Kawai Shizuka always had faith that things would turn out okay.
It had helped her through so much of her life. Faith carried her through having to leave her familiar home, her father and her dear brother behind when their parents separated.
It helped her when she was losing her vision and didn't know whether she'd be able to navigate the world the way she needed. Her brother had come to her valiant rescue as he had so many times when they were growing up, earning the money with his strong, dueling heart.
Even her deck was based on faith, faith in the goodness of the world she lived in, that it wanted the best for each of them.
Shizuka remembers her faith being tested more than it ever had before when her brother lay on the dueling arena unmoving. She'd held on to hope that he'd make it through, he'd fallen nonetheless. But the medical team was coming, he had to be okay. Her big brother couldn't leave her now.
And he hadn't. He never had, and she trusted he never would.
She thanked her brother in no small part in keeping her faith alive, he always came through for her, whether it was taking her to the beach or being there for her before her eye operation.
Her brother was strong-willed and determined, and so was Shizuka, she would always believe.
She could tell Mai was learning to be strong and trust like Jounouchi and her, to believe, and so was Kaiba. They all believed in things that ran from them, but one day they'd be weary of chasing. Faith in the goodness of others never ran.
It was always there with her, in Mokuba's voice when he worried for her brother's safety or in Anzu's hands on her shoulders.
Shizuka Kawai was stronger than she knew her doctors would tell her, but that didn't make sense to Shizuka until she was holding her brother's hand praying for him to wake up.
But faith was always there, in Ishizu's kindness and her brother's fighting spirit.
Now, standing at the end of Battle City, her brother alive and well and the duel won by Yugi, faith ahd come through again. And she realized what else faith had brought her. Her brother thankfully of course, was no longer far from her, beside her and breathing.
But it had also brought her friends. Friends who cheered as ardently as her and seemed to find her something wonderful to be desired in the case of Honda and Otogi. She loved these friends, and that was the best thing faith could have brought after the storms of Battle City had cleared.
Author's Note: I choose not to use honorifics in her inner thoughts because I wasn't sure which she'd use for each of them as I'm not that well versed.