IV
By the time Blue Angel had forced out the last few giggles, they'd returned to the island on which they'd started their Duel, and presently rested by the edge, watching the faraway hub of LINK VRAINS and its satellite servers gleam in the distance like the rising moon and so many stars.
Neither girl said anything for a long while; the Charisma Duelist was still brimming with adrenaline, and so needed a chance to catch her breath after her victory—to say nothing of the daredevil stunt she'd pulled to keep Rei from plummeting through endless cyberspace. While she knew the safety systems within the realm would have kept her real body undamaged, past experience was still in sharp focus for her.
Rei, if anything, was even more silent than usual. Blue Angel could guess why; having the kind of self-esteem that she did, unexpected depths to both her skill as a Duelist and her attitude as a person—yet still losing anyway—must have been a big blow to absorb. She hadn't even opened her mouth ever since the Charisma Duelist had caught her, and thus noticed Rei's furious blush at being cradled in the hands of one of her idols. Blue Angel, sensing Rei did indeed want to talk about something, decided to wait patiently until Rei felt comfortable enough to speak her mind—at any rate, there were a few things Blue Angel wanted to ask her as well, when the time came.
She didn't have to wait long; a faint beeping noise had issued from Rei's Duel Disk just then. The girl sighed.
" … My passcode's about to expire." Blue Angel was just close enough to hear the whisper. "I don't have much time—five, ten minutes … if that. I know I didn't beat you, Blue Angel—but … thanks anyway. For making this nobody feel like … like a somebody."
Rei tilted her head upward, her mouth creased in a smile—but it was a halfhearted one, and one that someone like Blue Angel knew masked something else completely.
"Are you all right?" she ventured to say after a few long moments.
Rei nodded—but the Charisma Duelist didn't feel too convinced. "You sure?"
" … I'll be fine," the girl told her. Something told Blue Angel it would be folly to ask further. "At least it's not a school night; I'll be out cold for a while … once I'm logged out. That Duel took a … a lot out of me."
And as if to prove her point, Rei let fly with a yawn so massive that she plopped spread-eagled onto the ground, eliciting a few stray titters from Blue Angel.
But just as quickly, she sobered up. "Um … about the Duel."
"Hm?" Rei cracked open a teal eye.
"I was looking through the Duel log on the way over"—choose your words carefully, Blue Angel thought to herself—"and there was a point in the Duel where you really would've won."
Her words had the desired effect: the girl sat bolt upright, all fatigue forgotten. "Say what?!"
"Mm-hm!" Blue Angel spared a moment for a wall-to-wall grin before she reassumed her "lecture" mode—something she would try and do after every Duel she played with a subscriber or a fan, whether experienced or not, so as to give them some coaching advice for the future.
"That Equip Spell of yours—Hercule Base—could've shuffled the Flash Sword Princess – Hayate that I destroyed right back into the Extra Deck when it got sent to the Graveyard," the Charisma Duelist told Rei. "From there, you could've used your Kagari as Link Material to bring it back out. I didn't know until I checked the log again that Hayate had an effect that allowed it to attack directly—no matter how many monsters I controlled."
Rei looked as though her Kagari had ploughed her the same way that monster had Foxywitch. Her aquamarine eyes were wide as coins and almost as round, as the brain behind them put together the pieces from there.
"… Are you serious?!" There was another flopping noise, followed by a monumental groan; the girl had flung herself back onto the concrete coastline of the floating island. "That stinks … mm."
"Don't beat yourself up over it, now," Blue Angel soothed. "If it wasn't for my Foxywitch's effect, Kagari would have won you the Duel, anyway."
" … That's the other thing," moaned Rei. "I read your Magicorolla's effects during the Duel—I knew it destroyed the monster it resurrected if it ever left the field. I could've done the same with your Foxywitch, too … only … "
The Charisma Duelist felt her mouth work into a sympathetic smile. "Tunnel vision?"
A nod—slow but sure. "That happens more often in Duel Monsters than you'd think," said Blue Angel sympathetically. "People want to build up the best board they can, and they put so much thought and effort into it that it never occurs to them that their opponent might have an out to their 'ultimate strategy'."
"Yeah … " Rei's teal eyes stared out at the LINK VRAINS hub—but the aquamarine gaze was glassy; it was clear she had a lot on her mind after Blue Angel's revelations. "I guess I thought attacking with Kagari would've looked … I don't know … " She chewed her tongue, apparently unsure of what to say next.
"Cooler?" offered Blue Angel. "More awesome?"
Another nod—but less sure of herself this time. "Mm … like … something a Charisma Duelist would've done," Rei eventually replied.
Blue Angel couldn't help it; she burst out laughing again. Not because it was—again—the last answer she'd expected from the girl, but because a part of her knew all too well that if she was in Rei's place, and enough adrenaline was in her body, the Charisma Duelist might have done the exact same thing with Foxywitch, or one of her bigger monsters.
"So you were trying to show off for me, is what you're saying?" she asked, once the last few bubbles of mirth had been expended. "Pretend like we were having an actual live-streamed Duel in front of spectators, try to wow them all with those super-cool Flash Swords of yours?"
"Mm … " It took a while for Rei to form any more of a response than that; Blue Angel had the impression she was doing some very deep thinking.
"Mostly because I … I wanted to do something new," she said a minute later, quiet as a mouse. "What you were saying about Hayate … about how I could've attacked you directly to win the Duel? Something about that just doesn't … I don't know … feel right with me. You brought out a whole new monster to beat me … you even said it was the first time you'd Link Summoned her, too … "
Blue Angel recalled her impromptu speech about Foxywitch, and nodded. "Go on."
"Well … how would these pretend spectators have preferred me to win the Duel?" Rei asked. "With a monster they'd never seen before … or one they already had?"
Blue Angel blinked. She'd had some brainteasers put to her in the past—largely thanks to Akira—and Rei's query had managed to trump most of them. For her experience as a streamer had taught her that fans liked two things above all when watching a Duel: first, to watch their favorite Duelist win—and second, to see cards and plays that had either never been seen before, or had never been played for a long time outside of the most niche of rogue Decks. For monsters of incredible strength, or the capacity to attain it, this went double—and Rei's Kagari, considering the vast amount of Spells Blue Angel had seen Rei activate in their Duel, certainly fit that particular bill.
"I think I get what you're saying," she replied. "That winning with Hayate would have felt boring to you?"
Rei made a waving motion with her hand that Blue Angel took as a very tentative "yes"—before promptly sighing. "I get that it was the wrong move to make, though—it was a stupid misplay, and I was just too wrapped up in wanting to look cool for you … "
Blue Angel shushed her before Rei could launch into another self-critical rant. "I said before, don't beat yourself up about it. The key thing about this game is that it's just that—a game. As long as you had fun out there, then that should be all that matters to you."
She decided not to make mention of her experience at the hands of the Knights—that was a can of worms that could be opened later on. "And from what I was seeing," she added, forcing a smile to wave aside that train of thought, "you were having a lot of fun out there dressed up as all your monsters!"
Rei's cheeks were pink. " … Yeah. I … I guess I did." A faint laugh escaped her—another one of those breathless laughs from before. "Still … I wanted to Duel you to find out if … if I could be like you, though," she mumbled, "if you could teach me how to be a Charisma Duelist, too. Since I lost … well … "
She looked away from Blue Angel, suddenly downcast again; the Charisma Duelist remembered what she'd said before the Duel about going back to being a "nobody" if she ended up losing.
But something told Blue Angel that that would be easier said than done after today—and so she quickly pooh-poohed Rei with a wave of her hand. "For what it's worth," she told her, "if you wanted to start streaming a Duel or two tomorrow—well, I wouldn't mind subscribing to you."
Blue Angel swore she heard a crick in Rei's neck from how quickly the girl's head had whipped in her direction. "Wha—y-you'd … y-you actually w-would—" Her stammering quickly devolved from there; Blue Angel had to fight down another fit of giggles at the sight of the hopelessly flustered Rei.
"One last freebie for the day—I promise, last one," the Charisma Duelist said, holding up a finger for silence before the poor girl's head exploded. "Charisma Duelists always have at least one gimmick to them. Some gimmicks are more common than others—maybe they Duel to have fun, like me … or maybe they Duel to win. Others try to be a little more unique than that—like how they Duel."
She tipped a wink at Rei. "If you can figure out that gimmick," she told her, saying each word slowly and with the greatest of care, "then you're halfway there already."
There was a long moment of silence as Rei digested that last bit of information. Then, without warning, her face lit up like downtown Den City come nightfall—and kept on lighting up, brighter and brighter.
By the time Blue Angel figured out why this might be the case, Rei's Duel Disk had begun to beep again—this time more rapidly; her passcode was just about up. But somehow that didn't matter to her; the look of wonder in Rei's wide eyes—combined with her suddenly slack jaw—told the Charisma Duelist exactly what she needed to know: Rei had an idea—an impossible, dauntingly wonderful idea.
"It had to be now," sighed Rei, still breathy even as she stared at her flashing device. "Oh, well … I guess I can sleep on this for a little while. But I think I know what to do now, Blue Angel! Thanks so much for tonight—I wish I could've been able to hang out with you a little longer—maybe you and I could have—"
Blue Angel waved her off. "Hey—always glad to help out a fan!" she grinned. "I hope I get to meet you again someday!" She let the unspoken implication hang in the air between them—perhaps another Duel in the future, now that they knew how and where to find one another.
Rei's laugh, when it came, was so unexpectedly giddy that her cheeks flushed redder than her Kagari's armor, despite the glow from her body nearly blurring out the features of her face by now.
"Heh … you know," she said, " … I'd like that, too … " And she smiled back at Blue Angel—the most genuine one she had delivered. Rei raised her hand to wave back; it was the last thing she did before her Duel Disk began to emit one continuous tone—their time together was up.
One second later—almost as quickly as she'd stumbled into Blue Angel's life earlier tonight, her avatar flashed and was simply gone, leaving nothing behind but a brief message on Blue Angel's Disk:
User Rei has logged off.
The Charisma Duelist exhaled a long breath that she didn't know she'd been holding to begin with. About time, too, she thought. I was worried I'd go past the time limit myself.
Her hand reached under her Duel Disk again, feeling for the hidden switch on its underside—and pressed it once more. Then, she sat up and got to her feet, suddenly more lightheaded than ever before—
"Well—that was a sight to see."
Only the fact that this was a voice Blue Angel—Blue Girl, rather—had gotten to know quite well over time kept her from jumping a whole ten feet out of total shock. Her skin still prickled slightly, though, as if a sudden cold wind had breathed along her spine.
That tended to happen when talking to ghosts, after all, a small part of her thought.
"So," Blue Angel asked, her tone suddenly much more businesslike as she turned round to address the new arrival. "Did you get all that?"
The gray- and pink-haired woman that had shimmered into being behind her—making neither a sound nor a sight in doing so—smiled back as if the Charisma Duelist had just asked her to add one and one.
"Every second, and more besides," said Ghost Girl, tapping under her own Duel Disk—where Blue Angel knew a switch much like the one in her own Duel Disk was known to be. "You should see the chat rooms right now. Five thousand-plus viewers in each of the major servers—and every person in them is talking about the nobody who nearly beat Blue Angel."
A thoughtful look creased the woman's face. "Wish I could see the look on her face when she wakes up."
"Do you think we did the right thing?" Blue Angel asked. "She did want to keep this between us, after all. I'd hate to think we did more harm than good to her by going public about this Duel—without her knowledge."
Ghost Girl didn't answer—at least, not until her arms had finished weaving a complicated dance through the air in front of her. Digital energy was streaming from her fingers, expanding into multiple squares of light that themselves were dancing with innumerable lines of text that scrolled across the screens so rapidly that it was pointless to read them all. Several of them had video clips, however, and mirrored though they were—Blue Angel could see these just fine. She particularly noted the footage of herself and Rei speaking in the server where they'd first met, Rei jumping into the data stream in lieu of a D-Board, the first-ever Summon of her Foxywitch—and finally, the last play of the Duel. The Charisma Duelist couldn't resist cringing at the way her Sweet Devil had clobbered the girl.
"'OMG this girl is amazing'." Ghost Girl's voice was almost matter-of-fact as her lavender eyes scanned these screens. "'Wow it's like she's actually turning into her cards!' … 'HER CHANTS AAAHHHH :O' … 'this is legit the most anime way ive ever seen someone duel and i LOVE IT SO MUCH' … 'I cant find her on the server?! give me more of this coolness plz' … "
She giggled, as if to say do I really need to go on? "And that's after sifting through page after page of emoticons and memes, I'd like to point out. I'm surprised SolTech didn't have to deal with any server crashes tonight."
The Charisma Duelist blinked. "Huh. You really did get everything, then," she said, nodding approvingly.
"I can get you the screen-grabs later," Ghost Girl told her, "as many of them as you want. They get less, ah … legible from there—and the mods aren't catching all the less savory posts, so fair warning. But the message is still the same: that girl is no longer a 'nobody'. She's become an Internet darling … and it's all because of you."
The notion that she might have just changed this unknown girl's life made a smile unfold across Blue Angel's face—though the thought of Rei's impending reaction still ate away at her.
She decided to compromise by twisting her smile into more of a wry smirk. "Hey, now, don't sell yourself short," she said playfully to Ghost Girl. "You helped arrange this from the beginning. You were the one who told me she wasn't just another Knight of Hanoi in disguise. You were the one broadcasting the Duel in the first place to pretty much all of LINK VRAINS. All I did was help out a fan break out of their shell."
Ghost Girl smiled back at her, though hers was more gentle—unexpectedly so for an avowed hacker. "I'd like to hope you did more than that," she said, absentmindedly twirling a strand of hot-pink highlights around a finger as she stared at the footage of Rei transforming into Hayate.
"Oh—and don't worry about Rei," she soothed. "I'll keep an eye on her for a little while—make sure she won't be too rattled by all this attention she's about to get. Make some of the more intrusive emails from love-struck fans go poof, that sort of thing. I'm sure you know the feeling."
All too well, thought Blue Angel. She checked her Duel Disk, and blanched—it was much later than she'd expected. " … I'd better go," she told Ghost Girl. "That Duel took a lot out of me."
She flashed a smile. "Same time tomorrow, Ema?"
"Mm … " The hacker had turned her gaze skyward, hands on hips and deep in thought. "You know … I think Akira and the Ignises can wait for one day. I can hold down the fort for you until then."
She flipped a jaunty salute at Blue Angel. "Sleep well, Aoi." Ghost Girl turned to leave—and then, much like her namesake, had disappeared into thin air before her protégée could even blink.
"You too," she replied back softly, even though she knew it was too late to be heard.
The Charisma Duelist turned her thoughts one last time to Rei, even as she checked her Duel Disk for any breaking news regarding LINK VRAINS—and sure enough, there was a salvo of media that practically knocked her over with how much of the page they took up:
PART DUELIST, PART DUEL MONSTER? WHO IS 'REI'?
THE 'DIGITAL PRINCESS' THAT COULD SURPASS BLUE ANGEL?!
EXCLUSIVE: WATCH THE 'NOBODY' TAKING LINK VRAINS BY STORM!
The boldfaced headlines, and the extra-large images below them, earned a roll of her eyes for their sheer, unabashed sensationalism. But Blue Angel still bookmarked the pages for later; there would be time to pore through them all once she was awake and alert—once the hubbub had died down enough to where the actual stories could be properly fleshed out. Now, however, was not that time.
So it was that she took one last look at the hub of LINK VRAINS—too far away for her to see or hear any sign of the excitement her Duel might have caused—before logging out herself. The Charisma Duelist spared only a few seconds to watch the indecipherable data swirl around her, causing her body to glow and disperse—
—and all too quickly, she was Zaizen Aoi again, plopping down spread-eagled on her soft bed with a whoomph, watching the data streams fade from view—and feeling the fatigue of her battle with Rei rush though her body as if the floodgates had opened. She had just enough time to take off her Duel Disk and set it on the nearby nightstand before the weight on her eyelids became too much to bear.
Dozens of feelings whirled through her head as she slid under her covers, at roughly the same speed of the digital sea with which she'd been briefly fused earlier tonight. Try as she might, even through the fog of her exhaustion, Aoi could not tear her thoughts away from Rei, wondering if the girl had indulged the same habit she had just now, and bothered to check the news before heading to bed herself. She wondered whether Rei's friends had contacted her yet, out of excitement or fear—or been inside LINK VRAINS at all to see their Duel.
And Aoi wondered how she would rationalize this to Rei if they were to meet again—and she suspected they would, in the future. Too much had been set in motion from this one chance encounter that she would simply forget it ever happened. She could easily say that a third party had spied on their Duel and recorded them in secret—a statement, which, on the whole, wasn't entirely a lie—but she valued her working relationship with Bessho Ema too much to simply throw it under the proverbial bus, and her along with it.
But Ema had volunteered to watch over Rei as well, too, she reasoned—ensure that the skittish girl had some time to collect her wits and test the waters, before taking the plunge into a whole new world. Aoi wouldn't have been able to hold up her heads otherwise—exposing someone to that sort of unnecessary attention so soon was needlessly cruel. Better to give them a taste first—just a sample of what her life could be …
She continued to fret over her actions as the seconds and minutes of the night ticked away, even as her body sank deeper and deeper into the world of dreams—even as her Duel Disk, out of reach on the nightstand, flashed to life, displaying two short words on the screen:
Thank you.
Few people in the world, if any at all, would say those two words if they still harbored any fear of their identity—real or otherwise—being known by millions of people in a matter of seconds. But Zaizen Aoi wouldn't read that message until much, much later the next day, on her jog late that morning.
And so the teenager nuzzled into her pillow in her last moments of consciousness, blissfully unaware of the extent of which she'd set a single girl's life in motion—and her last thought before sleep finally claimed her was that it might do to talk about her dilemma to another party, one she could also trust the way she could trust Ema.
She smiled. Maybe at Café Nom, she thought … over a hot dog …
A/N: I like to think Aoi's been rubbing off on Ema the longer they work together; that's my main rationalization for her doing what she did in this story.
Anyhow … yeah, this got completed a lot later than it should have. I finally moved into my own apartment a month ago—but I've also been out of town so often for work of late that I still feel like I've yet to settle into the place. That's the main reason my output's dropped like a stone over the past few weeks; I hope to change that in the future now that my life's starting to get back under control.
Thanks so much for reading, and sticking with this even as my life gets crazy. Hope you enjoyed it! – K