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Remove the Mask

Spicy Gossip

Jack POV

"Well, look who decided to visit!" Martha smiled as we pulled up next to her home. Ever since Akiza had disappeared, she had decided to establish an orphanage near the older part of town. We had stopped by every once in a while wondering if she had seen or heard of anything on the streets about Akiza's disappearance, but even the streets were quiet. "My, you boys have certainly grown up in the past four years."

"It's good to see you, Martha," Yusei said, returning her hug. "It appears that you have been doing well."

"Yeah," Crow chuckled, pointing out the curious faces pressed against the windows of the orphanage. "How many little ones you taken care of now, looks like nearly twenty."

"Thirty-four, to be exact," she corrected, patting his shoulder. "Place your D-wheels inside the storage shed and join me in the dinning room. I'll make some coffee."

"Those little brats better not touch my ride," I growled as we finished putting our runners away, eyeing them as we made our way to the dinning room. "If one of them so much as touches my ride-"

"C'mon, Jack, lighten up," Crow rolled his eyes, smiling at the children. "Don't you worry about him, he's just upset that he didn't get his coffee today."

"We were up all night taking notes too," I grumbled as we took our seats and were given steaming cups of coffee. "I more than deserve a cup of Blue Eyes coffee!"

"Akiza's father asked us for our help in picking up where the police left off," Yusei explained as she gave each of us a questing look. "We were going through the files and taking down any notes that we thought could be useful."

She nodded. "It was upsetting when they declared her missing persons case cold and told us that they were no longer investigating it. Have you boys found anything helpful?" We briefed her on the notes that we had gathered so far; her missing deck and plush toy, her picture album, the incident in the park, and noting her favorite coffee. She sighed, folding her hands on the table. "It's hard to believe that she's been missing for the past twelve years, poor girl."

"We were wondering if you've heard anything yet," I said, sipping my drink. "What's the word on the streets?"

"Well, no one matching her description has appeared, if that's what you're wondering," she shook her head. "The only thing on the street is the underground dueling going on."

"What's been going on?"

"A lot of the area duelists have been sent to the hospital suffering serious injuries, each declaring that they dueled something inhuman." She shook her head, rubbing her temple. "They've established a new rule that requires all duelists to be off the streets by ten. The underground duelist like to come out around eleven, and any duelist that happens to be out past the curfew is taken in for questioning."

We looked to the door as a knock sounded and a girl with turquoise colored hair that was up in twin ponytails poked her head in. "Martha, Unagi was wondering if he could take everyone to the park."

"That's fine, Luna, thank you for letting me know." Martha nodded, gesturing for her to come in. "Boys, this is Luna, she's been helping me out around the orphanage for the past few months. She and her brother like to come here when their parents are away on business trips."

The girl shyly smiled up at us. "Hello, it's nice to meet you."

"Luna, come on! I want to go practice dueling!" A boy with matching colored hair burst through the door, wielding a duel disk. His movements froze as he caught sight of us. "Sorry, am I interrupting something?"

"As a matter of fact, you are," I smirked. Something about this kid just begged for him to be picked on. "We adults were in the middle of a very important conversation."

"Oh really?" The boy crossed his arms over his chest. "I count three adults and an oversized infant."

My temper flared. "What was that, short stuff?"

"Leo, don't be rude!" Luna reprimanded. "I'm surprised you don't recognize them."

He tilted his head, looking from one of us to the other. "Now that you mention it, they do look kinda familiar."

"Don't blow a gasket with all that thinking." I smirked from over my drink.

"Go take a peek in the storage shed," Yusei hinted as Crow shook his head and mumbled something about younger generations being oblivious. "Something should click then."

I counted down the seconds as he darted out of the room and shook my head as he shouted incoherently, suddenly reappearing next to me with a slack jaw. "What was that you were saying just a few minutes ago?"

He slipped his duel disk off, holding it out to me. "Will you sign my disk? I"m sorry for what I said!"

"Hard to believe you didn't recognize the top three turbo duelists in the city," his sister giggled, earning a glare.

"I'll sign it on one condition," I said, pulling out a permanent marker and signing it. "You let me know if you hear anything suspicious, anything at all." Leo nodded and dashed out of the room once Yusei and Crow had signed, closely followed by his sister. Noticing the strange looks directed you way, I explained that having more eyes and ears could prove to be helpful.

We agreed that branching off for a while to get some rest was as good as any place to start. Yusei and Crow decided to stay at Martha's to visit a little more while I decided to hit the streets to do some thinking. Nothing could beat the feeling of my runner and the wind against my face...except Blue Eyes Coffee.

~L~A~F~

Shrieks filled the air as I pulled up to my favorite cafe. Dismounting, I casually tossed my helmet to one of the waitresses and sat in my designated spot underneath one of the white umbrellas. "I want a macchiato with a mocha shot and a croissant with toasted cheddar cheese."

Not three seconds later, the barista appeared next to my table, my order in her hands. "Here you are, Mr. Atlas, sir," she smiled, placing the dishes before me. "Enjoy!"

"Thanks." I lifted the cup to my lips and paused, recognizing the cup. It was the same one that Yusei had noted; light pink with almost wine red floral decals. Shrugging my shoulders, I continued to sip my drink, relishing the creamy yet rich taste.

"Are you sure that you should have used that cup?" I heard one of the waitresses ask the barista. "You know that that customer always requests us to serve their order with that cup." A customer likes this cup so much that they ask for their drinks to be served in it? The cup didn't look like anything special, it was just an ordinary cup.

"I'm not going to take back Mr. Atlas' cup," the barista shook her head. "I'll just have to deal with them when they get here."

"Miss," I waved her over. "Could you tell me a little about this customer that likes this particular cup?"

The barista fidgeted hesitantly. "Well, Mr. Atlas, sir, with all due respect-"

"When Jack Atlas asks a question, he expects an answer." I lifted my head, staring down at her.

Her face flushed a bright red. "They've been coming in for the past few years, always requesting a double caramel macchiato to be served in that particular cup."

"What does this bloke look like?"

"I don't know, sir," she bowed. "They wear a mask of plaster so we don't know what they look like. We don't even know if their gender, they speak with a strange machine that distorts their voice."

I waved her away as she apologized. So a strange customer wearing a mask shows up and demands the same type of coffee in this specific cup. They even go as far as to hide their voice. Glancing over at the barista, I noticed her nervously watching the clock above the door. Her lips were trembling, but they formed soundless words as the square clock began to chime: "First, they duel someone to build an appetite for their meal."

"Are you saying that they order something with their coffee?" I asked, standing and placing my empty cup on the bar. "What do they order?"

She jumped at my sudden closeness, her cheeks tinting pink. "T-they order a strawberry turnover with raspberry glaze as well as a lemon poppyseed muffin."

"And where does this person usually sit?"

She pointed over by the south window; the window that faced the west part of town. "Thanks for the coffee, miss, it was delicious, as usual," I said, turning and walking out the door. "If only I knew where this person liked to duel, I would go and challenge them myself."

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