His best card was on the field. He couldn't lose now. "Holy Night Dragon, attack! Let's end this!"
A mistake. "Trap activate! Holy Barrier – Mirror Force! Your monster's attack gets turned back on itself!"
Ryuunosuke slumped over onto his cards as he watched his ace blown apart by its own holy fire. Per the rules of this era, his remaining Life Points and hope to win Duelist Kingdom were snuffed out along with his monster. It was all over now.
His best card was on the field. He couldn't lose now. Ryuunosuke prepared to attack, raising a hand to point towards the enemy. Then, he hesitated. Slowly lowering his arm, he quietly declared, "Turn end."
The opponent's next move was to destroy Holy Night Dragon with a card effect, reducing it to ash along with his Life Points. He hadn't attacked for fear there might be a Trap set, but it looks like it didn't matter. It was all over now.
He'd just drawn it – Holy Night Dragon. With this, he couldn't lose. All he had to do was Summon it. That's all he had to do. Just Summon it, he thought while gazing at the card between trembling fingers. Why couldn't he make his hand move?
"I...give up," he finally said, cards dropping to the field in front of him. He couldn't win. No matter what, he couldn't win. What was the point of trying? It was all over now.
What was the point of trying? Why attack? Why Summon a monster? Why draw a card? Why duel? It would all end in failure. There was no way forward for him. He was going to lose. He was going to fail. Better to just let the darkness take him and be done with it. Don't try anymore. Just a waste of time.
It was all over now.
Did he just hear something? Couldn't be. He'd given up already. There shouldn't be anything left. He couldn't be hearing anyone. And even if he was, it sounded annoying. He didn't want to listen.
But that voice that wasn't there just kept on talking. Something about...a card? What card? Did he have a card? No, of course not. He abandoned his cards.
He kept denying it, but something was beginning to happen. Maybe it was really there. Maybe it was just his imagination. Either way, Ryuunosuke was starting to think that voice was saying something important.
Just one card. That's what it kept saying. One he could believe in. It seemed obvious which card it was talking about. But he'd given up Holy Night Dragon so long ago. He'd failed even with it by his side. How was this going to be any different?
It couldn't be different, could it? There wasn't any hope left, right? That's what he'd believed for so long. Nothing could possibly change or get better in his life. He'd burned all his bridges and had every opportunity slip through his grasp. There was no going back from where he was now.
And yet, the darkness didn't seem as crushing now. Somehow, he was starting to think again. Maybe going back was impossible. Then again, maybe going back wasn't what he was supposed to do.
There wasn't any going back. The past was the past. As if to prove that point, he was back at Duelist Kingdom. It was just like all the times before. Starting his turn just as before, he pulled Holy Night Dragon. If he played it, he would lose. If he didn't play it, he would lose. It was unchangeable.
"I Summon Holy Night Dragon!" he shouted, slapping the card down. The past couldn't be changed. He knew that as well as anyone else. But maybe he didn't need to find a way to change the past. Maybe he wasn't stuck under its shadow like he'd thought all these years.
"Attack!" Just as before, the opponent's Trap destroyed his monster and reduced his Life Points to 0. The loss still hurt even after all of this. And yet...maybe that was okay. It hurt to lose. It hurt to lose over and over again. But no matter how many times he lost, it didn't have to stay that way.
After trying so many times, Ryuunosuke had given up. Trying felt like a joke at this point. Not trying, though, wasn't any better. When he didn't try, things would always stay the same. At least if he tried, there would be a chance – even if it was slim – that things might change.
He had to bet on that chance. One last time. He'd try one last time to make things change. He didn't want things to stay the same anymore. He didn't want to stay stuck in the same rut his life had become. He didn't want to stay in this place. But to get out of that, he'd have to try.
He would try!
Whatever had happened that day was over now. Ryuunosuke had returned to (more accurately, reappeared in) his apartment like nothing had even happened. Something had definitely happened, though, and he planned to take those resolutions he'd made in the darkness with him forever.
About a month after the incident, he found himself back at his childhood home. It had taken him about that long to work up the nerve to do this, the rest of the time spent trying to figure out what he should wear to this sort of thing. Casual? Formal? It was just his father, but they hadn't seen each other in years. How do you dress for that?
After some time, though, he'd realized that fixating on clothes was just a way to put this off. The day of, he tossed on some beige slacks and a red polo without even looking, fixed his hair up as best he could, and headed back to Domino with no clue as to what he would find.
As far as he could tell from the outside, the old man still lived there. The family nameplate hadn't changed and there was a car in the driveway. The house itself was starting to look a little weathered with the white paint having faded in the sun and rain, but that wasn't too unusual.
Even the welcome mat out front was the same, though this had definitely grown a lot dirtier since he last saw it. Were guests still coming over? Who would be a guest in his father's house? He couldn't be, like, dating, could he? Even if he was, that wouldn't be his estranged son's business. He shouldn't even be thinking about all of that.
He was doing it again. All of this nonsense was just another way to put it off, to hopefully buy enough time for his fears to convince him he should leave. His father wouldn't want to speak to him, obviously. It had been too long. He was a failure of a son. He'd done nothing with his life after he left.
As much as he believed these things, he'd resolved to try. If they were true, he should at least confirm them for himself. He had to try one last time.
Raising his hand to knock, he recoiled as he heard the locks clicking. Holding his breath, he watched the brown wooden door open, his father standing behind it. He'd gained some weight and his short clipped hair was a good deal grayer than before, but it was still him after all this time. Even had the same blue sweatpants covered in bleach stains.
After several seconds of throat clearing-turned-loud-coughing, Ryuunosuke tried a human greeting. "Hello," he managed to mumble, eyes drifting to the ground.
"Hello?" his father said, eyebrow raised. "You come to visit your dad and just say hello? What's that about?"
He didn't know how to respond to that. Was he trying to make a joke? Was he mad? It had been so long that he couldn't really remember his mannerisms. Even before he'd left, they'd both seemed like different people compared to how they were "normally" supposed to act.
"Hi," he tried again, hoping that was the right answer.
"That's better," his father replied. "But what about a, 'Hey, pops,' or maybe a, 'Been a while, old man.' That seems more like you."
What was happening right now? "What are…" Ryuunosuke shook his head. "I finally came back. Aren't you mad? Yell at me, hit me. Do something."
He seemed put off at the thought. "Son, when have I ever done either of those things?"
"But, it's…" He ran his hands through his hair to try and get his thoughts together. "I left everything behind. I just walked out. You can hate me for that. Don't you feel anything about this?"
His father sighed, smoothing his bushy mustache. "Son…" He looked him in the eyes, features softening. "I'm just happy my son came to visit me. I don't want to be mad at you."
Ryuunosuke could feel the corners of his eyes sting, one hand gripping at the side of his head as thoughts flooded his brain and words began to randomly tumble from his mouth. "But I… I don't… I'm… I'm just…" He grit his teeth, trying to control his feelings as he always had. "I let everyone down. I let mom die. I ran away. I…"
His father placed his hands on his son's shoulders, asking, "Is that really what you've thought all this time?" He sounded absolutely devastated at the idea that his son had been carrying this kind of burden for so long. He was now the first to cry, pulling his son in for a tight hug as some tears worked their way down his wrinkled face. "Ryuunosuke, you didn't let anyone down. You did your best. That's all we ever wanted."
Frozen for several seconds, Ryuunosuke's senses slowly returned as he felt himself shake. He was making some terrible noise, breathing shallow with tears streaming from his eyes and onto his father's white t-shirt. "But I wasn't good enough," he choked out, returning the hug and crying for the first time since that night all those years ago.
"It's okay," his father told him. "It wasn't your job to begin with. But we're still so proud of you for trying." He meant these words wholly and truly. For the first time in a long time, Ryuunosuke believed them, too.
Things had changed fairly quickly after that. After a long talk with his father, Ryuunosuke decided to move back home with him. He hated his job, his terrible apartment, and that city, so it seemed like a pretty obvious choice to make. His father was getting on in years, too, so it would be better for everyone if he had someone around to help him.
From there, he managed to find a new job at Kaiba Corporation. As insane as its CEO seemed to be, even the lowest level employees the company hired made more than a living wage. Even just working the mail room, his salary was about on par with his old job. Maybe he'd even move up the ranks in a couple years.
That's what led him to where he was today. Because of the aforementioned insane CEO, it was sort of an unspoken rule that only a duelist could really hope to make a splash in KC's corporate structure. No matter how stuffy and uptight an executive in the company might seem, they'd be ready to pull out a deck and play cards at a moment's notice. And the weirdest part was that (according to the rumors) they were all genuinely strong.
A bell chimed as he made his way inside the tiny game shop. It was a bit cramped, though the atmosphere more than made up for it. The walls were lined with all sorts of vintage puzzles, tabletop games, defunct card games, and a whole assortment of things he didn't even recognize as games in the traditional sense. Definitely the kind of thing you'd want to see in a specialty store like this.
"Oh, hello there," said a little old man from behind the counter. "Can I help you find anything today?"
"Just looking," Ryuunosuke told him, trying to play it cool, hands in his pockets as he strolled around pretending to browse. For whatever reason, he was feeling a bit bashful about this whole endeavor. He'd already caught sight of the Duel Monsters cards locked inside a case up front, though, sealed product lined up behind the owner. "Thought I'd stop by since I'm in the neighborhood."
The old man nodded with a smile. "A new game after a hard day's work. It's hard to beat, I'd say."
Walking towards him, Ryuunosuke finally asked, "So...I was thinking about getting some cards."
"Ah, a duelist," he said. "Anything you had in mind?"
"Not really," he admitted. "I used to play, but that was a long time ago. The game seems like it's changed a lot."
The man laughed. "They're always adding new rules," he agreed. "It's hard for an old man like me to follow, but it definitely keeps the game interesting."
"I bet," he said. "It sounds like you play, too."
"Well, of course," he replied. "Just about everyone in Domino City plays Duel Monsters. I'm getting a little rusty these days, though. My grandson is always off somewhere, so we don't get to duel like we used to. Not that I can beat him anymore in the first place."
"Sorry to hear that," he told him, mustering a small laugh. "Anyway, I guess I was wondering if you had any recommendations. For someone who wants to start playing again."
"A return player, eh?" The old man nodded, placing a hand to his bushy, bearded chin. Turning around, he opened up some cabinets near the floor, rummaging through them for close to a full minute before he turned back around. "These might be a good place to start," he said, dropping a handful of stray packs and two preconstructed decks onto the counter.
Ryuunosuke got the feeling he might be trying to unload some old product on him, but a start was a start. Even if he didn't manage to pull anything good, he'd at least have a deck again. "Okay, then I guess-" He was stopped cold in his tracks after he caught sight of one of the packs.
Holy Night Dragon. It was practically at the top of the pile. That pack must be ancient by now. What were the odds he'd find one sitting in this store? It was improbable, almost impossible.
"I'll take all of them," he said quickly, pulling out his wallet.
"That's what I like to hear," the old man laughed. "You've got the eyes of a duelist right now."
He paid quickly, barely taking the time to shove his wallet back in his pants before he grabbed the pack he'd been eyeing. He couldn't wait until he got home. "Sorry, I'm going to open this one right now," he said, tearing off the top of the plastic.
Taking hold of the cards inside, Ryuunosuke felt himself gripped by fear. He already knew how slim the chances were to find another Holy Night Dragon after all this time. The odds of pulling that card again from a random pack were next to zero. Even if he did, he doubted it would even be worth using in this day and age.
But he had try. Just one last time. No matter what happened, it wouldn't replace the card he'd let go of in the past. Even so, he wanted the chance to try and make things right with the card that stuck by him for so long, if only in his heart.
Taking a deep breath, he prepared to reveal them. The old man had leaned in, too, just as curious about what might be inside. "I guess…" Ryuunosuke said, swallowing hard. "I guess...I draw!"
And so ends the story of Ryuunosuke. At least for now. I don't know if I'll ever pick him back up, but anyone who's got ideas about where he might go from here is welcome to try for themselves.
Actually managed to get something out on time for once. Just barely in time, but that's still in time. I tried, too. Hope that effort paid off in the form of something halfway decent.
The theme seems pretty obvious, but it's probably what someone out there needs to hear. Humans have a special kind of delusion called hope, so we can all keep clinging to that until the very end. No matter how bad the world might be, there's still the possibility for things to be different.
Like I just said, I'm probably not going to pick this back up unless there's a story I really feel needs to be told in the future. In the meantime, I do have more Emotional card game action on here if you're in the mood for that. Got this one called Reda that's my big thing that you'll find on my page. There's a nice girl in that. I like her. Doing some editing work on a VRAINS webcomic called Lightning Hunter over on Webtoon if you want some pictures to go with writing. Also a nice girl in that one. All pretty good stuff.
Enough plugging random stuff, though. That's all I've really got to say at this point. Thanks for reading. Share if you enjoyed. Always remember to try.