The rain from that morning made it riskier to drive quickly, but the uniformed officer kept his black-and-white D-Wheel at a sure, smooth pace. It may have been a while, but he still knew the route perfectly, and he soon pulled up in front of the house just as Saiga diverted a couple of kids from starting a mud fight for the third time.

The grizzled teenager smiled to see the officer, who took off his helmet, revealing a face with big, black eyebrows and a deep scar down one cheek. But the kids didn't shy away from that face. "Good afternoon, Mr. Ushio."

"Afternoon, kids - Saiga. Is Martha home?"

"Yeah, they should be finishing up lunch right about now."

Sure enough, the dining room was a jumble of kids taking dishes to the sink and kids trying to escape any type of dish-related chore. Then one voice broke out. "Ushio-san!" Takuya dashed over, and Ushio gave him a friendly cuff on the shoulder.

"Hey, Takuya. You been staying good for Martha?"

"You bet I have. Hey, do you want some gyudon? We've got extra."

"No, I just came here to-"

"Nonsense." Martha had finished getting everyone sorted out. "Sit. The kids made this one themselves."

The smell of the beef still wafted from the serving bowls. "Well... I do have a few minutes." Takuya was already setting up a place for him.

Soon it was just the three of them left, with Takuya already regaling Ushio with how he'd used Montage Dragon for the first time. Ushio laughed, "Nice one. I knew you'd use that card well. You'll be a Security yet."

Martha added, "And what about you? I heard you caught those D-Wheel thieves."

"Oh, yeah - Kazama's already out of the hospital, but he won't be riding a D-Wheel for a while. 'Course, knowing him, he'll be back on the road the second he gets the chance." Takuya wondered at such courage, and Ushio smiled at him. "You planning on being a riding duelist, Takuya?"

"Me? That'd be cool! But... I gotta keep practicing on the ground."

Ushio laughed again, then turned solemn. "Actually, we had a strange arrest about a week ago. An officer on patrol found a man we've wanted for breaking and entering. The man was heavily bruised, and a sprained ankle meant he wasn't running anywhere."

Martha frowned. "What's strange about that?"

"He was found wearing a duel disk, even with the cards still on it. Either he got hurt before walking up to a duel, which we doubt..." He shook his head and concluded, "or he got injured during the duel."

She gasped a bit. "A psychic duelist?"

Takuya tried to take this in. Of course he knew what psychic duelists were - the Fortune Cup had shown that easy enough. Seemed like you hardly heard anything about them before all that Dark Signer stuff (he shuddered to remember), then just like that, the secret was out. And now there's one around here! This is so cool, I gotta tell the guys-

Ushio was speaking again, "...so it's unlikely that he'll make a case of it, but we did get a description of the other person."

Martha's eyes narrowed. "It isn't a crime to be a psychic duelist, is it?"

"No, no. But it- it's dangerous. So we want to make sure it doesn't keep happening. Gotta keep people safe, of course. Right, Takuya?"

"Right! So have you found the guy yet?"

"It's a girl, actually."

"Huh?"

"Martha, I wondered if you might recognize her - this was only a few blocks away from here." Taking out his notebook, he read, "Female, ten or eleven years old, black hair, gray eyes, wearing very old and ripped clothes." He passed a sketch to Martha, and Takuya saw it too.

"Kazumi-chan!"

Ushio turned in shock. "You- you know this girl?"

"Yeah, she's my friend." Ushio regrouped his thoughts, and Takuya put it together too. "Wait, you think she's a psychic? No way!"

"The man was very clear-"

"She's not! We've dueled before, and she's not!"

"Well, even so, I think I should- we should talk to her about this."

"Oh. That... that's not a good idea. Kazumi-chan... doesn't like Securities."

Ushio blinked and tried another smile. "I only want to ask her a few questions."

He paused, then grimaced. "No, she really doesn't-"

"It's all right, Takuya." Martha gave him a meaningful look. "Let me talk this over with Ushio."

"...okay, Martha. Thank you for visiting, Ushio-san."

Outside, Shun called Takuya over, and Micchan asked, "So, how's Ushio doing?"

"He's all right. He wanted to talk to Kazumi-chan, though."

"Oh... where's she been, anyway?"

"She... actually, I don't know." She'd only recently started coming to dinner regularly, but now she'd missed five of them in a row. In fact, Takuya hadn't seen her at all this week.

Shun shrugged. "If she doesn't want to come around anymore, that's her business."

That got a smile from Micchan. "Still sore that she beat you?"

"It wasn't that bad!"

"I thought it was a shutout-"

"Acutally, guys," Takuya spoke up, "I'm kinda worried about her." Seeing their funny looks, he added, "She's our friend, right?" More funny looks. "But this is important. Ushio-san thinks she's a psychic duelist, but there's no way. But he thinks she might be dangerous."

"A psychic duelist? Cool!"

Micchan countered, "Shun!"

Then Takuya's eyes fell on his skates by the door. "Wait... Ushio-san can't go, but I can!"

Micchan's eyes lit up. "Hey, yeah. It's like an investigation!"

Shun asked, "Do you even know where she is?"

That barely slowed him up. "I think I do. I'll find her." He ran over to swap his shoes, and as an extra thought, he sent Micchan to sneak around back to the kitchen and pack up some of the leftovers. Minutes later, he was moving down the rough sidewalk, digging through his memory for where to go.

\\\

The two of them had finished the day's race, but this time, they were both drawn back to Martha's by the sight of not one but three D-Wheels in the drive. Kazumi sized them up - one black, one white, one red, with flashier shapes than any other she'd seen, and she guessed they were higher-powered too. But Takuya recognized the owners - there was Crow, with his "siblings" hanging off of him and laughing as much as him, and that blonde one had to be Jack Atlas, who was a bit less amused at the admiring kids flocking around his legs. And there, talking to Martha, the one with the dark hair and blue eyes... "Yusei!"

"Huh? Hey, who are those guys?"

"What? You don't know?"

"Should I?" But her eyes were drawn to the criminal markers on Crow's and Yusei's faces.

"They're all kids of Martha's, and they all teamed up against those... those Dark Signers." He pushed himself to cheer up, adding, "Crow raised half of these kids, and they say his D-Wheel can fly! Jack used to be the Riding Duel King, and he has a deck full of tough dragons! And then there's Yusei - he's the one who beat Jack, and he's a super mechanic!"

Only at this last point did Kazumi's attention catch. "Mechanic?"

"Oh yeah, he can fix anything. He made that D-Wheel from junk parts, and there's never been a faster one!"

"Fix anything..." She was looking at Yusei, but not really seeing him. Her hand opened and closed a couple of times, and finally, she spun around and started skating away.

"Wait, Kazumi-chan-"

"I'll be back soon, Takuya-kun! Keep them there!"

It was a very close thing - Jack seemed ready to say they should leave, but Takuya got Crow's kids to keep talking to their big brother about what they'd been up to. He bought an extra fifteen minutes at least by asking Yusei's advice on how to improve his deck. Finally, Kazumi skidded back up to the front walk, now with a satchel over her shoulder that Takuya hadn't seen her use before.

She paused a bit before slowly approaching Yusei, staring at him. Then she opened the bag and held it out without handing it over. "Can you fix this?"

Takuya looked and saw a jumble of white and blue angular plastic and metal... no, they were pieces - pieces of a duel disk!

Yusei smiled, "Sure."

It wasn't until after dinner that they had finished - Kazumi had point-blank refused to let Yusei take the disk home to work on. Crow and the kids were clowning around cleaning up just as much as when they were cooking. Jack was sharing coffee with Martha, who had just asked who was this Carly that Crow had mentioned. And Yusei was outside, tightening the last screws on the disk housing. "Here you go. But while you're here, I noticed that your skates-"

"They're fine."

Yusei didn't break stride. "I meant that the wheels are a little loose. I can fix that now, won't even take five minutes."

She stared at him again, then grudgingly handed them over. He fixed them without a word, smiling as he returned them. She nodded, "G'night, Takuya-kun. Yusei." Halfway to the road, she paused before leaving. "And... thanks."

\\\

That had been a while ago. Until then, she had never really told him where she stayed during the night. But knowing that it was somewhere close got him curious again, and she eventually told him, describing an old, deserted office building barely six blocks away from Martha's. If the rain kept her inside... He pulled up to the pitted building, blinking to adjust his eyes as he stepped in. It soon opened up into a giant lobby, which thankfully still let some light through its grubby windows. The floor was decorated with occasional fruit rinds, plastic wrappers, and quite a few puddles, meaning the ceiling couldn't be much better than the floor.

And there she was, sitting near a sunbeam, her back to one of the support pillars. She was still wearing her skates - maybe she just finished practicing? For now, she was looking through a wrinkled magazine, one finger tracing each line carefully, but she looked up when she heard the sound of wheels crossing the threshold. "Takuya-kun?"

"Hey, Kazumi-chan!"

"What's going on? Why are you here?"

"Haven't seen you in a while, I wanted to see how you're doing." As he reached her, he held out the box. "I brought some lunch. It's gyudon."

"It's all right, I already-" but the sudden sound of a grumble cut her off, and she eventually took the box. "...Thanks, Takuya-kun."

They both sat down, but as usual, she wasn't given to start conversations while she ate. Takuya said, "Haven't seen you in a while. How have you been?"

"Okay."

"You sure? 'Cuz if you needed any help-"

"I'm fine."

Before he lost his nerve, Takuya blurted out, "Look, something's happened. I- I heard some people talking about you, saying they saw you in a duel somewhere around here." There was no answer. "And that the other guy lost, and that he got hurt. Like, for real." Still nothing. "Kazumi-chan... they think you're a psychic duelist. But you can't be."

Her face didn't change, but instead of chewing, her teeth were clenching.

"Are you?"

"...He tried to take my deck. I just wanted to get rid of him. And now they're-"

"Wait, Kazumi-chan, I don't think you're in trouble for it. Not really. But- folks still want to find you. To know who did it."

"I'm not turning myself in!"

"No, no- but, but maybe, if they just knew it was you, and they knew you wouldn't do it again, maybe it'd be okay."

She looked away again. "He screamed, you know. I hate that sound."

Maybe he could cheer her up instead. "Being a psychic isn't so bad. I mean, to be able to bring monsters to life? I think that's cool! It's like a duel becomes real, and you c-"

"Stop it!" She actually had her hands over her ears.

"W- what's wrong?"

"I don't- I hate them..."

"What? But- no, it's okay..."

She calmed down a bit, took a few deep breaths, and whispered, "I- I never told you how my dad died..."

He inched a little closer. "Your dad?"

"I mean, I don't even remember my mom, but he-" A skittering noise made them both look up.

Halfway to sneaking behind another pillar, the intruder hadn't noticed the bottle on the floor until he'd kicked it. Sighted, he froze and gasped, confusing Takuya. "Ushio-san? I thought I said-"

Kazumi screeched and stood up, dropping the food heedlessly. "Him? You brought him here?"

"What? No, no I told him- wait, Kazumi-chan!" She had already taken off, scooping up her satchel from the ground and dashing towards the back of the building. Ushio yelled for her to hold on, but he first two steps set him slipping on a puddle and crashing to the ground. Takuya kept his footing as he skated after her, but she was already far away. "Stop! I didn't tell him to be here!"

"You led him here! Whose side are you on, anyway?"

"I- I-"

"Forget it! Why don't you go back to Ushio-san?"

"No, I told him not- wait, what are you..?" Even while keeping her stride, she had reached into her satchel and pulled out her beloved duel disk, strapping it on and activating it in one move. "Kazumi-chan, this is no time for a duel!"

"Don't you remember? I'm a psychic. I don't have to duel you to get rid of you. I just need one good card." Reaching to one particular pocket, she swung out a card.

He only got a glimpse, but it made Takuya gasp, "Wait, was that... you have a synchro monster?"

"Go - Rogue Raptor!" The light made him wince, and he almost was brought to a halt at what came out. It was a snarling dinosaur, only about a foot taller than him but much longer from nose to tail. Its scales were various mottled shades of brown and gray, crisscrossed with gashes and scars. Both feet tore up the ground as it charged forward, bloodshot slit-eyes set on the door that its master had nearly reached.

"K- Kazumi-"

"Go away, Maeda!" She shot out the doorway, and her monster could hardly be small enough to fit through - no way! As it exited, it whipped its tail and claws sideways, and the doorway smashed! The wall shook with the impact, and cracks ran up and around it as giant pieces of masonry tumbled down right at him-

"Takuya!" Giant hands snagged him and pulled back, tackling him in the effort to stop him. The rubble continued to crash for several seconds, but the dust took longer to clear.

Takuya wriggled out of Ushio's grip, clambering over top of the debris heap. "Kazumi-chan!" The street was already empty in both directions, the many alleys laughing in his face. He wheeled around. "What did you do that for! You weren't supposed to- She didn't even do anything..."

The officer reached for his hand, but he jerked it away, "Get away from me, Ushio!" He tried to skate away, but stumbled to his knees, skidding both his palms into the pavement to catch himself. But he ignored that pain, blinking back tears that must have been due to the grit in his eyes.

High overhead, the clouds had never really cleared. Block by block, the rain swept onto the city again.