"Aah, the sunlight! It feels like it's been forever since I've seen it last!" Ida let out a pleased sigh as she stretched her arms. I could agree with her sentiment for once. Even though we had only been in the arena for just a few days, it was nothing compared to being outside in broad daylight. Sure, we were outside just last night saving Ida, but this was different. There was now a peaceful breeze instead of a slight chill and, quite frankly, we were out in leisure, not on some quest.

Before last night, none if this would have been happening. We never would have even thought of leaving the arena. Ever since Ida arrived, however, Keisuke seemed to be happy putting us at a distance. It was just this morning that Ida began ranting that if we stay underground all the time then we'd never beat the bad guys up. Keisuke promptly groaned, put a hand to his head, and said we were free to do whatever we want so long as we were back for our scheduled duels.

"Alright! Justice Brigade, our first item of business is finding a villain! Then, we beat them up!" Ida explained.

"And how do you propose we find a villain? People don't exactly walk right up to you with stolen goods in hand," Kaze played along with her little delusion.

"Well, good Sir Red, I'm glad you asked! See, I've been thinking about it! If I went ahead and-" Ida's words came to an abrupt halt when a small boy suddenly bumped into her. "Hey, watch where you're going!" Ida snapped.

"W-wah! Sorry, Miss! I'm so sorry!" the boy bowed, tears beginning to line his eyes. He had dirty blond hair and wore a light yellow jacket over his brown shirt. The tan boy held something that appeared to be a duel disk close to his chest, as if it were a lifeline. Upon seeing his expression, Ida's anger seemed to quickly dissolve as she feebly reached her hands out but not daring to actually touch him.

"H-hey, it's okay…! Accidents happen," Ida tried to comfort him, knowing full well that she caused his tears.

"I… I… I was just so excited to get a duel disk…! I finally saved up enough money, and since I scraped together a deck, I was… I was just so excited to start dueling!" the boy sniffled as he reluctantly pulled an arm away to wipe his tears away. It was at this point that I noticed Kaze was staring a little too intently at the boy.

"Kaze, what's wrong?" I voiced my concern.

"That's not an official duel disk," Kaze said suddenly, taking us by surprise. How did he come to that conclusion? The thing looked just like the basic type from Duel Academy. It had the right color and even the right number of card slots. A fake usually had glaring differences, but this one looked completely normal.

"W-what do you mean?" the child asked, clearly heartbroken by this revelation, as his tears began anew.

"Well, that thing is made out of plastic, for starters, not metal. You can see because it doesn't shine with the sunlight. Also, the momentum chamber is a solid blue, not a fluctuating rainbow, which momentum does even during standby," Kaze explained, leaving me even more stunned. I never doubted Kaze's intelligence, but still, such a deduction in a matter of mere seconds was just… How much did he know about dueling…?

"N-no, it's real! The man said it's real! Here, I'll duel you and prove it!" the child insisted as he slid his arm into the band before reaching into his side pocket and retrieving a deck. Even when he inserted the cards, the momentum chamber remained a sky blue, unmoving, just as Kaze pointed out. For the next few seconds, he fervently removed and reinserted his deck, refusing to give up hope but receiving only for the same result. The chamber never whirled to life and lights never came out.

"Wow, Kaze…! That's just…! You're so smart! It looks just like a real one! I even thought it was real, but you knew right from the start!" Ida marveled, her eyes now fixed on the brunette standing between us.

"Well, when I was a kid and my parents were away, I usually fiddled with my deck and duel disk. I've always been interested in the mechanics behind dueling, so it was something to do. When I graduate, I'm hoping to get a D-Wheel," Kaze commented before a sniffle returned his attention to the boy before us. The brunette slowly hunkered down until one knee was touching the ground so that he was eye level with the boy. "Hey, how about we go buy you a real duel disk?"

"A… a what?" Ida shouted, voicing my own surprise as well.

"Is that really okay, Kaze?" I asked. Duel Disks were fairly expensive to the average citizen. Unless you were with one of the Duel Academies or with a dueling business, only the upper-class could afford them. Granted, the city was making strides to provide them to the poorer citizens, but even then, they had to be well in their teens. Dueling was a big thing, after all. You were registered into the network and set up with an account for DP. Since DP was the mainstream currency alongside yen, it was quite obvious why the price was seemingly impossible for lower-class families.

"It's alright. This kid spent all his money, so it'd be unfair for him to not get a duel disk after all this," Kaze insisted. That's when I made the connection. Could it be… that Kaze saw this boy as himself? The boy seemed to be an orphan, after all, or he'd be enrolled in a Duel Academy by his parents. Was he hoping to get a duel disk and make a living as Kaze had done? "So, tell me, what's your name?" Kaze smiled softly at the child.

"I-I'm Yuta Nishino, sir! T-thank you! I… Thank you so much!" the blond shouted as he bowed. Kaze let out a soft chuckle as he reached out and ruffled the kid's hair.

"My name is Kaze Kokoro, and these are my friends, Aki and Ida. It's nice to meet you. Now, let's go get you a duel disk."

Ida and I just watched on as Kaze gave the boy his hand and began walking off, Yuta skipping joyfully alongside him. "W-whoa… Just…. whoa," Ida whispered. 'Whoa' indeed. Leave it to Kaze to not only be a people pleaser but good with kids as well.

"Come on, Ida. With enough luck, you'll find your villain by the end of today," I commented as I began walking after the boys. I heard a gasp behind me before I saw a blur of red and gray, causing me to let out a laugh. So that was all it took to get Ida in gear, huh…?

Since we were already in the shopping district, it didn't take too long for us to reach the Duel Monsters store. When I finally entered, Yuta was just staring wide eyed with his mouth open at all of the choices. A majority of the store was dedicated to structure decks and new cards packs, but there was still a duel disk section. Inside the glass cases there were several different types of duel disks. The standard duel disk was most common with several color variations, such as my own. Mine was the standard duel disk colored red, chosen by my parents since red was my favorite color. There were others colors though, such as dark gray, gold, green, black, and many more. The styles and colors seemed to be endless.

"Go ahead and pick any model that you want. Don't worry about the price," Kaze said, taking the blond by surprise, though that must be happening a lot today for him. Buy a fake duel disk, learn that its fake, get offered to receive a new one, and then learn that you can get the most expensive one without any drawbacks. Internally, I was a bit concerned for Kaze's DP count, though. Yuta narrowed his eyes in concentration as he browsed over the many choices laid out before him. Every once in a while, he'd wince or shake his head while murmuring something under his breath. Eventually he came to a stop in front of a yellow standard model with black highlights.

"Mr. Kaze, can I have this one?" he asked, looking over his shoulder at Kaze while his finger pointed at the duel disk.

"Of course. It's the standard model too, so it shouldn't be too heavy for you during a duel," Kaze commented off-handedly. "Well, I'll go get the clerk to buy it. I'll be back."

With that, it was just Ida, Yuta, and I standing in silence. The silence seemed to be too deafening for Yuta, as the blond began kicking his feet at the ground and glancing around. Ida simply crossed her arms, tapping a finger on her forearm while sighing. I tried to entertain myself by looking at the duel disk models, but I wasn't as into the mechanics behind them as Kaze appeared to be, so it was no use.

"Ah…! That's the man! The man who sold me the fake duel disk!" Yuta cried out suddenly, drawing our attentions. I quickly followed the direction his finger was pointed and saw a fairly shady man sulking by the window. He had spiky blue hair, and from what I could see on his face, he had plenty of criminal markers. So, he'd been at this for a while…

"Stay here, Yuta!" Ida ordered before darting off.

"I-Ida, wait!" I tried to call after her, but the gray-haired teen ignored me. I quickly grumbled my complaints and took off after her, seeing Kaze looking around in surprise as I did. He could handle Yuta, but I had to handle the other child it seemed. Maybe I shouldn't have joked around about finding villains earlier…

The blue haired man must have heard the commotion, as I could faintly see his figure sprinting ahead of Ida's. "Hey, you! Return Yuta's money! Stealing from kids is wrong!" Ida called out. Surprisingly, this caused the man to stop running, and, in turn, Ida, allowing me to catch up.

"Argh, just my luck. Stay out of my business, kid," the man growled.

"We're not kids!" Ida shouted before throwing a fist into the air. Oh no. Please, no. Tell me she's not… "We're the Justice Brigade! I am the fearless leader, Dark Queen, and this is my lackey, the Black Rose! We're going to stop you and your crimes in the name of children everywhere!" Ida declared. I couldn't stop the twitching anymore. I already told her we weren't the Justice Brigade, but even more pressingly… Lackey…!? Why was I her lackey? She was the one who was supposed to be lookout, not a leader!

"Ida, what are you doing?" I hissed.

"Just play along!" Ida pleaded with me. I struggled to swallow my irritation, instead turning my attention to the criminal before us.

"Just return the cash to us and we'll be on our way. There's no reason for you to get hurt," I said. The man just scoffed at me, a hand trying to hold back his laughter.

"Ha! Pathetic girls couldn't beat us!" the man smirked. Wait, us…? Oh, no… That meant he wasn't alone. Of course, things always had to be difficult. What did Ida drag me into…?

From the nearby alley, another man walked out. His hair was in a similar spiky fashion but it was dyed green. His face adorned a few less criminal marks than his companion, but it was still well beyond what one should have. One could be excusable, but theirs seemed to be nearly a dozen with small dots and lines around their eyes. "Ha! Here I thought you had a big gang! But just two? No problem! It's a tag duel! Let's go, Aki!" Ida said as she activated her duel disk.

"Wait!" a familiar voice called out. Ida and I both turned to see Kaze running up to us, Yuta's hand clasped in his own. "Please, stop. Don't duel them," Kaze said.

"What, you don't think we can handle ourselves?" Ida asked, clearly offended. I saw that look in Kaze's eyes, however, and I knew what the plan was.

"I don't doubt that you'd cream them, Ida. I just think that Yuta should get to duel them to get his money back," Kaze said. The two men began to laugh once more.

"Haha! That kid? It's his own fault for being stupid and buying a fake! We never said it was real, we just said it was a duel disk! Ain't no lie or scam there!" the blue haired man said. I saw Yuta tremble a tiny bit, but eventually he tightened his grip on Kaze's hand and remained firm.

"Give it back… or I'll have to duel you for it back," the blonde said. The blue haired man just raised an eyebrow, clearly wondering how he planned on doing that with a fake, when Yuta activated his duel disk. The surprise only lasted for a brief second.

"Ha, so what? Two on one will be a piece of cake. Give up," the man sneered as he and his friend activated their own duel disks.

"That's where you're wrong. It won't be two on one. It'll be a tag duel," Kaze said. "So, Ida, you can-" Kaze started, clearly figuring Ida would want the glory.

"Well, as much as I want to be the hero, you bought the duel disk, so you should duel with him," Ida said, taking a step back for extra emphasis.

"That's right. Besides, your deck is much better suited for tag duels than ours. And you know what will happen if I duel anyway," I pointed out. Kaze simply nodded. The last thing Yuta needed were real life monsters showing up and the resulting bloodshed.

"Well, it's you and me Yuta. That is, if you'll have me," Kaze smiled.

"O-of course! But my deck kind of sucks… I mean, I just scraped it together with cards that I found and…" Yuta trailed off, looking at the ground, ashamed. Kaze placed a hand on the blonde's head, causing Yuta to look back up at him.

"There's no such thing as a bad card. I know you're a good duelist. You have a good heart. Your monsters' spirits are telling me so," Kaze insisted. Yuta's eyes widened whereas Ida just cocked an eyebrow. She gave me a dubious look.

"Just play along," I mocked her earlier statement. She seemed a bit offended, being left out and all, but eventually gave in, just giving an irritated huff instead.

"R-really!? My cards said that?" Yuta asked. Kaze just nodded, his smile still prevalent, before activating his duel disk.

"Oh, good, you nutcases are finally ready! Let's finish this off!" the blue haired man shouted.

[Yuta and Kaze: 8000LP] [Shuji and Jaime: 8000LP]

"You go first, Yuta. Show them what you can do," Kaze encouraged his partner, who nodded in return before taking the first draw.

"Alright, I play Kozaky in Defense mode!" Yuta called out. A few seconds later, a purple skinned man wearing an oversized lab coat emerged from his duel disk. [Kozaky: 400 DEF] Yuta just continued to stare on in awe, for this must have been his first time summoning a monster. I suppose seeing what you thought was just a card turn into a seemingly real creature right before your eyes would be quite the marvel at his age. When he eventually returned to his senses, a smile lined his face. "I set one card face down and that's it!"

"This was over before it even started!" the blue-haired man, apparently named Shuji according to network's information, took his draw. "I'll start things of with my main man Hydrogeddon!" Shuji declared as brown water appeared to erupt from the ground. It took the shape of a four legged creature fashioned like a dinosaur. [Hydrogeddon: 1600ATK] "You're going down now! Hydrogeddon-"

"Not so fast! I activate Gravity Bind! It states that monsters level four and over can't attack, so my Kozaky is safe!" Yuta quickly cut off Shuji's move with the press of a button. Intersecting green lines shot out from his trap card, tying his opponent's monster to the ground.

"Well, if that's the game you want to play, fine! I activate Heavy Storm! It allows me to destroy all spells and traps, like your pesky Gravity Bind!" Shuji said as he activated the spell from his hand. A tornado emerged from said card, tearing through the hologram of Yuta's trap card and removing the green lines from his monster. "I think I'll set one card face down and then that's it."

"I'll start things off by activating Umiiruka! It's a field spell card that increases all Water attribute monsters' attack by 500 but reduces their defense by 400," Kaze said as virtual water began shooting up all around us. A decorative blue dolphin appeared right in the middle of the field as a final touch. [Hydrogeddon: 1600 - 2100 ATK] "Then I'll summon Ocean's Keeper! With Umiiruka, he gains an additional 500 attack points!" Kaze explained for his foes as the trident wielding red fish emerged. [Ocean's Keeper: 1500- 2000 ATK] "Then I activate Book of Moon! It flips your Hydrogeddon to face-down Defense mode, which will allow me to destroy it! So now, Ocean's Keeper, attack-"

"Trap activate! Negate Attack! Not only does it stop your attack, but it also ends your Attack Phase," Shuji said as Ocean's Keeper harmlessly bounced off of the red and blue shield that emerged.

"With one card face-down, I end my turn."

"I place two cards card down and summon Ultimate Baseball Kid in Defense mode!" the green haired man, apparently named Jaime, said. In a burst of flames, a small boy clad in red baseball gear appeared. [Ultimate Baseball Kid: 1000 DEF] "I then flip Hydrogeddon to Attack mode. Hydrogeddon, attack Ocean's Keeper and destroy it!" Jaime shouted.

"I don't think so! I activate Widespread Ruin, which destroys the strongest monster in Attack mode on your side of the field. That just happens to be Hydrogeddon!" Kaze quickly activated his card, causing the attacking Water monster to explode and his owner to let out a curse.

"Fine! Your move then, brat!" Jaime growled.

"I summon Emissary of the Oasis in Attack mode and change Kozaky to attack mode as well! That's not all, though! I activate Triangle Power! It increases the original Attack and Defense of all face-up Level 1 Normal Monsters on my side of the field to 2000 until the end phase! Sure, they'll be destroyed in the end, but that doesn't matter!" Yuta began to pull off a pretty fierce combo. A ghost-like blue woman appeared, contently floating at Ocean Keeper's side. Kozaky's previously hunchbacked form quickly righted itself as its arms seemed to double in thickness, reflecting the growth in strength. [Kozaky: 400 - 2000 ATK] [Emissary of the Oasis: 600 ATK] "Now! Ocean's Keeper! Attack Ultimate Baseball Kid!" Yuta ordered.

"And not only will it destroy your monster, it will also deal piercing damage!" Kaze added, taking Jaime by surprise.

"Well, if that's the case, I activate my Dust Tornado! It allows me to destroy one spell or trap, and I choose Umiiruka!" Ocean's Keeper seemed to shrink a bit as the water disappeared, but his trident still sliced through Jaime's monster. [Ocean's Keeper: 2000 - 1500 ATK] He quickly put an arm up to block the gust of wind that resulted from his monster being destroyed. [Jaime and Shuji: 7500LP]

"Kozaky and Emissary, attack them directly!" Yuta continued with his move. Jaime braced himself once more as the two monsters charged forward, only to fade through him. [Jaime and Shuji: 7500 - 2000 - 600 - 4900 LP] "Now, I activate Level Limit - Area B! Monster that are level 4 or above are forced into Defense position, regardless of how you summon them! That ends my turn, which means Kozaky is destroyed!" Yuta said just as the aforementioned monster burst into tiny fragments akin to breaking glass.

"I guess I'll summon another Hydrogeddon in Defense mode then," Shuji said. There was another burst of water before the dinosaur appeared onto the battlefield, letting out a roar before hunkering down and changing to a blue hue. [Hydrogeddon: 1000 DEF] "Before I end my turn, I activate Jaime's Meteor of Destruction! If your life points are greater than 3000, we can use this card to deal 1000 points!" Shuji seemed eager to return a bit of damage, even though it seemed fairly meager compared to how much they lost. A fireball emerged from the spell card, which quickly darted forward and faded through Yuta. [Yuta and Kaze: 7000LP]

"So then it's my move," Kaze said as he drew his card. "I'll activate Terraforming! It allows me to add one Field Spell to my hand, and I choose Umiiruka! Of course, I'm going to activate it as well." The field spell ejected itself from Kaze's deck, allowing him to easily pick it up and insert it. Ocean's Keeper seemed to increase a bit in size while Hydrogeddon seemed to shrink, reflecting their respective changes due to the field spell. [Ocean's Keeper: 1500 - 2000 ATK] [Hydrogeddon: 1000- 600 DEF] "Now I summon Reese the Ice Mistress in Attack mode, and since she's Water attribute, she gets an additional 500 attack," Kaze noted as the small woman wearing a blue head piece emerged in a flurry of snow and ice. [Reese the Ice Mistress: 800 -1300 ATK] "Now, Ocean's Keeper, attack Hydrogeddon!" The red fish quickly obeyed, slashing its trident through the opposing Water monster. [Shuji and Jaime: 3500 LP] "Emissary, Reese, do you thing!" Kaze shouted as he threw his arm out towards his opponents. Once again, the two monsters charged forward, using their attacks against the defenseless criminal. [Shuji and Jaime: 3500 - 600 - 1300 - 1600 LP] "With one card face-down, I end my turn."

"Come on, Bro! We can't lose to this brat!" Shuji insisted as his partner drew his card.

"I know…! I summon UFO Turtle in Defense position and set a card down. That ends my turn," Jaime said as a turtle wearing a metal shell emerged on the field. [UFO Turtle: 1200 DEF]

"Alright, I can do this…! I know I can!" Yuta muttered as he drew his card. "Ocean's Keeper, attack UFO Turtle!" Yuta commanded. The monster did as told, charging forward once more and striking with its trident. [Jaime and Shuji: 600 LP]

"Even though you destroyed him, I can summon another UFO Turtle from my deck!" Jaime announced as an identical turtle took the destroyed monster's place.

"Fine then, Reese, destroy it as well!" Yuta said. The woman charged forward, slicing her lance through the Machine monster.

"And I still have another Turtle to take its place. Too bad your last monster can't beat it," Jaime sneered, clearly forgetting that while he survived the turn, the second it was Kaze's turn, he was done for.

"Then it's your move," Yuta finished.

"I… I summon Kabazauls in Defense, and that will be all," Shuji muttered. There was a flash of light, and when it faded, a large purple dinosaur was on the field, roaring once before hunkering down and turning blue. [Kabazauls: 1500 - 1100 DEF]

"W-what!? Bro, what happened to not losing?!" Jaime snapped.

"You think I want that stupid spell to be there!? I can't do anything with it there!" Shuji shouted in return. I just let out an annoyed sigh. The sooner this ended, the better.

"I'll start things off with activating Smashing Ground to destroy UFO Turtle! Then, Resse, destroy Kabazauls," Kaze said. This struck me as odd. Why wouldn't he end things then and there with Ocean's Keeper? Why would he have the tuner monster charge forward and simply destroy the monster instead of inflicting piercing damage and ending the duel? "Now, then… Emissary of the Oasis, end this!" Kaze shouted. The blue woman let out a cry of what I could only take as agreement before charging forward. She twirled around in some weird form of a dance before charging through the awaiting man. Leave it to Kaze to find this sort of fitting end, using Yuta's monster and all…

[Shuji and Jaime: 0 LP]

"W-whoa! Kaze, you really are amazing!" Ida gushed as soon as the counter hit zero.

"Well, it wasn't just me. Yuta's cards really helped," Kaze smiled as he placed his hand on the blond's hand once more. The child just blushed at the praise he was receiving.

"N-no way! Without your monsters, I would have lost!" Yuta said. As intriguing as this all was… I turned my attention back to the fairly silent criminals and my eyes widened when I saw them slinking away.

"H-hey! Get back here!" I shouted, alarming everyone.

"Hey! Hey, you lost fair and square, you villains! You crooks!' Ida cried out just as the men turned to make a break for it, only to run into a tall brown-haired man wearing a bartender's uniform.

"Now, now, just what's going on here?" Keisuke asked as he stared down the two men, who were now noticeably shaking.

"Ah! Mr. Keisuke! You see, these crooks stole from little Yuta here and so Kaze and Yuta dueled them to get his money back! The rats were trying to escape, though, until you caught them!" Ida reported. Keisuke simply blinked a few times before looking down at the two before him.

"That so?" he growled. Jaime seemed to gather his wits first and shakily reached into his pocket before pulling out a stack of yen. Keisuke yanked it out of his hands before waving us over. Yuta quickly latched onto Kaze's hand, clearly intimidated by the man, before we closed the distance between our groups. Keisuke lowered himself to one knee before holding the yen out. "Is this the money they took from you, Yuta?" Keisuke asked softly. The blond gulped before reaching out and grabbing the yen, slowly flipping through them.

"Y-yes sir," he squeaked out a confirmation.

"S-so you'll let us go, right…? We gave the money back…! We're good now, we swear!" Jaime said. Slowly, Keisuke rose to his feet before turning to the two men.

"I'll be the judge of that," Keisuke muttered before grabbing one of each of their wrists and walking off. "Don't worry about these two, you three. I'll handle things from here," he called out. And so we remained, just standing there awkwardly until Keisuke and his two prisoners turned the corner.

"Mr. Kaze, thank you for everything! You got me a new duel disk and you helped me win back my money! So here!" Yuta smiled brightly as he handed out the wad of yen.

"No, it's fine, really. You can keep it. You need it more than I do. Just make sure to keep treating your cards right," Kaze returned the smile. He didn't seem to be expecting the boy to tearfully tackle him seconds later, though, as he almost fell down.

"Thank you…! Thank you so much, Mr. Kaze!" Yuta chanted. Kaze chuckled before returning the hug. Several seconds later, Yuta pulled himself away, brushing the tears away with the palms of his hands. "Ah, that's right! Mr. Kaze, can I register you?" Yuta asked suddenly. Registering Kaze even though he just met him? Registering a duelist usually showed a great amount of trust for many reasons. If you registered a duelist on your PDA, it gave you access to their dueling profile, which included their wins, losses, and draws, along with their DP count and profile image. Not only that, but it came with essentially a tracker. So long as you were in the same city as that person, you could get their exact location, and if you weren't in the same city, you could learn what that city was if the person had access to the network. Needless to say, since we had more freedom, Keisuke had us register him to our PDA's. If we were underground, nothing would show up, but if we were outside, with the network available, he could instantly find out where we were. The same could apply to the three of us, since we recently added each other as well.

"Huh? Why would you want to do that?" Kaze asked.

"When I grow up and get older, I want to duel you again to show you just how much better I've gotten!" Yuta insisted. Kaze simply smiled and nodded, reaching into his pocket to pull out the device as Yuta did the same. It was only then that I realized how detached Kaze seemed from it compared to DA. Back at DA, he seemed to always be on it when there wasn't something else to do, but now it was maybe once a day that I saw him with it. That may have to do with the whole blocked services thing Keisuke set up though.

"Hey, hey, Yuta. I bet you want to add the awesome Dark Queen too, right?" Ida suggested as she lightly nudged the boy.

"What? Why would I want to add you?" Yuta asked. I couldn't hold back the laugh when I saw Ida's crestfallen face.

"W-wha…? But I… But I… I'm the Dark Queen…! Leader of the Justice Brigade!' Ida cried out.

"The Dark who of the what?" Yuta continued to ask.

"Um… Yeah, the what?" Kaze asked, which only seemed to rub salt into Ida's wounds.

"Argh, you guys are so mean! It's Dark Queen! I'm the Dark Queen!" Ida shouted before turning around and crossing her arms in a pout.

"Relax, Ida, I'm sure it'll catch on eventually," I tried to offer some comfort while holding back my laughter. Payback was beautiful. Lackey…? As if.

"Well, Mr. Kaze, I better get back to the orphanage! I'm sure I'll be the coolest kid now thanks to you! Thanks again and good bye!" Yuta smiled before darting off. He paused before turning the corner, though. "Oh, and thank you, too, Miss Aki and Miss Crazy Lady!"

"M-Miss… Miss Crazy Lady?" Ida let out incredulously. Oh yes, revenge was great. Just great.


Now back to ourselves and without any drama, the three of us continued with our original mission: wandering the streets aimlessly. We still had about half an hour before our next duel and so we decided to bask in the sunlight for just a bit more by sitting at a bench. "Hm… Yuta lives in an orphanage, so I'm sure he's okay, but… do you think Keisuke is alright? I mean, they were criminals, right?" Ida pondered out of the blue as she threw her head back, staring at the sky.

"Well, given his business, I'm sure he'd never leave without some means of defense. Besides, you've seen his hand-to-hand combat. He'll be fine," Kaze said. Ida's face just scrunched up, causing the brunette to raise an eyebrow. "What?"

"It's just… this whole business thing," Ida trailed off.

"What, are you starting to see it isn't heroism?" I asked. That was a bit quicker than I had expected, but if the end result was the same, I wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth.

"Ha? No way, it is definitely heroism! I mean, did you see how we kicked those criminals' butts?" Ida asked eagerly.

"You do know that was Kaze and Yuta, right?" I asked, quickly feeling the irritation rise again.

"Well, yeah, but still… When is my chance to shine? I want to show off the Dark Queen's power!" Ida complained. Both Kaze and I sighed this time.

"Ida, come on, this isn't a game," Kaze said.

"Actually, it is. It's a children's card game," Ida pointed out. Kaze opened his mouth to respond but eventually came up short. It was Ida who started laughing, but eventually I ended joining in. Kaze tried to manage a bit of seriousness, since Duel Monsters was so huge in society, I figured, but he too cracked in the end. Soon I ended up thinking that maybe this whole Justice Brigade thing wasn't so bad after all…


Reviews:

- Anon: Thanks for letting me know. I was going back and fixing up a few minor things in the chapters and I must have saved it too quickly or something, because Fanfiction just totally blew up the chapter, I guess. I probably wouldn't have noticed it without you, so thanks again.

- XJustified: If you don't mind me asking, just what was confusing? I'd be happy to clear it up in a PM/in the review section next chapter if it's a blatant error so everyone receives clarification.

- Anonymous: There are women that don't like him, but they usually don't stick around long enough to get screen time *lazy author is lazy*. I mean, I think the only one that has been in story so far is Yumi, and while she might seem like she liked him, it was kind of a 'You're the new, super powerful kid, you should be my lackey so nobody messes with me' not a 'Oh my god, you're so hot, marry me'. Other characters that don't/will not like him romantically are: everyone at Duel Academy that is not Ida/Aki/Rei (possibly Asuka too but she won't get more than like five sentences of screen time if any at all so we'll ignore her), and minor characters that pop up for plot progression (Ex. like the two crooks above). That being said, later on, this will probably change. Without getting into any spoiler territory, as the pairings say, Misty will get involved further in. I'm not sure exactly how many chapters it will be, but yeah, there are a few more girls that will be pinning after our poor hat guy as the plot progresses.

Lion Heart Leon/Tyler Nator: I'm glad you guys are enjoying the story. I hope to keep meeting your expectations.