VIII: The Shen Sisters [Flashback]

[30 Years Ago]

A teenage girl complained, "I don't know if I can do this, Renxiang."

"You've made it this far in the tournament Daiyu. Have a little faith in yourself," I replied.

Daiyu groaned and smacked her forehead gently before looking at me. I was never good with coming up with words of encouragement. Our family wanted to see Daiyu winning the entire tournament. It was not every day that a duelist like my younger sister battling against China's top duelists. None of us expected Daiyu to be a prodigious duelist. Yes her dueling styling may be considered as reckless, but Daiyu always trusted in her cards and her dueling intuition.

At least I had some faith in my younger sister. I knew she could win this entire tournament.

"For the final battle of the second round, it's Daiyu Shen against Mingzhu Li!" exclaimed the announcer.

I said, "It's your time to shine Daiyu. Good luck."

"Thanks, Renxiang. I'll make sure to win this duel too," replied Daiyu.

I walked back to where my seat was. My younger sister walked towards the arena. All I could do was cheer for my younger sister. Everyone from our city wanted to see Daiyu win the tournament. Daiyu approached her side of the field with a confident smile on her face. She was ready to go, and I knew she was going to be winning this duel.

From start to finish, Daiyu was able to capture and captivate the audience with her duel. From start to finish, she was able to defeat Mingzhu without losing any of her life points. I was far from surprised since I knew my sister had the upper hand. She knew how the duel was going to end. She was now able to move on to the quarterfinals, in which the top 8 duelists battle it out.

After that, I knew who were the frontrunners of the tournament. Once Daiyu defeated Mingzhu, she was most likely to move on to the finals. This tournament was far from over since she has to face the top duelist from the Yunnan Province in the quarterfinals. I wasn't too worried because Daiyu has been doing well in this tournament so far. It seems that she wasn't slowing down and it won't be like that for a while.

[26 Years Ago]

In the next couple of years, Daiyu continued her path as a professional duelist. As for me, I was in Japan, designing duel monster cards for KaibaCorp. We haven't seen one another for almost two years. Even when I was working on new card designs, I always wondered what my little sister was doing. I always believed that our paths would cross one day. But I would never we would meet under these circumstances.

Tonight, KaibaCorp was hosting a dinner for the participants of an upcoming tournament they were hosting. Along with the participants, the colleagues who helped with the event's preparations were also here. I was here because I designed the prize, which was a brand new Synchro monster card that will be released next month.

I was standing there, talking with one of my colleagues. We talked about almost everything, from the upcoming tournament to even small talk. I was wearing a blue-green short-sleeved knee-length lace dress and a pair of black pumps. I managed to style my hair in an easy and quick bun. While my colleague and I were talking, a waiter approached with a tray of champagne cocktails. My friend took a glass, and the waiter looked at me.

"No, thank you," I said.

My colleague replied, "Don't be such a buzzkill Renxiang."

"Risa, you know I don't like champagne. So a champagne cocktail is out of the question," I responded.

Risa rolled her eyes. I sighed, and I walked away. I wanted to see if I knew someone else. As I was walking, another person was walking toward me. We accidentally bumped into one another. My dark brown eyes looked straight at the young lady. I moved a few steps back so I can see the young lady.

She was wearing a dark green strapless dress and a pair of black heels. Around her neck, the lady donned a gold chain necklace with a crescent-shaped charm attached to it. Her dark purple hair was in side curls. I was surprised to see how stunning she looked. The dark haired woman took a good look at me. Her dark brown eyes went wide suddenly.

"Renxiang!" she exclaimed.

I replied, "Long time no see, Daiyu."

Right there, we smiled, and Daiyu pulled me into a hug. I hugged my younger sister. It has been two years since we went our separate ways. So she was participating in the tournament as well. I knew right there that this tournament was going get interesting. But I was happy to see Daiyu again.

"We need to catch up and have a sister's day out while I'm in Japan," said Daiyu.

I responded, "I can do that since I'm off tomorrow."

[19 Years Ago]

It has been seven years since I've moved to Domino City. Since then, I met and married the man of life, an accountant named Zhengzhong. We even have a child, a girl named Chunhua. I resigned from my job at KaibaCorp not long ago. I finally realized that I had no chance of moving up the job ladder. Now, I work as a freelance artist so I can try to make ends' meet. I even got side job teaching art to children and adults at an art museum.

Daiyu also was living in Domino City at the time. She arrived in the city 3 1/2 years ago. Like me, she also got married. Her husband was Yingjie, one of my old coworkers from KaibaCorp. I had no issues with him since we did work together and we got along just fine back in those days. In recent months, I began worrying about Daiyu and her mental health. Yingjie reassured me that everything was okay. Despite his reassurances, I don't believe him.

I decided to check on Daiyu and see if she was okay. She told me that she was going to us at a coffee shop she goes to that is near her house. I even decided to bring Chunhua with me since Daiyu hasn't seen her niece in a couple of months. As I walked to the coffee shop, my daughter and I took our seats. Daiyu then walked into the coffee shop about 15 minutes later. I noticed the dark sunglasses and the pink colored scarf she was wearing around her neck. I didn't say a word to my sister.

Daiyu approached Chunhua, who was looking at her aunt. She jumped out of her seat and hugged my sister. I saw a small smile on her face when she hugged my daughter back. She pulled away from my daughter and took a seat.

"You know why you are here, Renxiang," she said.

I replied, "I'm worried about you, Daiyu. I know you haven't been yourself in recent months."

"I'm just going through some personal stuff right now, sis," said Daiyu.

I stated, "You could've asked for her help if you were having problems right now."

"These are problems I can solve on my own Renxiang. I don't need your help," she retorted.

She crossed her arms and rolled her concealed eyes after her cold response. I didn't know why she was acting cold towards me. I sighed, and I looked down at my daughter. The last thing I wanted was to cause a scene in front of Chunhua. I looked over at my younger sister once more. I needed to change my approach, and I knew how.

I asked, "Do you want anything, Daiyu?"

"An Iced Chai Latte will do," she replied.

Chunhua asked, "Can I get a lemonade, mommy?"

"Sure thing, sweetie," I replied to my daughter.

I stood up, and I walked towards the front of the cashier, and I told her what I wanted. She smiled and charged me the price for the food and drinks I ordered. It took a while, but I returned to our table. I noticed Chunhua was the only person sitting there. Daiyu was nowhere inside the food establishment. I looked down at my daughter, and she looked back at me with a huge frown.

She said to me, "Uncle Yingjie came inside and took Aunt Daiyu. He had a scary look on his face."

I frowned and I thought about what Daiyu was going through. My sister was in an abusive relationship with someone I knew. After seeing my daughter traumatized, I knew I needed to do something. The day after the coffee shop incident, I went to her house to check on her. Daiyu gave me her key to her house when she moved in. She told me I could come in whenever I wanted. I did, and I saw everything was a mess. There were shattered glass and broken stuff everywhere.

I thought about what her creepy ass husband has done to her. As I walked into her place, I tried my best avoiding any of the wreckage that was in front of me. Soon enough, I made it safely into the master bedroom. There were clothes all over the floor. I was shocked to see all of this until my eyes focused on the night table. There was an envelope on top of, and it had my name on front. Instead of reading the letter here, I sat on top of the large bed, and I called the police. The day in the coffee shop was the last time I lost my sister.

This ends the eighth chapter of Satellite Girl. Before I can go with the commentary, I wanted to give you an age list for each flashback in this chapter.

30 Years Ago

Renxiang- 20

Daiyu- 16

26 Years Ago

Renxiang- 24

Daiyu- 20

19 Years Ago (two years before Zero Reverse)

Renxiang- 31

Daiyu- 27

Chunhua- 5

Now to the commentary. I decided to put another flashback chapter because I wanted the readers to know more about Renxiang and Daiyu before the next couple of chapters (include 2 very important chapters). So the two chapters will be about the meeting between Liqiu, Renxiang, Chunhua, and one more character. For now, read and review.