(Real Time) (Standard Dimension)
"Oi, Takeshi-kun. Wake up, you're drooling over my shoulder again." A flick on his forehead followed by the unceremonious shoving of his entire head woke the slumbering long haired male, who growled lowly when he saw just the expression the other was wearing "I thought it was only babies who drooled in their sleep, apparently not." Janus droned, wiping the drool off of his shoulder.
"And I thought that you were a nice person when I first met you. Then again, everyone makes mistakes every once in a while." Despite harsh words, there was nothing harsh in Takeshi's expression. This was just how their relationship worked and he didn't really mind it all that much. Save for when Janus decided he was going to do as much as humanly possible to piss him off, he really was such a little shit at times, the bandage incident being a very clear example.
"Was it a nice dream you were having? It'd be an awful shame if I woke you up from your enjoyment." This was just one of those times Takeshi was guessing, Janus was at peak annoying asshole, luckily this "mode" as he had once dubbed it, only stayed about for roughly five minutes. However, that was going to be one of the longest five minutes of his life so far.
He thought back to the dream he had just had. In actuality, it wasn't so much a dream as it was a recollection of what had transpired long ago. He recalled Kokichi-san once saying that sometimes a deeply traumatic event had a habit of coming back to haunt someone in their dreams. It wasn't the first time he had dreamed/remembered this event, but it was certainly the first time that he saw it from the other perspective before it switch back to his own. It was very strange. "Nah, it had you in it, wasn't pleasant in the slightest." Takeshi quipped, leaning in closer to Janus, or as close as that damned mask would allow him too.
Janus leaned in too, resting his hand around Takeshi's pendant, his eyes flicking downwards as his mouth slipped into a sneer under his mask "I never got way you decided to take this accursed thing with you when we left."
"It's a family heirloom, I couldn't just leave it!" Takeshi said indignantly, crossing his arms and causing Janus to sigh. He took another good look at it. It was like a weird trident, the two outer spikes being more spread out than on a usual trident and sharper at the end point. It also had this alluring, almost magical, gem in the centre. Janus couldn't help but think back to the amount of trouble that little detail got them into. In those situations, although he was rather loathed to admit, he liked Takeshi's other side just as much as his usual one. "It'd be just like you not taking your supplies when we left!"
"That's different, Takeshi-kun, I actually need that." Janus responded flippantly, tightening his grip on Takeshi's pendant with enough force to almost snap it clean off its band "This. Is just something that continuously got us into trouble and if we sold it to The Collector then everything may have gone the way we wanted it to, instead of turning into one huge clusterfuck."
Takeshi's calloused and burned hand moved threateningly close to Janus' mask "And you couldn't have chosen a less distinct mask? You, of all people, know how much I hate drawing attention to myself and how much I hate having to do this all myself. I'd be happier if it were one of the other reprobates trying to kidnap the Professor's son! I got burned because one of Akaba's lackeys decided he wanted to have an 'experiment' and set the entire damned alleyway on fire! If anything, at least I cover my tracks!" That ceramic mask looked so… enticing to smash, something dark began to fester deep within him. His true colours clawing at him from the inside, screaming for him to show this wretch why he's wrong.
Luckily for the both of them, those urges were stopped in their tracks when Janus placed the hand that had been on the pendant on Takeshi's face instead "Oi, calm down, Taki. It's fine, everything's okay. And do you know why? Because I know for a fact that we can go back to our usual routine." Takeshi's purple eyes locked expectantly with Janus' emerald ones "Reason being, the Spectre and Sparrow have landed."
"Shun and Yuto?" Takeshi blinked owlishly, frankly that was surprising "Really? Are you lying again? Those two wouldn't leave Heartland unless they were upon their duel disks." But if those two really were here… "How can you be sure, Ja?"
"Hmm… Lemme think about that…" Janus drawled, intentionally trying to rile up Takeshi just that little bit more "Maybe it's the fact that, while you were out yesterday, I heard a very distinctive noise coming from one of the other warehouses. One may say that it sounded a lot like the cry of Rebellion that we're so accustomed to hearing. And where one cry is released, the other one can't be all that far away… A girl too… Just before…"
The elation in Takeshi was palpable and Janus couldn't help but smile at the sight, his other hand coming up to Takeshi's other cheek as the blond haired teen removed Janus' mask, allowing their heads to finally touch "We're still going to have to make sure that that's true, and I have just the plan to make sure. I will make this our one true Heaven."
"What? You're telling me that there are more of them? God." Shiki bemoaned at Reiji. Now he had three things to be annoyed about. One, dealing with Kichirou had taken him longer than he thought it would. Two, he had been dragged away from his teaching duty and God knows what the kids were doing without him there, he wasn't going to be picking up the resulting mess this time either. Third and finally, having to deal with the Akaba boy telling him that there were more of these interlopers, had just tipped him onto the edge of just calling quits on everything for the rest of today. At least he didn't have to leave his office again for this meeting.
"Believe me, Shiki, it does me no great pleasure either. But this new group seems to be even more dramatic in their methods than the last one." Reiji reported, adjusting his glasses as he did so like it was some kind of nervous tic. "Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of one of them this time. However, we do have something much more definitive. An eyewitness account of them."
That made Shiki raise his eyebrows "Eyewitness, you say?" To Reiji, the predatory intent was practically dripping from the sandy haired male's tone and he didn't like it one bit. He got shudders thinking about the amount of paperwork he'd have to fill out to get this "experiment" covered up.
"Remember that student of mine that you called worthless the other day? Turns out he was good for something after all. Shingo Sawatari testified to us earlier today from his hospital bed that he saw Yuri Sakaki." Something indecipherable took over Shiki's face for the briefest moment once Yuri's name had been brought up. Having worked with the man nearly as long as he had Yusho Sakaki, Reiji liked to believe that he had Shiki all figured out. So to see something he didn't know cross the other's expression was not high on his list of preferences "Whilst it may seem that way at first, upon closer inspection, Sawatari's claim fell apart once he mentioned that his assailant had used an XYZ Dragon, which Yuri decisively does not currently have in his deck."
Strangely, Shiki ducked his head off screen for a few seconds. Reiji supposed he had probably noticed something happening in his office, with how dark and cluttered that place was it was only likely that something had fallen down. When he did come back, a gust of cold air ran suddenly became prevalent in his office and Shiki looked positively irate. His top lip threatening to curl upwards into a snarl "And what's to say that it wasn't some other random XYZ user, huh? Ever occur to you that that dipshit doesn't know his ass from his elbow! Did it?! Boy!"
'Hmm, Sogami's losing it, wonder why? In the meantime, I can use this.' Reiji smirked internally, finally luck was on his side in one of these meetings "For one simple reason, Shiki, the summoning receptors picked up a large outburst of XYZ energy last night. Yuri, most certainly, does not have this power. Nor would any duelist in this dimension studying the XYZ course be capable of exerting this amount of power. That leaves me with one conclusion, that this is one of the new party that just arrived!"
Shiki had his hand covering his mouth as he spoke causing his speech to become muffled, another thing Reiji noted down on his list of strange habits "But what makes you so sure that this is a new party and not the same people as before? We know nothing of their decks so either one could be the dragon user!"
"Strategy." It was one word. A simple word. But it made Shiki stop dead in his tracks. "It's the strategy that made me start to believe that this was a new group. For starters, the original pair, let's call them X. X seemed to be quite conservative in approach and nature, assuming that they have been active over the past few weeks, they only seem to attack within exact timeframes and at a low volume. The number of attacks were only two and both occurred around the same time as each other. However, if we take this new group, Y, into account, we found out that Y has only likely been active from last night onwards. Here's the real point I'm trying to get at here, the attack on Sawatari took place outside of X's usual timeframe and the volume of attacks has increased dramatically." Reiji then pulled out the thing he had been saving for this very moment, a group of four cards, which Shiki instantly recognised the ramifications of "I was sent these in my mail this morning, all of them members or associated with LDS. Sawatari also testified that he had been asked if he was connected to LDS too due to the pin on his jacket. During X's period, I received no such mail and there were far less cases of attacks already. So, in conclusion, that's why I believe that this is indeed a new group that I'll need your help containing. They're distinctly attack LDS people and it wouldn't be a stretch to say it would be next."
'Damn you, Akaba, springing this on me like this. You don't have the slightest idea who you're messing with.' Shiki seethed internally, this was a feeling worse than anything he had felt in a long time but at least it wasn't the worst case scenario.
"There's just one thing that's confusing me about this situation." Another statement that had Shiki raising an eyebrow "There is no Real Solid Vision and no ARC system anywhere near the docks and yet this mystery duelist was able to attack Sawatari as if his monsters were real. You wouldn't happen to how, would you? Sogami."
Shiki gritted his teeth harshly 'Damn. Damn him. I don't have a choice!' With his hand clenched around his desk with enough strength to tear it into pieces he spoke up "...Yes, I do know how. But understand me, boy, you speak of this to no one!" Reiji nodded, secretly enjoying the progressively enraged Shiki "I've had to live with this knowledge for a while and was planning on carrying it with me to my grave, but alas, no. Are you superstitious, boy?"
"Can't say that I am, Sogami."
"Hmm, very well, I'll skip some of the more nonsensical shit then. Basically, I believe that you're aware of the idea that Duel Monsters are in fact spirits? Well, here's something I was able to figure out about some people during my earlier years of life. That statement is indeed true and many Duel Monsters eventually become restless by the prison they find themselves confined in. As a result, they cry out occasionally and certain people will have a stronger connection to this than others, my research was unable to properly deduce why this was the case but I do know that the results led to three very interesting developments. One, a very select group of people are able to talk to the spirits within the card and even form a kind of connection to them that one may consider them to be friends. Two, an even more select group of people, yours truly included, have the power to manipulate the reality of the cards. Now what do I mean by that? I mean that within us rests the power to essentially free the spirit from its prison any time we see fit and allow it to take corporeal form. That is what makes us use the term Psychic Duelists, since it is nearly exclusively a mental power, our little friend that attacked Sawatari would appear to be one of them. Third, this is a unique case and one that I can say for certain I will never see again, this is the most important thing you must never tell a soul about!" Reiji didn't have time to reply before Shiki continued "I once knew a man, a man of power, a man the whole world would stop for if he so decreed it, the one in my life who was my equal. He understood far more about this topic than I did and he brought me a theory he had worked on one day. He said that if one passed a certain synchronisation with their monsters and leaped through the mental barriers, they could achieve what he had called the equivalent of Heaven, merging with their monsters and becoming one being."
"One being? Merge?" It was Reiji turn to be shocked by the conservation "But how? I didn't… Think that would even be possible… Spirit and human merging…?"
With a small laugh, Shiki's usual look was back on his face with just the added hint of smugness "It's a theory, Reiji-kun, he said so himself. It's highly unlikely anything of that state will occur in all of human existence, after all, achieving a so called "Heaven" is subjective even amongst people aware of this idea."
"And just how many people are aware of this "theory" of his?" Reiji was curious now, he Shiki hid information and truths from him constantly so to have the man be so honest was refreshing. He needed to abuse this as much as he could, he had no idea how long this would last.
"Up until a few seconds ago, it was just me and one other person and it was great!" Shiki proclaimed acting happy whilst chucking a jab Reiji's direction "But I guess that you would make a third."
"Well, that's certainly interesting, Sogami." Reiji folded his hands under his chin and smirked "Let me ask you another question, it'll be one of the last few as you evidently want nothing more than to insult me. Do you and this other person know each other? I wouldn't lie about this, you already spilled enough so lying won't help you."
It took a while and a lot of visible strain but Shiki eventually responded "Yes. We do know of each other. We met a long time ago."
'Hmm, no detail. He's still hiding things from me. I guess it's no use for this current moment in time to get him to tell me who it is. However, I wonder…' Reiji thought "If you would care to remember, Sogami, when Sawatari duelled Yuri, you said you recognised the organisation that those two other intruders were from. Would this person happen to be connected to th-"
Shiki didn't care to hear the rest of that. He didn't want to hear it as long as he lived. It was a real shame too, he rather liked his duel disk. Now, it was shattered into pieces over his desk. Barely discernible as having been a duel disk in the first place.
He wasn't mad.
No.
Him? Mad?
Absurd.
Shiki Sogami didn't get mad.
He got frustrated. He got irritated. He got annoyed.
He most certainly didn't get mad.
'If you think that I'll tell you anything more for even a second, then you're an even bigger idiot than I first thought, Reiji Akaba.'
Shiki Sogami got even…
(Meanwhile)
"Order and balance were born from the minds of mad men whose madness is simply hidden inside. To the battle, the frontlines and then the edge of death, normal man has been under thumb of these men who only love power for as long as mankind has existed. Back over 2500 years ago, Mother Mary was gifted with the one person who absolved mankind yet she was saddled with the knowledge that he would eventually have to die, however, this didn't bother her, safe with the knowledge of what was fated to happen she knew how to spend her time. Confiteor Deo omnipotenti, et vobis fratres, quia peccavi nimis. So help me, is it wrong for me to want to purify the world of this sin, Lord? I cannot let the spawn of that man continue to wander your world." Nesta ranted, kneeled down on one knee and running the rosary beads of one of his crosses through his hands. He had such a terrible day, a day where nothing had gone his way. To make matters worse, he wasn't sure about how long he could prevent those two from meeting again. Then there was also the issue with the girl he had sent Daiki too recover for him, there was some unknown power protecting her from her absolution and his utilising her unique situation to his advantage.
He cast his glance behind him to the white rose which sat limply in a vase on the main table in his quarters. He had been feeling annoyed before, but now he was downright furious. Why on earth had he taken that thing from Demil? Why had Demil even accept it in the first place? The golden eyed male had an oppressive presence whenever he was angry, which needless to say was very common, Daiki could attest to the amount of times he had been threatened with his head being rammed up his ass. So it confused him when he said he had accepted a gift from a man he didn't know, yet for some odd reason he himself felt pulled to the accursed thing. A white rose meant purity and innocence, whomever gave this to Demil must have had one ironic sense of humour.
He took it into his hands carefully, setting the cross that was there previously on the table. There was one man he knew, just one, who would do something like this and had quite the extensive knowledge of flower symbolism. "You do know you'll leave me no choice if we do meet again, don't you? I tolerated you once, you were close to him, the link I needed. Don't think you'll get away with this forever…"
The door to his study cracked open slightly, taking him out of his thoughts for the time being. "You wanted me, Nesta?" Demil's bandaged form slipped into the room, looking as pissed off as he usually was. If he was any more unruly than he had been over the past week then he would have Nesta tearing his hair out.
This really couldn't last much longer. Demil didn't have much of an inquisitive side, the teen barely looked past his nose for anything. At least that was an admirable trait, but now he really needed to know just who he was going to be dealing with. This rose was practically a declaration of war. "Tell me, child, do you believe in gravity and fate? That a certain group of people are destined to be together no matter what the circumstances may be? That fate has ensnared them in its own little game? Many years ago I was simply an ordinary priest, a typical clergy man who would give the service whenever he need and maintained the church. This continued undisturbed for nearly 25 years, however, I was pulled by fate into meeting with the man who would change my life. One day, whilst I was taking confessions, the most peculiar yet fascinating man walked into the booth."
(Flashback)
Nesta hated this day like none other. He may not have been the most religious man or the most spiritual man that ever lived but he understood that he wasn't supposed to have felt the way he had felt on that day.
He was able to maintain the church himself, it wasn't that hard to maintain something that frankly wasn't well furnished and was sparsely regularly populated. He didn't need some grand altar, some inane stain glass window or massive confessional and without those it was rather easy to keep the place in proper shape.
Naturally, he was much different in appearance. His outfit was entirely different, a very standard slim black priest vestment with a rather large golden cross that spanned the length of his body and chest. If people thought it was gaudy for priest, Nesta could really care less, at least he had stuck to his guns during his initial period.
"Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned." The younger Nesta had just been about ready to close up the booth for today, it was getting late and he had to give a sermon tomorrow yet he wouldn't live up to his title if he had turned away this man, appearances were very important after all. Especially when he sounded so distraught and terrible.
"Tell me, my son, regardless of your course of action the Lord will forgive you. It's only natural." He replied like he had done a thousand times before, he didn't really expect this to be anything unusual and was already running through the pre-planned standard responses in his head. Frankly, he was getting sick of how vapid people's complainants were, it was always some standard shit about how they had cheated on their partner or had thought about murdering someone, the last one was particularly egregious, cowards didn't go through with it.
The man's voice cracked as he spoke, clearly he had been tearing up at some point "Father, I'm conflicted. I have a son at home and I have to raise him by myself, I've never been one for marriage, such trivial concept." Nesta raised his eyebrows, this was going to be trickier than he thought. Despite not being a totally religious man, he knew where the moral boundaries lay "However, I'm a very busy man, very busy running my business. I spend so much time that I practically don't know anything about him anymore. He's run off with friends of his that I don't know the first thing about and I barely see him. All of this… It makes me think… I've failed in my job as a father."
'Tch. You 'think' you failed?' No matter how sick it made him feel, hearing the sounds of soft sobbing from the other booth, Nesta knew he had to choose his words even more carefully than usual lest he bring more untoward suffering. "My son, would a truly bad father really care enough to come and confess their failings in the house of God? I simply listened in there and from your reaction it is evident that you deeply love your son, no truly bad man would be wrecked by his emotions. I used to work briefly in a prison before I was able to be placed here, I've done and heard the last confessions of many evil, vile people. You, child, are not one of these evil people. May I ask what has prompted this visit?" The blue haired priest smirked smugly. He was proud to call pressing buttons and then letting the other vomit up everything his speciality.
"Evil is such a strange word. Do you know its etymology, Demi? The word has become more prevalent as society evolved. Originally no different from a word like 'Uppity' it started to move into connotation with 'Sinister' and nowadays is more of a blanket term that has come to define moral badness. I would rarely stretch to call someone truly evil since the word has changed over the years, however, the man who dared appear in my presence that day is the very definition of the word. I simply wish I was more proactive in stopping him."
"Kazuki, my son, he's something he was never meant to be. I can't help the feeling that I've ruined his life by forcing my way of living on him. Naturally I have a very stressful job which requires the utmost attention at all time lest the entire industry collapse in on itself, layabouts not doing their jobs and worthless oxygen suckers making mistakes left, right and centre are of prime concern to me. Kazuki didn't grow up with a parent that spent time with him, he has no mother, no siblings, no uncles, no aunts, and no grandparents. It is simply him and I. It has been that way for the whole 17 years of his life. The reason I'm here... I managed to talk to him today, he snuck into my private study where I was keeping a personal project of mine. I happened to catch him in the action... And I...And I... And I..." Hmm, looked like the man did have some degree of resolve after all. The intensity of the sobbing increased had dramatically so it made Nesta wonder just what exactly had transpired between the two of them.
"Speak no more, Child. You can rest easy knowing that God will not weigh this upon your conscience now that you relinquished it to me, I wouldn't have been ordained if I wasn't invested with the power to help you unsolved of your sins. Forgiveness is what I give you and I know the Lord does too, history and the future will absolve you in the end." And he was back on the scripted path, so long anything interesting happening.
But then he heard the man on the other side grunt, then mutter under his breath clearly unimpressed before he spoke up again "May I ask you one more question, Father?"
"Yes, you may." Nesta was willing to see how this was going to play out, seeing that the man's tone of voice shift could lead to a very interesting question.
"Do you believe in the idea that everything happens for a reason? The idea that 'Man Proposes, God Disposes' and that all we have left at it end of it, is the idea that we were perhaps never in control of own fate? I know as a priest you probably believe that you're guided by the hand of God but personally I don't want to believe this, however, as Kazuki grows up I'm feeling a stronger feeling than ever before and more often than ever before that his will be a dramatic fate. No matter how much I try I also feel like I'm slipping away. Like a lack of gravity is pulling us apart." Keh, so this is what he was aiming for the whole time? What was all that guff before about then? Was that all to see what type of person Nesta was? Crafty.
Still, Nesta was surprised to say the least when he heard those words spill out of the other's mouth, he was expecting some more moping, not an existential discussion "I've never truly believed in much. I believe in the heavenly father placing us all on this earth to do our purpose and guide us to our purpose in life like you said I would, however, if I were to speak on a personal level with you, I too am sometimes concerned by the path I see myself heading down in the future. Despite my personal feelings I believe that God will guide me in the future. That's what all the signs point to."
"Signs, huh? Sometimes I see the smallest things as signs." The man spoke again, sounding far more self-assured and confident this time, it was very likely this as his true nature. Nesta had barely spared much of a glance at the man but if he spoke with such authority normally then he could only imagine the presence he carried. "This is a private matter but I feel pulled to tell you, Father. My son and I both have a specific birth mark, mine is on my torso while his is on his back and stretches over his shoulder. To have them be exactly the same in every way is interesting enough but the location is what sticks out to me, as if it was ordained on us by God. This may seem like an odd question but do you believe in gravity, Father?"
"After a decent conversation I stayed silent for the longest time after he had asked me a very pertinent question. A man who had come into here after having cried his eyes out was now speaking to me like he had found out how the world worked. Naturally I was intrigued by this man even more than before. I wish I had stopped right there. "
"I don't blame you for your silence, Father, this must be a strange thing to hear for you. I suppose that people don't walk into confessional and throw their entire life philosophy at your feet all that often. It's simply that for a person of my profession, I'm doing things that most people wouldn't dare to consider. I've always sought to look beyond this world, like the birthmarks even the smallest things can be clues to decoding what lays beyond normal foundations. I've looked and looked and looked and I found something, Father. Something wonderful. Goodbye, Father."
The sound of the man leaving the booth made Nesta jump to his feet. Chances were this man wasn't likely to come back and he was damned if he was going to let someone as interesting as him leave. "Wait, what exactly do you mean by gravity?"
"Gravity. Such an odd way to simplify his views. I confess that I still have very little clue as to what his actual philosophy is now so imagine what it was like to me back then. For some odd reason the idea… Enchanted… me, I couldn't put my finger on it but everything about it pulled me to the man who espoused it."
The man turned around and gave an enigmatic smile (or was it a smirk?) before he decided to reply to Nesta "Curious are we, Father? It's only natural that would be the case, I didn't do much to provide you with answers. If would allow me to stay here for a few more minutes I could tell you what I mean. I get the feeling that this is yet another of gravity's meetings."
"The light of the scarcely remaining day bathed him angelically. He had such silky looking platinum blond hair that framed his borderline godlike features, he wasn't of an imposing stature but I felt pulled to him and that very expensive looking suit pulled me closer. However, I could've sworn at that time that I saw the shadow of a devil following behind him. I was right."
(Flashback over)
"What happened between him and you to make you think of him as evil though?" Like with most things, Nesta had spoken very little of actual worth so to Demil, who wasn't very much interested the whole thing to being with, it made the situation even more confusing "You didn't really say much…"
Nesta glared viciously at the teen "Do you need more? I saw that man at his core, a core that was full of nothing but rotten evil and sin. Believe me, Demi, I've seen the worst of the worst and know more than most people how to smell an evil soul from my first interaction with them."
Demil glared back, his single eye carrying more intensity than Nesta's "Call me old fashioned but I prefer to know all of the context before making a judgement. Y'know, due process and all that shit." He then smirked slyly "If I didn't know any better, I could even say that this is a relationship gone wrong."
If he was angry Nesta was doing a very good job at hiding it, the churning of his jaw being the only discernible fact to his attitude "Now is not the time for baseless accusations, that's not why I summoned you to meet with me."
"Then why did you? Shit for brains was rather pissed that I was dragged away from him." Demil snapped back instantly.
"I needed to tell you one of the most basic lessons that one leans as a priest, the principle of never falling into temptation, no matter who it may be, those devils are the only things which can stop us from achieving our paradise by giving us a false 'Heaven'." Nesta replied with practiced ease, running his fingers across the rosary on his head and muttering something undecipherable under his breath.
A light burning began to boil up on Demil's back causing him to wince as he turned said back on Nesta and went to leave the room. However, he didn't pass up the chance for one last jab at the blue haired elder "Excuse me? 'Our' paradise? Don't make me laugh. I'm nothing like you, Nesta, so best remember that. That layabout may be enamoured with you but that doesn't mean shit for me." The door slammed shut moments later.
Nesta said nothing.
He didn't need to say anything.
He had far more pressing issues. A different but equal evil man was on his mind.
(One hour later)
"How you manage to walk around with that thing on your face is simply incredible, Ja." On the busy, crowded streets of Maiami city, Takeshi and Janus were making their way towards their intended destination. Utilising the large and loud crowd of people, the two former Heartland denizens were able to seamlessly blend into the natural flow of things. Janus' obscenely distinct ceramic plague doctor mask was picked up by none of them, making Takeshi question how observant the people in this dimension actually were.
Would they notice a few people missing?
Of course that wasn't the only thing helping them "Natural talent." Janus replied, scratching at the clothes on his body "Would you rather ruin your plan by having me walk around bare faced? Even when you went to all the trouble to get us to blend in, no matter how uncomfortable it may be."
"Tch, no. Smug prick." The last part said quietly underneath his breath, Takeshi too found himself tugging at his clothes 'He's got a point though. This feels so unnatural…'
In order to fulfil the next stage in their plan, Takeshi and Janus had switched their clothes, which were sat neatly folded at their hideout in order to not stick out like a sore thumb. Takeshi had changed into a white hoodie that was clearly strained against the blonde's muscular frame, that didn't spell well for the burgundy shirt underneath either. All of it mainly to cover the tattoos littered on his arms, no one would be allowed to see those again. To finish off the look, there were a pair of blue trousers held by a belt, jet black trainers, and his hair had being reined in a bit more tighter than usual with the red scarf acting as the hair tie locking it into a high ponytail, complemented by a few inexplicable spikes at his fringe.
Being the less dominant presence wise of the two and the one who hadn't been seen yet, Janus was allowed to be less normal looking, face mask notwithstanding. Apart from that, he had been able to carry through most of his usual attire, simply changing it for a cleaner grey shirt and a white jacket, which was causing him a lot of discomfort. Unlike Takeshi, he actually had a legitimate reason for not wanting to change out of his old clothes, but he had allowed Takeshi this one last favour. He was busy plotting away his revenge anyway.
"Let's just find the girl you saw then. What did you say she looked like again?" Takeshi may have been the one who went out the most often and had always acted as the enforcer in their relationship, however, Janus always did have a keener eye for detail than he did. Part of the reason why they worked so well in a ream during the initial stages of the invasion.
"Uh, shit, good question. What did she look like again?" Janus scratched his head sheepishly, carefully not looking in Takeshi's direction. His companion was already pissed enough and for good reason, Janus was knowledgeable enough to know that direct eye contact would be a death sentence.
Takeshi pinched the bridge of his nose "Right. Of course. You're messing aren't you?"
Janus smirked, something black underneath the mask becoming visible through the eye holes "Yeah. My memory is eidetic after all, I never forget. I didn't quite see her face but I remember the other aspects. Hot pink hair in pigtails, a dress with a marron skirt that frankly could be pulled a bit further down, black tights and pink trainers. Now, unless she's some kind of degenerate, chances are she'll probably be wearing something else, however, there was something else I just about noticed when she ran by me. She had this silver bracelet on her arm."
"And how's that important? Lots of girls wear bracelets." Takeshi stated, disinterested by such a minor detail.
"Ah, this is where it's important. For whatever reason, it was glowing." Takeshi turned to look at his partner, surprise evident in his expression "Properly glowing, I'm not sure if it was a trick of the light or if I was just tired, but it was pink! Pink! That type of shit doesn't happen normally, Taki!"
Takeshi placed his hands over Janus' abs, feeling the area around it cautiously, not caring that they were in the middle of a busy street with some creepy, gothic looking building looming behind the pair of them. "Ja, don't worry about that. We'll find this girl if it takes us the rest of the day. What happens with her after we get her to confirm Yuto is irrelevant, this girl could be the key to the fucking salvation of everything and I couldn't care less. Never go what lies beyond." There was something in Takeshi's eyes that Janus recognised. It made him shudder at the thought of ever bringing up the topic ever again. Takeshi just seemed to have that effect on people.
"Alright, Taki." The issue of the bracelet was laid to rest with that. Although, Janus couldn't help but wonder about a few things. Mainly why Takeshi looked so alarmed and shocked when he mentioned that it glowed, he wasn't even sure himself if what he was seeing was real or not, so to see Takeshi act like that was certainly strange.
They continued on their walk, unaware that the girl they were looking for was walking down the same street towards her duel school all by her lonesome.
Yuzu was deep in thought, everything had been so confusing for her over the past week or so. She didn't even know where to start collating all of the shit that had happened to her. First it was Yuri getting those strange Pendulum cards out of nowhere, alongside something weird happening to her deck too. Then, Jex decided to rear his ugly head and vanish as quickly as he arrived, but not before he lay the foundation for her original confusion with his talk of souls and a grimoire. Demil didn't help either, vanishing off whenever the mood struck him. But then there was this incident at the warehouse.
'Was it Yuri? Or was it Yuya? Yuya…' Yuzu stared at the ground, making sure not to look anyone in the eye. She knew that Yuri and Yuya had the same face, she had mistaken as much when they first met each other with a lot of tears being shed. If Yuri was the one who appeared just after the person who duelled Sawatari vanished then he was one hell of a magician. Changing his face, hair and his personality all in the space of a few seconds. Yuri could be a manipulative bastard at times but even he had his limits.
However, Yuya… Yuya had always been so gallant when it came to his friends. She hadn't seen him in over seven years, it's very likely that he could've changed his appearance in that time frame. 'Where has he been all these years then if that was him? And how has he been? Why did he change? His clothes… They looked destroyed…'
"Ah! Come on! If only I had one more turn I would've won! I totally would've had the best comeback!"
"Come on, Yuya! Don't moan! At least it was fun!"
"Yeah! You're right, Yuzu! It sure was! Let's do it again right now!"
Something then beeped through on her duel disk, kicking her right out of her reminiscence. She saw that it was a message and she sighed in relief. Maybe this would be able to clear her mind for a bit. "Hey! Di molto, Yuzu-chan! How've you been recently~? Everything okay? Nothing troubling? If something's wrong you can always talk to me about it! Personally, I liked listening to you when you brought up that Demil character. He seems like a good guy if he's willing to help out a kid he doesn't know and then help out you by some extension. Although, that whole warehouse incident seems to be quite the mystery. Have you considered it being some kind of long lost twin thing? Ah! That would be so Romantic~! It would make for quite the story. Anyway~ just make sure you keep yourself safe! Talk to you later! Or soon… Who knows~?"
The mysterious person who had taken her home after her duel with Daiki. For some reason they had become someone for Yuzu to vomit her troubles onto, much like a therapist. She didn't really trust them, knowing next to nothing about them, but she felt safe enough to give names and a few details. The only thing she had mentioned in any details was the warehouse incident, she had hoped the reply would be more helpful than that, all it did was inflame the conflict in her further.
The message mentioned it being a long lost twin situation. Keh, they may very well have been right. Yuya and Yuri may have indeed been long lost twins, but that didn't explain anything of why Yuya had to vanish to replace Yuri.
She sighed again, tucking her duel disk away 'Ugh, why doesn't anything make sense anymore?' She wished Yuri were here right now. He mightn't have been the most helpful guy, nor the most sympathetic, but to have someone she could trust would mean the world to her. However, she still didn't know if that was Yuri at the warehouse or not 'Yuri hasn't brought it up again, so maybe that really was him and he doesn't trust me after all to know what was going on. He was always the vengeful type, if I pin him on it then he'll have to open up about it!' With You Show as her target, she headed there at peace with her thoughts to a certain extent.
However, she didn't get any more time with her thoughts to formulate a plan with confronting Yuri. "Oi. You there." She turned her head up to see two people staring directly at her. One of them was tall, muscular and had very long hair, he was the one who had spoken with a very cool and bored inflection about his words. The other was immediately more noticeable to Yuzu, his mask being obscenely visible, although nothing else was really stand about the two of them.
Oh, except for the position they were in.
'Oh.' Was what gained a monopoly on Yuzu's thoughts.
Hands overlapping. Bodies pressed near each other. They were… Close… To say the least.
The shorter one didn't speak as he handed something from his jacket to the taller one. The blonde's eyes were trained on her like homing missiles. Yuzu shuffled backwards slightly, it was clear to her that they had been looking for her. Time around Yuri had honed her senses enough for her to realise the obvious and practiced movements they had made.
"We want to ask you something." Takeshi flashed what Janus had handed him at Yuzu, a rather simple picture of Yuto, Shun and Ruri all looking happy and carefree. Old memorabilia becoming useful was always nice in Takeshi's opinion. "You see these three? Have you encountered either one of them? They separated from us recently so we're trying to get them back, we'd greatly appreciate it if you saw one of the guys in the photo more than the girl."
Yuzu's eyes widened in horror, something that wasn't lost on the pair in front of her 'That's… That's him! That's the one who stepped in! And that girl! She looks like just like me! How's that possible!?' She staggered backwards, finding herself against a brick wall shortly after, the crowd of people her eyes were pleading to, did nothing as they carried on with their business.
Takeshi leaned into Yuzu's personal space, the picture back in Janus' hands "Hmm? What's this? You looked shocked, like a horse who has just realised he's been sent to the glue factory. Any normal person wouldn't react that way without some fore knowledge of the person in question."
Cold, dark, purple eyes. Similar to Yuri's when he had arrived. Yuzu felt weak in the knees, there were very few people who had the same presence that this teen did. Teru through his height, Demil through his mere existence, Jex through the fear. This guy seemed to embody all three of them at once. "U-umm… I'm not sure… I-I mean… You tend to mistake people every now and again… Who're you a-anyway...?"
Takeshi cocked his head sideways, looking contemplative for a second before he slammed his hand on the wall just above Yuzu's shoulder. "If you think my partner and I will divulge that, then you must be very stupid. All your pretty little head needs to know is that we won't bother you any further if you confirm that you saw one of them. Don't try to fool us either, my partner saw you where we suspect our friend went. He's never wrong, so spit out before I rip your tongue out and make you write it in your blood."
Shit, this was bad. Jex may have had a knife to her throat but Demil had appeared to at least dissuade the mysterious man from moving any further. This was different. Takeshi's eyes told her that he was well prepared to follow through on his threat. Relenting under the relentless pressure she spoke "Umm…" She raised her finger and pointed towards Yuto "Him. I saw him. He… He stepped-d in… He-e said that he d-didn't want me to get hurt anymore…"
Those dark eyes grew inexplicably darker as the blond teen walked back to Janus' side and whispered something in his ear. "Was that alright?" Yuzu found herself unconsciously asking them.
"Yes. You gave us what we wanted. We'll be leaving now." Takeshi spoke mater-of-factly, no longer looking Yuzu in the eye and reaching down for Janus' hand "Farewell."
Just as quickly as they had arrived, the pair of them vanished back into the crowd. Leaving Yuzu even more confused and scared than she was previously. 'Now there's two more people involved in this! Does Yuri know them? Or are they Yuya's new friends? They didn't give any names and there was this girl as well…'
She began to trudge back to You Show, the only place in the world where she wouldn't be confused by any of the insane shit that had been happening in her life recently.
Or at least she thought so.
Fate was definitely not on her side today.
"Don't lie! It was you that came into the warehouse!" As soon as she opened the door she was bombarded by Sawatari's group of layabouts having collected around Yuri and the rest of the You Show students, one of the goons had just shouted his accusation and proceeded to point his finger at the accused party, a very pissed off looking Yuri who had probably been dragged from doing something Plant related if the dirt under is usually immaculate nails meant anything.
"You lot can't deny it any longer! It was Yuri Sakaki who attacked Sawatari! The three of us all saw you! She saw you too!" One of the goons, seemingly showing off his sixth sense, wheeled around and pointed directly at Yuzu's face, with her instinctively shaking her head in outright denial. Yuri's shout of "Yuzu!" Had been totally lost on her.
"Come on, Yuzu… Don't lie…" The creepy almost perverted smiles did absolutely nothing to dispel Yuzu's worry as the goons started to crowd around her. Yuri quickly moving forward in the background.
"Gong thinks they are crazy and are just making all of this up…" Gongenzaka, utilising his massive body to create a wall between the two of them and allowing Yuri to slip in there as well, said defiantly.
"Or are they…?" Said Shuzo beginning to question Yuzu, she had been acting weird for a while now and he was none the wiser to what had happened. He didn't want to believe that his precious daughter was complicit in a crime but he knew that people with vulnerable minds were more easily swayed by less than savoury influences.
"Making what up exactly?" Everyone's heads turned when they heard Ayu's voice. The young red haired girl having a burst of courage come out of nowhere "Yuzu and I heard that Sawatari was the one planning to attack Yuri in the first place! And we have an impartial witness to that too!"
It was now evident to even an idiot that Sawatari's friends had been rumbled now, their body language being all one really needed. They wouldn't make very good poker players, all it did was make the fact they even continued painful "I don't know what you are talking about little girl! And where is this so called witness?!" The main goon etched out in rage.
Ayu didn't care, her friends were being baselessly attacked for something they didn't do, nothing was going to seemingly stop her "You know perfectly well! Yuzu-oneechan and I went out to get some Ice cream after Yuri-oniichan was taking too long. There we met someone called Demil who helped us find Yuri after we heard that Sawatari was going to harm Yuri! So Yuzu went off to face Sawatari and with Demil's help I found Yuri had just finished a duel in the city so it couldn't have been them!"
"Wait, let me get this straight." Shuzo butted into the conservation "Yuzu went to confront Sawatari. So that must mean Yuzu is the culprit!" With his realisation came a cacophony of groans for his thick skull.
"Wow… If that's the teacher, the students here must be dumber than dishwater!" One of the goons yelled, at his wit's end.
"Now, back on topic, the only person that could've attacked Sawatari-san was Yuri…" One started, letting his colleagues follow on after him.
"Now poor Sawatari-san is in hospital… I can only imagine the pain he's going through." The second one continued.
"Hospital?" Yuri said cold, calculating and uncaring.
The final goon made a dramatic pose before feigning tears "They said that he may have life threatening injures! He will never be the same again!"
However if were in said person's hospital room you would see that it was indeed not the case. The only thing Sawatari had to worry about seriously injuring were his tear ducts from all of his crocodile tears.
"If something happens to him you two will be held responsible and charged with assault!" Yuri wasn't the slightest bit interested.
"Yuzu, you believe me don't you? You saw how I turned up after the incident happened, right?" Yuri's underlying anger at the situation had transitioned into him essentially intimidating Yuzu into giving the answer he wanted.
However, he wasn't expecting a far different response from the one he wanted "Y-Yuri, I-I-I don't know…" Yuzu, already mentally weakened by her bizarre week, intimidated by Takeshi and flung into yet another insane situation, simply didn't have the mental capacity to handle it anymore.
"Unbelievable…Totally unbelievable!" Yuri said glaring daggers at Yuzu "You have irrefutable evidence that I was in the city with Sora! Hell! You left because I was taking too long and You sent me out there! If that doesn't make me innocent then I don't know what will! Yet you still can't make up your mind!" He snapped with a venom laced voice. Yuzu wanted so badly to believe her emotions that told her that it wasn't Yuri or Yuya that attacked Sawatari but what she saw prevented her confused mind from giving her a clear cut answer.
"Then allow me to make the situation clear to you." The strong female voice caused everyone's eyes to snap to her form. She was a fair-skinned woman with blue eyes and magenta hair curled into the shape of a heart. She wore a dark pink skirt and blouse with a high collar lined in black, and padded shoulders, in addition to magenta high-heeled shoes with golden attachments that resembled snakes curling around her ankles. She also wore long, gold earrings that made Yuzu think back to the ones Daiki wore. "A You Show student pre-planned an attack on an LDS student, resulting in one of our students having a very expensive trip to the hospital. Not only will this shatter his confidence in the future, it also brings great shame to LDS as a company. I, Himika Akaba as Chairwoman, cannot allow this to continue!" Himika's gaze fell upon Yuri with an overwhelming amount of hatred.
Erstwhile, the goons had taken this as their opportunity to leave and were presently outside salivating at the mouth with their payment of rare cards for making up this story.
"Everything those three said was the absolute truth, I have considered pressing charges against this poorly maintained school, and make no mistake, we would win that case in a heartbeat." Himika proclaimed haughtily, smirking smugly at the angry faces of the You Show crowd. "However, if you would hand the culprit over to us, we will drop anything about this and you may continue without anything happening."
"No way! Gong believes his friend Yuri despite his less than stellar qualities!" Gongenzaka said looking at the kids not noticing the glare Yuri was giving him "That goes for the three of you as well doesn't it?" The three kids nodded "And you too Yuzu?"
Yuzu stopped for a few seconds, thinking over her answer very carefully with an angry Yuri watching over her. "Yuri… That really wasn't you… Was it?"
Yuri while slightly heartened was still annoyed "Yuzu. I'm going to make this very clear, I didn't attack that runt. I have no clue what you saw there but it was not me. Got it?"
Saying Yuzu was still confused would be understatement but as she spied his eyes, she smiled towards Yuri now believing him to be telling the truth at least in that moment. "I've got it now, Yuri, I believe you." Yuri breathed a sigh of relief, finally having got through to Yuzu he felt happier now that she believed him.
"Oh my! What a very strong bond all of you share!" Himika said ruining the moment as a determined look flashed onto her face "The issue now is that the image of LDS has been dragged through the mud, there is only one possible way to cleanse this stain off of our honour! And that is for us to have a duel! Three students of LDS and three students of You Show shall duel! If we win, then the schools will merge and you will hand Yuri over to us! If you win, which will never happen, all charges will be dropped and we shall never come near you again! Do we have a deal, Principal?"
"Hold it there!" Before Shuzo could respond. The doors banged open dramatically, a drama that could only be equated to the form of Shiki Sogami, who emerged from them with three more people stepping into the school behind him "This is very much an illegal manoeuvre on the behalf of the LDS Corporation and because of that I will not allow you to merge!"
"S-sogami!" Himika shivered as she spied Shiki. This couldn't be right. Reiji was supposed to be keeping Sogami busy so he wouldn't stick his nose in this. How on earth did the man catch wind of that was happening so quickly?! "This doesn't involve you, this is between LDS and You Show! How dare you try do this!"
A card was flung at Himika from one of the people behind Shiki, rather fittingly, it was the Queen of Hearts. "Shut up, woman! Whenever I'm in the room, whatever I say goes! Now, what you're doing here, Chairwoman, is highly irregular. I can attest to Yuri-kun not being the one who duelled Sawatari, which would make me an independent witness. Yuri-kun was off dueling one of my students actually. In fact." Shiki snapped his fingers and from behind him, came Kichirou, looking noticeably worse for wear than he was yesterday but still attentive enough to follow instructions. "Ki-kun can confirm that, he wouldn't dare forget a face like Yuri-kun's considering the defeat he handed him."
"It's true." Kichirou droned, subconsciously moving his hand back to where he had peeled the skin of his head the previous day. Strangely though, the area didn't look damaged in the slightest "I was there. If it happened when you say it did then you're lying." Then, a switch flipped in Kichirou's brain and his tone changed entirely "And if you dare to take him away from me before I beat his fucking face into the fucking dirt, I'll make sure to make your life a living hell! Stupid bitch!" Yuri didn't really know how to feel about that outburst, maybe a weird kind of appreciation that the choleric magician was angry at him enough to protect him? Gah, Shiki's bunch were really weird.
"That incident no longer matters though!" Himika exclaimed, desperately trying to keep her cool in front of this man who had just ruined everything she had planned. "We have a reputation to uphold, which will take an immeasurable hit if we fail to protect one of our own. Nothing you could do will change my mind, Sogami."
Shiki shrugged, gesturing to the You Show coward and then the remaining two behind him "Correct. This is strictly none of my business, and they are the only ones with their fates in their hands although, you have a penchant for butting into my business too so it's only right for me to do the same."
"What are they doing here?" Himika glared at the pair she knew all too well from Reiji's research on this man. Yuri wasn't particularly happy to see them either, but when you're between the devil and the deep blue sea, beggars can't be choosers.
"I know very well that I can't interfere in this, it wouldn't be fair otherwise. But, I would be damned if I let my prized students sit and do nothing while their inevitable competitors in this year's tournament decided to flex their skills. Teru-kun and Bitch-chan in particular." Shiki's sharp eyes weren't trained on Himika, instead focusing on Yuri and Yuzu. "I hope you don't mind this, Yuri-kun, Yuzu-chan! We're just going to do a little recon, don't worry about our presence. We mean no harm!" Himika then found herself under Shiki's glare "However, Madam Chairwoman, it would seem that you have a different motive behind wanting to merge with You Show. Akabas do as Akabas do."
"Umm, Sogami-san…" Shuzo spoke up, still completely out of the loop on the situation "I appreciate you being here and supporting us… But… Would you mind not being so cryptic? I think that'd be more helpful for all of us."
Shiki smiled, placing a hand under his chin "Very well. You see, given my position as the owner as the head of the second largest school in the area compared to LDS, they aren't so keen to have a competitor on their door step with the potential to overtake them, Ryozanpaku weren't quite that threat so they were happy to let them continue until I arrived here. Needless to say, the CEO, a one Reiji Akaba, the son of this here woman, decided to come confront me out of the blue one day. I'm not about to divulge what was spoken about that day, unless I'm in a really bad mood, but know that these Akabas are all the same. Shitty plans with ulterior motives that leave you as nothing but a puppet."
Whilst the You Show crowd was experiencing some form of schadenfreude as a result of her suffering, Yuri the most, Himika was biting back a snarl. She was a professional, she had met this man before, the man had weaknesses but he was not one to be underestimated when it came to mind games. Reiji could handle him. She could too. "Hmm, it would appear that you're correct in that regard, Sogami. I do indeed have another reason for coming here." She pointed in Yuri's direction, leading said teen to respond by rolling his eyes and muttering under his breath "The Sawatari incident was unfortunate but it gifted us with the opportunity to add Pendulum Summoning to our three pillars! Yuri has been shown to be the only one with this power at the moment! If LDS were able to cultivate that power in one of our facilities we would be able to make it a global phenomenon, it is for that reason that we must unite as soon as possible! No matter what you or the lunatic thinks!"
"Hey." Shiki stated before anyone else could process the miny tirade "Don't be so mean to, Reiji-kun. He's a smart kid, don't go calling your own son a loony, 'kay?"
"Tch, that's enough out of you, Sogami. It's time for the games to begin!" Shoving their way past the Enchanted Underworld group, albeit struggling to budge the huge form of Teru with one of the males, a purple haired teen, getting stuck briefly before having be pulled out by his fellow students. Another male with a kendo sword, brown hair and a canine sticking out of his mouth. The other was a brown skinned girl with straight black hair and red, ruby-like eyes that shone with determination. "These three are all top of their respective summoning classes! We'll duel to the best of three, the first to win two duels will be declared the winner!"
Yuri stepped forward, shoving Sora away as the smaller male had tried to do the same "If you think I'm going to let you take over my father's school or let you steal what is my method off of me, you're either wilfully ignorant or very, very stupid!" Himika's expression soured immeasurably.
Gongenzaka stepped up next "That's the spirit, Yuri! I, Gongenzaka, will also fight for the honour of You Show!"
Himika's face changed in an instant, regaining its haughty nature "Oh, I do apologise but this is for students of You Show and LDS alone. I'm afraid that you aren't a member of either and thus can't participate. That would leave it as being only, Yuri, Hiiragi and Shiunin, that are available."
Gongenzaka stepped backwards, awash with horror and dismay at falling in his duty "To think you would exclude a man such as myself is unforgivable…" He hung his head in shame with his back against the wall.
"I'm going first." Yuri declared, eyes not leaving Himika. He saw the way the woman was looking at him and he didn't like it one bit. If she was going to look at him like he was filth, he was going to treat her like filth. That's just basic moral obligation for Yuri.
"Fine by me. We don't care so much about the rest of you layabouts." Himika sneered, snapping her fingers as the student who had previously struggled to get past Teru made his way to the front and faced Yuri "This is Hokuto Shijima of the XYZ course. Quite fitting that he'd be your match up, isn't it?"
"Xyz…" Yuzu said as she clasped her hands together, the word reverberating in her mind causing her to once again think about Dark Rebellion and Yuto.
"You better watch out Yuri…" Tatsuya said after searching Hokuto up online "His record is that out of the fifty eight duels he has participated in he has won fifty three. That's a ninety one percent win ratio!"
Futoshi spoke up next "He has top scores in junior class rank testing."
This was swiftly followed up by Ayu "Forget his test scores" I hear that he is the favourite for this year's championship!"
"Favourite or not I'm going to beat you." Yuri said facing his opposite number after they had walked into the duel arena. Something about this guy made Yuri want to knock that big dipper headband clean off "After all it isn't going to be hard when you using an inferior form of summoning!" Yuri teased causing Hokuto to fly into a fit of rage
"What's that supposed to mean?!" Hokuto yelled, acting like an easily offended noble.
Yuri smiled smugly in response, good to know this guy had a superiority complex "Oh, nothing much…"
"Our students are trained to handle any conceivable situation so the choice of action field is up to." Himika said to Shuzo, who was busy contemplating which field to use. He didn't want to be seen as cheating and deliberately using a field that Yuri would excel on.
"Anything you say…?" Thinking if over some more and finally making the decision, he carefully selected the field "Action field Cosmic Sanctuary on!" The field transformed into a starlight background with ruins on top of floating chunks of rock "Use the power of the stars to fight, Yuri!" He yelled with as much hot blooded enthusiasm as he could.
Hokuto looked around for a bit before bursting into a fit of unrestrained laughter "Of all the fields you could've chosen you pick the one that suits me best! You truly are an idiot!"
"What?! Oh my God! I'm sorry, Yuri! Please forgive me!" Shuzo decried, running a river of tears that would even put the Nile to shame. The LDS students looked to be repressing laughter, the You Show students were glaring daggers at him, and the Enchanted Underworld group didn't seem to hold it either which way.
Except for Shiki, who had decided that now would be the time to comment "Hmm, stars…? Do any of you happen to know the bizarre expression that refers to the stars?" All heads turned to him, including the LDS ones and particularly Himika, who wondered if Reiji knew about this. "Long ago, when people believed that Heaven was a concept far up in the sky everyone thought the stars were holes used to peer down on Earth, and that they shone because of the light that came pouring out of them, which the angels used to great effect. Per chance, bar my students, do you know what they called them?"
"What?" It was Himika that decided to speak and break the silence, nothing this man said was to be taken lightly. She still shuddered the first time Reiji mentioned Shiki's extensive business endeavours.
"Simply put. They called them, the Eyes of Heaven." He turned his gaze to Yuri, sharp and predatory "Let's see, Lily, if they will be shining on you and your friends."
A/N: So this is the second chapter of the story without a duel, like the last time this was simply due to the length of the chapter by itself, if I placed all three of the LDS duels in this chapter as I had originally planned it would make this a 22k word chapter, so I decied to place all of the LDS duels bar the one with Reiji in the next chapter.
Moving on from that, this is the first chapter that gets a little gay. In case you are unaware and haven't read my profile, I am gay myself, and I will be inlcuding M/M relationships. It will not be a major focus though, I'm not writing romance. It is simply an extra dimension to certain characters. Takeshi and Janus in particular.
Regardless, I'd like to know what you think about this chapter, it foucs more on some of the lesser seen OCs and then moves onto the main cast. This still a predominantly Yuri and Yuya based story, however, I do need to give characters devlopment if they are to exist so I hope you don't mind in that regard. Still there are a few major bits of infomration in this chapter so don't dismiss it.
Reviews:
MarBere 123: Thanks for the support. Yuzu certainly is one of those shipable characters, she also suffers from Yugioh girl syndrome but she will have a major role in this story, as will the other three bracelet girls. Yuri's breakdown is going to be a fun one to write, it fits my style quite well.
Super Shadow 2018: Thanks.
That's all for now. The next chapter will be the last one of this year but who knows? If I get that done there could be another one before the year's out.
See ya.