"Ladies and gen-in-tlemen! Gen…gentittlemen…Gen…gen…"

"Gentle. Men. Gentlemen," Yoko chuckled at her six-year-old.

"Gentle…men…" he repeated slowly.

"That's it. You've got it."

"Okay! I'm gonna try again, Mom," Yuya announced as he held his arms out wide. "Ladies and gent…tlemen!"

"Very good," Yoko smiled. "I don't know why that word is tripping you up so much."

"Do I sound just like Daddy?" Yuya bounced on his toes.

"Yup," the woman crouched down in front of him. "You're gonna give him a run for his money one day, if you keep it up."

"Is that good?" the boy cocked his head to the side.

"That's very good," Yoko brushed her son's chin.

Yuya beamed.

"Dad said I was getting better at dueling! He told me yesterday, Mom!"

"Yes, I remember. He told me, too," she smiled. "It's all he talked about for the rest of the night. He's so proud of you."

"I wanna do like Dad does in his duels!"

"I know you do. And if you want to learn how to be an entertainer, your father is definitely the best person to teach you."

As if on cue, Yusho came in the front door.

"Daddy!" cried Yuya as he rushed toward the man.

"Yuya!" the man mimicked his excitement.

"Are we gonna go out and duel today? Are we? Are we?"

Yusho smiled at the boy, who was jumping eagerly up and down beside him; he chuckled as he placed a hand on the boy's head to calm him.

"We sure can, son. That is if your mother doesn't kill me first."

"Huh?" Yuya blinked.

"Oh?" Yoko cocked an eyebrow as she stopped in front of her husband. "And why exactly would I do that?"

"All right, well, I have done a thing," Yusho started brightly.

"A thing?" Yoko narrowed her eyes.

"And I definitely should have consulted with you first."

The woman raised her eyebrows as she inhaled sharply through her nose.

"But I had a thought," he held up an index finger, still cheerful despite his wife's stare.

"Yusho Sakaki, what have you done this time?" Yoko placed her hands on her hips.

"I bought a building."

There was a pregnant pause. Yuya looked between his parents in confusion, his father still smiling.

"You bought a what now?" Yoko demanded.

"Hear me out!" Yusho held up his hands.

"Are you serious?"

"Very."

"Who just goes out and buys an entire building?"

"Hang on, my love. Let me explain!" Yusho laughed, despite his wife's demeanor.

"You'd better have a good explanation or else that building of yours is going to become your new home, Yusho," the woman threatened.

"No!" whined Yuya as he peered up at his mother who kept her sharp gaze firmly pointed at her husband.

Yusho placed his hands on Yuya's shoulders and gave him a comforting squeeze.

"All right. So you know how there are duel schools?" Yusho began.

Yoko furrowed her eyebrows at the abrupt question.

"…Obviously."

"Well those schools are teaching the kids about deck building, and strategizing, and special summoning, right? But I was thinking – and it's all thanks to Yuya here," Yusho clapped the bewildered boy on the shoulder, who looked up at him. "You see, while we were out practicing our dueling yesterday, it dawned on me that he wants to learn Entertainment Dueling. And then I thought about little Yuzu and how she is interested in being a Dueltainer as well. And if Yuzu and Yuya both want to entertain a crowd, then wouldn't it be fair to say that there are probably other children who want to as well?"

"…Yes?"

"That's what I thought!" Yusho exclaimed, his outburst so boisterous it caused both his wife and son to jump in surprise. "Kids want to learn Entertainment Dueling! But there aren't any schools out there with a curriculum for that. And I thought, well that's not right! How can kids learn this subtle art if there's no one dedicated to teaching them how to do it properly? So…"

"So you bought a building in order to turn it into a duel school," Yoko finished.

"Yes! One that focuses on Entertainment Dueling. It'll be the first of its kind, my love! Can't you see it?" he pulled her into his side and gestured broadly in front of them as though there were a movie screen there. "It'll be a safe and fun place for kids to learn all about how to become Dueltainers. It'll be fantastic. What do you think, my love?"

"What do I think?" Yoko's voice was stern as she pushed away from her husband. "You bought this place on a whim. How much of this did you really think through? Because I assume this place needs fixed up a bit, right?"

"Well…yes. But – "

"And in order to practice Action Duels, you'll need to buy an ARC system."

"Yeah, but – "

"And have you thought about tuition fees and drawing up admission papers?"

"It's not all ironed out yet, but – "

"What if – Heaven forbid –a student gets hurt?"

"We'll have first aid. We're not savages, Yoko!"

"And how many teachers will be employed, Yusho? And how much will they be paid?"

"Well…that's something to figure out later."

"Will you be teaching too?"

"Yes."

"And setting up publicity for the school?"

"I'm a Pro Duelist, my love. I know all about publicity."

"Which brings up another concern. Who's going to be in charge if you go out of town for duels? What if you're in a tournament and have to focus on that? What if someone challenges you to a duel – home or away – and you need to prepare? What if you're on a publicity tour? Who heads the school and deals with the payroll and all of that while you're away? Or are you retiring from the pro circuit and just focusing on teaching now?"

"No!" cried Yuya as he hugged his father.

"Don't worry, Yuya. I'm not retiring yet," Yusho smiled as he patted his son on the head, then turned his attention back onto his wife. "Listen. I thought about that."

"Did you?" she folded her arms while raising a skeptic eyebrow.

"Yes," he laughed. "I have it all figured out. See I need a partner to help me out, someone who can oversee everything when I cannot. Someone who is just as dedicated as I am. Someone filled with a fierce, burning passion."

"Skip," the woman stated.

"Who better?" Yusho extended his arms widely in gesture. "He was a Pro Duelist once. He knows how the business works and how to wow crowds. And he's very dedicated. Plus he'll get to spend more time with Yuzu if she attends. And Skip understands business – he was very good with the business-side of his dueling career, remember? Plus he hates what he's doing now. He'll jump at this. So what do you say, Yoko?"

"I say that I wish you would have talked with me first," she said flatly. "Opening a business is a huge undertaking."

"But, my love, it struck me so suddenly: the idea of a school that teaches the skill of Entertainment Dueling, alongside the rest of the basics, of course. I just couldn't contain myself. And we were looking into schools to send Yuya to anyway, so now he'll just go to ours. What do you think, Yuya? Would you like to go to a duel school like that?"

"I'll go to your school, Daddy!"

"That's the spirit, son!" Yusho picked up the boy and squeezed him tightly. "So? What say you, my love? Yuya's onboard."

"Don't get me wrong. I think it's a fantastic idea," she spoke. "A lot of little ones look up to you, Yusho. So I do think that a duel school with a focus on entertainment could work. And with your celebrity dueling status, I think you'd draw a lot of business to it. But I think there are still a lot of things that need ironed out…and I just can't stress enough that you should have discussed this with me before you went and bought a place…"

"You know me," Yusho gave a nonchalant shrug. "Plus I had to swoop in on it. Who knows if it still would have been available had we waited to come up with a concrete business strategy first!"

Yoko rolled her eyes but gave her husband a kiss on the cheek.

"You better not have sunk our entire life savings into this, though," she warned. "If I go to the store, and my card gets declined…"

"Not gonna happen. Don't worry," Yusho chuckled, though Yoko noted a few sweat beads forming on her husband's brow.

"All right," she sighed. "I mean you've already bought it, so there isn't much else to say other than let's do it."

"Yes!" Yusho grinned, causing a smile to explode onto Yuya's face as well. "Come! I'll take you guys to see it."

"Yay!" cried Yuya.

"But out of curiosity, exactly how much TLC does this place need, Yusho?"

"Um…a little. It's not in bad shape or anything. We may have to remodel a bit here and there. It'll be fine."

Yoko stared directly into her husband's eyes, making him sweat a bit and adjust his kerchief nervously.

"What's wrong, Dad? Are you in trouble?" asked Yuya.

Yusho turned his head to the left and gave his son a smile.

"As a husband, I'm always in trouble, son."

"Yeah," Yoko folded her arms over her chest again. "I can tell that your 'little bit' of TLC and 'bit' of remodeling is going to cost us…."

Yusho rolled his lips inward while furrowing is brows before giving a sheepish glance toward his wife.

"Mhm. Well you better savor your time with Yuya and me tonight because it sounds like you're going to have to live on the dueling field in order to pay for these expenses for awhile."

Yusho grimaced while Yuya cocked his head to the side.

"Live on the dueling field?" the boy repeated. "But Daddy can't live there. There's no potty."

Both adults laughed.

"Your mother just meant that I'll need to host a lot of duels in the upcoming future," Yusho explained.

"Oh!" Yuya chirped. "Then that's okay! I like seeing you duel!"

"That's good because that's literally all he'll have time to do from now on."

"Hey! I'll still be able to manage some free time. I promise you it's not as bad as you think, Yoko."

The woman continued to stare him down, her eyes narrowing as her index finger tapped against her arm.

"I promise!" he insisted.

"I'll be the judge of that," she spoke.

"Well all right!" a smile lit up Yusho's face. "Come on. Let's go."

Yoko sighed as Yusho turned around and opened the door for her. He was too excited to be intimidated right now.

"You're not off the hook yet," she informed him.

"I know," he smiled.

She sighed again. There was going to be no stopping this man. She stepped forward.

"So since you are so dead set on this, what are you going to call this school of yours, Yusho?" the woman asked as she crossed his path.

"Hm. I don't know yet. But I'm sure we'll think of something."

DGG: And there you have it! A random update. Sorry for the delay, but I'm pretty sure my mental health is decaying from the inside out, and I literally have little to no motivations or ambitions. So writing has taken a backseat, so there will probably be even more delays. I just cannot focus anymore. I'm a little surprised that I was able to churn this out. So...I guess the status of this story isn't off hiatus, but it's like...hiatus-ish? Hiatus-esque? Pseudo-hiatus? I don't know. If/when I can think of something, I will definitely try to write it out and post it, but, like I said, lately my mind has turned to mush and I have lost interest in a lot of things.

So...there you are. You got a random story update AND a random update about my crumbling life! Bonus update. Haha.

Anyway, thanks for reading and hopefully reviewing. I'll be back. Eventually...