Disclaimer: Kokoro looking for a job may be a bit real, so apologies to any readers who have this experience before.

Chapter 13: The Gloomy Girl

I took my Duel Runner to the Den Repairs, which was near at the entrance ramp to the highway from the Tops' area. It was a three-garage repair shop with a huge neon sign of its name. After I parked my ride, I entered the building's lobby area where two people were talking to two workers who were wearing grey engineer uniforms and work at the counter with the computers.

"Hello and welcome!" One of the workers greeted me.

I waved my hand and I took a seat at one of the empty chairs near the display of tires on the wall. It felt refreshing to be in a room with a good air conditioner. I watched the people handed the workers their keys and sat next to me as they watch TV that was hanging on the ceiling. The workers gave the keys with a paper to their coworkers in the back of the room.

Then coming out from the backdoor was a dark skin man who had muscles like a wrestler. His short brown hair was covered by his grey hat and his sideburns grew to his chin, giving him a beard. He wore the grey engineer uniform and a pair of sunglasses.

The wrestler noticed me as he asked, "Are you here for repairs or a pickup?"

I took a deep breath and approached him. I said, "I'm looking for the owner of this repair shop, Chuck Jordan. Is he here?"

"You're looking at him." He pointed his thumb at himself.

That fact didn't deter me from acting like a professional. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Jordan. I am Kokoro Fernandez."

"Kokoro!?" he gasped and then he laughed heartedly as he patted my shoulders three times and it felt numbing. "You're Kizuna's daughter! So, you come for the job!?"

Did mom told him that I was looking for a job? "I thought I should take the opportunity given to me. I'm an adult after all and… I want to pay back the people who help me to be here."

Chuck became silent for a short moment before he burst into laughter. "I did not expect that! I thought you would be like Kizuna, but I see that you're your own person! That's good! Come with me."

I followed him to the back of the shop, which was the garage-workshop with three doors. I saw about several workers working on a car and motorcycle. The fuel that lingered the air smelled like rotten eggs, but that was nothing new.

He brought me to his small office and I took a seat in front of his desk and he sat at the other end. This kind of space would feel incredibly tense for any newcomer looking for a job, though I felt it mildly. I sat up straight with my knees close together, my heart was slowly beating, and my hands were getting wet over my legs.

Chuck grabbed a clipboard with a paper and a pen and placed them on his desk. He looked at me and asked me questions.

First question: "Have you had any experience with tools or machines?"

"I am. I fix a few household appliances like the lights, heater, and computer. I even built my own Duel Runner."

Second question: "Besides a Duel Runner, have you fixed a vehicle?"

"I repair two cars. Though they kind of broke down in front of my house and the owners are real nice."

Third question: "How well do you work with other people?"

"Very well. I coordinate my team of repairing the cars."

I wasn't sure how many times I kept looking at the side whenever I answered the questions. My heart was pounding like they were trying to jumped out of my chest. The back of my neck had this cold sweat. I watched Chuck writing down our conversation on the paper.

He put his on his ear and said, "We're done. Hang on a second." He replaced the paper with another one from his drawer and showed it to me. It was an application form. "It's faster to interview you first. Please write out the form."

I filled most of it with the information that I had at the time with the omission of my life in Satellite. I didn't add in any lies about myself like my education. My hands were trembling when I handed him the form.

Chuck hummed as his eyes were at the paper. "Hmm… Good, good. It will take me seven days for me to process your application. I'll call you about the status of it. If you don't hear me, well… I keep it for about three months."

I thanked him and I exited out of the building. I felt butterflies spinning around my stomach and my head feeling woozy like I got off from a rollercoaster. I walked to my Duel Runner with shaken legs.

"Are you feeling okay?" Silent Magician as she spiritually appeared in her child form.

"I-I'm f-fine…" My words shook. I took a deep sigh to calm my beating heart. "I didn't realize how tough it was to get a job. My only work experience was my volunteer job in the Satellite's soup kitchen. And that was during my teenage years."

"Don't worry." Silent Magician gave me a reassuring smile. "Even if you don't get the job, you can always take Misty's offer."

Is that my only choice? "I need to do something. Going back home and laze around isn't a good thing for me."

"Explore this part of the city?"

"Exactly."

I put on my helmet as soon as Silent Magician vanished. I got on my ride and drove away into the streets.

I arrived at the plaza that was near the apartment. I had spent my hours until the afternoon to find the important places like the grocery store, pharmacy, bank, restaurant, clothing store, etc. I jotted them all down in my notebook that I carried in my back pocket. I parked my Duel Runner and I took a seat on the fountain, eating a cheap burger that I bought from a fast-food joint.

"This place is peaceful compare to Satellite," I muttered. "The air is clean, there is no smoke, and all the people dress neatly. I'm jealous."

My hand clenched on the burger that the ketchup oozed out like blood. I must have been angry. The thoughts of these ignorant people living without a care in the world made my blood boiled. I knew that I shouldn't be mad because there were factors why Satellite became the ruined city. I didn't want the anger to take over my reasoning as I wolfed down my burger until I threw away the wrapper in a nearby trashcan.

I'm done exploring. I should head back.

"Hey, are you sure we should be doing this?"

I saw three young boys talking to each other in an outdoor café. They seemed to be students from Duel Academy because they wore the blue blazers like Toby. I brought out my notebook and eavesdropped their conversation.

"We have to," said the blonde pretty boy. "That chick thinks she's high and mighty because of her family. We ask her out and she flatly rejects us. We're going to put that girl in her place."

The boy with glasses shook his head, he was the one who spoke out the question. "But we could be in a lot of trouble. Also, I heard rumors about her; they say that girl can make Duel Monsters to become real and attack people."

"That can't be true," said the bulky boy. "Also, we're not going to get in trouble. Look around. No one is paying attention."

They didn't notice that I was listening in on their conversation. I was sitting on a bench next to a neatly trimmed bush that acted like a small wall between us. I had my eyes focused to my notebook and my ears were set on the boys.

I found myself the worst kind of carnivores. I smiled. What kind of punishment I should give them…? Call Sector Security, maybe?

The boys noticed someone walking passed the café. That someone was a burgundy hair girl who was wearing a red blazer. She had this gloomy aura that dark clouds were hanging over her head. I wondered why these guys were attracted to her.

I saw them approaching her. The blonde boy spoke, "Hey, Akiza. Fancy meeting you hear!"

The girl, Akiza, looked at them through her bangs and asked, "Who are you? What do you want?"

A cold wind blew across the plaza. I was imagining a tumbleweed rolling with the breeze.

Wow, what a cold reception. A sweat dropped across my cheek. I noticed she activated her red Duel Disk that was attached to her right arm. I saw that the people around saw their action, but they turned a blind eye.

"Don't be like that." The buff boy stood behind her.

The blonde boy approached her closely. "Is that the kind of attitude to act towards your seniors? We just want to have a little talk."

They failed to notice that Akiza drew a card from her deck. I was smiling despite having a chill down my spine.

"I don't have time for this." The female student tried to walk away, but the blonde boy grabbed her right arm.

"Come on, Akiza. We just want to show you something fun. I know you want to."

Before he wrapped his arm around her, Akiza swiftly placed the card she drew onto her Duel Disk. The ground shook with the cracks appearing on the paved road. Coming out of those cracks were vine-like tentacles from a giant rose monster that appeared behind the teenage girl. The monster wrapped its tentacles around the three boys in the air. The people around me were screaming and running for their lives, while I was standing still.

This is the better punishment then I can think of. I should probably stop her before Sector Security shows up.

"Help! Let me down, witch!" The blonde boy screamed.

"Someone help!" The boy with glasses also screamed.

"Pick a fight with me, huh! I'll show you!" The bulky boy tried to pulled the vine apart.

I clapped my hands and she turned to my direction. "Bravo, bravo. I'll give you points for handling your attackers, but I will minus some because you done it in public. Your grade is… a B plus."

"Who are you?" Akiza asked in a lowly tone.

"I am just a passerby named Kokoro. Now will you let those boys go. They already learn their lesson."

"You're not the boss of me! Rose Tentacles, attack this bitch!"

"Hey! Language, young lady!"

The giant plant monster sent its three tentacles at me. They were coming at me like snakes crawling through the ground. I pulled a card from deck box and used my power to activate it. A giant ring with four shields that made it looked like a four-leaf clover appeared in front of me and swung the vines away. I used the spell, Ring of Defense.

Akiza was shocked as her mouth was hanging open. "You make that card real!? What are you?"

I smiled as my shield disappeared and I drew two cards. "Like I said… I'm just a passerby. Let's go, Celtic Guardian!"

An elvish man in a green armor and wielding a sword appeared in front of me. He jumped and cut down the vines, freeing the boys from the monster's grasp. The boys fell on the ground with a crashing sound.

I glared at them. "You guys better leave or I will tell Sector Security about you harming the girl."

"But that monster is the one who attack us!" The blonde boy retorted. "They will arrest her, not us!"

"Don't act like I didn't hear your conversation at that café earlier. I also have a recording on me."

"You're lying!"

"Try me."

While this was going on, Celtic Guardian was fighting against the Rose Tentacles. He was deflecting the wild vines with his sword like he was swatting a fly with a swatter.

The blonde boy looked at me while his gritting his teeth. I was smiling like a villain as I imagined him and his friends as pieces of garbage. We were waiting to see which one who would draw their gun. Then the boy and his friends left the area with the leader shouting out about revenge or something in the likes.

When they were gone from my sight, I let a huge sigh of relief. I felt my spirit leaving my body with my mind screaming, I can't believe they bought my bluff! My heart was racing and I lost the feeling in my legs. I regained my composure as I turned to the fight. "Here you go, Celtic Guardian! Kunai with Chains!"

A flying boomerang that was made of metal and sharp as a sword came out of the card and wrapped its attached chain around the Rose Tentacles. I grabbed the chain after it bind the monster and its tentacles. Celtic Guardian seized the opportunity and stabbed the plant's head and it disappeared in a flash of light.

"N-No way…!" Akiza stuttered.

I thanked Celtic Guardian before he vanished into thin air. I approached the girl and said, "That was fun. We should do that again, but… not in a populated area." The plaza's ground was bust opened with dirt exposed, the fountain had a crack, and the people must have head for the hills.

Akiza became defensive. She took a step back with her arms in front of her like a shield.

"Hey, I'm not going to bite or spank you. I just want to talk." I put on a gentle smile that I used on children and it seemed to work as the burgundy girl lowered her arms. "When I heard those boys were trying to do something to you, I was thinking like 'I should call Sector Security as soon as things escalates further'. Boy, you prove me wrong. Though your method was… extreme."

"Shut up. Those guys are annoying."

I chuckled. "Yeah, I could do the same thing if I were in your shoes. But I'm telling this because Sector Security will arrest you! You should be more careful. How will your parents react when they heard that you got arrested for 'self-defense'?"

"They don't care," Akiza grumbled.

Did I step onto a landmine?! I hid my panic underneath the gentle smile as if my life depended on it. "I'm sorry that I offended you or anything. I'm a little concern because you're a young girl with powers like that."

"Whatever." She walked passed me with her head down.

I looked at her back and sighed. "Hey!" I shouted. "If you want to talk, I lived in the apartment with a huge clock on top! Come visit anytime you want, okay!"

I wasn't sure that she was listening as she walked away. Then I looked at the plaza and how damaged it was made me shuddered in thought of that girl's power.

How am I going to explain this to Sector Security if they show up? Should I say that the "Fountain's pipes suddenly burst"? Nah, they won't believe that.

"Kokoro!"

I heard Toby's voice and I turned around with a smile. "Hey, Toby. How was school?"

"It's fine, but what happened here?"

I explained to him what happened earlier. He was shock when I told him the part of the three boys ganging up a girl, but when I told him about the girl summoning a monster to fight back, he nonchalantly spoke, "They got what they deserved." I asked him if he knew who that girl was.

Toby nodded his head. "Yeah. That girl's name is Akiza Izinski and she was pretty famous—or infamous—for harming people through her psychic powers. There were rumors that she took down ten Duelists at the same time and that her parents put her in Duel Academy because they were afraid of her."

"She has it rough," I commented with a slight guilt tugging my heart. "Well, I'm sure she'll do fine. She won't cause that much trouble, will she?"

"Don't worry, Kokoro! I'll keep an eye on her for you!"

"I see your enthusiasm from knowing another Psychic Duelist in your school. Wait… how come you didn't befriend her?"

Toby's cheeks became red as apples, fingers pushed together, and his eyes weren't at me. "Well… that's because… um… she's hard to talk to."

She is…? Oh yeah, she does look like an emo kid without the black colors. Why am I imagining her as a goth girl? I pinched my nose bridge and shook my head to get rid of that image.

"Also, her girl fans don't like having the boys go near her."

"She has fans already! Isn't today your second day of school?"

"It goes to show that her fame caught people's interest."

Are the boys here that pathetic that made the girls go crazy for the same gender? I sighed. "I'm not going to judge what people love, but I will say that I don't understand the new generation these days. Well, since we're near home, want to start your training?"

"Really?!"

I nodded my head, which made him happy. After picking up my Duel Runner, we returned to the apartment. Unbeknownst to us, we didn't know that someone was watching in the shadows. It would become my mistake for lowering my guard, but that was for another time.