First things first…I'M ALIVE! Big thanks to everyone for being so patient with me while we were recovering! The accident was pretty bad, the car was totaled and we were in a pinch financially but everything has finally smoothed over! This chapter is going back to the original style with Yusei's POV. From now on, it will all be in Yusei's POV, it's getting a bit hectic bouncing between characters. Let's see where this goes! I don't own rights to Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds!

Remove the Mask:

Rose Gold

I sighed, falling onto my bed with the files pulled up on my docreader. Martha had returned and chased each of us to our respective rooms for the night. Looks like we won't be pulling anymore all-nighters under her watch. My eyes darted between the two candidates, taking in each of their features as I settled into the bed.

Candidate A: "Autumn Gold". Copper colored hair gathered into braids that reached her shoulders, light olive complexion, hazel eyes that were almond-shaped, heart-shaped face, rounded cheekbones and nose, and lips as full as the moon in the sky. It seemed she favored the smokey look, judging from the many tutorials she had posted. She created the account on Floralbook over three years ago and had posted many pictures of various plants. It was linked to a UTube and Tweet. There were a few other pictures of her waving or smelling a flower. It seemed that she favored earthy tones; greens, golds, browns, and various shades of white were always present in her wardrobe choice.

Candidate B: "Rōzu Gold". Light auburn colored hair collected into a braided bun that sat atop her head with a few strands framing her face, revealing dark chocolate underneath. Her complexion was tinted pink, almost cat-like eyes were the color of butterscotch, heart-shaped face, small rounded nose, and a small mouth in the shape of cupid's bow that was similar in shade to her hair thanks to lipstick. On the bridge of her nose sat a pair of silver glasses in the shape of large rectangles. If she were smiling, her cheeks would have surely brushed them. She too had a Floralbook account, but that was about it. There were hardly any pictures of her, most if not all of the pictures she had were of plants. She seemed to lean towards warmer tones; reds, browns, golds, there was even a video of her showcasing her garden and she could be seen wearing a form-fitting red and black dress.

Both were unique in more ways than one, but they had their similarities. They had both gone to Duel Academy and graduated years ago, then moved onto their carriers. Autumn had become a marketing specialist for a popular floral company, Rōzu was working independently by running a private greenhouse. They were shown to have also won multiple awards in various competitions for their work. On the surface, they looked to be ordinary.

I sat upright and selected Autumn's files. Have to start somewhere, right? She was the oldest of six, single, grew up in Northern Domino, handful of friends, seemed to like coffee as much as Jack. Her public playlist was average, various in genres and time frames though it did appear that she preferred movie soundtracks. There were various pictures of her with other people that tagged them as "complicated". A half-smile wormed onto my face as I shook my head. "Complicated is exactly how it is." Raking a hand through my hair, I stretched and turned my attention to Rōzu.

My face twisted in confusion as an error message flashed across the screen. "No Data?" I checked the modem that was in the ceiling, found it blue. There wasn't anything wrong with the WiFi and there was data there earlier when we had first discovered her profile. I scanned over the info that we had copied from her profile when we were organizing who would check out who. It looks as though her profile is protected. Alarm filled me as more error messages began appearing, nearly covering my screen. Someone was hacking me! As quickly as I could, I began to set up firewalls and begin a reverse trace. It felt as if I was dueling, each of us exchanging hits and losing defenses. The trace was just homing in on a location when a connection window appeared.

"What do you think you're doing, looking through a girl's information?" an encrypted voice came through the speaker. "You're not half bad, I'll give you that much, but you're going to have to try harder if you're going to stalk some poor girl."

"This isn't what it looks like-"

"Spare me," the voice spat. "you won't fool me with your lies. Let me guess, you were just browsing the net when you came across the picture of a pretty girl and fell head over heels. So you decided to try and dig up what you could about her so you could stalk her since you don't have enough balls to just send a simple message."

One of my eyebrows rose. "I promise, this is nothing more than a misunderstanding." The voice laughed. "Listen to me, I'm not a stalker nor am I an enemy. I'm merely looking for someone that might be able to help me."

"Help you with your sick games and pleasures? No thanks."

I sweat dropped. How was I supposed to convince them that I'm not like that? Shifting to the edge of the bed, I pulled out my laptop and connected the docreader. "If you don't believe me, just turn on my webcam." This was an extremely gusty move. If they did, then they could turn me in to Security for hacking. I took a deep breath as silence filled the air, then focused on the green light at the top of the screen. "I'm only looking for the only person who might be able to help me find someone. My friend has been missing for years and Security has given up on finding her. I know she's out there somewhere and that she needs help."

An unfiltered sigh came through the speakers. "Didn't I tell your carrot-top friend to forget about her?" The screen flashed and a girl matching the photo filled the screen. She was shaking her head while rubbing her temples. "First carrot harasses me in the grocery store, someone goes after my driver, and now this?! I can't catch a break! Then again, this might be my lucky night. You're pretty cute!" My eyes widened the longer I studied her face. Crow wasn't kidding, she looked exactly like Akiza!

Anger filled me as she told me to forget about Akiza. "I would never forget her." I snapped, causing her to jump. "She's one of my closest friends, and I'll never give up on finding her. Even if it was to put my life in danger, I would still seek her out. I don't just 'forget and move on' like some people. I like to help my friends, no matter if they are near or far."

Her eyes narrowed as she came closer to the camera, causing her features to distort slightly. "Wait a minute, I think I know you from somewhere…" With shaking hands, she removed her glasses and her hands rose to cover her mouth. Confusion filled me as she suddenly disappeared from the screen then reappeared with something in her hands. "I never thought that you actually existed…"

"What are you talking about?" Her shock was beginning to concern me, especially with how much she was shaking.

Shaking her head, she turned whatever was in her hand and it felt as if an elephant suddenly decided to take a seat on my chest as she began apologizing. "I'm sorry, but I'm not Akiza, but I knew her." It was a picture frame with multiple snapshots- including a copy of one that we had of her birthday!

"Where did you get that?" I whispered, unable to stop myself from pulling out my own picture and showing it to her. It was the four of us around a table, eagerly waiting to dig into Akiza's birthday cake. They had given Crow, Jack, and myself a copy of the original when she first disappeared. How did this girl get her hands on one?

"I need to start from the beginning," she sighed, placing the picture off to the side. "but not like this." Her eyes darted across the screen. "It looks like there's another outside party trying to break into your system. Let me reinforce it for you, it's the least I could do after the ordeal I'm about to put you through. Meet me at the underground duels tomorrow. We can talk then, and bring your two friends with you, they will need to hear what I have to say."

"Is she alive?" Her movements froze. The room seemed to fade away as she refused to look at the camera as she resumed typing. "Answer me! Is. She. Alive."

"Last I knew," she sighed. "yes." The relief I felt was short lived as she looked the camera dead on. "The last time I saw her was ten years ago, at that point she was breathing. I heard through the grapevine of rumors that she passed away roughly six years ago. I'm sorry to leave you like that, but they are about to trace us. I'm sending you some files. I'll be waiting for you three tomorrow night." And the screen went dark.

Horror filled me. There was no way… My hands trembled as I opened it and the picture fell from my grasp as the headlines of articles appeared: CHILD KIDNAPPER AT LARGE, KIDNAPPED CHILDREN FOUND DEAD, KIDNAPPER PLEADS NOT GUILTY, DEAD CHILDREN UNIDENTIFIABLE DUE TO HORROR. "What the hell is this?" I shoved the laptop away as I stood and began pacing as videos of the articles began to play. None of this made any sense! We would have heard about this! Picking up my cell, I dialed the Izinski home phone. Mr. Tanaka picked up on the second ring, but I wasn't making a social call. I questioned him about the articles and my heart sank as he reluctantly admitted that her parents had feared the worst that she had been one of the dismembered children. "Her case is one in the same as these?! If they did, then why did they approach me?"

"Mr. Yusei, if I may be so bold, you too kept hope all this time. It was bound to spread," he sighed into the phone. "You didn't hear this from me, but there have been strange things happening ever since the case was closed. There have been phone calls of someone playing a piano." Just like the call Crow was getting. "That is why the mistress was so poor in health for the longest time. The calls still come but they aren't as frequent, and she finds peace in the music that is playing."

"But they never found her, right?" I pressed, leaning against the wall next to the window.

"Correct. There weren't any that matched Miss Akiza's description."

"Then it is possible that she is still alive." It was as if my heart suddenly had a fire in it the more I processed the information that had come to light. It grew as he mentioned that the kidnapper had been hired by someone, but it was never revealed as to who it was. We wouldn't be able to find out anyway, he had been sentenced to the injection a few short weeks after the case had been closed. "I'm sorry to have bothered you so late, have a good night." Ending the call and placing the phone on the nightstand, I turned my attention back to the laptop. One of the articles contained the man's statement and photo, matching the one we have from the surveillance camera.

"They contacted me, I never contacted them. I worked as a security system programmer and one of the higher ups offered me a side job that paid double what I was making. They said they needed me to alter the systems of a few households one day. Then they told me that I needed to follow up and examine the system by running a simulator. I was only doing what I was told, I never imagined that the simulator was more than just a test."

I shook my head as I absentmindedly reached up and touched the marking on my face. Security has come a long way from the days of mistrial. My eyes darted over the rest of the files that Rōzu sent, my breath catching as I noticed a zipped folder named "Arcadia Movement". Arcadia Movement was the place that we tried to check out at the address that I had been given. "Looks like I've struck rose gold."

Well? What do you guys think? Let me know in the comments!