Fun Fact: The bracelet girls named the bird Nightingale. Serena suggested naming it Katt or Bird, but the others didn't like those ideas.

Chapter Summary: Yuto becomes obsessed with conspiracy theories and starts to suspect Reiji's intentions. Unfortunately, he and his crack team of investigators find difficulty forming a plan.

Yuto frantically typed at the computer keyboard while his eyes watched the screen. He was reading one of thirty tabs he had open, trying to glean us much information as he could.

He had a breakthrough. He was on the trail of something big. And the more information he learned, the closer he thought he was to uncovering everything.

Yuya... Yuya!

Yuya appeared by Yuto's side. He turned to face the boy in his body, who frantically watched the screen. Sweat was dripping from his brow.

What's wrong, Yuto?

"It started with Ruri showing me a subreddit," Yuto explained. "It was about conspiracy theories."

Oh, no, Yuya sighed. Here we go.

"No, you need to hear this," Yuto insisted. "The Academia invasion. ARC-V. Interdimensional travel. Ever since the dimensions have been connected, people have been able to share and learn a lot more information that wasn't previously available to them."

And you think you uncovered some grand plan.

"Yes. I don't know why I never payed attention to conspiracies until the war happened; the information here could prevent more wars."

If any of it was actually true...

"No, listen to this," Yuto said. "I've followed the leads. I've filled in the blanks with what I've learned on the front lines. And everything points back to one group."

The Illuminati.

"Stop mocking me and get woke," Yuto growled. "This information could save a life, if we act fast enough."

Sorry, sorry! Yuya responded nervously. I didn't mean- I mean... So what did you discover?

"LDS, and Reiji," Yuto said finally. "I've been checking several videos, following news articles and remembering what you told me about Reiji. And I believe that he's not done with the war."

Yuya raised an eyebrow. Now he was genuinely curious about this. Although he remained skeptical, he gave Yuto a nod to continue.

"I believe that he plans, or planned to bomb Academia with a missile."

No.

"Yuya, I know you're shook, but think about it."

No.

"I know you fought alongside Reiji, Yuya. But the fact of the matter is, evidence points to him being up to something. Maybe he brainwashed you to forget some of his bad deeds, so you wouldn't see them."

Yuto, that's ridiculous, Yuya sighed. Are you listening to yourself? These theories make no sense. Conspiracies aren't real, Yuto.

"Just like how memory-erasing technology isn't real," Yuto countered. "And LDS doesn't have the technology to spy on us at all times."

I... well... Yuya scratched at his chin.

Yuto snorted. "Here's some truth bombs to redpill you: Shun confirms that Reiji has mind-altering, memory-erasing technology."

Yuya kept on rubbing his chin. Yes memory-tempering and mind control were things he'd either seen or dealt with. He kind of has to admit that Yuto probably wasn't wrong.

"Shun also confirms that Reiji watched over the city during the first Battle Royale, that he watched a lot of things both in and outside the tournament."

Reiji just wants to protect everyone, Yuya insisted. Everything he did was for the sake of everyone else. He's a hero.

"He could be. He could also be a mastermind, like his father," Yuto said austerely. "Reiji is a master strategist who does anything he can to reach his goal, no matter who gets hurt along the way."

Okay.

"I wouldn't be surprised if he knew about the Academia invasion on Standard beforehand. Or hell, if the whole thing was just a false flag operation to set up and justify the Lancers."

Yuya didn't say anything. He considered pointing out that Sora and Dennis were Academia spies, but he honestly didn't want to. Because he could tell that no matter what he said, Yuto would justify his theories with more theories and ideas.

"Think about it, Yuya. How much do we really know about Reiji? Because I'm connecting the dots here, and I'm fairly certain that all these theories on the internet have merit."

Yuya sighed. At this point, he could see where this was going: they would get into another misadventure that would lead to chaos. And frankly, he wasn't in the mood to deal with something crazy again.

Yeah, I think I'm going to stay out of things this time. Just sort of hang out with Yugo and Yuri while you do all this.

"I'll prove it to you, Yuya," Yuto said. "Mark my words, Reiji will be exposed."

Good luck with that. Just don't do anything reckless while I'm gone.

"Would I ever do anything reckless? I know how to act during a war. And I know that I can't fight Reiji directly without more evidence."

Yuto leaned back in his chair and looked up to the ceiling wistfully. "And if I'm right, then I'll be saving lives."

Yuto returned to the screen and opened another tab, this time to check his email. Unfortunately, the the thirty first tab proved to be too much for the poor computer; it started to freeze up and become warm, before then crashing.

They're on to me, Yuto thought to himself.

Yuto was right about the information being spread throughout the four dimensions. This was largely helped by the accessibility of these other worlds, and how travel between dimensions was a luxury open to the public, albeit on a smaller scale than one's ability to travel between countries.

That being said, multi-dimensional communication technology was not a luxury for the public. It was a big expense, and it would be quite a while before it was made readily available. But for the Lancers and other important figures, constant access was granted to them.

Through Yuya's Duel Disk, Yuto was able call up Shun, in the Xyz Dimension. He would be joining Yuto via video call.

Yuto and Ruri, to be precise. Yuto had called up Ruri and invited her over for their discussion, in person. Naturally, Ruri was quick to agree to the idea of hanging out with her two favorite people.

Yuto and Ruri set in chairs by the desk, while the Duel Disk was propped up next to the computer. Shun appeared on the screen before then, arms crossed and face frowning.

Before they could stay business however, the room door swung open. Yoko Sakaki peeked her head into the room and gave everyone a warm smile.

"Are you all playing nice?" Yoko asked.

"Yes, Mrs. Sakaki," Yuto responded. "We're trying to find a way to expose a secret conspiracy and redpill the world."

"Oh, how exciting!" Yoko excalimed. "Can I get you guys anything to drink? We have hot chocolate."

"I'm good," Yuto said.

"No thanks..." Shun grumbled, briefly forgetting that he wasn't physically in the room.

Ruri raised a delicate hand to get the woman's attention. "I'll have some, thank you."

"Coming right up, Ruri," Yoko said. "Such a polite girl; I'm glad my boy got himself such a lovely girl."

Yuto almost jumped at her words. His face turned bright red with in embarrassment. Shun's face was also red, but this was more from absolute, unbridled fury he could barley contain.

Ruri, however, covered her mouth and let out a small giggle. "I'm glad that I'll have a good mother-in-law one day."

"Ha! That's my girl!" Yoko laughed. She gave a thumbs up to Ruri, which the girl returned.

Yoko slowly shut the door, and her footsteps could be heard as she walked down the stairs. And all the while, the three kids waited and listened in silence.

Yuto didn't even breathe, because he was afraid of drawing Shun's attention. From the corner of his eye, he could see the burning, fiery aura of a man who was ready to explode. Even when the video feed briefly froze and displayed a "Re-Connecting" message, one would still feel his rage from a dimension away.

His eyes moved to Ruri. The girl was stiffling a giggle. She knew the position they were all in, and had no problem finding humor in it. It was a bit of a relief, knowing that she wasn't afraid of her older brother. And it was great hearing her giggles, too.

Yuto cleared his throat. "MMM-HMM! I suppose we should get back to business. We need to get you guys woke."

"Yes, you mentioned something about giving people red pills?" Ruri asked.

"I- -in- -e sh-d p- a visi-" Shun's words were drifting in and out of a sea of static.

"No, we're going to redpill people," Yuto explained. "It's a reference."

"To what?"

"G-d -mn-, Y-"

"It means that we're going to expose the truth to everyone," Yuto explained. "Through my investigations on Reddit, I've gone to believe that Reiji Akaba was, or still is, up to no good. And since he was able to cyber-attack my computer, I think it's the latter."

"-w I l-t -hing to - - - - -. How - Ruri - a - Rise Falcon - - - - - DEVIL EAGLE-"

"Shun, we can't hear you. Wait a sec."

Shun didn't seem to hear what Yuto said, because he continued to talk. And talk, and talk, and talk. Though much of what he said was garbled, it was easy to make out certain words. "Ruri" was a common one. But slowly, his words became more and more clear as the video quality started to improve.

"But you know my pain, Yuto," Shun continued. "How I lost everything to this war. How I waged a crusade against Academia and the Akabas, all to bring back Ruri. I gave up my dreams just to to fight for the chance of seeing her again. Gone were my dreams of being a professional duelist, because I gave in to my cause above all else. Because to me, Ruri was worth it."

"Oh my- does he always go into speeches now?" Ruri asked Yuto.

"Sometimes," Yuto responded. "Sometimes he just bombs them with his bards."

"I know you guys are sick of hearing my pain," Shun said to them. "I learned the hard way that people would betray you. You'd never know which ally would turn out to be a mole from Academia. You would have to harden your heart and keep everyone at a wing's length from you, because you knew that letting your guard down could be instant death. A distracted soldier is a dead soldier. But you two have always been trustworthy. And that's why I know that you will at least listen to my words, even if you don't like them. Because you can understand my pain."

"... Right," Yuto confirmed slowly. "As for my research, we can use it to stop another act of war and save lives."

"The missile thing?" Shun asked. "Yeah, I read about that online, and it's completely stupid."

"Think about it, fam," Yuto said gravely. "How much do we know about Reiji? Can we trust him?"

"I can trust him to lead us into battle," Shun answered. "I don't trust him as much as I do you or Yuya, but he proved that he is a good man."

"But consider this: Reiji was clearing Academia out so that he could make a take-over. Zarc was an uncalculated risk, and he couldn't enact his plans with such a big threat."

Yuto turned to his computer. He shook the mouse and let the screen come to life, revealing a blog post with Reiji's picture on it.

"We know that both Reiji and LDS have been responsible for propogating fake news," Yuto explained. "We know he has memory-wiping technology. If anything, we have no reason to trust him, because all his bad deeds could have been erased."

"So is Reiji my brother, or not?" Ruri asked.

Yuto and Shun lowered their heads to the ground. Unable to really come up with an answer to this, they decided to just ignore it and pretend the question was never asked.

"Think about it, guys," Yuto continued. "Reiji always seems to have quick plans. He always keeps his hand guarded, so to speak. We know he not only has the technology to spy on people, but that he has spied on people."

"All for the greater good, Yuto," Shun responded dismissively. "You're just being paranoid."

"First off, don't complain about me being paranoid. You're the one who spied on Kaito for six days because you thought his father was a mole for Academia."

"That's not the point! Don't make this about me!" Shun snapped. "And can you blame me? Dr. Faker? Anyone with that name is clearly evil. Or at the very least, a faker."

"I think it's pretty unfair to judge someone by a name they didn't choose," Ruri said quickly.

"And he looked evil."

"Yeah... I think he was just, like, a burn victim or something."

Yuto clapped his hands together. At once, the other two snapped to attention and focused on him.

"Guys, we're losing focus," Yuto told them. "It's just like talking with Yuya and the others; we get off-track and nothing gets done."

"What were we talking about again?" Shun asked.

"Yuto's conspiracy theories my brother," Ruri explained as she folded her hands politely over her lap.

"I don't have any- wait."

"Yeah, I meant Reiji."

"Reiji's not your brother."

"Well, you didn-"

"We're getting off track again!" Yuto snapped. "This is serious. You need to stay woke, guys."

Shun and Ruri looked at each other uncomfortably. They weren't really sure how to answer that, so they decided to ignore what Yuto said and act like it didn't happen.

"Well, if we're in any danger, we'll all protect each other," Ruri said kindly.

Yuto moved a hand over to Ruri's. He gave her a small nod and an egao.

"If we're in any danger, know that I will protect you," Yuto told her. "I won't let anyone take you away again."

"My home was burned down," Shun interjected. "I saw my mother carded before my very eyes. I lost everything that I ever valued: my family, my best friend, my home, my city, my future..."

"Is this going somewhere, Shun?" Yuto asked.

"And all of that pain, all of that suffering and all of that trauma is still nowhere near as painful a seeing you try to flirt with my sister."

Immediately, Ruri's Duel Disk started to buzz. She lifted the device up to her face and pressed a button on the touch screen.

Reiji's face appeared on-screen.

"Oh, haven't seen you in a while," Ruri said. "Finally me a call?"

"Ruri," Reiji said to her. "I'm calling you and the Lancers for an important meeting."

"Oh? What about?" Ruri wondered.

"I need to discuss something with you all, immediately. It involves a possible threat to our way of life."

"On my way, little-big brother," Ruri responded. "I'll go tell Yuya and Shun to meet with us.."

"That will save me some time," Reiji said. He gave her a small nod of affirmation. "I will send escorts to pick up Shun in the Xyz Dimension; you and Yuto should come immediately."

And with that, the screen went blank. Reiji had hung up without saying goodbye.

"He was spying on us, wasn't he?" Yuto sighed. "Seems a little convenient that he interrupted our discussion."

Shun sighed. "Yuto, that was just a coincidence. And if I think you're too paranoid and untrusting, maybe you have a problem."

"Yuto may be right," Ruri said. "I told Reiji that I would message Yuya, but he mentioned Yuto."

Both Shun and Yuto's eyes widened in surprise. Ruri responded with a serious look.

"Ruri, that's devious," Yuto said. "And genius."

"I think it's time that we start talking to each other through notes, like we'd do in school."

"Genius."

"And we wouldn't have figured all of this out, if we didn't have your genius research!"

"Hey, Yuto," Shun interrupted. "Did you know that Reiji re-installed my Duel Disks's ability to card people?"

A/N: Yuto and Shun were never that well-organized when they came to the Standard Dimension. Shun was too much of a hot-head who went on his own, and Yuto had his own way of doing things. Fantastic friends, but not always the best partners.

Come back next time for Reiji's very own special story. Unless I change my mind and write up a story where Yuri enters a figureskating competition and cards his opponents.