A/N: To give an estimate of how long it's been since I started this chapter... I started writing when Tales of Zestiria came out. I beat the game the same week. Then I started working to fulfill my graduation requirements. So yeah, there you go.

Being completely honest - the only reason this chapter got done as well as it did is because I got this sudden flash of inspiration after work, realized I didn't have to put so much effort into writing the actual plays, and figured "If Bushi can gloss over fights in favor of characters sorting out their shit, why can't I?"

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"Battle Sister, Eclair!"

Akio watched in amazement as the unit appeared behind him, inside the field that rippled and wavered. When everything settled, they were in the middle of what looked like a shrine. He turned back when he heard his opponent's unit materialize.

He didn't even try hiding the look on his face.

"Megacolony Battler C."

He watched in mild horror as the bug-like monster appeared in a flash of light. Its small size did nothing to ease his discomfort once he realized just what is was, feeling his face grow pale.

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"Akio doesn't like bugs." Nakuro said as they watched the boy cower at the sight of the giant roach. Kyou reached up, pinching the bridge of his nose and sighed heavily.

"We should have thought this through a little more. Maybe gathered some information on our opponents."

Yoshiro coughed uncomfortably, and Kyou gave him a disbelieving look.

"If you knew you should have said something!"

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He ignored his opponent's confused look as he refused to face forward, intent on fighting backwards.

"I can totally do it, if you don't mind." He said once the other boy questioned him.

"I kind of do." Was the response. He didn't know Fujioka well, despite them being in the same grade, but he always heard about how he was rather no-nonsense... among other things.

"So it really is true that you love bugs..." He groaned, slowly turning around and flinching when the giant bug smirked. "Seriously, why would they make a clan like that!"

He flinched again, this time at the glare Fujioka gave him.

"I'll have you know I find this clan perfectly suitable." He said, to which Akio snorted.

"Yeah, you would."

The other boy cleared his throat, and Akio quickly shut his mouth.

"Since you insist on not starting for us, I'll go first." He said, grabbing the top card of his deck and checking it. He then placed it in his hand, grabbing another card and throwing it onto the table.

"Ride, Phantom Black!"

There was another flash of light, and Battler C disappeared. In its place - much to Akio's horror - came a giant black ant, orange eyes flashing. A shiver ran down the brunette's spine when the roach reappeared behind it.

"That's so creepy!" He cried out. He saw Fujioka's eye twitch.

"Oh get over it already!" He said irritably, slamming another card onto the table. "Call, Machining Mosquito! Soul charge one!"

"Another bug!"

"Quiet!"

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"You're sure this isn't just a strategy to throw the opponent off his game?"

"... If it is, he's a very good actor."

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"I can't tell if you're just pretending to be afraid just to annoy me, or legitimately afraid of bugs."

Akio lowered his arms, which had come up to shield his face, meeting Fujioka's no-nonsense glare. He sighed.

"Alright, I may have been playing it up a little for entertainment's sake, but I'm really not good with bugs." He said, wrinkling his nose at the sight of the units. "Bad memories, trauma, Sister-dropped-a-spider-in-my-cereal, whatever you wanna call it. My turn?"

Fujioka rolled his eyes, waving a hand. Akio nodded, looking down at his hand.

Ginger, Miracle Kid, Cocoa, Mocha and Chocolat. Not the best, but at least I'm not grade-locked...

He quickly reached for his deck, swiping the first card and adding it to his hand.

Battle Sister Lemonade.

"Ride, Battle Sister Cocoa!" He called out, placing the card in the Vanguard circle. "Eclair moves, Cocoa's skill. I look at the top card of my deck and put it back on top or bottom."

He did such, drawing the card and reading the name carefully, filing through the information Kyou made sure to carve into his mind.

"If it's a grade 3 and you need, keep it. If it's a trigger, keep it. If it's anything else and you're not in a desperate situation where you can use it, bottom."

He scanned the card quickly, re-reading the name before placing it back on top of the deck.

I hope this is what he meant...

"Eclair boosts, Cocoa attacks you Vanguard!"

"No guard." Fujioka said, placing two fingers on his deck in preparation for his damage check. Akio nodded, taking the top card of his deck and flipping it over.

"Trigger check. Battle Sister Tiramisu, draw trigger." He said, putting the card in his hand and drawing another. He fought back a sigh or relief when he saw what it was.

Battle Sister Fromage. Good.

"Damage check." Fujioka turned the top card of his deck over, revealing it to his opponent. "Paralyze Madonna."

He placed the perfect guard in the damage zone, not taking his eyes off Akio. The brunette swallowed, unnerved.

"Turn end." He said hesitantly, wondering if there was anything else he could have done. He glanced at the others, noting the nod he got from Kyou, and turned back to the fight.

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"Strange, you don't look too happy. Isn't Fujioka your favorite?"

Kiritsu frowned, only slightly, not looking at Hagane as he spoke.

"He is. Which is why I'm really fucking pissed."

"Oh?"

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He didn't need to deal with this right now.

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"Stand, draw." Fujioka glanced at his deck, picking up the first card with care and placing it in his hand.

Everything's ready. He thought. The first damage couldn't be avoided, and it's unlucky that I dropped a perfect guard, but I can make up for it.

Another glance at his deck, and he rode his next unit.

"Ride, Tail Joe." He said, and twitched at Akio's horrified expression as the giant centipede rose out of the ground. "Why am I putting up with this... Stealth Millipede moves, call Bloody Hercules."

He moved the card to the back row before laying down the next, watching as they both appeared in their places.

... Kiritsu-senpai isn't happy. He thought, glancing at his captain. Their eyes met for a brief second before the blond turned away, frowning. I wonder if he'll take back our deal?

He shook his head, looking back at his deck.

This is the only way.

"Mosquito boosts, and Bloody Hercules attacks."

The counter appeared above the beetle, and it sprang into action, slamming its weapon into Cocoa. Akio brought an arm up to shield himself from the shock wave.

"Uh, damage check!" He said, grabbing the top card of his deck. "Battle Sister Macaron."

He quickly placed the card in his damage zone, looking back in time to see Fujioka turning his Vanguard to the side.

"C boosts, Tail Joe attacks your Vanguard." He placed a hand on his deck, waiting for Akio to declare is action. When the brunette shook his head, he glanced at his deck before flipping it over.

"Shelter Beetle. Critical trigger."

Another strike to Cocoa, and Akio winced as he checked his next two cards.

"Battle Sister Assam, stand trigger." He said, placing the card down. "I stand Eclair. Second check. Battle Sister Cocotte."

Another card joined the damage zone, and Fujioka bit back a smile.

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Nakuro blinked, watching the boy's hands as he checked each card, every movement near his deck.

"Nakuro." Kyou said, shaking him slightly. "Something wrong?"

He blinked again, then looked up at his senior.

"Senpai, you know that path I take to get home? The one in paint?" Kyou raised an eyebrow, but nodded.

"The really bright neon one?" Nakuro nodded.

"Yeah. The only reason the neighborhood association allowed it was because, under normal circumstances, that paint can't be seen. It's a type of luminous paint that, under normal lighting, doesn't show up. It's also mixed with a type of chemical that hides it at night, so it doesn't distract drivers on moonless nights, so it's not normally visible to humans. You must have really special eyes if you can see them."

Kyou said nothing to this, but Nakuro didn't expect him to, turning back to the fight. Akio had just ridden his next unit and called more.

"Akio can see them too, but I guess he's too far away to notice." He continued, earning a confused look.

"What do you mean?" He asked, and Nakuro pointed at Akio's opponent.

"I'm guessing the lens of his glasses are darkened or have some kind of lighting on the inside that makes it visible. You should be able to see it through your phone's camera though, if you change the light settings."

Kyou stared at him for a moment before hurriedly pulling out his phone, opening the camera and zooming in on Fujioka, altering the lighting so that it darkened. He looked over the image he was getting for a split second before his eyes widened, confusion replaced with anger.

"That little son of a bitch..."

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Akio scratched the back of his head, looking over his field and the cards in his hand and weighing his options.

No good, I really don't know what to do. He thought, looking up at his Vanguard. Mocha stoof in his center, Mocha to her left and Miracle Kid to his own.

I've got Ginger, Chocolat, and Lemonade in my hand. Will that be enough to last the next turn?

He brought his hand down. No time to think about it.

"Kid boosts, Tarte attacks your Vanguard!" He called, turning both cards.

"No guard." Fujioka responded, not batting an eye as the attack struck his Vanguard. "Damage check - Toxic Trooper."

Akio clicked his tongue, looking back at the text of his center unit. If I knew he wasn't gonna guard I wouldn't have called Kid. I could have used that power boost...

He reached for the card, his fingertips barely brushing the surface before moment in the corner of his eye stopped him.

Nakuro? What's he doing? He glanced at his friend's left, where Kyou was pointing to the smaller male. Nakuro was moving his hands in a familiar fashion. Sign language? I haven't done this in a while. Uh...

Grateful that his friend was moving slowly with every letter, he quietly mumbled the words to himself.

H-E-S- Uh, He's...

His mind blanked for a second, even as it processed the next word, his eyes widening slightly.

He's cheating.

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A/N: I wouldn't quote me on any of that stuff about the paint, since only 90% of it I can say is accurate. It's all from research I pulled off Wiki.

I said I wouldn't be focusing too much on the fights themselves, but I still had to do a lot of thinking and strategizing to manipulate it in a certain direction, which is really fucking hard. Especially when you forget what you're setting up for and how to get there while writing for two fighters. Needless to say, most of the time it took to write this was researching skills and reading through tips on certain units. I also had to rewrite a few decks in order to do this, which I might have to do often from now on. In the middle of the fights. There's also keeping track of hand, what units are ridden/called, how many of each card is left in the deck... I'd like to test these decks against each other and just base the fights off that(while altering them slightly so certain units appear and certain fights are won/lost), but I don't have a way to do so, since it's not like the games are localized and despite what people may believe, I don't actually have all these cards. So I'm doing it all on paper.

I might be putting too much effort into this, but I want to write a quality fic.

Also note: I may or may not have changed Fujioka's first name last chapter for future purposes. Because things happened and writing the name "Manami" often in a non-YP fic would get very awkward, very fast. It's not a gigantic change though.

I suggest checking out the "Tomorrow" spin-off I uploaded, "Yesterday's Exchange", because I'm changing a few more things in an attempt to transition the series into "no honorifics". They're really small changes, but since it also has some "bonus content" if you wanna call it that. Kinda.