Finally, things start to heat up! And thank you for the feedback on the last chapter. I'm glad you are all still supporting my story. Anyway, please enjoy.
*Classroom, Tokyo University Duel Academy*
It was lunchtime and Spiral, Momo, Shroud, Aura, Naoto, Camaru, Chan, Chun, Hikari and Lee were all eating instant ramen noodles.
"This is only one of the reasons I love Japan!" Spiral stated as he slurped down some of his ramen. "Right alongside the thriving of the arcade cabinets and the fact that these guys get nearly every game before every other country does! And other things that I'll keep quiet about for now."
"… You're right." Naoto agreed.
Momo looked in Naoto's pocket and saw a paper sticking out of it.
"What's that?" Momo wondered.
"Oh, this?" Naoto noticed that she noticed. "Nothing."
"Too late!" Momo giggled as she had the paper in her fingers already.
"Wh-!" Naoto checked his pocket again and realized that Momo had just pickpocketed him. "How'd you do that? !"
"I'm a ninja." Momo said as she opened the paper. "… Looks like someone has a major crush on someone!" Momo said in a singsong voice.
"Hey, give that back!" Naoto tried to get it back, to no avail.
"It's a poem." Momo started to read the poem aloud.
You are like your name
Very much like a crystal
Priceless and pretty
"Oh, my God, you have a crush on our teacher!" Spiral summed up while chuckling.
"That could be about anybody!" Naoto protested.
"You put the word 'crystal' in there." Chan stated. "That pretty much guarantees it."
"Whatever!" Naoto seemed to shrug off. "As long as I wait until I'm 18 and out of this school to ask Ms. Krystal out, neither of us is in any trouble."
"… Should we tell him?" Shroud turned to Aura.
"I… don't know." Aura simply answered.
"Tell me what?" Naoto asked.
"Oh, n-nothing important." Momo responded.
"Come on! Tell me!" Naoto insisted.
"… Do you really want to know?" Spiral asked Naoto.
"Yes!"
"Are you sure you want to know?"
"Yes!"
"Are you ABSOLUTELY-"
"YES, SPIRAL! JUST TELL ME!"
"Ms. Krystal is married." Shroud was the one to say it.
"… Oh, I get it!" Naoto assumed. "You're all joking me so either one of you girls gets me or one of you guys gets her. Well, I'm not falling for it."
"I saw the ring." Aura stated. "Maybe none of you guys noticed because you were too busy paying attention to OTHER areas."
"But… she called herself 'Ms.'" Naoto recalled. "… Wait, that ring could mean anything! People wear rings all the time! Like that one candy those Americans make!"
"You mean Ring Pops?" Spiral asked.
"Look, we just don't want you to get hurt if she is married and the 'Ms.' is just a ruse." Camaru tried to calm Naoto down.
"Another piece of evidence is that when I passed the teacher's office one time, I heard her talking on the phone." Shroud informed. "Based on their dialogue, it seemed as if she was either dating him, betrothed or married to him."
"You're… You're lying!" Naoto denied. "It's not true! I thought you were my friends, but what friends try to knock a person's heart out of the sky with a harpoon? !"
Naoto ran out of the classroom in a fit.
"… I think that went well." Shroud spoke up after a moment of awkward silence.
"I thought you were changing." Momo pointed out.
"It's a work in progress." Spiral said in partial exasperation.
Naoto was in front of the teacher's office a few minutes before lunchtime was over. He knocked on the door to see who was there.
"Who is it?" Ms. Krystal's voice came from the office.
"It's Naoto. Can I ask you something?"
"Come in!"
Naoto opened the door to Ms. Krystal, this time wearing a red T-shirt and black jeans, eating a huge burger like she was dying of hunger.
"Um… That's a… big burger…" Naoto had a sweat drop fall from the back of his head. "Aren't you afraid of getting fat?"
"I eat bigger meals than this all the time." Ms. Krystal responded.
Naoto looked at Ms. Krystal's body again. Her perfect figure continued to leave Naoto speechless.
"So… what was it you wanted to ask me about?" Ms. Krystal asked.
"Um… just… um…"
"Come on. You can tell me."
"Well, it's just that my friends think you're married and I came to see if that was true."
"Well, yeah, I am married."
Ms. Krystal took a picture off her desk. In the picture was her, her husband and her little boy. Naoto felt like a part of his world just crumbled.
"Is that all you needed?"
"… Yeah…" Naoto left the office.
After leaving the office, Naoto just stood in sadness for a moment and then ran off in sadness and anger.
Lunchtime had ended and everyone was back in their seats while class was in session. Spiral and Camaru noticed that Naoto had not returned to his seat.
*Naoto's been gone ever since lunch…* Spiral thought. *I wonder…*
Spiral then checked his bracelet and noticed… the bead wasn't glowing. Spiral breathed a sigh of relief that Naoto wasn't in that other world. He then thought for a moment as to why Naoto was missing class and came to a conclusion.
*I think I got it.*
After class, Spiral returned to the dorm room to find Naoto lying in his bed in the fetal position.
"How'd you find me?" Naoto asked in a miserable voice.
"I figured that you would try to find the truth for yourself." Spiral answered. "I'm sorry, but you had to find out. She's 24 and you're 15. You had to realize that someone with her looks at that age must have already been taken."
"… I feel terrible… I feel like an idiot… like I won't find anyone."
"Naoto, what you had with Ms. Krystal was just a crush. Puppy love. Plus, you're only 15. You'll have plenty of time to find someone. If not here at the Academy, then at some point in your life after that."
"Spiral…can I tell you something?"
"You can tell me anything. I AM your friend and it was kind of my fault that you're in this state."
"About 3 years ago, I had a crush on this girl."
"Was it a teacher?"
"No, it was a fellow classmate that time. She was a rare girl. Smart, pretty and supportive. I was struggling with my homework and I had a crush on her, so I asked her if she could help me with my homework. She accepted and for the weeks after that, I was getting better grades and during breaks, we'd talk about our personal stories. My feelings for her grew stronger until I was under the belief that I was in love. After getting very high scores on my finals, I wanted to thank her by asking her out on a date… but when I did… I saw her kissing her boyfriend… I fell into a depression, just like this one."
"I'm so sorry, Naoto."
"It's not your fault… You and I have no control over the fact that I'm always attracted to the women who are already taken…"
"Maybe we can set you up with someone. That might help you turn your frown upside-down."
"I don't feel like finding someone else right now. I just want to be alone for a while."
"How about this? I'll give you my notes and make Shroud do your homework until you get better."
"I don't really care anymore."
"… All right then…" Spiral left their room.
"Seeing Ms. Krystal might make me feel worse, but I better go back to class tomorrow. I have to deal with this head-on." Naoto muttered to himself.
The next morning, it was almost time for homeroom and Naoto was back in his seat.
"Are you feeling better?" Spiral asked Naoto.
"I think so…" Naoto answered. "I really hope so... "
Ms. Krystal entered the classroom, this time wearing a light blue sundress, and as soon as she entered, Naoto left the classroom in a hurry.
"Is Naoto okay?" Ms. Krystal asked.
"He's just… going through a hard time." Spiral answered to keep things vague.
"His little girlfriend break up with him?" Ms. Krystal was oblivious to what really happened.
"… Yeah, something like that." Spiral answered.
"Oh, poor guy... we should just leave him alone for now. Let him deal with his heartbreak. Anyway, let's take out our notes!"
It was lunchtime and Naoto had still not returned from wherever he was.
"Naoto's taking the truth about Ms. Krystal pretty hard." Aura brought up.
"Yeah, he's a wreck right now." Spiral stated. "But what strikes me as weird is that when I gave him a cupcake, he-"
"Didn't want the cupcake?" Camaru guessed.
"Exactly!" Spiral vaguely praised cupcakes.
"That IS weird." Hikari stated. "Camaru, you've known Naoto longer than any of us. Are you familiar with this behavior?"
"His depression, he told me about once before." Camaru answered. "Three years ago, there was this girl he liked and when he found at she had a boyfriend, he snapped."
Spiral was about to stick his chopsticks into the ramen when he saw that his bracelet's bead was actually glowing this time.
"Guys, I think Naoto went to a mirror." Spiral said.
Momo, Lee and Aura understood what Spiral was talking about. Shroud was… thinking he meant something else.
When classes ended, Spiral, Momo, Lee and Aura were about to walk out of the classroom until they noticed Shroud was still in his seat.
"Aren't you coming?" Lee asked.
"Coming to what?" Shroud asked.
"To help whoever entered the other world!" Spiral explained in exasperation. "That's what I meant earlier!"
"I thought that was some sort of brainteaser!" Shroud stated.
All five of them entered the principal's office and she seemed surprised that Aura had joined them.
"Who is this?" The principal asked.
"A friend of mine." Spiral responded. "She was worried about me and wants to help us."
"… Very well, then, but no one else. Understand?" The principal didn't want them to invite more people. "The only ones who may join this group are those who have entered the mirror world!"
They all nodded their heads and walked into the mirror.
They arrived at the empty platform in front of the elevator and Aura seemed a bit surprised.
"Wow!" Aura was in awe. "When you told me that you could enter mirrors, I wasn't sure what to believe! But now that I've actually seen it, I have to believe!"
"Thanks for trusting me." Spiral said sarcastically, feeling like he couldn't be trusted.
"Where to?" Momo asked.
"The elevator." Lee pointed toward the elevator.
"Since someone is in here that means a new floor button has been added." Spiral deduced.
Spiral walked into the elevator.
"I was right!" Spiral spoke out as he saw a new floor button that read 'B3'. "A new floor has been added!"
They all entered the elevator and Spiral hit the 'B3' button. The elevator went down and when they hit the floor, the door opened to reveal the inside of a fancy restaurant with seemingly never-ending lines of food. There were also two people there… more precisely, two Naotos. Both of them looked alike, but one had this menacing red aura surrounding it.
"Uh oh." Spiral became worried. "Are we too late?"
"Huh?" Naoto turned around and saw everyone. "Guys? What are you doing here?"
"We came here to save you!" Momo responded.
"Save me?" Naoto didn't quite understand.
"What is there to be saved from here?" The other Naoto questioned. "This buffet has no hole that doesn't have something in it… unlike my heart."
"What are you talking about?" Naoto was confused.
"Whenever a hole appears in your heart, you try to find some way to fill it up!" The other Naoto explained. "When your heart got broken the first time, you had to find something to make you forget! But that hole never got to be fully filled, did it? When you met Ms. Krystal and she helped you, the hole in my heart was finally filled… until my jackass friends told me the truth! That's what I think and that's what YOU think!"
"I don't think that at all!" Naoto denied.
"Come on, you deluded, gluttonous wimp!" The other Naoto got even angrier.
"What did you call me? ! I don't eat all the time!"
"Gluttony isn't merely an insatiable hunger! It also applies to one who cannot stop indulging in something to fill in the voids in the heart! Here, you can fill your heart as much as you want! I know you want to… because you are me!"
"Are you saying that you're me?"
"Maybe I should recall the exact details you remember of the day you got your heart broken! I finished my finals and I finally built up the courage to ask her out."
"Stop! Please stop!"
"Once I finally saw her, I quickly got my composure together and starting walking to her."
"STOP! I DON'T WANT TO HEAR THIS ANYMORE!"
"Then a boy came up to her and they greeted each other with an intimate… affectionate…"
"DON'T SAY IT!"
"… Kiss."
Naoto fell to the floor and burst into tears while screaming at the top of his lungs.
"Yes… your suffering sustains me! Now die!" The other Naoto took pleasure in the real Naoto's despair.
"Not if we have anything to say about it, Demon!" Spiral stopped the other Naoto from killing the original.
"Spiral, let me duel him…" Shroud requested. "I really want to see what Gungear can do."
Spiral thought for a moment until providing his answer. "All right. The spotlight's yours."
Shroud walked up to Demon Naoto with his Duel Disk and Duel Gazer ready.
"A Duel, huh?" Demon Naoto understood what Shroud's actions meant. "Fine, when I win, you'll all die!"
A red aura engulfed Demon Naoto's left eye and left arm that turned into a Duel Gazer and Duel Disk.
"Let's Duel!" Both of them shouted.
Demon Naoto (LP 4000) Shroud (LP 4000)
"I'll make the first move!" Shroud drew his first card. "I'll set a monster face-down in defense mode and end my turn!"
Demon Naoto drew his first card. "First, I activate the Field Spell Demon Circle! Then I summon Starving Demon (Lv.4 1650/1750) in attack mode!"
Demon Naoto had summoned an emaciated humanoid demon with its tongue containing an additional mouth.
"Since I Normal Summoned a Demon or Demonic monster, I can Special Summon another one from my hand!" Demon Naoto pointed out. "I choose to summon another Starving Demon! Then I use Demon Circle's other effect! By paying 500 Life Points, I can Special Summon another Demon or Demonic monster from my hand! Here comes a third Starving Demon! There's a side effect to summoning my Starving Demons. For each one I summoned, I need to banish a card from my Deck."
Demon Naoto (LP 3500) Shroud (LP 4000)
The mouthed tongues of the Starving Demons each took a card from Demon Naoto's Deck and swallowed them.
"Now that that's been taken care of, I can now overlay my 3 Starving Demons! I Xyz Summon Gluttonous Demon Glider (Rank 4 2600/2500)!" Demon Naoto's monsters had transformed into red shadows that then engulfed him and started to transform him.
The red shadow of Demon Naoto became wider and appeared to grow wings. When the red shadows dissipated, it revealed a morbidly obese, sickeningly unsightly monster with a jetpack. Surprisingly, the jetpack was able to keep him flying.
"I am a Demon… from within your heart. Now I'll devour one of my Xyz Materials to increase my power by 700!" Demon Naoto then ate one of the green orbs that orbited around him and he grew even bigger. "Now it's time to devour your monster!"
Demon Naoto flew toward Shroud's face-down monster at a surprising speed. Shroud's face-down monster was revealed as Magipsytech Transport Bomb (Lv.4 700/2100), a silver bomb with nodes attached to it. Demon Naoto grabbed Magipsytech Transport Bomb and shoved it down his throat, swallowing it in one gulp without so much as a choke.
"Tasty…" Demon Naoto snickered. "Hm?"
A light came out of Demon Naoto's mouth and that light shined like a spotlight at one of Shroud's Monster Card Zones.
"When Magipsytech Transport Bomb is destroyed in battle, I can Special Summon a Magipsytech monster from my Deck! I summon another Magipsytech Transport Bomb!" Shroud explained as another Transport Bomb came out of the light before the light dissipated.
"Fine. I end my turn by placing one card face-down!"
Shroud drew his next card. "I summon the Magipsytech Summoner (Lv.2 1100/500) Tuner monster! When he's Normal Summoned, I can Special Summon a Psychic-type Magipsytech monster from my hand or Deck! I choose to summon Magipsytech Teleporter (Lv.2 900/200), who when Special Summoned, allows me to summon a Spellcaster-type Magipsytech monster from my hand or Deck and here comes another Magipsytech Summoner! When he's Special Summoned, I can Special Summon a Machine-type Magipsytech monster from my hand or Deck! I summon Magipsytech Enforcer (Lv.2 1200/0)! Now I'm going to tune-"
"Before you do that, I activate the Trap Card Just Desserts!" Demon Naoto activated a Trap. "This inflicts you with 500 points of damage for each of your monsters!"
Five of the pies that were in the buffet levitated and launched themselves at Shroud, each one inflicting him with 500 points of damage for a total of 2500 points of damage. Then pies magically appeared in the spots where the pies came from.
Demon Naoto (LP 3500) Shroud (LP 1500)
"If I may continue, I tune one of my Magipsytech Summoners with Magipsytech Teleporter to Synchro Summon Magipsytech Magician (Lv.4 1900/1000)!" Shroud continued his turn. "Now I tune my other Magipsytech Summoner with Magipsytech Enforcer to Synchro Summon Magipsytech Cyborg (Lv.4 2000/1000)! Now that I have 3 Level 4 monsters, I now use them to summon my Spirit!"
Shroud's three monsters became blue streams of light that joined together into a large and wide pillar of light that revealed the card Shroud had obtained when he overcame his Demon.
"I summon Gungear (Rank 4 2700/2100)!"
"Is that the card Shroud got when you defeated his Demon?" Momo asked Spiral.
"Yeah, that's it, all right." Spiral simply answered.
"Now I use Gungear's ability!" Shroud said. "By detaching one of his Xyz Materials, he can gain attack points equal to half of the attack of the monster with the highest attack points on your side of the field! And that boost lasts until the end of this turn! Now I equip him with the Equip Spell Xyz Unit! This increases his power by 200 for each Rank!"
Gungear now had a total attack power of a whopping 5150.
"Gungear, attack Gluttonous Demon Glider!" Shroud commanded his card to attack.
Gungear took his Gatling gun and aimed it toward Demon Naoto.
"Even if you had a Spell or Trap face-down, Gungear's ability would have prevented its activation until the end of the Damage Step!" Shroud stated.
Gungear fired his Gatling gun and the bullet barrage destroyed Gluttonous Demon Glider, destroying him and inflicting Demon Naoto with 1850 points of damage, which doesn't even include the damage Demon Naoto took since his Xyz Monster was destroyed, which totaled for 3850 points of damage.
Demon Naoto (LP 0) Shroud (LP 1500)
Demon Naoto was lying on the ground while the original struggled to stand up.
"What… was that?" Naoto couldn't fully comprehend what had just happened.
"That is a manifestation of your suffering. A Demon." Spiral explained. "It is a part of your heart that thrives on your pain. Everyone has one."
"Everyone… has one…" Aura mumbled to herself.
"Naoto-" Spiral was about to speak.
"Spiral, you have no idea what it's like to feel like no one else likes you…" Naoto clenched his fist. "When it comes to girls, you beat me in a complete landslide! I-"
"You're right." Spiral interrupted him.
"Great, kicking me while I'm down." Naoto felt insulted.
"No, I meant that I don't understand what you're going through." Spiral clarified to Naoto. "I don't know what it's like to be in love with someone and find out they don't share the same feeling. But these things happen and no matter what you use to fill that void, you'll still notice it. It's like a hole was dug up in the grass and you tried to fill the dirt back in. You just have to accept that things like that will happen and move on."
Naoto stayed silent for a moment to take in Spiral's speech.
"… I guess the answer was right in front of me this whole time." Naoto said as he turned toward his Demon, whom was just getting back on his feet. "I tried to just bury the past to try and forget it, but I couldn't forget. I realize now that I need that past in order to prepare for the future. Spiral told me that I still have the rest of my life ahead of me. I don't need to fill the voids in my heart, I just need the courage to live with them."
Naoto's Demon had transfigured into a skinny, fully-armored warrior with wings and blades on his wrists. Then it turned into a card that fell into Naoto's hands.
"That is the manifestation of your Spirit. Your determination to overcome your Demon." Shroud explained. "It's just like my Gungear."
"So this happened to you, too?" Naoto asked.
"Yes, and Momo, too. Although Spiral and Lee know more about that story."
"Please don't tell him what happened!" Lee and Momo tried to stop Shroud from blabbing it out.
"All right, let's get out of-" Spiral was about to say until he turned to Aura.
A dark red shadow was behind Aura.
"Everyone… has one?"
"AURA, RUN!" Spiral shouted to Aura.
Aura looked behind her and saw the shadow. Everyone ran toward the elevator and Spiral hastily pressed the button so they could get out of there.
"COME ON! COME ON! COME ON! COME ON!" Spiral kept hitting the button so it could close faster.
However, before the doors could close, the shadow engulfed them all and the elevator started to fall down the 'shaft'. It kept falling until it hit the lowest floor it possibly could…
To be continued…
English Voice Cast
Todd Haberkorn Spiral
Yuri Lowenthal Naoto
Wendee Lee Krystal
Maxey Whitehead Shroud
Monica Rial Momo
Alexis Tipton Aura
Tom Gibis Lee
Kyle Hebert Camaru
Alison Viktorin Chan/Chun
Preview
Me: Our heroes are far from dead... or are they close to their deaths? Next time on Awakening of the Soul, Helpless Greed. What? Were you expecting something funny? Not today. Sorry.
Shroud's Cards
Magipsytech Tansport Bomb
Machine/Effect (ATK 700 DEF 2100)
Level 4/LIGHT
When this card is destroyed as a result of battle: You can Special Summon 1 "Magipsytech" monster from your Deck. When this card is destroyed by a card effect: You can Special Summon 1 "Magipsytech" monster from your hand or Graveyard.
Gungear
Machine/Xyz/Effect (ATK 2700 DEF 2100)
Rank 4/EARTH
3 Level 4 Monsters
Once per turn; If this card would be destroyed, it is not destroyed. You can detach 1 Xyz Material Monster from this card to increase the ATK of this card equal to half the ATK of the monster your opponent controls with the highest ATK, and if you do, the effects of Spells and Traps are negated when this card attacks (These effects last until the end of the Damage Step.).
Demon Naoto's Cards
Starving Demon
Fiend/Effect (ATK 1650 DEF 1750)
Level 4/DARK
When this card is summoned: Send 1 card in your Deck to your Graveyard.
Gluttonous Demon Glider
Fiend/Xyz/Effect (ATK 2600 DEF 2500)
Rank 4/DARK
3 Level 4 "Demon" or "Demonic" Monsters
This card can only be destroyed as a result of battle. When this card is destroyed by your opponent: Inflict 2000 damage to the controller of this card. Once per turn; You can detach 1 Xyz Material Monster from this card to increase the ATK of this card by 700.