore than I already have. You need to let me-"

"Yuto!" Yuzu interrupted, raising her voice. "Don't make me say it again! I don't want to think that Yuya...you have to let me know! This isn't just between you and your enemy anymore! This involves me now too!"

Yuto thought about it for a moment. Yuzu was clearly in despair. She was emotionally weak. The least he could do for her at the time was help to calm her down as much as possible and to answer what he could. "You do deserve to know..."

Yuzu gave him a sad smile and glanced down at his side. "Oh! Are you still hurt?" She asked in concern.

Yuto flinched away. "It's not that bad. I'm fine. I've dealt with worse."

Yuzu put the pendulum in the same hand as the cards were in and grabbed his wrist and began to drag him away. Yuto, although surprised at first, allowed her to walk him to wherever she was taking him. It may have been good for the both of them to get out of the area anyway after all of that.

He wondered about exactly what he was going to say. He didn't want her to get hurt because of all this he brought with him, but it may be a good idea to further warn her about it, he supposed. Though he didn't know how far she would take his warning. From what he saw, she was quite strong and independent, especially when she challenged Shingo and his entourage. But even so...

Before he knew it, she had led him to the warehouses where they had first met each-other, speaking of Shingo. She had opened the large door of one of them and left it open to keep some light in as she and Yuto walked inside.

As they entered, Yuto couldn't help but to wonder if the group of four had put couches in all of these warehouses or if every one of them conveniently had some.

Yuzu lead Yuto over to one of the couches, although Yuto could feel her hands were still shaking on his back as she did so. She was putting on as brave of a face as she possibly could, though it was obvious how much she was truly hurting inside. It was quite disheartening to see someone like her in the state she was currently in.

The pair sat down on the same couch as each-other in a moment of silence as Yuzu stared down at the deck and pendulum that belonged to her friend in her hands. It was as if she was trying to prepare herself and hoping that she didn't break down in front of him like in the park. Though, Yuto would completely understand if that were to be the case.

Yuzu took in a deep breath and shakily breathed it back out and turned her head towards Yuto.

"...You really do look like him..." She said, taking Yuto aback. "Yuya I mean. I just can't believe it..."

Yuto glanced down at the warehouse floor. "...I'm sorry..." He mumbled.

Yuzu stared at him for a moment, putting her words together in her mind before speaking once again.

"Yuto, it's not your fault, I'm sure. I know that someone like you wouldn't do something like that. It would mean going against your cause that you and your friends are working so hard for...but please, I need to know what's going on. The whole story." Yuzu told him with a firm tone.

Yuto glanced back up at her from the corner of his eye for a moment. There was no getting out of this. And he had already told Yuya before...

"The whole story..." He repeated. "...It's unusual...so I would understand for you not to believe any of it. Do you still want to know?"

Yuzu took no time to think before giving Yuto a certain nod. Yuto nodded back, understanding.

"It started three years ago in my hometown of Heartland...it used to be so peaceful back then. The day was normal, people walked around to their own business and I was with my friends Shun and Ruri..." Yuto began.

Yuzu recognised both names. "Shun...that's your friend from the other day, right? And Ruri is his sister?"

Yuto nodded. "That's right." He paused for a moment before continuing. "Of course, you most likely realised that it didn't stay that way for long. Heartland was taken under siege by a large number of soldiers from Academia."

"Academia?"

"In other words, the soldiers are students from the Fusion Dimension who are the most skilled. It's not just a school."

Yuzu's mouth hung slightly open. "Fusion Dimension?" She asked. "So, you're saying that there's more than just this dimension...?"

Yuto nodded as he held his side to stop the pain. "I didn't believe it at first either, but me being here is proof of that theory. Because as I can tell so far, there's even more."

"You being here...?"

"Yes. I come from a place known as the Xyz Dimension. That's where Heartland is."

Yuto paused there to allow Yuzu to think about it. It was quite the unbelieve story, of course, so he wouldn't be surprised if she were to ask if it was some kind of joke. She looked to be silently contemplating it before bringing her attention back to Yuto.

"Okay, and what happened after that?" She asked.

Yuto blinked before doing as she asked. She most likely would ask some more questions afterwards anyway.

"Well...as to be expected, a lot of us didn't make it. It was a merciless attack. The soldiers of Academia would turn anyone who passed by into a card. Why they're doing it, I have no idea." Yuto explained.

"We survivors of that first attack were able to build up a camp. We had lost many people that day, either being carded or missing. But we managed with our resources that we had at the time, having to save everything we possibly could. A girl I know lost her friend in the crowd as he ran off to try and help someone out during the raid. We unfortunately couldn't find him when some of us went patrolling for anyone we may have missed by mistake, so she's torn up about that."

"Later on, sometime during the night, Ruri went to go get something from storage. And when I noticed she was taking a while, I went to see what was happening. By the time I got there, however, she had been beaten in a duel and was unconscious."

Yuzu frowned. "And that's when she was kidnapped I'm guessing."

Yuto followed that question with a solemn expression. "Yes, but that's not the only thing. I couldn't see everything because the person who took her was wearing a cloak, but I saw his face. It was...I don't know how to explain it, but he had the same face as me."

Yuzu's eyes widened in shock. "So, not only do I have the same face as Ruri, but you share the same face as Yuya and this guy that took Ruri?"

Yuto nodded once again. "However, Yuya was not the same person. The person who took her came back later. He's a pawn of Fusion."

"Pawn?" Yuzu asked.

"Yes. He doesn't use Fusion, but instead Synchro. It's the only way that he would be able to travel to Xyz. Unfortunately, at the time, Fusion was the only place who had the technology to travel to different dimensions, and it was no coincidence that he had the same face."

"So, after that..."

"We duelled, but with no outcome. Shun and a few others arrived and he drove off. It was probably too much considering how we were evenly matched in the duel. So I got no information. However, after so long we finally got our hands on some technology and some information."

"We found out that a relative of the one who started this whole thing is here in this dimension. So after a friend of ours fixed our duel disks with the technology, we came straight over here to try and find him, and get some information out of him about this whole situation."

Yuzu thought about all of that information she had just been given. She hummed in thought.

"That explains why you would come here, I guess. I understand going the safe route and everything but...what happened when you arrived exactly? Why was your friend hurting those LDS students?" She asked in concern.

Yuto sighed. "Shun is...well, he means well, however, the way he goes about it is a little unsophisticated. I was only lucky to be able to knock him out before. Normally it's a much harder job to do something like that." He explained. "He was trying to get the attention of that person that we're looking for. It would be almost impossible to try and get face-to-face with him by ourselves."

Yuzu clutched the pendulum in her hand tightly. "But...but that's so wrong. Those students never did anything wrong."

"I know that." Yuto replied. "That's why I didn't do anything to the LDS student I duelled."

Yuzu relaxed herself. "Yeah, that was Sawatari Shingo." She added. "That was when you helped me out."

Yuto shuffled to get a little more comfortable on the couch. "Yeah. It was."

"Okay, my final question...about-"

Yuzu felt a short-lasting vibration and quickly pulled out her phone, flipping it open. Her eyes gazed upon the screen before biting her lip and closing it.

"Sorry, that's my dad." She apologised before groaning. "Curfew. You know how it is with overprotective parents."

Yuto looked down at his feet with a small sad smile. "Yeah...I do..." He answered quietly.

Yuzu stared at him before quickly standing up and covering her mouth. "Y-Yuto, I'm so sorry!"

Yuto shook his head. "No, it's fine. I've come to terms with it. I know it might be wishful thinking with them anyway. For now, I can focus on Ruri, and if possible, reverse the carding."

Yuzu lowered her hand slowly and continued to stare at the boy. From first glance, one would think he is a really strong-willed person, a person who isn't scared of anything. He said that he had already come to terms with such a thing, but Yuzu couldn't decide whether or not she could believe such a thing. He was really just a kid who got involved in a terrible situation. He was still Yuzu's age, and yet she couldn't imagine being in a situation like he's in. She wouldn't know what to do without her dad in her life.

Her eyes travelled to where Yuto was clutching his side. He was still in pain. She couldn't leave someone in such a state.

"Yuto," She began awkwardly, gaining said boy's attention. "How about...just for tonight that is...would you like to rest up at my place?"

Yuto's whole body loosened up as he blinked, looking so much more like Yuya. "Excuse me?"

Yuzu scratched the back of her neck, unsure of what she was saying as words began to pour out from her mouth. "Well, it's just that...you're still hurt and I wouldn't want to leave you by yourself. Unless you know where Shun is and he can help you? Ah, what am I saying? Of course he'll help!"

Yuto stared at her as she continued. He wasn't too sure about either option working well. Going to Yuzu's house might put her in danger. On the other hand, Yuto wasn't too sure after his last encounter with Shun he would be too willing to help out. Shun hadn't even contacted him since the whole incident. Which was unusual, but Yuto wouldn't doubt it was because he was still frustrated.

However, his body hurt like hell.

Yuzu paused during the middle of her ramblings and stared back at the spiky-haired Yuya lookalike. She walked until she was right in front of him and grabbed onto his free hand tightly and pulled him up from the couch. He hissed through his teeth at the sudden pain in both his side and his hand. He had no idea how strong this girl was at first glance. She had a good grip for sure.

Yuzu smiled warmly at Yuto. "Ah, sorry about that! I wasn't too sure if you were going to get off without me forcing you to. Something tells me you don't want to ask for my help."

Yuto raised a brow before clutching onto his side again with the hand that wasn't currently being held by the strong girl. "I don't want you getting-"

"-Hurt, I know. But I don't want you being in pain. Consider this as me repaying you for helping me out when we first met." Yuzu interrupted, making Yuto close his mouth shut.

Yuto didn't even know what to say. In his situation, such kindness from a person was a rare thing. He couldn't even begin to put into words in his head of how appreciative he was to her.

"Thank you." He managed to say. He didn't know what else he possibly could say. She put on such a brave face for him. Even though she lost someone really important to her. She was doing it to help him out. And even now, she is still helping him out. She was one of those selfless people that were rare to come by.

"Well, let's go! My dad would freak out if we don't start walking soon." She suggested, to which Yuto agreed. They made their way out of the warehouse, closing the door behind them, strolling slowly as not to cause Yuto anymore unnecessary pain.

"What were you so nervous about, Yuto?" She asked out-of-the-blue. "Something tells me that it's not because a girl invited you to her house."

Yuto shook his head. "What made you think something was wrong?" He asked.

Yuzu shrugged. "I don't know. I'm just able to read people quite well." She answered.

"Nothing's wrong." He told her. He felt a gentle tap on his head and turned his head towards the pink-haired girl who was now holding a large paper fan.

"Liar." She said, as she let out a sigh. "If you weren't injured, it wouldn't feel like a soft breeze."

"What would it feel like?" He asked, unsure of why exactly he was going on about such a strange subject like a paper fan hurting someone.

Yuzu smirked. "Well, it'd hurt more than a paper cut."

Yuto silently cursed at himself for becoming so comfortable around this girl. She reminded him so much of Ruri, it was almost scary. For once in three years, he let his guard down. And for once he didn't actually mind.


When they had arrived at the house, Yuzu had motioned for Yuto to stay outside as she poked her head through the door and began looking around as much as she could. Yuto still couldn't get his head around the fact that he was being snuck into the person's house who invited him, but he figured it was best not to question it, with Yuzu threatening him with that paper fan and all.

Another thing that struck him as odd is how long he had been around the girl without being randomly teleported halfway across the city. But he figured it would come with time, though he didn't really know the cause of the strange occurrence.

Yuzu pulled her head out from behind the door and motioned for Yuto to follow her in to which they quickly rushed through the house to eventually make it into her room, passing her dad along the way, who was currently facing away from the door, drawing up something on a large piece of paper. Once they successfully made it in, Yuzu closed the door as fast as she could and turned on her bedroom light. She let out a small sigh of relief.

"I don't think he saw you. We're good." She said with a smile.

Yuto glanced around the room. It was a decent size, though that was probably because of how organised everything was. Nothing in the room was the slightest bit messy or out of place. It was...comforting almost.

"You seemed experienced in that." He stated. "Very quiet movements I mean."

Yuzu laughed nervously. "Well, I used to do it all the time as a kid..." She replied quietly. "...with Yuya..."

Yuto's feeling of guilt hit him again. Of course if the pair were friends for so long, she was certainly going to be cut-up about the whole thing.

"It was kind of funny actually. We would come up with a whole plan and everything. He would even hide in my closet whenever we heard someone coming. He was small enough to fit in-between two of the shelves in it. But he'd somehow get stuck and I'd have to pull him back out. A little difficult when you're so short you can barely reach him though. He was better at climbing up, not down." Yuzu thought back with the smile still on her face.

Yuto allowed himself to let out a chuckle. The thought of the pair doing such a thing sounded so innocent. Trying to hide somewhere in the house in hopes of being left there. It was something that would surely never work, but kids were getting more and more creative.

"Yuzu, is that you?" The pair flinched as they heard a voice from the other side of the door. The heard the sound of a hand grabbing the door knob and Yuzu sprinted to the door and pushed on it to keep it shut.

"Yeah, it's me dad!" She called back.

"What's going on?" Yuzu's father asked as he still tried to get the door open.

Yuzu paused for a quick moment before speaking. "Uhm, I'm making a stage costume and it's a mess right now, so I would prefer for no one to see something that is half-done!" She replied.

The two in the room heard the sound of the door knob shaking from the other side cease and her dad seemed to buy it. "Oh alright! I can't stop you when you're doing something like that unless I want another fan to the face anyway..." He muttered. "Have fun!"

The pair waited until they stopped hearing the sound of nearby footsteps and let out the air that they had been holding in their lungs in relief.

"You seem to be experienced in lying too." Yuto commented.

Yuzu turned back to face him. "Hey, I don't lie. I technically am making one. Just not right at this second is all."

Yuto just folded his arms and accepted that answer. He honestly didn't even know how to respond to her.

Yuzu walked over to her bed and kneeled down next to it, reaching her arms down underneath it. She grabbed onto something and began pulling and brought out a mattress. She did the same thing, but this time bringing out some blankets and placed them on top of the mattress. She then stood up and grabbed one of the pillows from her bed and threw that on the mattress too.

"I hope you don't mind the rushed accommodation, Yuto." She said. "I don't really know how my dad would react to having someone in the guest room without his knowledge."

Yuto shook his head. "Thank you for helping me out in the first place. I appreciate it." He insisted.

"And don't worry about my dad coming in. He knows not to in the morning. I'll get you some breakfast in the morning too." She added.

Yuto's mouth opened slightly before smiling. "That's very kind. Thank you."

Yuzu smiled back as she sat down on her own bed. "Sorry to bring this back up but..."

Yuto knew exactly where this was going. And if on the slim chance that Yuzu had believed what he had said before, what would the chances be of her believing the story about what happened that night?

"What exactly happened to Yuya? I need the truth. The whole story."


Author's Notes:

Okie! The chapter is done! Yes! I was really happy with how well of a response I got from the prologue that I couldn't help but to write all of this! The response was definitely better than expected so thank you all so much! Eight reviews for a prologue! This is probably one of my first really plot-heavy stories as opposed to my more comedic ones so hopefully I can continue to please you all as much as I possibly can.

Poor Yuto and Yuzu though...honestly it's hurting me because they already go through enough as it is. But I guess everyone suffers in this series, like no one is safe. I also hope I'm not confusing anyone with anything so far. But it seems like Yuya is subconsciously affecting Yuto...But next chapter is going to be quite different, so you'll get some newer things than the information that we already know.

Okay, so I got a question in a review asking if there are going to be duels. And I think so. I haven't ever written a duel before so I'm going to be doing a lot of practice. And I think a good way of me doing this is not only by watching the anime or reading the manga, but also by playing the games. For example, I have the Yugioh Zexal Duel Carnival game and I've gotten some good strategies and all of that out of it so I'm going to see if I can do the same for Arc-V, though I'm not solely going to rely on just the games. Thank you for the question!

I will be thanking everyone who reviews through private messaging over time. I think this is a nice way to thank all of you to show my appreciation. Because all of your reviews made me smile so much and like yes! But until I do get around to it, thank you all so much! I really appreciate it!

So with that all being said, please leave a review to let me know how this is going so far! Like I said, I really appreciate them and they greatly motivate me to continue and update!