(A/N: The Divine Lights are Blazing! ENGAGE!)
On screen, Mai and Kotomi's mug shots overlapped until it was determined that Kotomi would go first. "Aw, YEAH!" Kotomi exclaimed, jumping up, pumping her fist. She then wound her other arm around and around like a pinwheel. "Are you ready?" She asked as she grabbed the top card of her deck, "Cause here we go! First! Draw!" She pulled the top card of her deck to her hand and held the back towards Mai, clasped between her thumb and forefinger. "Heh, perfect. Let's give this guy a whirl! Come on out! I summon Flame Spirit Ignis!"
Things literally heated up as a muscular fox-like djinn appeared on Kotomi's side of the battlefield. It had 1,500 attack points and 1,200 defense points. "Next, I'll set one card face-down onto the field!" Kotomi exclaimed. "All right, Mai!" She pointed at the blonde. "Let's keep up the pace! Your move!"
Mai nodded. "I draw," she pulled the top card of her deck to her hand. "Sorry, kiddo, but your face-down card just became useless. Harpie's Feather Duster!"
Mai blew away Kotomi's face-down card, Blazing Mirror Force, with a mighty beat of Harpie wings.
"And next, I summon Cyber Harpie in attack position!" Mai declared as her monster let out a cry as it held its claws out at its side, sticking its chest out. With 1,800 attack points, it had more than enough to crush Kotomi's dragon. "Cyber Harpie! Bio-enhanced scratch slash!"
Cyber Harpie tore towards Flame Spirit Ignis and raked its talons down onto Kotomi's monster, destroying it.
"Tch, not bad," Kotomi said with a smile, bringing up both her arms by her face, fists and one-eye closed. Her life points fell to 3,700.
"I'm also setting one card face-down and ending my turn," Mai said, slapping the card into the proper zone.
"All right then, my turn to keep up!" Kotomi said and drew the top card of her deck. Her wide grin showing off her pearly whites was hot blooded and competitive. "But I'm not gonna let you gain an advantage that easily. Here comes Fire Hand!"
A floating fist on fire with 1,600 attack points appeared on Kotomi's side of the field.
"And what exactly do you plan to do with that?" Mai asked.
"Well, I plan on attacking," Kotomi grinned.
"I beg your pardon?" Mai asked rhetorically. Cause it sounded like Kotomi just said—
"Fire Hand! Attack Cyber Harpie now!"
"She's crazy!" Tristan shouted.
Fire Hand was immediately swatted down by the power of Cyber Harpie, costing Kotomi 200 life points, bringing her to a total of 3,500.
"Nice work, you just left yourself wide open," Mai said sarcastically.
"Oh, did I?" Kotomi asked as a hot stream of fire shot out of her graveyard slot in the shape of a fist and tore straight through Cyber Harpie's torso, causing it to glitch out and be destroyed.
"What?" Mai gasped.
"When Fire Hand is destroyed, I can destroy any monster on the field and then," Kotomi said, ejecting her deck and plucking a card from it, "I can summon Ice Hand in its place."
A floating icy hand appeared on Kotomi's side of the field. "The energy in this arena's up to high. Let's cool off a bit. All right, Mai. Your move," Kotomi said, swatting at her spell and trap zone, but not actually playing anything.
"Did you…?"
"Nah, I meant to do that. Kinda force of habit, sometimes. Your go."
"…Right," Mai said and drew her card. Just what the hell was Kotomi planning with such a weak monster on the field?
"I summon to the field Amazoness Paladin!" Mai declared. A tall, slender, tan woman resembling Mai with the style of her blonde hair, stood on Mai's side of the field with 1,700 attack points. "And Amazoness Paladin gains 100 attack points for every Amazoness monster on the field, including herself!" Mai exclaimed.
Magenta energy radiated from Amazoness Paladin as its attack points increased to 1,800.
"Yeah! Fire up that monster!" Kotomi exclaimed, leaning over a bit. "Bring it on!"
What is she so eager to lose life points for? Mai wondered. She pointed at Ice Hand. "Amazoness Paladin! Destroy Ice Hand! Noble Amazoness Sword!"
Amazoness Paladin brought its blade down through Ice Hand at the wrist, destroying it and bringing Kotomi's life points down to 3,300.
"Nice work. My turn," Kotomi said, smirking. A blizzard shot out of her graveyard slot and blew past Amazoness Paladin right for Mai's face-down.
"What? No! My trap card!" Mai's face-down froze over and then the hologram was obliterated.
"Haha! Not bad, right?" Kotomi beamed, hands on her hips. "And you know what the best part is? When Ice Hand is destroyed, I get to summon a new Fire Hand right from my deck!"
The 1,600 attack point glowing flaming hand appeared once more, ready to do battle with Mai's monster.
"Tch. I have no choice," Mai stated. "I'm setting another card and ending my turn." She now had only two cards left in her hand.
"My turn!" Kotomi grinned. "Let's go!" She pulled the top card of her deck to her hand. "All right, now that we've had a chance to cool off, time to turn up the heat on this duel to eleven! Since I control a Fire Monster, I special summon Goka, the Pyre of Malice!"
A gigantic fireball inside a keystone of some kind appeared on the battlefield with 2,200 attack points and 1,900 defense points.
"And since I special summoned Goka, I now have to destroy one fire monster on my side of the field."
Goka launched a fireball at Fire Hand. Mai flinched. Was the duel already over?
Kotomi laughed. "Don't worry, Fire Hand's ability only triggers when you destroy it, so your monster is safe from it."
Mai seemed to relax.
"Oh, I wouldn't relax if I were you, since, thanks to Goka, I still haven't normal summoned for the turn and the card I choose to summon alongside it," she said, grabbing a card from her hand, "Is this one: Flame Tiger!" A tiger wreathed entirely in flames appeared on Kotomi's field next to Goka. It had 1,800 attack points and 0 defense points.
"All right! Roll call and sound off! Goka! Take down Amazoness Paladin with Hell Pyre!"
Goka created a giant fire ball copy of itself and launched it telekinetically at Amazoness Paladin.
"Mai!" Téa and Serenity shouted in alarm.
"Sorry, hon, but I'm afraid your charge ahead recklessly strategy just backfired. I activate Amazoness Archers!"
Mai's face-down card flipped face-up as a bunch of Amazonesses appeared.
"Take aim! Fire!" Mai declared.
Arrows upon arrows upon arrows were fired at Kotomi's monsters as she gasped, watching their attack points deplete by 500 each. Goka was left with 1,700 points and Flame Tiger only had 1,300.
"And the fun doesn't stop there, for me anyway," Mai said smugly. "Flame Tiger and Goka now still have to attack this turn, which means Amazoness Paladin can destroy them both!"
"Say what now?" Kotomi asked, sweating.
Goka and Flame Tiger, though pelted with arrows, involuntarily rushed Amazoness Paladin.
"W-wait a sec, you guys!" Kotomi called to them, reaching an arm out, but it was pointless. Mai's monster savagely cut down both of Kotomi's monsters in an instant, a single blade swipe sideways across the battlefield.
Kotomi lost a total of 600 life points, leaving her with only 2,700.
Mai smirked as she tapped the tips of the cards in her hand to her chin. "I can see the benefit of your strategy, Kotomi. Recklessly charging ahead while acting the part of the fool, but always having a strategy in mind and catching an opponent off-guard. But I'm afraid that's not going to cut it with me. I'm a woman who learns from her mistakes." She drew her thumb across her neck. "And you're not even half as reckless and dumb as the biggest idiot I know that also happens to be a talented duelist!"
In the break room, Joey sneezed.
"Cover your mouth!" Byakuya said to him strenuously, grossed out.
Back on the battlefield, Kotomi was leaned over, the sun making it difficult to see her eyes underneath her flowing bangs.
"Hey, come on, kiddo. You gave it a good shot. No shame in giving it your best try, but I…"
"You…" Kotomi said, balling her fists. She lifted her head. "You're so totally awesome!" She exclaimed, pointing a finger gun at Mai and winking.
"Huh?" Mai uttered, more confused than ever.
Kotomi gave the V for victory sign. "Do you really think that was my best? Nonsense! I'm just getting started! That was a little warm up and now it's time for the main event! Get ready, cause here comes the big one!"
What is she talking about? Mai thought. She summoned and finished attacking. Her turn should be over.
However, Kotomi was plucking one of the three cards from her hand. "Since I have exactly five fire monsters in my graveyard: two Fire Hands, Goka, Flame Spirit Ignis and Flame Tiger, I'm allowed to special summon this monster: Pyrorex, The Elemental Lord!"
A massive bipedal, armored dinosaur with its spines and tail on fire appeared on Kotomi's side of the field. It had 2,800 attack points.
"And best of all, when Pyrorex is summoned, I can destroy any monster on your side of the field. And then we both take damage equal to half of its original attack!"
"You're insane!" Mai exclaimed.
"Nope!" Kotomi disagreed loudly. "Just full of FIGHTING SPIRIT!" She shouted, raising a finger to the sky. "Pyrorex!" she shouted, pointing at Amazoness Paladin. "Bring down the blaze! Pyro Blaze!"
Pyrorex unleashed a massive fire stream at Amazoness Paladin, roasting her and inflicting an unavoidable 850 damage to Kotomi and Mai.
Kotomi was left with 1,850 points left, while Mai took her first drop in life points, now having 3,150.
"Yeah! Yeah!" Kotomi exclaimed, taking punches at the air. "Come on! Come on!"
Mai smiled. "Seems I spoke too soon. You're something else. Gonna have to stay on my toes if I want to beat you."
"Bring it on!" Kotomi exclaimed. "I'm all fired up and ready for action! Your turn!"
"Don't mind if I do!" Mai exclaimed and pulled the top card of her deck to her hand. Still? How am I supposed to start from nothing and destroy a monster with 2,800 attack points? When Kotomi used her Ice Hand earlier, Mai thought, recalling her trap card getting destroyed, she unknowingly destroyed my best trap card: Mirror Wall. How am I going to get out of this one?
"Don't give up, Mai!" Téa shouted from the front seats of the audience.
"You can do it, Mai!" Serenity cheered.
"We believe in you!" Miho added.
"MAAAAAAI!" Ibuki shouted from her seat in the stands, leaned over, hands by her cheeks. "DON'T LOSE!"
"Ibuki, watch it! You're going to fall," Mahiru said, pulling the musician back into her seat.
"You guys…" Mai looked at the girls, touched. She gripped the cards in her hand, staring at the ground. She'd been cheered for in tournaments before, but not from the people closest to her. Though, if she was being honest with herself, she never really had people close to her…until now. She took her arm and wiped her wetting eyes. Hey, come on, what is this? I'm too old to be getting sentimental over something like this.
"Heh, seems like I'm not the only cheerleader here," Kotomi said.
Mai smiled. "Seems that way."
"Everyone needs someone to support them," Kotomi said.
"Huh?" Mai responded. That had come out of nowhere.
"Every person in the world always needs to feel like they have a little guy propping them up, someone to sing their praises and light a fire in that belly. Even the most downcast of businessmen drinking themselves half-blind can get back on their feet with a little bit of a pep talk. Ever since I was young, I always knew cheerleading was my calling." Kotomi said and folded her arms, grinning. "I decided a long time ago that you can sit in a corner miserably, or you can grit your teeth, stomp your feet, look life straight in the eye and headbutt it as hard as you can. And it's rarely useful to do the former. So, I dedicate my life to inspiring others, so that the people I know don't have to feel said. And, in turn, they become my strength, the strength that gives me energy."
"There she goes again with those speeches," Murasame said, smiling from his seat.
"Hey, if you're proud of her," Aiko said, turning the camera towards him, "Say something to her."
"Ah, that's…" Murasame said, tugging at his collar.
Madarai put his bulky hand over the lens.
"Ah! Hey! Watch it!" Aiko exclaimed, pulling the camera away and got out her cleaning cloth after pressing the pause button.
"You are making President Murasame uncomfortable," Madarai said to her.
"No, Madarai, it's quite all right. Aiko, if you would…"
Aiko beamed and put the camera back on Murasame.
He smiled, gently. "Kotomi, you really do have a way with words. It makes me happy to watch you have fun dueling."
"Great! Great! Now tell her you love her!"
"I…wait, what?"
Madarai put himself physically between Aiko and Murasame.
"Heyyyy," The movie director complained.
"You may as well tell her at some point, Murasame," Yasuke said, turning the page of his manga.
"I…really don't know what you're talking about," Murasame said politely.
Murasame's classmate, the rose haired Kiriko Nishizawa laughed cutely. "Oh, come on, Soshun, we all know. You did make her Vice-President after all."
"That's a completely separate matter. Kotomi is…uh…"
Madarai stood from his seat. "Any further pestering of President Murasame will be met with removal from your seat.
"Hey! Buddy!" a guy behind Madarai said. "I can't see." Madarai needed only glance at the guy, his obscenely long tongue in full view for the man to say. "Uh…never mind."
While all this was going on, with her vigor restored, Mai looked at her hand of only three cards and tried best to puzzle out how to turn this entire duel around. However, after looking at two of them, she knew exactly what she needed to do. "I summon Amazoness Chain Master, in attack mode!"
"All right, I dig it," Kotomi said.
"And next, I'm activating this spell card: Amazoness Spellcaster!" Mai exclaimed, activating the card and showing the shamanistic symbols of the old amazoness woman all over the card artwork. "Now your monster and my monster switch attack points until the end of this turn."
Oh, crud, Kotomi thought.
Amazoness Chain Master now had 2,800 attack points and Pyrorex now only had 1,500.
"Amazoness Chain Master, attack! Chain Spear!"
Amazoness Chain Master pierced straight through Pyrorex and destroyed it, the tip of the spear smacking into Kotomi and knocking her off balance. She hunched over, holding her stomach.
"Not bad," Kotomi said, life points dropping dangerously low to 550.
"You should really be less reckless. Perhaps you would've stood a better chance," Mai told her.
"Heh," Kotomi said with an award-winning smirk. "Mai, there's two things you need to know. One: I don't actually care if I win this tournament or not. I'm just here to have fun! Fun's the most important aspect of all when it comes to dueling. Who cares if you win or lose as long as you have fun while doing it. And my direct approach to my dueling is how I've always behaved. Heck, I didn't even think I'd get this far. Sure, I've got my eyes on the prize, but if I fail, eh, I'll just move onto the next tournament and the next one and the next one." Kotomi spun 360 degrees and threw her arm in the air with her thumb, index and middle finger extended. Her other hand was staring at her fist. "I charge forward like a raging comet across the Earth! I let nothing stop me and barrel through life wreathed in flames like a bullet train approaching the speed of light."
Kotomi picked her head up and put her arm down. And, somehow, during her spin, she'd put a pair of 80s orange mirror shades on her face. Where she was hiding them until now was completely left a mystery.
"The other thing you need to know, is that this duel is far from over." She pounded her fist against her breast. "My name is Kotomi Ikuta!" Kotomi shouted. "I'm the Ultimate Cheerleader of Class 77-A from Hope's Peak Academy! If life gets me down, I kick reason to the curb and go my own way! I temper my spirit and fire up my determination and say "Hey, world! If I'm going down, I'm going down swinging!" Just who the hell," Kotomi said as she adjusted her glasses with her ringer finger at the bridge, only to bellow loudly, "DO YOU THINK I AAAAAAAAAM?!"
Did…didn't you just tell me? Mai thought with a glazed look.
Someone's been watching a little too much anime, Téa thought, her expression the same as Mai's.
"All right then!" Kotomi said, a twinkle somehow being given off from her smile as she prepared to start her next move. "I might have to skip my battle phase this turn, but I'm not gonna let that stop me!" A fiery battle aura coated Kotomi's entire body. "Let's kick this into high gear! My fighting spirit is dialed up so high, I'm pretty sure my power level is over nine-thousand! So, let's do this!"
Kotomi drew the top card of her deck to her hand. "I start by summoning Heavy Knight of the Flame!"
A knight decked out in bulky plate armor and riding a single-horse chariot cart, with a cape of flames, a sword made of fire and flames emitting from its eye sockets and furnace-like mouth guard, appeared on Kotomi's side of the field. It had 1,800 attack points and 200 defense points.
"And that's not all! Cause I also activate the special summoning condition of yet another big, powerful monster! By banishing Flame Spirit Ignis and Pyrorex from my graveyard, I can summon Blaster, Dragon Ruler of the Infernos!"
A dragon as big, if not maybe bigger than Pyrorex appeared on Kotomi's side of the field, dwarfing Heavy Knight of the Flame in size. Molten Lava seemed to course in this dragon's very blood, most notably around its claws and horns. It had a mighty 2,800 attack points and 1,800 defense points.
"And the fun just keeps on coming, because I activate the continuous spell card: Indomitable Spirit! And as long as this spell card is active, my battle phase can't be skipped! Provided that all of my monsters in attack position attack that turn!"
Mai gasped. This did not sound good at all.
"Here comes the pain!" Kotomi exclaimed, fanning out her hand towards Mai. "Blaster! Take out Amazoness Chain Master now! Molten Lava Burst!"
Blaster's breath attack was less a breath attack and looked more like Blaster was vomiting Lava all over Mai's monster.
Amazoness Chain Master stood absolutely zero chance at surviving an attack like that and Mai's life points fell down to 1,850.
"And we're not done yet cause here comes Heavy Knight of the Flame! Aw, yeah! Direct attack! Galloping Fire Slash!"
Kotomi's other monster charged at Mai and readied its weapon for an attack. Mai put up her arms to brace for impact as the sword swung at her with such force that it launched her off her feet and she fell backwards almost off the arena as her life points were massacred, leaving her with only 50.
The score stood now 550 to 50 in Kotomi's favor.
"Are you okay?" Kotomi asked, speaking with an American accent, giving the thumbs down gesture. She then bounced on her feet and gave the beckoning gesture to Mai. "Come on! Come on!"
"Mai, are you all right?" Yami asked her.
"I'm fine, thanks for asking," Mai said, getting up onto her knees, groaning as she stood up, shaking the direct attack off by shaking her head and returning to her position. Except now what do I do? I have even less cards in my hand then last turn and Kotomi has two incredibly powerful monsters on the field. I don't have the life points to mess up, Mai told herself. With only two cards, I have to somehow win the entire duel! And I haven't even drawn one of them.
Mai took a deep breath. You all cheered for me…can I really show that all that cheering wasn't for naught?
"Yo!" Kotomi exclaimed, jarring Mai from her thoughts. "What are you hesitating for?"
Mai blinked at her.
"Don't give me that dumbfounded look. You can't go through life second guessing yourself," she said, giving a thumbs down. "You gotta just charge forward. If you constantly keep your guard up and doubting yourself, life will catch up to you. That's why I take everything headlong, it's up to the people that care about me to keep me from running off a cliff. As long as I go at everything I want to do with the best of intentions and give at least one hundred and ten percent, I can never see anything going wrong! So quit looking so dramatic and just sink," Kotomi said, flipping her thumbs down to a thumbs up, "Or swim! Come on! One card decides the fate of this duel? Doesn't it get your blood pumping, doesn't it fill you with excitement? Who will win? Who will lose? Come on!" Kotomi said, striking Son Goku's famously odd martial arts pose, "Let's Dance!"
"She's right, you know," Yami said.
Mai looked at him like he had two heads.
"It's like I always say. Don't doubt yourself or your deck. Just believe in the heart of the cards."
"Heart of the cards, huh?" Kotomi asked. She folded her arms and nodded several times, mulling over the statement in her head. "Yeah. Yeah." She smiled exuberantly and raised her index finger in the air. "I like it!" She pointed at Mai. "You heard the ref, Mai! If you want to have any hope of beating me, then you just gotta dig deep and believe in the Heart of the Cards! And if you flub it, eh," Kotomi said and put her hands behind her back, "So you lose. Big deal. Life ain't perfect, but you just gotta keep on living it," Kotomi said casually, rocking back and forth on her heels. "So come on," she said, resuming the martial arts stance from before, "Take your best shot!"
Mai's face went from looking perplexed to giving Kotomi her toughest, competitive look in less than a few seconds. "You want my best shot? You're gonna get it. Here it is!" Mai shouted. "Heart of the cards," Mai said and grabbed the top card of her deck, "Guide me! I…" Mai said as wind gathered around her palm, "Draw!"
Mai pulled the card to her hand and looked at it. Yup. This would do it.
"I summon Amazoness Swords Woman!" Mai shouted.
The red haired scantily clad, tan warrioress of the steamy jungle took to the field with only 1,500 attack points and 1,600 defense points.
"Your monsters are powerful, Kotomi. In fact, you're actually a pretty impressive duelist," Mai said as she pointed at Blaster. "But I'm about to turn all of that power and skill against you. And I'm going to win by using a tactic you used earlier in the duel! Amazoness Swords Woman! Attack Blaster, Dragon Ruler of the Infernos!"
Amazoness Swords Woman charged at the big, powerful, terrifying dragon.
"I like your style! Suicide attack!" Kotomi exclaimed.
"I wouldn't be so chipper if I were you," Mai said. "My monster might be the one that's getting destroyed. However…"
Blaster reared back its head and prepared to breathe heavy amounts of lava onto Amazoness Swords Woman. In response, the woman of the jungle stood ready, sword in one hand, ready to fight back with all her might.
"…All the damage I would receive for any battle she's involved in, gets dealt to you instead."
Kotomi broke out into a wide grin. "Reverse Uno!" She declared, laughing loudly. "Man, what a way to end the duel. I totally did not see that coming!"
Blaster absolutely destroyed Mai's Amazoness and Kotomi stood by, smiling with her arms folded, barely caring as her life points fell to 0. The duel was over and the Ultimate Cheerleader had lost. The blonde casino dealer turned duelist would advance to the next round.
"GAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Kotomi laughed heartily. "I completely lost."
"I don't get it. Why do you sound so happy about it?" Mai asked.
"What? Are you saying I should be miserable?" Kotomi asked, tucking her shades into the inside pocket on the vest of her school uniform. "Screw that. Best duel ever! HAHA!" She proclaimed. "Well, for me anyway! Usually when I lose it's like a total stomp cause I can't draw the right cards and when I'm winning too hard, my opponents tend to just fold up and call it quits, but you stood by and never wavered. Mai, you absolutely have my utmost respect!"
"Kotomi…" Mai said with a smile. She'd never met someone quite like Kotomi Ikuta. The girl just seemed impossible to be made depressed.
Kotomi put her back to the big screen and waved to the whole audience. "Sorry, everyone! Looks like I gotta go, but I hope you all had a good time!"
The crowd cheered, chanting Kotomi's name.
Even in defeat, the crowd still cheers for her. Really doing that Ultimate Cheerleader title justice I see, Kotomi.
"Kotomi-senpai seems like someone we'd get along with," Yugi said to Yami. "We should hang out with her more. I'm sure she'd get along with our friends too."
Yami nodded. "I agree. I don't think now's the time to ask her about that though."
"Yeah, probably."
Kotomi traipsed off the stage and quickly made her way to her seat, jumping over the back of it to sit down. She then put her arms around her two favorite members of her class: Aiko and Murasame. Her grip with her arms around their necks pulled them half off their seat almost choking them.
"Hey, best friends!" she said almost loud enough to be considered a shout.
"Kotomi…choking…can't breathe," Aiko stated.
Kotomi let both her and Murasame go and just giggled.
"You're in a good mood as always," Murasame said.
"I'm always in a good mood," Kotomi said, giggling more. "Shame I couldn't dedicate my first Grand Prix victory to you. Oh well," she said, staring daydreamingly at the sky. "Them's the brakes."
Her entire class looked at her, wondering if they'd just heard that.
Kotomi then realized what she just said as her face turned as red as her hair. "You heard nothiiiiiiiing!" she shouted, making a mad dash for the bathroom.
Madarai then took Kotomi's seat. "I suppose I'll continue to warm it for her until she returns." He then gave an untrusting eye to Aiko who already had the camera out and was thinking about probing Murasame for more information.
She pouted and put the camera away. "Fine, I'll behave," she said glumly.
Meanwhile, Kotomi was having an existential freak out in the bathroom, switching between banging her head against the sink, scratching furiously at her hair and whining while slumped against the bathroom wall. As crocodile tears ran down her face, she blubbered, "Just who the hell do I think I am? What the hell was I thinking or saying? And in front of Aiko-chan and Matsuda too. Uuuuuuh, I totally can't face President Murasame now."
"Blowing things out of proportion as usual I see."
Kotomi reacted in alarm as she lifted one leg off the ground and leaned back as she noticed Miaka entering the room, fiddling with her cell phone. "Miaka-chan!"
"I'm sure whatever you said to Murasame isn't nearly as bad as how you're making it out to be." She gave Kotomi a glazed look. "It never is."
"Y-y-you can't judge me! You don't even have someone you have a crush on!" Kotomi exclaimed accusatorily and then covered her mouth with both hands.
"Oh fer…you! Are! Not! Subtle!" Miaka exclaimed indignantly. "You have about as much subtlety as Makoto Niijima carrying a magazine. Possibly even less so."
"But…"
"No buts!" Miaka returned.
"But I…"
"Shush!"
"…"
"Better. Anyway, as I was saying, we all kinda know you have a crush on Murasame. If he hasn't noticed it yet, it's cause he's completely oblivious. The guy's too nice."
"And he has that gentle smile," Kotomi said, fidgeting with her hands, blushing.
"Ugh, oh my god. One day, I'm just going to lock you two in a broom closet and throw away the key until you get it all out of your system."
Kotomi chuckled nervously. Knowing Miaka, she was slightly afraid she might actually try that. "Speaking of love, whatever happened with you and that pen pal of yours?"
Miaka pushed open the door to the bathroom stall. "It's not important anymore," she said nonchalantly.
"What?! That's totally important!"
Miaka shut the bathroom stall. "Panties are dropping and I've been holding it in!"
"No, no, no! You don't just dismiss me like that!"
"Goodbye, Kotomi!" Miaka shouted at her.
Kotomi scrunched up her lip, but realized the conversation was at a dead end. When Miaka didn't want to talk, not even Kotomi's fired up speeches could pry open her lips. Thankfully, chatting with Miaka had gotten Kotomi to forget why she was even embarrassed in the first place. So, she promptly left the bathroom and headed back to her seat.
When Mai walked back into the break room with a smile on her face, Joey was ecstatic to see her. "Aw, yeah! You won, Mai?"
Mai smiled. "That I did, Joey."
"Awrite! Way to go!"
Mai smiled a little more sweetly than usual. "Your friends cheered me on."
"I mean, they're your friends too, Mai. We're all friends."
Mai smiled. "Yeah, I suppose we are." She sighed. "I need some tea. Hey, if you get called next. Good luck out there. Okay, Joey?"
"Hold up," Joey said. "You ain't just gonna walk away from me that easily. How'd it go? Was cheerleader girl tough to beat?"
"Tai Takemaru and Gundham Tanaka, please report to the dueling arena!" Kaiba's voice echoed over the PA system.
"Sounds like you got the time. All right, Joey," Mai said. "Let me brew some tea and I'll tell you how it went."
Nervous was not a word Gundham Tanaka often felt these days. The only times the word nervous could accurately describe him were when he and Sonia would walk to class together at nearly the crack of dawn.
Yet, nervous was the only word in Gundham's vocabulary he felt he could use to accurately describe the situation right now. He and Takemaru had lost contact ever since Gundham had left for Hope's Peak. It had been a year and Gundham had never bothered to call on his self-proclaimed "human summon". He hadn't even written a letter.
"Gundham, it's been a while," Takemaru said with a polite smile. "Who would've thought we would meet on the field of battle like this."
Gundham bristled, not answering with words, merely a grunt of discomfort.
"Gundham?"
"It is…good to see you…senpai."
"SENPAI?!" His entire class in the audience erupted in confusion.
Takemaru laughed. "You still keeping things to yourself. How very like you, Gundham."
"Tell me something, Takemaru. Your kindness and gentleness, does it hide madness?"
"I…beg your pardon," Takemaru said, confused.
"I have had the misfortune with dealing with a strange human who approaches the world with a smile, but uses it to hide how deranged he is on the inside," Gundham responded.
"Gundham, that's cruel. I truly am happy to see you again," Takemaru said.
"What are you doing here?" Gundham asked. "When we attended Fazal, you did not even had a deck. You were merely a collector. Now you stand before me, attempting to become my equal. I would hear an explanation."
Takemaru laughed. "Oh, that." He held up two fingers by his noggin and smiled. "It's because of you, my friend."
"I…beg your sincerest pardon?"
"You never called or wrote. I was starting to wonder if we were actually friends. Then I saw you up on the big screen in Battle City. I was…to put it bluntly, inspired. You never wavered, not once, from Marik. You only saw the future: rescuing your friend, Sonia. I'm actually proud of you, given you avoided everyone at school."
"The Dark Queen is…" Gundham said, trailing off as he hid his face with his scarf, "…very unique."
Takemaru laughed. "You even have a cute little nickname picked out for her. That's adorable."
Gundham cleared his throat, trying not to lose his focus or be lost in cupid's crosshairs.
"Gundham, I actually considered you a really unique person. I know you might've only thought that I was talking to you because I pitied you, or had to because I was your senpai, but to be honest, I always thought you were a person worth befriending."
Gundham gave no response.
"So, you didn't leave me much choice." Takemaru said and activated his duel disk. "In my spare time at university, I studied my ass off to become an amazing duelist. I thought I was going to have to beg Kaiba to let me duel in this tournament, but it seems like my efforts paid off. I'm a regional champion so I was automatically qualified to be part of the preliminaries. Gundham, I came here to duel you, and, by the rules of the tournament, you're not allowed to take no for answer."
"And just what do you get out of it?" Gundham asked.
"I just want my friend to talk to me," Takemaru said.
Gundham closed his eyes briefly. "Fine," he said opening them as he tossed his scarf out behind him and activated his own duel disk. A wide, manic grin appeared on his face. "Perhaps it is destiny. That you and I would meet on the field of battle can only be the fickle whims of fate. I shall draw out your true nature and see you for what you really are! Tai Takemaru! I, GUNDHAM TANAKA, SUPREME OVERLORD OF ICE, ACCEPT YOUR CHALLENGE! Let us see if you are truly worthy to face this bearer of the cursed blood in battle and come out with your sanity intact."
"Well, I'm going to at least try."
Life points climbed to 4,000. Hands of 5 cards each were drawn.
"Let's Duel!" Gundham and Takemaru declared simultaneously.
The 7th match of the first round of the Kaiba Corp Grand Prix was now underway.
(A/N: Gundham vs Takemaru. Honestly, I think most of you saw this coming. And for those of you that didn't: Get on my level! I hope you liked Kotomi's and Mai's duel. It's a bit short, but I hope the energy Kotomi brought to the table made the whole thing worth it. I'm trying to craft what little screen time Kotomi had into a way that has you all going "Dammit, Junko! You deprived us of such a great character!" You all let me know if I'm succeeding or not. Not to mention, more characterization for the mysterious Miaka Senri.
But that's all in the past, let's focus on the present and near future: Gundham vs Takemaru. Just what sort of deck does Gundham's former high school senpai have in store for him? You can only find out by waiting for the next exciting chapter of Dueling Trigger Finger! And, as always, until next time, from all of me, to all of you, let your hearts stay human and your wrath draconic. Ja ne!)