If any of his friends in school were asked to describe Shingo Sawatari, their responses would probably be very different. Yuto would describe him as a bit of a clown who did try his best regardless. Yuya would describe him as a fellow Entertainment Duelist that he liked the company of. Yugo would say that he was kind of awesome and talk about motorcycle rides. And Yuri would throw the asker off a nearby cliff and go on with his day.
Regardless, to say that Shingo Sawatari was a bit of a polarising figure would be an understatement.
Yuto watched as the conversation in front of him slowly devolved into chaos.
… heh.
Alright then.
Then, Rin stood up, and Sawatari shrunk back in his chair, letting out a squeak.
He wasn't even surprised.
It all began when they began talking about deck styles.
"Look, all I'm saying is that the Sakakis have decks that fit them really well! And that's the case for everyone else too!" Sawatari waved one hand dramatically, as though giving a speech. Yuto and Gongenzaka both gave him a deadpan look, considering that they were sitting on the floor outside the cafeteria. (There was nowhere less formal than this. Seriously. Ok, maybe a house, but not in school. Then again, Sawatari made everything that he joined even more melodramatic all the time.) "Yuya Sakaki obviously has that animal circus of his for his Entertainment Dueling, Yugo has got to go fast all the time—"
Yuto raised an eyebrow. Really. He wasn't aware that Yugo and Sawatari had gotten close enough to call each other by their names so casually.
"Mr Edgelord over there has his cards that he sets and all those destruction and sabotaging effects, and I've never seen…" Sawatari actually shivered, and Yuto let go of his annoyance long enough to force down the laughter bubbling up his throat. "I've never seen him go a duel without systematically destroying his opponent. Like, man, does he have to have his dragon chew each one of the monsters it attacks?"
Yuto turned away so that he could choke in silence.
"Wow," Serena said, folding her arms. "I don't know how you manage it, Sawatari, but you manage to insult everyone around you all the time, no matter what you're talking about." She picked up her chopsticks. Yuto watched Sawatari sputter at the comment, while Rin rolled her eyes and casually ate. Meanwhile, Serena struggled with her chopsticks, barely managing to get a vegetable to her lips as she nearly let go of the chopsticks altogether.
The five members of their current lunch group had decided to eat together when they realised that Yuya and the others were planning to go swimming in the lagoon of the island, since it was the weekend, and that the five of them weren't planning on doing it. Sawatari had looked at the water, blanched and run far away from it, before loudly proclaiming that 'a tan would ruin the great Shingo Sawatari's skin!' Meanwhile, Gongenzaka hadn't wanted to take off his outfit, which Yuto understood. After all, he was wearing a custom uniform, a yellow one fashioned after his dojo outfit, and he saw Gongenzaka wash it every night. No need to add more to the laundry load. And Yuto didn't exactly like water. Neither did Serena, which was why she was here. (Yuri had made a joke about cats and water, and Serena had shoved him into the water. Another uniform for the load, then.)
He didn't know why Rin was here. She hadn't provided a reason, she had just told the others to watch out for Yuzu and Ruri and followed them here.
"I do not insult everyone!"
Gongenzaka and Yuto both sighed at the same time. Rin rolled her eyes again.
The troubles of being the sane ones…
Serena flicked a vegetable at him, and Sawatari shrieked, falling off his chair into Gongenzaka's lap in an attempt to avoid it. There was a moment of commotion, before another vegetable flew, landing in Sawatari's hair.
"Why are you better at using chopsticks for attacking people than for eating?" Yuto said, but he got no response. Serena had already begun speaking.
"I mean, I bet that you can't talk about my sisters' dueling styles without insulting all of us in some way."
"Of course I can."
Ok. They were about to run headfirst into a disaster, weren't they?
"So, so, Yuzu!"
This should be good.
"I think that she's pretty good at dueling! I mean, all the Special Summoning is pretty sweet! I mean, Bloom Diva can be pretty cheap, but—" Sawatari seemed to realise what he said. "Uh, Rin's dueling is pretty cold. I mean, look at all those bells! She burns—it's sort of weird that she doesn't battle though, like all the normal decks—"
He paused again.
Ah. So this is what it's like to watch someone dig themselves a grave and lie down in it.
"Well, Ruri Kurosaki has pretty weak monsters but her ace is awesome! Makes up for how weak—"
"Yeah," Rin said mildly. "Know when to fold, Sawatari."
"Well, well, Serena's monsters are brutes, but…"
"Ok," Rin said, casually finishing the last bites of her lunch. "You're done, right? You and me, Sawatari, let's go outside. I'll teach you to know how to fold."
Yuto had never prayed for someone's safety so much before. He watched Rin drag Sawatari out, before glancing to Serena, who was still struggling with her food. "Maybe you can get a fork," he said. "It might be faster."
"I will conquer these chopsticks," Serena said determinedly, the strands of noodles falling from said sticks. "I'll come out and join you guys later."
Yuto nodded, deciding not to comment. He and Gongenzaka walked off.
"She's not going to finish," Gongenzaka said.
"No," Yuto said with a snort. "She's probably not."
They found Rin and Sawatari in a courtyard, and they had both already drawn their cards. Figured.
"Now, now, Rin! Welcome to the marvelous, great Shingo Sawatari's show!" The blond pointed forward, as the people around them started looking over. "I'm glad that you decided to challenge me, but it is useless, ice witch! I will not lose to you!"
To Yuto's surprise, Rin actually played along. "So you think that you're a hero who can stop me?" She flipped her hair. "Then you won't mind if I go first, hero. Let's see how long it takes you to beg me for mercy." Her chilling voice added to the intensity of the duel, as she pointed at him as well. "Ice consumes all—and especially wannabe heroes like you!"
"Then let's do this!"
"Fine," Rin said, orange eyes flickering. "I am the challenger, after all."
Rin Kurosaki: 4000LP
Shingo Sawatari: 4000LP
"Now, everyone!" Sawatari raised his hand. "Today, we'll be having our battle, between I, the gallant, fantastic—"
"I Normal Summon Wind Witch – Glass Bell," (4*/1500/1500/WIND/Spellcaster/Tuner/Effect) Rin said, cutting him off bluntly. The Tuner emerged, a mischievous laugh escaping her as she grinned at her duelist, completely aware of what she just did. "And I'll add a "Wind Witch" to my hand with her effect. That'll be Wind Witch – Freeze Bell." (3*/1200/1200/WIND/Spellcaster/Effect) She pulled out the card as Sawatari sputtered, turning it over. "And with its effect, since I only control "Wind Witch" monsters, I'll be Special Summoning it."
"Hold on here—"
"I think my next move is rather self-explanatory," Rin says. The pale-haired and generally pastel-coloured Freeze Bell floats closer to Glass Bell, a confident but calm smile on her face. "I will tune the Level 4 Wind Witch – Glass Bell to the Level 3 Wind Witch – Freeze Bell!"
Yuto muttered the chant along with her, more than familiar with it by now. Rin had been dueling a lot more around him recently, for some reason…
"Midwinter wind. Make ice and snow my power and blow through! Synchro Summon! Appear! Level 7! Wind Witch - Winter Bell!" (7*/2400/2000/WIND/Spellcaster/Synchro/Effect) The sapphire spellcaster emerged, shooting out into the air. Winter Bell let out a tinkling sound, and Rin raised her hand, before snapping her fingers. Snow fell down all around them, and Gongenzaka grinned widely.
"Amazing! A Synchro Summon on the first turn!" He said. "Rin-san is truly one of the strongest duelists I've ever met!"
"Yeah?" Yuto gave a small smile. "I guess. I haven't exactly seen what you can do for myself though. Yuya said that you guys had dueled before, and he said you were pretty good. Let's duel later."
"Of course! I, the man Gongenzaka, will accept any challenge!"
They turned back to the duel, challenge clearly accepted.
"Oi, Kurosaki!" Sawatari shouts. "Let me have my moment!"
"Side characters don't get a soliloquy!" Rin shot back, causing Sawatari to fall down comically. "Winter Bell's effect! I'll target Glass Bell in my graveyard and deal you two hundred damage for each of her Levels! So that'll be four!" Winter Bell flew forward, flying right over Sawatari. A light began gleaming in front of her. "Now, go! Hypothermic Subzero!"
Ice rained down, causing the already fallen Sawatari to be covered in it.
Shingo Sawatari: 4000 – 200 x 4 = 3200LP
"I'll set a card," she said. "Over to you, Sawatari. Show me how you duel."
Sawatari leapt back up, drawing a card. "Of course! I am the amazing Sawatari, and I won't lose to you that easily, Rin Kurosaki! Face me!"
Rin gave him a slow, deadpan look. "I already am."
"Right!" That didn't seem to slow him down at all. "I'll set the Scale 0 Abyss Actor – Mellow Madonna (7*/S0/1800/2500/DARK/Fiend/Pendulum/Effect) and the Scale 9 Abyss Actor – Twinkle Little Star (4*/S9/1000/1000/DARK/Fiend/Pendulum/Effect) in my amazing Pendulum Scales!" Red and blue light danced around him, as his pair of actors appeared. One was a pink-haired woman that seemed to be facepalming at Sawatari as she floated up. Yuto snorted. Good to know that everyone is just constantly having the same reaction to Sawatari. "And that allows me to Pendulum Summon monsters from Level 1 to Level 8!" He swung out his hand. "Now, everyone, let's welcome the best performers you've ever seen! Swing, pendulum! Now, descend onto the stage! Firstly, the lovely actress that stars in every show! Abyss Actor – Leading Lady!" (4*/S2/1500/1000/DARK/Fiend/Pendulum/Effect) The beautiful green-haired woman with immediately pale skin appeared, a playful smile on her face as light swirled around her. "And who's a leading lady without her supporting cast to help her shine? That's where the one and only Abyss Actor – Sassy Rookie (4*/S2/1700/1000/DARK/Fiend/Pendulum/Effect) comes in!"
An odd, emaciated zombie-like creature appeared, its elaborate costume being mainly dark blue and purple.
"And finally?" He smirked. "I'm going to bring out the one and only villain of the Abyss Actors! To defeat an antagonist, a villain must sometimes be turned into an ally! So come on out! Abyss Actor – Evil Heel!" (8*/S1/3000/2000/DARK/Fiend/Pendulum/Effect)
A dark, large deformed creature appeared, staring forward, its head slowly lolling to the side.
"Now, are you ready?"
Rin tapped her foot on the ground. "I've been waiting," she said.
"Alright," he said enthusiastically. "When Evil Heel is Normal or Special Summoned? I can reduce the attack points of a monster you control by one thousand for each "Abyss Actor" monster I control!"
Rin blinked. "I see," she said.
"Now, sap away that monster's power! Evil Heel!" Dark lines connected both Evil Heel and Winter Bell, and the beautiful spellcaster let out a shrill ring as it plummeted to the ground. (Wind Witch – Winter Bell: 2400 – 1000 x 3 = 0ATK)
"Winter Bell…" Rin sighed. "Seriously…"
"I'll have Mellow Madonna let me pay one thousand life points to add an "Abyss Actor" from my deck to my hand!"
Shingo Sawatari: 3200 – 1000 = 2200LP
"And now, I'll have Evil Heel attack your monster!" He laughed. "Crush it!"
"You're sounding a lot more like the villain here," Rin said. "Battle Phase. I will activate Winter Bell's effect. Once per turn, I can Special Summon a monster from my hand with a Level lower than that of a "Wind Witch" on my field. So I'll Special Summon Wind Witch – Tear Bell (3*/900/900/WIND/Spellcaster/Tuner/Effect) from my hand in Defence Position!" A translucent, beautiful crystal girl appeared, draped in white and blue fabrics. She had incredibly smooth features, and she let out a light chuckle. "And I will activate her effect! This turn? Wind Witch monsters I control cannot be destroyed by battle or card effects!" She pointed forward. "You get a replay. But just note that when you declare an attack on a "Wind Witch" while I control a Defence Position Tear Bell, you take 200 damage!"
Sawatari shook his head. "Well, you're still going to lose if this attack goes through! Evil Heel attacks Winter Bell!"
"Yeah," Rin said. "I thought so. Go ahead then, Tear Bell. Sorrow's Protection!"
Shingo Sawatari: 2200 – 200 = 2000LP
Rin Kurosaki: 4000 + 3000 = 7000LP
"Huh?"
"Yeah?" Rin said, as her life points trickled up. "Any problems?"
"Why'd your life points go up?"
She pointed to her set card, flipped up. "Draining Shield. I negated your attack and gained life points equal to your monster's attack points."
Sawatari launched into a long monologue, as everyone watched tiredly. Sora passed Gongenzaka popcorn, which was also passed over to Yuto. They sighed, waiting for Sawatari to finish. Five minutes later, he did.
"Well, I'll have Leading Lady and Sassy Rookie attack!"
The two actors shot forward, both slamming into Winter Bell, causing it to fly back. Rin gave it a slightly worried frown, before she turned back.
Rin Kurosaki: 7000 – 1500 – 1700 = 3800LP
"Over to you, witch!" Sawatari declared with a grin. "Let's see how you do!" (Wind Witch – Winter Bell: 0 - 2400ATK)
"You lose," Rin said bluntly.
"Huh?"
Yuto watched.
If Rin said that she was going to win, she definitely was. So he was going to watch this, and learn.
If he ever had to duel her…
He still wasn't sure who would win, out of the two of them. She was just as good as Yuri, after all…
"I'll Normal Summon Wind Witch – Ice Bell (3*/1000/1000/WIND/Spellcaster/Effect) from my hand!" She declared, placing her most common monster on the field. "I'll activate her effect! I'll deal you 500 damage with it! Icy Wind!" The spellcaster cheerfully shot out a blast, causing Sawatari's life points to fall again as he shivered. Leading Lady let out a hiss at Ice Bell, who stuck out her tongue.
Shingo Sawatari: 2000 – 500 = 1500LP
"And now," Rin said, flipping her green hair, "I'll activate Chime of the Windwitch. I'll target Ice Bell. And I'll Special Summon Wind Witch – Freeze Bell from my deck. And now, I'll activate Freeze Bell's effect. I'll increase its Level by one!" Freeze Bell looped around her, winking. (Wind Witch – Freeze Bell: 3* + 1* = 4*) Rin nodded. "Guess what? I'm going to bring out my other ace against you. I'll tune the Level 3 Wind Witch – Tear Bell to the Level 4 Wind Witch – Freeze Bell!Wind of the forsaken. Clear a way through the corpses of the ones you struck down! Synchro Summon! Level 7–Wind Witch - Niflheim Bell!" (7*/S4/2400/1500/WIND/Spellcaster/Synchro/Pendulum/Tuner/Effect) The beautiful silver bell appeared, striking. "I'm sure you wanted to put on a performance. And I can appreciate that." She pointed forward. "But I'm Miss Duel Academy, and I'm not going to hold back on you. I hope that you can appreciate that."
Sawatari nodded. "You're merciless," he said. "But don't hold back on me!"
Rin gave him a slight smirk. "I suppose. Niflheim Bell's effect. I'll add two "Wind Witch" monsters to my hand." She glanced at her graveyard. "Glass Bell. Tear Bell. My two Freeze Bells." Four orbs floated over her head. "Once per turn, Niflheim Bell will burn you for 200 damage for each of the "Wind Witch" monsters in my graveyard! Cold Whirlwind!" Silver wind swirled up, shoving Sawatari back and sweeping snow into the gathered crowd as they all let out gasps.
Shingo Sawatari: 1500 – 200 x 4 = 700LP
"I'll activate Winter Bell's effect," she said. "Glass Bell. Are you ready? Hypothermic Subzero!"
With a flourish, her ace swept away more snow as the duel ended, gleaming with beautiful light.
Shingo Sawatari: 700 – 200 x 4 = 0LP
"You did well," Yuto said as the duo walked over. "Don't get discouraged, Sawatari."
"As if I could!" Sawatari brought a hand to his chest. "You destroyed me in the past too, Sakaki… but losses are losses! I'm going to become stronger and stronger. And when I do, you'd better watch me perform with your brother!"
Yuto chuckled. There was something childish to the way that Sawatari said that, something overly optimistic, but he was fine with that. "Sure." He turned to Rin. "Honestly? You would be good at Entertainment Dueling, if you found your own style like that."
Rin shook her head. "I don't exactly duel for smiles," she said. "I'm not the most optimistic person."
"Or optimistic at all," Sawatari quipped. "Anyway, big guy? Heard you and Sakaki over there want to duel. Want to just do it now since you have time?"
Yuto shook his head. "Sorry. Not that I don't want to, but honestly? We duel so much in class already." He glanced away. "Let's do something simple. Something… not dueling related."
Sora grinned, from where he had joined them to watch the duel. "Yeah? Feels like most people here would love to duel! Don't deny it, Sakaki, you're just tired."
Yuto nodded. "I'm not denying it, merely putting it more nicely." He glanced at the popcorn in Sora's hands.
Hmm… popcorn…
"I got it!" Sawatari clapped his hands together, looking pleased with himself. "We can book one of the student lounges and have a party! It's only Saturday, so that works out too. We can watch online movies and things like that too!"
"Do they have Archives of the Old on that thing?" Yuto asked.
"Isn't it Archive of the Old?"
"Fairly sure it's Archives."
"Ok then." Sawatari shrugged. "Don't know. Aren't those movies super old, anyway? What'd you want to watch?"
"Old movies are good," Gongenzaka said. "I personally approve of this."
"No, no," Sora interrupted. When Gongenzaka gave him a confused look, he winked. "I, the man Gongenzaka, personally approve of this. You forgot how you talk, Gongenzaka."
Yuto and Sawatari both laughed. Rin smiled. "Sounds good," she said. "Or we could bring board games. Something like that. Just have fun without dueling for a bit."
"Feels like we might be wasting time doing that," Serena said as she walked over with a satisfied look. "Also, for everyone's information, I conquered the chopsticks."
"Congrats," Yuto said, feeling like that was probably the expected answer. "And the world doesn't revolve around card games! We can have fun with games other than card games too! And it's not going to waste time, because…" he shrugged. "Well, it's us. And doing that kind of stuff… it'd be fun, right?" He blinked. "You're all judging me, aren't you?"
"I can't believe that the time that Yuto is loudest is when he's talking about having a party," Rin said with a sigh. "Yeah. We can rent some sleeping bags and bring some games over. It's Sunday tomorrow anyway, so we can just game through the night if we rent all of today and morning tomorrow. What do you all think?"
Sawatari had already pulled up the website on the tablet that he pulled out (from where? Yuto glanced around, but Sawatari's bag was nowhere in sight, and he definitely wasn't holding onto it just now. What? Was there a pocket dimension somewhere?) and begun to select a lounge. "We can meet back there," he said. "And bring all the stuff?"
"Ok," Rin and Yuto said at the same time. They glanced at each other. "Gongenzaka-kun, could you get some takeaway? Yuto and I can go pick up the people at the lagoon and grab stuff from the dorms. Shiun'in-kun, could you get the sleeping bags?"
"Got it!" Sora said with a salute. Gongenzaka nodded. "Meet up at five?"
"Five," Serena agreed. "I'll go with you for food, Gongenzaka. See you guys later."
"See you."
"See you."
Rin and Yuto headed off towards the side of the island, and he let out a sigh.
"You do seem tired," Rin said. "Have you been worn out recently?"
"Kind of," Yuto said. "I've been… dreaming of stuff. The problem is that I can't remember what I'm dreaming about. I just know that it's pretty bad." He thought back, to all the trouble they bumped into at the start of the year. "I'm really worried. I…" He shook his head. "I'm worried that I won't be prepared when whoever's after us comes back."
Rin nodded, giving him a serious look. He liked that she actually seemed to be processing this carefully, instead of just trying to comfort me. "I get it," she said. "You're waiting for the other shoe to drop. You're not getting a restful sleep. And you're worried." She shook her head. "You're… you don't have to worry too much."
He saw her swallow slowly.
"You're one of my closest friends," Rin admitted. "I… never made a lot of friends as a kid. It was mainly Yuzu and Ruri who were good at that. They were the smiling girls that everyone liked and Serena and I were really bad at talking to anyone." It was oddly honest and clear for her, and Yuto nodded. "Well, anyway, you're a really close friend to me. And… it's not just because of you. I mean, they attacked Yuzu too! But you, Yuri, Yugo… even Yuya, even if we haven't gotten as close yet… well, I'll defend you guys, just like how Yuzu defended Yuya. And you know I'm strong."
He nodded.
They obviously weren't good at talking. Yuto knew that about himself.
But…
But he got it.
He understood what she was saying.
"I don't want to admit that I care about you as much as I do. But I will, and I'll destroy anyone that'll come after you."
He smiled. "That means a lot," he said.
They stayed silent, which was good. Any more speech would have made things awkward.
They made their way to the small lagoon at the side of the island, and Yuto glanced into the water. He couldn't see anyone—
"Boo!"
"Ah!" Yuto flailed, nearly falling into the water. He turned to the side, and sighed as he saw Yuri grinning there, hair wet and pinned to his head, very different from his usual hairstyle. "Yuri…"
"How come you're here?"
"We're having a party," Rin said. "You're all required to be there. Get the others."
"Yes, dark overlord of wind," Yuri snarked, before he ran into a nearby cave. Seconds later, there was a shriek that was instantly recognisable as Yugo's, despite how high-pitched it was. Both Rin and Yuto exchanged a slight smirk, before they followed Yuri.
A night without dueling with these card games?
Sounded pretty good.
"You…" Yugo let out a despairing sound, his head crumpled in his hands. "You… no, you can't do this! Why would you do this?" Yuri let out a loud cackle, as he held onto the subject of Yugo's fear, holding it up in the sky with the arrogance of a newborn god. "Yuri, I trusted you! Why are you doing this?"
"Muahahaha!" Yuri slammed the object in the middle, causing Yuto to dart out of the way of the terrifying object. "How does it feel, Fusion? How does it feel? You're now at my mercy! How does it feel to lose what you love?"
"Nooooo—"
"Oh my god," Serena said, rubbing her forehead. "Just draw your four cards already. I'm still waiting for my turn."
Yugo slowly pulled off the four cards with an exaggerated look of pain.
"Skip," Serena said, dropping the card.
"Wait, I still get a turn!"
"The rules say that when you draw cards from a draw four, you skip your turn," Serena said, looking at the rulebook of Uno.
"Our house rules always said that you could stack cards and that you still played after drawing!"
Serena raised her hands, waving them around exaggeratedly as she looked at Yugo. "Does this look like your house?" Ruri turned away, giggling, not even minding that her turn had just been skipped.
"Actually," Rin said, "I normally play with those rules too."
Serena sulked, pulling back her card. Yugo grinned, dropping a number. Then, Serena dropped her skip again.
Ruri giggled, and cheerfully dropped a skip as well. Yuto glanced at it, and then sighed.
"I have nothing," he said. "Your turn, Yuzu."
Yuzu smiled, and dropped a plus four. Yuya gave her a horrified look.
"Jumping in," Yuri said. "Plus four. Draw eight, Fusion."
"It's not Fusion, it's Yugo! And what the hell is a jump in? You're just making up rules now!" The two started brawling, and Sora slid away from them. Sawatari and Gongenzaka were still eating their food on the other side of the room.
"I've never seen a fight this bad over Uno," Sawatari said smugly. "These two are terrible."
"Have you played Uno before?" Serena said, and Sora clapped for the burn as Sawatari reddened.
"I should probably stop them," Yuto said with a sigh, standing up.
"I don't know," Rin said, holding up her phone. "It's pretty interesting."
"Are you videoing this?"
"It's interesting," the green-haired girl said, deliberately side-stepping the question.
"Are you videoing this, Rin?"
"Answering you? I'm afraid I can't do that, Yuto," she said dryly.
He rolled his eyes.
He really didn't want to be on video, but…
"Send me that," he said, and he moved forward into the fray.
"Uno," Yuzu said.
Yuya raised an eyebrow. "Four," he said, dropping a red card. He gave Sora a meaningful look, with the blue-haired boy grinning and dropping his next card as well.
"Reverse!"
"Yuya," Yuzu said slowly.
"Draw four, Yuzu," Yuya said bluntly. He turned to give a high five to Sora.
"Uno," Yuri said. "Clearly a game of alliances." The concept was so ridiculous that Yuto couldn't help the snort that he let out. Yuzu sighed, playing another card. Yuto sighed, playing as well, and just watching everyone.
"I thought we weren't going to play card games," he said idly.
"Gongenzaka accidentally broke our Twister mat," Yuya said cheerfully. Gongenzaka let out quite a lot of apologies, with them all assuring him that it was fine. Yuto nodded.
"We have Monopoly too," he said.
"Oh god," Sora said with a groan. "Why did you bring that up?"
"Hey," he heard from behind him. "You alright?"
Yuto nodded. "Just taking a moment outside," he said. "I was bankrupt anyway. Have Yugo and Serena stopped yelling at each other over the blue properties?"
Ruri laughed, shaking her head. "You might want to take a while before you go back in, if the noise is bothering you." She took a seat next to him, looking at the sky as well. "It's not as noise-polluted or light-polluted here. I can actually see the stars."
"You live in a place with light pollution?"
"Doesn't everyone?"
Yuto nodded. "I live in Domino," he said.
"Oh, the city that the legendary King of Games came from," Ruri said. "I visited with Shun once. We were on a holiday trip together, since everyone else was doing other things. Serena was taking dance classes—"
"Serena took dance classes?"
Ruri let out a quiet laugh into her hand. "Right, I forgot that you all didn't know. Don't tease her about it, ok?"
Yuto nodded. "And the other two were also busy?"
"Yup. So Shun saw me moping around and decided that we'd go see the sights."
"What city do you all live in?"
"Maiami City," Ruri said. Yuto nodded, and heard her rattle off about their house. They had two songbirds that their dad was currently taking care of, mainly her and Yuzu's pets. Her older brother had a large falcon that was technically both a pet and not, considering that it went off for months on end and only came back once in a while, but somehow her brother was able to call into the air and it would come back. Serena had always wanted a kitten, but never found one that she liked, and Rin—
"What?" Yuto said, gaping. "You mean…"
"Yeah!" Ruri said, smiling.
"Rin has a rabbit?"
"Yeah. You'd think she'd have a bird, but she loves Apple more than anything else." Ruri stretched a little, and Yuto looked at her. "Mmm? Did something happen?"
"Nothing," he said. "I was just thinking…"
… that you're really pretty.
"I was just thinking," he repeated.
"I remember hearing you singing on the boat," Ruri said, obviously deciding to rescue their conversation. "It was a nice song. From that Archives of the Old movie about the girl who wants to go out to sea, right?"
He nodded.
"I'm glad," she said. "You seem a lot… happier, nowadays, even if you're more tired."
Yuto nodded again, and he sighed. "It's partially due to you," he says. "You and everything else. I feel a lot more like I can rely on people, nowadays."
Ruri gave a happy smile. "That's good! I'm glad that I could… I'm glad that I could help you out, Yuto."
Don't blush. Don't blush.
"Want to go back in?" She offered.
"Yeah," he said.
He really wanted to hang out with her more, though.
But he had time.
After all, if anything ever came… they'd all face it together.
"Oi!" Yugo poked his head out. "Want to play Cards Against Humanity?"
"What's that?" Both Yuto and Ruri asked at the same time. They both looked at each other and laughed. They went back in.
And outside, the stars carried on sparkling.
Omake:
Outside, the stars carried on sparkling.
"Lovely night for stargazing," Masumi said dryly from behind him. "Isn't that right, Kaiser?" Shun Kurosaki turned around, with a slightly trapped look. "What are you doing, spying on your sisters' party? I should kick you just for that."
"Ruri and that boy are hanging out too much," Shun said with narrowed eyes.
"And what are you going to do about it?" Masumi raised a hand. "Need I remind you, Kaiser, that we're not supposed to duel our juniors too much until they start their newer courses."
Shun did not respond.
"Kaiser…"
No response.
"Kurosaki! Oi!"
Shun nodded to himself. "I'm going to duel him." He took a step away, and Masumi stared after him, aggravated.
This asshole…
A/N: Ok, I'm going to put the OC cards after the author's note from now on, so you all can see the effects if you want. *ahem* Hi guys, I'm back after a long while XD I was called upon to help out with a lot of school things, so I couldn't work on this for a bit. But now? I'm back, with a chapter that is mostly character interactions rather than duels. The duel between Sawatari and Rin was mainly to give both of them a bit of time to interact before the next arc. I mainly wanted to give everyone some time to just talk to each other a bit more. The next arc, as seen in the previews, is also going to give everyone more time to interact. I want what comes after these arcs to hit like a truck, and as such? I want to give them a bit more time to talk to each other. Hope you all don't mind the fact that the duel is so short.
Also, Rin won Cards Against Humanity. Yuzu blindsided Yugo and Yuri and won Monopoly. And Uno went to Sora as the only person that no one held a grudge against. (In case anyone is interested in those results.)
Previews below!
Chapter Preview: Chapter 17–Will of the Brother
After spotting them hanging out with Rin and Yuzu, the Kaiser challenges Yuto to a duel. What occurs next horrifies the entire crowd as the two overprotective brothers face off, and Xyz Monsters flood the sky!
Chapter Preview: Chapter 18—Going Toe to Toe
Neither Yuri nor Serena planned to actually cut loose during this carnival, but then they bumped into two of their professors having a completely platonic outing at a stall. Serena challenges the HERO duelist of the academy, while an entertained Yuri lets himself be pulled into her pace.
Chapter Preview: Chapter 19—Wings in the Sky
Ruri and Yuto are walking around the carnival together, participating in games. Eventually, someone tries to ask Ruri out, and gets aggressive when she refuses. Yuto intends to step in, but Ruri is more than capable of handling things herself…
Chapter Preview: Chapter 20—Ice Ladies
Rin isn't sure how she got stuck with Yugo, but she supposes that it's not that bad. Either way, she ends up bumping into the previous Miss Duel Academy, Olga, who decided not to run that year. While she originally intends to challenge her predecessor, Yugo ends up jumping the gun and challenging her first…
Chapter Preview: Chapter 21—Carnival Fun
The start of the Duel Monster Spirit Day is bright and happy, and Yuzu and Yuya are just having fun going around. Then, all of a sudden, Yuzu challenges Yuya to a duel...
This will admittedly be Rin's last duel in a while though, considering how many she's gotten in a row in these last few chapters. Other characters will be stepping into the spotlight for the next few chapters. Yuto will stay in the spotlight next chapter, to fight against the Ultimate Older Brother, who is beginning to get overprotective over his sisters. However, after that, the other six counterparts will be taking over the main roles for a bit. You'll see what I mean later, when new previews come out. I won't be adding any new ones for a while though.
For reference: Ruri hearing Yuto singing happened in the oneshot Dragons' Christmas, not actually in this story.
So, everyone ready for the one duel that everyone has probably been waiting for? Well, that'll have to wait for a bit, because… well, I haven't outlined that yet. I've been a bit busy with other stuff, but I'll be working on that soon :D
Also, thanks to HalloweenkitsuneKuro for your really nice review! :)
Finally, to conclude this new chapter? Thanks to everyone who has followed me this far. I may still be struggling with writer's block constantly, but I definitely haven't lost my love for any of the stories that I've started, and I'm determined to keep on going and do what I can. To me, this story is extremely AU, to the point that I can experiment with character combinations. Making Rin and Yuri best friends in actual Arc-V would have been ridiculous, but here, it was almost natural. And I'm not stuck with the trappings of the Arc-V story, which means that I can make my arcs and keep my own continuity as much as I can. And the fact that you all are reading this story and any of my others means so much to me, because in a way, that makes it all worthwhile that I worked to create this.
Ok, I'm done rambling! See you next time, whether that is here (if I can make a version of Shun vs Yuto that I'm satisfied with) or in Refraction or Oathbreakers. :)
~ Blaise
OC Cards:
Wind Witch – Tear Bell
(3*/900/900/WIND/Spellcaster/Tuner/Effect)
If this card is Special Summoned by the effect of a "Wind Witch" monster: For the rest of this turn, "Wind Witch" monsters you control cannot be destroyed by battle or card effects. If an opponent's monster declares an attack on a "Wind Witch" monster while this card is in face-up Defence Position: Your opponent takes 200 damage.
Wind Witch - Niflheim Bell
(7*/S4/2400/1500/WIND/Spellcaster/Synchro/Pendulum/Tuner/Effect)
1 WIND Tuner + 1 or more non-Tuner monsters
Pendulum Effect: You may send WIND monsters from your hand to the graveyard whose total levels equal 7 or more; Special Summon this card from your Pendulum Scale.
When this monster is Synchro Summoned: You can add 2 monsters with "Wind Witch" in their name from your Deck to your hand. However, you can only Special Summon WIND monsters the turn that you activate this effect. Once per turn, you can deal your opponent 200 damage for each "Wind Witch" monster in your GY. If this card is destroyed: Place it in your Pendulum Scale.