A/N: When I write, I don't really have a moral or lesson I want to impart. When a character faces a personal dilemma, I just try to present a possible idea or solution to help them. But if there is one thing that you should glean from the story, I hope it is this: Kicking someone's ass in Yu-Gi-Oh! is very fun. I hope you all get YGOPro or something, make some decks, and just wail on people with horrible FTK decks until they cry. That is the true path to happiness.

Fun Fact: Beneath that friendly, lady-like exterior beats the heart of a deviant. You thought Yuto was bad with looking up porn? Ruri is worse, but she's at least better at covering her tracks.

Chapter Summary: One card can turn the entire duel on its head.

Sawatari, Dennis and Ruri stood before Yuto. They waited for him to speak, anxious to understand his pain. But Yuto kept his lips shut.

"What's wrong, Yuto?" Ruri asked again.

"I think I know what's wrong," Sawatari said finally. "A true Entertainment Duelist knows the heart of their opponent."

"Sawatari, I swear to God," Ruri said hastily. "If the next thing out of your mouth is something stupid, I am going to pop you in the mouth."

The trio's eyes widened with shock. Sawatari shrank and stuck a sheepish step back. And Ruri blushed and pushed some strands of hair behind her ear.

"I-I'm sorry..." she said meekly. "I was just... Yeah... Sorry!"

After an awkward moment of even more silence, Ruri and Dennis turned to look back at Yuto. They nodded politely, a sign that they were willing to listen to anything he had to say.

Yuto let out a long, heavy sigh. "I'm just tired of it."

"Of what?" Dennis asked.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..." Ruri cried out.

"... Yuri can do whatever he wants," Yuto sighed. "And Yuya will apologize and make excuses."

"What?" Ruri questioned.

"I didn't want to split away from you. But everyone else decided that for me."

"But that was for Serena," Ruri responded. "And so we could all still hang around-"

"I don't live in my home town. I fought in a war I never agreed to. We're kept apart because it's for someone else's good. It's wrong."

"But I'm here with you now!" Ruri said hopefully.

"I'm sick and tired of letting people get away with this!"

Ruri went silent, and her face lost its smile. Dennis and Sawatari looked to each other nervously. They weren't sure if they were supposed to be listening in, or if this was meant to be a private moment between Yuto and Ruri. But since they couldn't just walk away in the middle of a duel, they just sort resigned to sticking around.

"I'm just tired, okay?" Yuto confessed. "Tired of everyone working to make everyone else happy. And I just get stuck with the consequences because I'm not the one causing shit."

Yuto and Ruri stared into each other's eyes. Both their eyes were filled with sympathy and sadness. No words were said, but Yuto knew that she was able to understand his feelings. At least on some small level.

"So can we get back to the duel now?" Sawatari asked. "I need to end my turn now."

Dennis elbowed Sawatari in the stomach.

Ruri finally threw her arms around the boy and squeezed him tight. Dark Requiem walked over and joined in on the hug.

"I needed you to be there for me, instead of Dennis," Yuto sighed. "I need you in my corner. I just needed someone to back me up, instead of taking someone else's side."

Yuto took a deep breath. "I wanted to be-"

"Put first for once," Dennis finished. "So you challenged me because you wanted to make sure that Ruri would stick to you, and only you."

Yuto nodded.

"So that's why you're fighting Dennis?" Ruri whispered. "You weren't just jealous, you were mad about losing another thing."

Yuto turned his head and looked away. He was extremely uncomfortable at this point. Spilling all of this, even to Ruri, felt embarrassing. He was regretting it so much right then.

"That's really sweet," Ruri said softly. "You're fighting for me!"

"Really?" Sawatari muttered. "Seems kind of creepy that he got so posse-"

Dennis elbowed Sawatari in the stomach. Sawatari clutched his stomach and stifled a scream, while Dennis remained tranquil.

"It's really sweet!" Dennis agreed. "Right, Sawatari?"

"Y-yeah..."

Yuto broke free from Ruri's embrace and took a step back. Ruri could feel the tension and misery around him, even now.

"Let's get back to the duel," he said.

"But we should talk about this!" Ruri protested. "You- you just opened up! Don't just shut me out again, now that I know what's wrong!"

"Is there anything you can do, though? Sawatari asked.

Sawatari instintively covered his stomach with his hands. But this time, Dennis's attack instead went for Sawatari's chin.

"Let's make Yuto egao through the duel," Dennis explained.

"But the problems are still gonna exist, even when the duel ends."

Dennis was once again about elbow Sawatari. He was stopped by Yuto, who raised his hand as a signal to stop.

"No, Sawatari's right," Yuto said. "It doesn't matter what I say. Nothing's going to change."

Another miserable silence fell on the group. Ruri stepped away from Yuto and took his hands in hers, looking forlornly into his eyes. Sawatari rubbed the back of his head and kicked at some gravel on the ground.

Dennis, however, put a hand to his chin. "You know... I think that, if we duel and lighten the mood, we can think of a solution."

"What do you mean?" Ruri asked.

"When you're miserable, you can only think of how sad you are. You never see the light at the end of the tunnel, even if someone shows it to you."

"But if your heart is light, and you can forget about the pain, your mind'll be free to be!"

"Exactly! Yuto's been miserable for so long, he's probably unable to see the answer."

"Alright!" Ruri cried out. "Let's make this the best Entertainment Duel, then! For Yuto!"

Yuto's head jumped up. A small egao crept up on his #shook face. He could feel a light weight lift from his heavy shoulders. "Guys..."

"We'll use this duel to show you how much we care!" Sawatari announced. "Dennis! I believe it's your turn now?"

Sawatari's turn ended with Abyss Actors - Superstar and Wild Hope on his field, along with two face-downs and his Pendulum Scales. His Life Points towered over everyone else's, at 1900.

"Thank you, Shingo!" Dennis cried. "Time to bring down the house! Draw!"

Dennis gracefully drew a card and jumped forward. He let the sparkles and confetti fly around him; he was so majestic, his body let him dazzle under the sun's spotlight.

"Looks like the show might draw to a close," Dennis continued. "Yuto! Be sure to try your hardest to keep it going!"

Yuto egao'd. "I'm always up for a challenge."

"Hmm! Performage Trapeze Arch Magician attacks your Dark Requiem Xyz Dragon!"

"At this time, I activate my face-down card," Yuto declared. "Phantom Knights' Fog Blade!"

Yuto's face-down card rose up, and a horned, animalistic skull escaped from the image. From the bottom of the skull came a long, vine-covered bone, acting as a handle. From the base of the skull came a thick, blue force. It took the shape of a sword's blade. It was like a dancing flame, but its movements were slower, and produced a tiny little wail as it moved.

"By targeting an Effect monster on the field with this card, I negate that monster's effects, that monster cannot attack, or be attacked."

"Wow!" Dennis exclaimed. "S-so this means that I can't win with Arch-Magician, then..."

"Yeah, good going there, Yuto," Sawatari groaned. "It can't be attacked now? How are we even going to beat it, then?!"

"Now it's a wall," Yuto explained. "An obstacle. But it's not a threat anymore."

"Ooooooh."

Ruri started to applaud. Dennis joined in, too. Sawatari, picking up on the other two, decided to also join in on the claps. Yuto blushed and lowered his eyes, hiding his growing egao.

"It's not that big of a deal," Yuto murmured. "It's just something until I figure out how to get rid of it."

"Oh, I can help with that!" Dennis offered."

Yuto rose his head to meet Dennis. "What?

"I activate the Quick-Play Spell card, Rank-Up-Magic Spellcaster Force!"

"Another RUM?" Ruri gasped.

A black hole opened up in the center of the field. Trapeze Arch Magician trapeze'd into the hole, allowing its body to be sucked inside.

"Oh great superior illusionist, it's time for you to steal the show! Swing into the spotlight and captivate the world with your tricks! Rank-Up Xyz Change! "

A large, looming figure rose from the black hole. It wore a sharp suit, each limb a different color. Stars fell from its long, burgundy cape. In its gloved hands was an enormous magic wand. A pale white comedy mask rested above its face, and a red top hat kept its wild, long black hair in place.

"Rank 7, Performage Trapeze Master Magician!" (ATK 4000)

Yuto's eyes widened. He was staring down something that was large, intimidating and fabulous. And the one card he had to counter his enemy had just failed. The monster didn't have enough power to wipe out his Life Points, but it would be hard to recover from his monster's destruction.

"Trapeze Master Magician's effect activates!" Dennis declared. "My detaching two Overlay Units from it, I can Special Summon a Rank 4 or lower Performage Xyz monster from my Extra Deck! Master Magician will be returned to my Extra Deck at the end of the turn. But it won't matter for you, Yuto!"

A small black hole opened up on the field, yet again. This time, two strings rose up into the sky. They pulled up a trapeze bar, from which Performage Trapeze Magician dangled. As it appeared on the field, it waved happily to the crowd before it. (ATK 2500)

"... Then, I can attach a card in my hand as an Overlay Unit," Dennis went on. "And now, I detach that Overlay Unit, and then target Trapeze Master Magician; it can now make a second attack during the Battle Phase this turn."

Ruri's jaw dropped, and her hands were nervously pressing against her top lip. Sawatari bit on his lower lip and looked at his monsters. Yuto gritted his teeth, then brushed a bit of sweat from his brow.

"So you can destroy my monster, and then finish me off with another attack," Yuto surmised.

"Destroy Dark Requiem and one of my monsters with Master Magician, and then wipe out Yuto with Trapeze Magician?" Sawatari asked.

"This is my latest and greatest performance!" Dennis cried out. "A monster so magnificent, it excites the audience! Yuto, don't you like it? The rush of adrenaline, of fear?"

"... I think I understand," Yuto confirmed.

Dennis nodded vigorously. "Yes! It's scary, it's threatening, and it's impressive!"

"And it'll be more impressive when it falls."

"Ohh?" Dennis mused. "How are you going to do that?"

Yuto looked down at his hand. He didn't have anything he could use, did he? There had to be something he could do, but what?

"We still have Action Cards," Sawatari scoffed. "And I have my face-downs!"

Yuto perked up. Action Cards! Sawatari was a genius!

The boy immediately ran forward and jumped onto his dragon's back. Dark Requiem took off into the sky again, taking Yuto high enough to see over the field.

"Yuto!" Sawatari called out. "If you find an Action Card that can destroy Spells or Traps, use it on my first set card, okay?"

Yuto looked down onto the field. He nodded and met Sawatari's words with a thumb's up.

"... Did you just flip me off?"

"No!" Yuto shouted back. "It was a thumb's up!"

"Oh. Okay!"

"I'll let you search for Action Cards, guys!" Dennis cried out. "Bring the hope!"

With that said, Sawatari took off running. He made his way towards some bundled of wood, stacked and sorted into a staircase of planks. Naturally, he started climbing the steps and made his way towards the top.

Meanwhile, Yuto and Dark Requiem circled the lot. With much of the lot being empty, it would be fairly easy to spot any cards. But so far, he hadn't been able to find anything. After all the Action Cards that had been grabbed so far, Yuto considered the possibility that they might have run out.

He heard Ruri scream out his name.

Yuto and Dark Requiem dove down, until they were flying just a few feet off of the ground. They floated beside a tree at the edge of the lot. Ruri sat on a tree branch, waving a card to them.

"I found an Action Card for you!" she called out.

"Ruri, thank you!" Yuto responded.

"You're welcome! ... Please help me out of the tree, haha!"

Yuto and Dark Requiem touched the ground. Dark Requiem violently shook the tree until Ruri lost balance and fell out. Luckily, the dragon caught her in its arms and gently dropped her to the ground.

Yuto extended a hand to Ruri. Ruri took his hand and let him help her up. Once she rose up, she handed the Action Card over to him.

"I wanted to make sure you could find one," Ruri said. "Yuto, I really do want you to win."

"Thank you, Ruri," Yuto told her. "Come on, let's get back to the field.

Dennis waited on his side of the field with his two Magicians. They all stood and crossed their arms, tapping their feet. Dennis hummed a small tune to the notes of Light of Hope.

Sawatari had returned to his side of the field, casually balancing the tip of an Action Card on his finger. "What song is that? Sounds familiar."

"I don't know," Dennis replied. "But don't you ever just get something stuck in your head, even when you've never heard of it before?"

"Yeah. Whenever there's something serious going on, I sometimes here music that goes DUN DUN DUN DUN-DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN. Like, you know?"

"I know."

"I don't know!" Ruri responded.

Coming up to the scene were Yuto and Ruri, who were being cradled in Dark Requiem's arms. The dragon brought them over to Yuto's side of the field and dropped them onto the ground.

"What are you guys talking about?" she asked.

"Background music," Dennis replied. "Don't you hear it sometimes?"

"No."

"Not in the past couple of months, at least," Yuto stated. "Not since Yuya's last duel with Reiji. Now can we get back to the duel?"

"Oh, yes!" Dennis exclaimed. "Did you guys get your Action Cards!"

Yuto held his up. "Action Card - Flight. It allows me to target a monster and give it 600 ATK."

Sawatari stopped balancing his card, letting it slide down between two of his fingers. "Action Magic - Mad Stopper! It get to target one of your monsters and prevent it from attacking this turn.."

Dennis shook his head. "I'm sorry, guys. I was hoping you'd be able to find Action Cards that would help you, like Miracle or Evasion."

"What? Why can't they help?" Ruri asked. "If Master Magician can't attack, then you can't beat Yuto or Sawatari."

"Master Magician is a master of spells!" Dennis explained. "It can't be targeted by the effects of my opponent's Spell cards, or be destroyed by them."

"So, this was all pointless?" Ruri asked.

"You made us waste our time?!" Sawatari whined.

"I wanted to give you a fighting chance," Dennis sighed. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry!" Yuto responded. "Dennis, I was so mean to you earlier. But you still wanted to help me. You didn't waste our time at all."

"You wasted mine..." Sawatari grumbled.

"Th-thank you, Yuto!" Dennis gasped. "To be honest, I was a little hurt by your anger earlier. But we're friends, right? At least, I think we are..."

Yuto nodded. "At least we are now."

"... And even though we hit a rough spot, I want you to know that I still care."

"Agreed. I feel the same way."

"This is lovingly heartwarming and all, but can we hurry this up?" Sawatari asked. "I have a duel to win."

Dennis chuckled. "Right, sorry! Then I'll attack Dark Requiem with Trapeze Master Magician!"

"I'll activate my Action Card," Yuto declared. "Flight! I target Abyss Actor - Superstar and give it 600 ATK."

Ruri and Sawatari both gasped, as they had done near-constantly throughout this duel. Superstar sprouted large, angelic wings. A few white feathers fell from its wings, onto the ground. (ATK 2500 → 3100)

"Why this?" Sawatari asked.

"I'm going to lose this turn, anyway," Yuto replied. "The card won't help me, but it might help you stave off some damage."

"Yuto..."

Performage Trapeze Master Magician held its wand in its hands, extending its arms out to hold it away from its body. Its hands let go of the wand, letting it float in the air. And then, it jumped high into the air.

"Time for Yuto's finale," Dennis said. "Master Magician, Greatest Show on Earth!"

The monster came down from the sky, landing on its feet, right on the center of the wand. The edges of the wad sparked, and it and Master Magician were blasted forward. A stream of stars and and wave of fireworks followed in its wake, creating a beautiful display of color.

Yuto just looked on and egao'd. As Dennis's monster came upon his own, he could only think of how this entire match started: because of his anger and fear for an adversary. And now, he was ending the match against friends.

"Good luck with the duel, guys," he said weakly.

"Trap, activate!" Sawatari declared.

Everyone turned to Sawatari. Even their monsters stopped to stare at him. In the intensity of the moment, he commanded attention from everyone around him. They all waited to see what he could do to change the game.

"Mirror Force! When an opponent's monster declares an attack, I can destroy all Attack position monsters my opponents control!"

Just as Master Magician came upon Dark Requiem, a bright light sparked between them. The light bloomed into a large flash, which enguled the entire area in a blinding light.

Yuto's hand was shaking as he drew his next card. He was shaken and still processing what had happened. He wasn't even supposed to have this turn; it was a miracle that let him get this far.

He looked around the lot. Ruri was looking to him and giving him a nod of encouragement. Dennis stood back, eyeing his almost-empty field with a small egao. Sawatari pushed some hair back from his eyes and looked up to the sky.

But then his eyes caught the sun, so he immediately looked back down and covered his eyes.

"I was hoping to save Mirror Force until after you or Dennis were knocked out!" Sawatari called. "But at least now, you have a chance to what you set out to do today."

Yuto nodded to him. He wasn't going to waste it.

"I summon The Phantom Knights of Cloven Helm!" Yuto declared.

A worn, cracked knight's helmet rose from the ground, and two floating hands appeared below it. The Phantom Knights of Cloven Helm floated directly in from of Yuto, being the only weapon he had left to fight. (ATK 1500)

"Battle! The Phantom Knights of Cloven Helm attacks Dennis directly!"

The monster floated across the field, holding its hands in front of itself. Dennis closed his eyes and spread his arms. He gladly took the monster into his arms as it attacked him, embracing it.

"It was fun, guys..." Dennis said, as he fell to the ground.

(Dennis: 1200 → 0)

Now that it was Sawatari's turn, he drew a card from his Deck and added it to his hand. He dew the Level 2 Tuner, Dark Tinker. Which would have been helpful, if he had any Level 6 or 9 Synchro monsters then.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!

"Battle!" Sawatari declared. "Abyss Actor - Wild Hope attacks The Phantom Knights of Cloven Helm!"

Wild Hope cocked its gun and aimed it at the helmet. After a moment of steadying its aim, a single bullet flew from the muzzle and shot right at the enemy, shattering it. (Yuto: 1800 → 1700)

"This is the end, Yuto!" Sawatari declared. "Any last words before I claim my rightful victory?"

"Yes," Yuto confirmed. "Thank you."

Sawatari smirked. "Abyss Actor - Superstar attacks you directly!"

The duel had ended. The Solid Vision had faded. The four kids had now gathered together at the center of the lot. They were exhausted, sweaty, and ragged, and absolutely happy about it.

"That was crazy!" Dennis cried. "Sawatari, that was just... I never imagined that would happen!"

"Ha! HA!" Sawatari cackled. "HAAAA!"

"What's going on now?" Yuto questioned.

"At first, you all belittled me!" Sawatari mocked. "You all ignored me! And guess who won the duel, using their own cards and strategy?"

He pointed a finger at Dennis. "Yuto! You may have knocked out his Life Points, but I was the one who overcame his strongest card!"

"That's great, Sawatari."

"It sure is! And you know what the best part is?"

"Probably."

"The best part is, I finally beat you! Remember, back when we first dueled?"

Yuto bit his lip and looked to Ruri. As evidenced by his puzzled expression, he didn't remember it at all.

Awkward.

Just kidding. Yuto totally remembered. He smply shrugged and said, "Yes, I remember."

"One counterpart down, three to go!" Sawatari declared. "Wait until my ~imported~ therapist hears about this."

Ruri slipped her hand into Yuto's. "Yuto, can we go talk for a moment? Alone?"

"Ooooooohhh," Sawatari teased.

"My heart's broken once more," Dennis sighed. "Still, I love a happy ending."

Ruri and Yuto stepped away from the others. They walked down the lot, making their way towards the slag heap, where they could talk quietly without being heard.

"What do you need?" Yuto asked her.

"I think we should date," Ruri said quickly. "Let's just get back into it."

Yuto's eyes widened. He pressed his back against the fence and folded his arms.

"Don't give me that look," Ruri pouted. "I miss being with you, kissing you."

"You know we can't, right?" Yuto said austerely.

Ruri sighed. "I miss you. I miss that part of us. And... I feel that loneliness you feel. I'm away from my family, my home. I had to accept the break-up, even if I didn't like it."

"... We shared the pain," Yuto admitted. "And I didn't really think about it, did I?"

Ruri grabbed both of Yuto's hands. She pressed their hands against her chest and leaned closer to him. Yuto turned away and blushed.

"We should support each other," she pressed on. "We both want this, and we both need this."

"But Serena, and the others-"

"You know what?" Ruri said. "Who cares."

Yuto blinked. "Wait, what?"

"So what if we date? We're not hurting anybody; Serena's thirsty for Yuya, not you. And it's not like Yuzu and Yuya thought this break-up out, anyway."

"... You have a point there. And we can keep it secret, because we'll just ask for privacy when we hang out."

Ruri's eyes widened with excitement. "And then we could finally have se-"

"No," Yuto said quickly. "You need to stop suggesting that."

"Aww... Still, good plan."

"It is, it is. Girlfriend."

"Let's go get some ice cream or something," Ruri said. "I'm getting a bit peckish."

Yuto snorted.

"What?"

"That bird pun," he chuckled.

"Wait, what pun? What pun?"

Yuto chuckled again. "You don't know?"

"Tell me! What did I say?"

Yuto couldn't answer. Seeing Ruri get frustrated over it just made him laugh even harder. And harder, and harder. And Ruri just got madder and madder, until she finally couldn't remember why she was mad.

They both started laughing. Neither of them knew it was supposed to be that funny, but it just was. They both just laughed and laughed and laughed, enjoying the moment for what it was.

Ruri never figured out what pun she accidentally made. It was a secret Yuto would carry to his grave.

A/N: Someone in the comments suggested that Yuto should have used Odd-Eyes Raging during the duel. That was a fantastic idea, but one that I ultimately couldn't incorporate because a) I already wrote up the entire duel before I started writing the chapters, b) Yuto didn't have the cards or opportunity to do this, and c) it would have kept Sawatari from winning. But the idea was super fantastic, and I wish I had thought of it. I would have totally tried to work it in.

I feel really bad about making Dennis lose yet again. He's a great duelist with a great deck, but he's always losing out. Maybe I'll write a bonus chapter and give him a win, if a lot of people want that.

Fun fact about Sawatari using Mirror Force: I based this off one of Crow's duels in 5D's. In episode 85, Crow sets this on the field during his duel with Leo/Lyndon. (I like to imagine that ARC-V's Crow also has this card.) I also wanted to bring in an Abyss Actor Synchro monster for this duel, but I couldn't think of a good way to make it shine, when the Trapeze Magicians were the major focus of the duel.

Next time: Shun invites himself on Yuto and Ruri's dates. A falcon keeps a look-out for sins in Rank 12: The Final Falcon.