Soryu Island

(Selector Spread Wixoss OST: Battle ~ Limit)

As the sound of the sea breeze whistled across the top of the fortress ruins, Ruko, Jillian, Sharlene and Kamui could only stare at the two participants of the fight before them, now that the latest in a partial revelation had seemingly been uncovered about one of them in particular. Kiyoi remained still as she absorbed everything that Kai had deduced from her recent behaviour as of late, still unnerved from the fact that she had imaged part of her past memories against her own will and now, he knew the exact reason behind her distrust of people. Her teeth had been gritted since the image had ended, still angry with him for making her touch upon a such a subject.

"I have every much right not to trust any of you," she hissed as she clenched the remaining cards she held in her hand "So what gives you the right to know about my past?!"

"My intention wasn't necessarily to learn of your history prior to the Selector Battles," he replied calmly "But it would seem that image has revealed a little more about the way you are now. Those memories have been affecting you since we arrived on this island and you challenged me to a fight with the intention of 'burying' them forever and to prove a single point, that the only one you believe a person should trust is only themselves."

Everyone on the sidelines could only look at Kiyoi, still unable to fathom that she would think of them the way that she was doing so right now after everything she and Amika had been through on the previous day. In truth, the majority knew that getting Kamui to tell them everything he knew about Sakaguchi and what Remember had done to her was part of the reason that she was angry at them in the first place.

"Is this what you had planned from the beginning?" she murmured "Forcing me to image my memories and torment me further? All to say that my preference of isolation is wrong?"

"If you take issue with what I saying to you, prove it in the fight," Kai replied resolutely "It is still your turn."

The former blue LRIG gazed back down on the field in front of her, recalling that Ethics Buster Extreme was still powered up thanks to the Break Ride ability of the previous Ethics Buster, granting her a greater attack advantage in the coming Battle Phase. Despite this though, a part of her was still agitated greatly from imaging part of her past earlier and now most of her calmer focus from the beginning of the fight had faded.

I won't allow those images to haunt me again! she thought resolutely I said I wouldn't do it earlier... but if the only way to bury them is to picture the fight, then so be it!

"Hatred Chaos attacks your rear-guard Tarayev!"

On the field imaged in Kai's mind, Hatred Chaos glowed a bright orange for a brief instance as it was being boosted by Max Beat for its coming attack. The bipedal Beast Deity then leaped high into the air, performing a somersault in the highest point of its jump before landing a large kick on Tarayev, knocking the Dragon Knight out completely before it was retired in a flurry of sparks. The Kagero user through his image of Dragonic Overlord gazed towards Ethics Buster who for the first time since the fight had begun had its eyes no longer in a lifeless blank state.

"Brainy Papio attacks Dragonic Overlord!" Kiyoi's voice echoed as the other Beast Deity launched a barrage of missiles from its head.

"Guard!" Kai called as he placed down Genjo's card on the Guardian circle.

After moving the card to his drop zone, he gazed back to his opponent, noticing that she was quietly but heavily breathing to herself as she rested Ethics Buster Extreme's card, signalling the next attack.

"Break Ride skill..." she spoke, trying to keep her hectic breathing in check as Kamui suddenly noticed "I stand all my front row along with Riot Horn with its own skill!"

Within the image, the eyes of Riot Horn, Hatred Chaos and Brainy Papio glowed brightly as they all took offensive stances once more in preparation for the next attacks. Dragonic Overlord remained motionless as Ethics Buster dashed across the battlefield in massive, yet swift strides towards it as Kai assessed the situation, particuarly from the damage he currently had.

"No guard," he spoke.

"Twin drive...!" Kiyoi called, revealing the first card as Solar Falcon "With the Limit Break, I stand Max Beat!"

Immediately after standing the only remaining Beast Deity in Rest back up, all of her rear-guards were now ready to attack once again at full power. She then moved on to her second check, revealing Beast Deity, Death Stinger.

"Critical Trigger! I give power to Papio and the Critical to Ethics Buster."

Beast Deity, Brainy Papio/POW: 9000 - 14000

Strongest Beast Deity, Ethics Buster Extreme/Critical: 1 - 2

Ethics Buster Extreme reeled back its large right fist as it leaped into the air before throwing a massive right hook towards Dragonic Overlord who skidded back across the battlefield from the force of the blow. Kai wordlessly conducted his damage check as a second Dragonic Overlord along with Blue Ray Dracokid entered his damage zone.

"Kai's got 5 damage!" Tama gasped.

"And Kiyoi still has two attacks left," Ruko murmured.

The Selector looked to Kiyoi, still unable to believe that one of the first LRIGs she had ever seen, let alone met within her time from fighting within the Selector System prior to Kai's arrival in her world, was the same person that was fighting right in front of her. A part of her now was feeling bad for her, given that this incident was personal to her and that she and Kai had asked Kamui to disclose it without her permission which had accounted for his strange behaviour when they first arrived on the island.

Looking to her right, she could see that the Nova Grappler user had his fists clenched as he stared on towards Kiyoi as well, pondering why he was being this way.

I didn't think whatever happened was this bad for Kiyoi...! he muttered in his thoughts But still... she can't really be thinking of Amika at least the same way she's viewing us now!

"Hatred Chaos attacks!" she declared.

"Kimnara," Kai calmly responded as he revealed the Grade 1 unit from his hand.

On the imaged battlefield, Brainy Papio then leaped up into the air and unleashed a second barrage of missiles that came soaring towards Dragonic Overlord with the intent of ending the fight right here. Nehalem and the dragon he rode atop of then moved in front of the Kagero commander as the Dragon Knight held out his shield in front to intercept one of the missiles. The projectile exploded on contact, knocking the two out of the fight, but keeping Overlord otherwise unharmed as a result of the effort to defend it.

(End Music)

Back on the table, Kiyoi could only glance at the overall result, having only managed to land one successful attack throughout the entire turn with just Ethics Buster and removing Kai's entire row even allowing her to take the lead by a small margin. Although she wasn't frustrated with the overall turn, she was still acting cautious in the event that she would end up imaging something again when she didn't want to, in addition to her lack of trust in the people around her for what happened earlier in the day.

"Is that the best your 'outlook' could accomplish?"

She glanced at the Kagero user who had merely asked out that question in response to his deduction on her reasoning that the only person one should ever trust is themselves.

"The ideal of isolation and believing that you can only trust one's self... I once believed that myself," he continued as he drew his next card "I once believed that true strength could be sought down that road through one's lone potential. But, that led to an isolation that set me down the darkness and as a result..."

"That was when you worked with Chaos Breaker," Kiyoi interjected "Even if you say you no longer serve it, who is to say some of its influence still resides within you."

"Hold it right there!"

Everyone then looked to Kamui who had chosen to interject his view on the matter at hand, deciding to speak out his mind on the whole subject in regards to Kai's previous affiliation with Reverse and the aftermath of it after Aichi had brought him out of it.

"Kamui...?" Sharlene pondered.

"I may have a lot of my mind to say about Kai, but I know for a fact he's not the same guy he was back then!" he replied "If he's still with Chaos Breaker like you think, then why did he help us save Aichi onii-san?! Why did he help him save Ruko?! Heck, Remember could have still killed Amika's mom after we won had it not been for him stepping in!"

"And the point is...?" Kiyoi questioned, narrowing her gaze towards the Nova Grappler user.

"The point is that you're only seeing the people around you as just your enemy for little reason!" Kamui responded "If you keep going like that, you're gonna have no one to turn to when things get tough!"

The former blue LRIG then clenched her open fist as she glanced over towards him, her earlier anger having slowly begun to return back to her. As she was about to stand up and storm over to him to teach him a lesson in provoking her feelings personally once more, she suddenly stumbled as an image began rolling into the back of her mind once again.

"Again...?!" she hissed as the memory began to play before her once more, leaving everyone with the exception of Kai who gazed closely at her, pondering what was happening this time.

Flashback

On a cloudy day after school had finished up, a disgruntled Kiyoi was leaving the school in a bad mood. Even when Sakaguchi had been following her around for the past few weeks, she had always stuck to her ideal of isolation and trusting no one but herself. Certainly, she felt that perhaps there was a time when believed that could have been a different outcome in regards to the individual herself, but she felt that was to no avail. Speaking of whom, the girl herself had hurried up to Kiyoi and tried to reach out for her left hand, only for the latter to pull it away in a hostile manner.

"What's with you Kiyoi?" she asked in her usual energetic self, though her tone was laced with a small bit of concern "Did I do something? Didn't you promise to battle today?"

"You were so annoying...!"

Sakaguchi then blinked in confusion, wondering why it was that Kiyoi was suddenly acting so hostile towards her. The girl who would later become Piruluk turned her head a little to her left, her angry gaze falling upon the girl who had followed her.

"Kiyoi...?" she pondered.

"I thought that you'd give up if I'd agreed to do it, but you really are just a stubborn one," Kiyoi hissed "I hate Wixoss. And... I hate people like you."

A shocked Sakaguchi could only take a step back, still in disbelief to what the person she was trying to make her friend was telling at right this very second as a harsh wind whistled around them.

"It would seem that my presumption these 14 years have continued to hold true," she continued in her harsh tone "So I advise leaving me alone... for our own good!"

And with that, she broke off into a run that took her further into the streets ahead, wanting to get away from it all. She believed that she was foolish for even thinking for a second that Sakaguchi was no different that any other person she had encountered, simply another human being hiding their own intent for her, whatever that might be. And she wanted to be away from it all.

"Wait Kiyoi...!" cried Sakaguchi as she ran off after her.

But Kiyoi was so busy being deep in thought and wanting to get away from the girl now chasing her as far away as possible, she wasn't paying close enough attention to where exactly she was going. In the midst of her running, she had ran out into an open road and had not known that she was even hurrying across the hard stretch of tarmac.

"Kiyoi...!"

By the time Kiyoi had finally registered Sakaguchi's call to her, before she could snap back at the girl in a fit of anger, a noise finally brought her back to reality, seemingly all too late. It was the sound of a horn and looking up, the girl who would later be a Selector looked up to see a truck coming straight towards her and she was right in the middle of its path. Before the seemingly inevitable could happen all at once, she felt herself being shoved right onto the pavement on the far side, just as the truck had collided with something else.

Clutching her head in pain from landing on the hard surface, Kiyoi opened up her eyes and could only stare at the sight before her in horror. People were now gathered onto the road itself as the very 'thing' that had saved her from being hit by the truck in the first place was Sakaguchi herself, who lay motionless on the hard stretch of tarmac. Realizing what had just happened, Kiyoi slowly came to the realization that she had sacrificed herself to save her and that it was her own ignorance and stubborness in her own beliefs that had led to this very accident. An accident that should have had her as the victim instead of the innocent girl who had chased her around, wanting to befriend her all this time.

Present

With the memory having come to an end, Kiyoi had a single hand covered over her eyes in a complete state of chaos, leaving everyone else to wonder what exactly was going on as Kai then placed the card he drew into his hand and picked out a different one from the ones that was already in there since the previous turn.

"The ideal of isolation and a definition of trust you sternly follow," he spoke "Mizushima Kiyoi... I am going to burn that belief to nothing. Final Turn!"

Kiyoi then removed the hand from her eyes as she then heard his declaration, resuming her attention back to the fight, albeit with her focus now completely rocked and shaken from the memory she had just relived. Kai then held the card he had chosen right into the air as he spoke out a ride chant that was unfamiliar to everyone watching as he revealed a new unit none of them had seen him use beforehand.

"The fires of Perdition, rage before us and unveil your physical manifestation before us!" he declared as he threw down the card on top of Dragonic Overlord's "Break Ride the Vanguard!"

On the imaged battlefield, Dragonic Overlord roared as it vanished in a large column of flames as a brand new dragon began to emerge from the raging inferno. Kiyoi, now imaging the fight for herself willingly, could only cover her face with one arm through the form of Ethics Buster Extreme. This new dragon had mostly brown and red colours with a large gun wielded in its right claw and a large shield its left in addition to wearing a dark purplish coloured cloak behind its back. Its green eyes gazed upon the leading Beast Deity as it roared loudly to signal its presence for combat.

"Perdition Dragon... Break Down Dragon!"

Perdition Dragon, Break Down Dragon/Grade 3/Twin Drive/SLD: 0/POW: 11000 - 21000/Dragon Empire/Kagero/Flame Dragon

"Break Down Dragon...?" Kamui pondered, confused as to why he had not seen this unit before.

"That's a new one," Sharlene murmured.

"I might have allowed him to fish around in our drawer from last night..." Jillian interjected as the others beside her looked at the older twin curiously "What?"

"Call!"

Everyone then looked back to the fight in front of them to see Kai call out a third Perdition Dragon Knight, Tarayev along with two copies of another new unit named Demonic Dragon Mage, Mahoraga and a familiar essence in Gattling Claw Dragon. After that was down, he then held out his hand over Break Down Dragon to declare his next action.

"Seek the mate!"

(Cardfight! Vanguard G NEXT Unreleased Soundtrack: Shiranui's Last Stand)

A golden aura surrounded Break Down Dragon within the image as it roared out loudly as the afterimages of four cards, that being Genjo, Calamity Tower Wyvern, another Tarayev and Blue Ray Dracokid appeared for a brief instance before a bright flash caused them to vanish. At the same time, within a torrent of flames, the Tarayev that was returned to the deck suddenly appeared to the right of Break Down Dragon as a Legion symbol flashed to all, along with Kai's announcement.

"Legion!"

Perdition Dragon, Break Down Dragon and Perdition Dragon Knight, Tarayev/POW: 30000

"30000 power from the Break Ride and the Legion..." Yuki breathed "Incredible."

"Gattling Claw Dragon's skill," Kai spoke as he turned one of the five cards in his damage zone face down "I retire Riot Horn. My two Mahoragas gain 5000."

Kiyoi, though still rattled from her earlier memory, managed to move the card to her drop zone without any further issues.

"Furthermore, Break Down's Legion skill," he continued "Burn down her left column!"

On the battlefield, Break Down Dragon roared loudly as it caught both Hatred Chaos and Max Beat in its sight before immediately charging up for a large blast of energy with its large gun. After a few long seconds, it unleashed a torrent of flames from the firearm, scorching the two Beast Deity units to nothing but ashes as the fire eventually subsided. A glowing aura enveloped the two Mahoragas and the rear-guard Tarayev as all of them powered up from the effect that had just gone off to give Kai this chance to turn the tables.

Perdition Dragon Knight, Tarayev (RG)/POW: 9000 - 19000

Demonic Dragon Mage, Mahoraga x2/POW: 10000 - 20000

"All but one of her rear-guards are gone!" Kamui exclaimed.

"And if we know Overlord like we always do," Ruko murmured.

"Break Down Dragon and Tarayev attack Brainy Papio!" Kai declared.

Kiyoi simply moved the card to her drop zone, having had no intention to guard against this attack in the first place as she suddenly felt herself shaking.

"Twin drive," the Kagero user spoke as he first revealed another Nehalem followed by Embodiment of Spear, Tahr "Got a Critical Trigger. I give the power to Tarayev and the Critical to my Legion."

Within the image, Tarayev and Break Down Dragon combined their attacks together to knock the remaining Brainy Papio out of the battle as they were powered up by part of the trigger that had just been pulled. The lone Ethics Buster, imaged by Kiyoi could only stare at the many patches of smoke pouring from the cracked ground around her, confirming one thing that she already knew. She was now alone thanks to the skills of Kai's units and now had to rely on the cards that were still in her hand to survive the rest of the turn.

"Break Ride skill!" Kai's voice echoed "My Legion stands after attacking a rear-guard!"

Through the image of the unit that was her Vanguard, Kiyoi gazed up at the towering presence of Break Down Dragon and Tarayev who were now being prepared for the next attack, this time with the power boost coming from Sadegh. Again, the feeling that she was shaking had returned back to her, unsure of why this was even happening in the first place.

This is just an image of the game...! I have no issue with being alone...! she muttered in her thoughts And yet... why am I shaking?!

"This is the end," Kai's voice echoed as the Legioned pair immediately charged up energy within both the gun and the spear that they held respectively "With Sadegh's boost and Break Down's other skill, I attack your Vanguard!"

Perdition Dragon, Break Down Dragon and Perdition Dragon Knight, Tarayev/POW: 30000 - 33000 - 38000/Critical: 2

"Perfect Guard...!" Kiyoi called as Solar Falcon materialized in front of Ethics Buster and deployed a large green circle that took the full brunt of the blast.

Back in reality, the former blue LRIG could only stare at the remaining cards she held, knowing that whatever the Kagero user would pull from this next Twin Drive would ultimately determine the outcome of the game.

"Check the drive trigger," he spoke as he revealed the first card as Dragonic Overlord. Picking up the second card, he revealed it as another Blue Ray Dracokid "Got a Critical Trigger. I give all the effects to my rear-guard Tarayev."

Rather than emoting any kind of shock or surprise, Kiyoi through her image of Ethics Buster stared up at the other Tarayev as he dashed across the battlefield towards the giant battleroid.

(End Music)

"Kiyoi!" Kai's voice echoed "As long as you allow your fear of trusting others to get the better of you, you won't move on from where you are now!"

And with that, the Dragon Knight immediately leaped up and thrust its spear right into the chest panel of Ethics Buster, causing it to leak sparks as it thrashed around in pain before falling to the ground on one knee. This had indicated the end of the fight and that Kai had been victorious as afterimages of Brainy Papio and the Critical Trigger known as Red Lightning flashed briefly before the form of Ethics Buster vanished in a bright orange glow. Back to reality, everyone could only stare at Kiyoi as she then dropped the remaining cards she had been holding onto throughout the Final Turn and ran past those that were watching from the sidelines, hurrying down the steps as she did so.

"Kiyoi...!" Kamui called as he turned around to try and follow her.

"Wait Kamui...!" Ruko interjected "If you're not careful...!"

"I think I get it now what she was saying to me this morning!" he replied "I gotta fix my screw up if we're gonna sort out her trust issues!"

The Selector could then only watch as the Nova Grappler user hurried down the steps back into the fortress ruins in pursuit of Kiyoi, hoping to find a way to put an end to her perceptions of the people around her and to make up for his earlier mistake in speaking of Sakaguchi to the others without her proper consent beforehand. Before she could follow him, Kai had placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Let him," he spoke.

"But I'm worried Kiyoi might do something to him again if he doesn't choose his words right," she replied as she looked down to Yuki, wanting her opinion on the matter.

"From what I can see, Kai's fight has helped us grasp the gravity of the situation," the girl of black replied "But in this instance now, this is Katsuragi's matter to sort out and his alone."

Everyone then looked down the steps and could only wait for the time being, hoping that Kamui could finish what Kai had started through the cardfight and put an end to the ideology that Kiyoi had always stuck to for nearly all of her life.


Deeper into the corridors, Kiyoi could only keep running as she tried to ignore the various memories and images that she had relived and experienced respectively throughout the cardfight she had challenged Kai to. Things did not go according to plan for her as those same images and memories refused to leave her mind and now, the fact that the trembling she had felt on the final turn of the fight through her image had not left her body at all was only serving to further discomfort her as she eventually entered the kitchen area, slamming down her hands on the table in frustration.

Why won't they go away...?! she cried within her thoughts These painful memories... that shaking...!

"Kiyoi!"

Gritting her teeth once more, she gazed to her right without so much as tilting her head in the slightest as Kamui came up towards the doorway to the kitchen, panting from being almost out of breath in hurrying down the corridor in his attempt to search the place for her.

"I have no interest in talking with you!" she huffed "I trusted you to keep your mouth shut about something personal to me and...!"

"I know! I messed up badly and you're mad at me for it!" the Nova Grappler replied "But there's something I'm not getting out of all this."

The former blue LRIG then stood up and walked a little towards him whilst keeping her head down, still seething with anger towards him whilst also having been shaken earlier in the fight by her memories.

"And what is it that you don't get...?" Kiyoi hissed, barely able to keep herself restrained at this point.

"You said that you don't trust others for your own reasons," Kamui answered as he came up to her "And that's been bothering me. Putting Amika aside, why is Sakaguchi different from all of us? What's with those freak outs you've been having? Why won't you tell us what's really going on?!"

Then before he knew it, in the very last single moment after he had spoken out his questions in an attempt to push through to her, she had her raised her right arm and then...

SMACK!

Within that single moment, Kamui could only stumble backwards a little ways as he winced in pain from a stinging sensation he was feeling on his right cheek. Kiyoi had slapped him in a fit of rage and he was the target of her anger once again. A familiar sense of deja vu at first was seemingly replaying at the back of his mind, expecting her to continue her angry rant towards him him like she did earlier in the morning. Only this time, things were playing out rather differently than he had thought they would.

From what the Nova Grappler user saw of the girl, the former blue LRIG had been through a lot today and he could see that now. The person in front of him wasn't just angry with him or the others for what had transpired during the day, but she was also crying, now unable to keep her pent up emotions in check any longer.

"I admit it!" she growled, her tone slowly growing louder "I was the one responsible for Sakaguchi's coma in the first place! This is the answer you wanted Katsuragi Kamui! Are you happy now?!"

Kamui although partly shaken from the angry and much louder tone that Kiyoi had addressed him with, immediately regained his composure after seeing now that this was the reason she had been upset with him in the first place. All this time, even without his personal knowledge of the actual events that led to Sakaguchi's accident, she never wanted to tell anyone about this because she still blamed herself for what happened to the person who wanted to become her friend. Although much of her anger had been now spent upon him, he still had to be very careful with his next choice of words or a slap to the face would be the least of his problems.

"Look... I'm sorry I went and blabbed about Sakaguchi without asking..." he said in a more sincere tone, deciding that shouting back at her wasn't going to do him any good "I don't know how exactly to help people with these kinds of problems you and someone else I know had. That's why I told Kai and the others in the first place."

Kiyoi, although still brimming with anger from her earlier rant, had stopped crying any more tears for the time being and kept a close eye on the Nova Grappler user, listening carefully to what he was telling her.

"I didn't think it was bigger than what Remember pulled and I get it now," he continued "You've always been on your own and you've always thought that's the way you have to live it out. But you've gotta stop beating yourself up over this! Even if you say you caused Sakaguchi's coma, you didn't kill her in the first place and you helped saved Amika's mom from biting it!"

He then dug into his orange hoodie's pocket and picked out the photo that Amika's mother had taken of the three of them had taken at the former Selector's house before the two of them had left for Sakaguchi's grave during that same day.

"Do you really want to push us away just because of whatever happened then?"

(Selector Infected Wixoss OST: Profane Wish)

Slowly as Kiyoi looked at the photo that she took from Kamui, she then looked at specifically Amika, recalling that the Selector was bound to question where exactly the two of them had disappeared to whilst also being unaware of the circumstances that brought them to this world. Then after thinking back over everything the two of them had been through up to this point, even to the battle they had against Remember and the Link Joker units she had commandeered then, her anger slowly began to fade away as she had begun to realize what exactly she had said during her cardfight against Kai in the midst of her anger and frustration.

She had been willing to throw away her friendship that she had formed with Amika during her time as Piruluk and even after she had been returned to her body through means of Miyako, all just to keep the truth of her anxiety a secret and isolate herself from the rest of humanity to be alone. The former blue LRIG soon realized that she had very much had almost made the same mistake that had led to her playing a part in Sakaguchi's accident that resulted in her coma and she hadn't been aware of it until now, in a metaphorical manner of speaking.

"To tell you truth... I never liked you at first, even after finding out that it was Remember that beat me back home and not you," Kamui spoke "But if I didn't even think about how you ended up being stuck up as an LRIG, I never would have thought you weren't as heartless as I thought. I nearly made a bad call judging you the way I would have, so please don't make an enemy out of us after everything we and Amika went through."

As tears started to leak out of Kiyoi's eyes and drip onto the photo of the three of them, she fell onto a nearby chair beside the table she had came over from, now feeling terrible not just for the events that had led to her being the indirect cause of Sakaguchi's coma, but the fact that she was willing to sever all ties with Amika because of her fear of her and Kamui discovering the truth behind said events. After telling Sakaguchi's spirit that she would have considered calling the Nova Grappler user a friend because of his sense of justice being respectable during the last battle against Remember, she couldn't help but wonder how she would have felt if it was still watching her from beyond their plain of existence.

"I... misassumed Sakaguchi when she tried to reach out to me before that day..." she said, all anger having been present in her tone now gone "If I hadn't been so afraid of being hurt again... would she have still been here?"

"I guess we'll never know," Kamui replied "Even if I wasn't a fan of how you were, I never wanted to hurt you then and I don't want to hurt you now."

Now in a much more rationalized state after venting out all of her anger upon him earlier and now seeing that he was being sincere with both his apology and the way he was trying to get her to come out of her fear-induced state, Kiyoi eventually wiped away her tears and turned around to face him once more.

"Whilst I don't approve of you telling the others of Sakaguchi's murder without my consent..." she spoke "It would seem that I was the one being judgemental about all of you. I accept your earlier apology."

The Nova Grappler user just grinned happily in response, seeing that he had finally gotten through to her at last and that she could hopefully make a fresh start on putting all of her misconceptions and early assumptions of other people behind her.

"Those freak outs aside, you actually did pretty good against Kai with my deck," he said "Though I'm guessing you're still not interested in Vanguard because of... you know."

"It may take me some time to overcome my memories and move on from my past..." she answered in her calmer tone "But... I will say that I will consider it."

Kamui then immediately jumped for joy, only to immediately cringe in pain from the stinging of his now swollen right cheek as a result of the earlier slap.

"Man, that smarts," he muttered to himself as he poked it for a moment.

A few moments after he had been pondering over the fact that Kiyoi had slapped him a lot harder than he had actually thought she did, he suddenly caught a small wet towel that was tossed to him. He then looked back to the former blue LRIG who had found it at the nearby sink and had tossed it to him from there.

"That should stop the swelling from getting any worse," she spoke "For now, there's something I believe you should know about and it's been bothering me for a while now."

Blinking for a moment in slight confusion, Kamui took a chair from around the room and joined Kiyoi back at the table, wondering what it was that she was wanting to talk to him about now.

"There was something that Remember said before you stopped her from forcing Sakaguchi to deliver the final blow," she begun, recalling that portion of the battle whilst he had been unconscious "That she 'had' me like she did all those years ago."

"But didn't you say you two first met about a year...?" he pondered before suddenly catching on to her suspicions "Wait...! Are you saying that...?"

"Yes," she answered "If my suspicions are indeed correct... one of the girls within that group that was responsible for my trust issues, even if she wasn't the ringleader... is none other than Remember herself."

The Nova Grappler user could only drop his jaw in shock. It seemed clear now that not only was Remember a member of the group of girls that was responsible for Kiyoi being the way she was until a little while ago, but it was almost like she had been a constant cause of her misery for nearly the entirety of her life up to this point and she didn't know about it until possibly now.

"Damn it!" he growled "To think she'd been playing you from the start! And the fact she's been marking fighters here as you...!"

"I understand your concern," she interjected calmly "But I'm certain we'll be seeing her again soon, regardless of whether she comes out as a Selector or an LRIG again."

(End Music)

"Only you won't have to deal with her alone this time," Kamui replied with a thumbs up to try and lift her spirits "We'll stop whatever plans she, Mayu or Chaos Breaker has for our worlds!"

Kiyoi simply nodded in agreement, her conviction in regards to the situation now having been restored as a whole. Taking a deep breath and reflecting back over everything she had been through up to this point, she wavered through her memories one more time willingly, only this time, she no longer felt the pain she did when she experienced them unexpectedly.

I will no longer let my past or my sins control me any longer she murmured in her thoughts resolutely I won't allow Mayu to complete what plans she has laid out for these worlds.

"I recall Jillian stating that she's preparing a boat to take us to this world's version of Japan. Do you know how close she is to being ready for departure?"

"I'll go and ask her right now," Kamui replied "You still need some time to yourself?"

After receiving a nod in response from the former blue LRIG, the Nova Grappler user simply kept his smile in understanding and went off into the corridor, silently wishing her the best of luck in her recovery. He stopped for a brief instance in the middle of his trek down the corridor, surprised to see that Kai had been listening in on the entire conversation for himself.

"I swear, she sometimes reminds me of how you used to be all grouchy and all," he muttered "But at least she's hanging in there now. I better find my deck and help Ruko with the changes to her Yuki deck."

As he took a few steps past the Kagero user on his way down the corridor, that was when the Kagero user had decided to speak up.

"You've grown a little," he spoke, causing Kamui to ponder in confusion before resuming his trek back to the top of the fortress ruins.

Back in the kitchen, Kiyoi now all alone with the space she needed to calm her thoughts and think about what was on her mind after everything she had been through today so far, breathed deeply to regain her mostly lost composure. Facing her inner demons and overcoming her trust issues was a mentally draining experience, one that had been fraught with both anger from earlier mistakes and sadness from her reminiscence of the past and the present up to this point. But at the very least, one thing was now certain to her after being stranded in this world for some time now.

Her past was more or less finally put behind her and now, she could move on with her life without the fear of weighing the burden of the 'sins' that she had perceived as her own since that fateful day. And whilst she knew that this world and her own were still in danger of Mayu and Chaos Breaker's endgame, whatever that still was that nobody knew at this point, she would no longer have neither her memories or her inner demons weighing her down any longer as she and the others would continue their stand against those plans the two had in mind.

Deciding on the first move of what to do whilst Kamui went to ask Jillian about when it was possible to leave the island to begin their journey across this world to reunite with his and Kai's other allies, she looked over to the large set of drawers that she had seen from the night before when Jillian and Sharlene were helping Ruko, deciding to begin her next move over there.


(Cardfight! Vanguard OST: Shouri no Fanfare (First Half))

Soon, midday had rolled over across the island and everyone with the exception of Jillian had finally been prepared for the upcoming departure that would take them across the ocean of this world to their destination. Ruko and Kai stood midway across a large stone pier of sorts, awaiting the arrival of the older twin to bring the boat around whilst Kamui sat on the edge, trying to think of ways to pass the time since he had finished helping the Selector get acquainted with Yuki's powers in Vanguard. Eventually, Sharlene joined the three of them along with Kiyoi, who had now held a blue coloured case of some kind with a turquoise coloured Vanguard circle acting as a mural on the face of it.

Upon noticing this, the Nova Grappler user and Ruko ran over to see what it was that she had held.

"You've built a deck for yourself?" she asked.

"So, what clan did you pick?" Kamui interjected, eager to learn of what clan Kiyoi had chosen to use as her own.

"That's. A. Secret," Sharlene said teasingly, much to his sudden dumbfounded response.

Before he could ask any further in an attempt to satisfy his curiosity, they suddenly heard the sound of a motor ringing from around the cliff face as Jillian eventually came around with the boat they chose to use as their transportation. It seemed to be a small yacht, still seemingly quite spacious despite its size for at least a reasonably sized group of people such as themselves.

"So are we headed back home or what?" the Nova Grappler user.

"Not quite yet," Kai replied "Tetsu has requested for us to make a stop in Singapore to pick up Christopher Lo of SIT Genius. He says might be of assistance in repairing the Gateway to get us back to Ruko's world."

"That's great to hear!" Ruko interjected "We might just make it back to our world!"

After managing to dock the boat alongside the stone pier, Sharlene immediately joined Jillian on the small yacht, helping Ruko up on board shortly afterwards as Kai soon joined the three girls. That left only Kamui and Kiyoi as the former then looked to the person beside him.

"You ready or what Kiyoi?" he asked with a smile.

"After you," she replied, managing to smile naturally for the first time in a while.

And with the two's boarding complete, the yacht then departed from the island that was home to the child of Soryu. Its next destination, the city of Singapore in the hopes of recruiting a valuable asset to get some of the current group back to the world of the Selector Battles to continue the fight against Mayu and Chaos Breaker.

(End Music)


And there we go! After losing to Kai and being haunted by more of her memories, Kiyoi storms off on her own only to be followed by Kamui. After a fierce confrontation, the two of them eventually manage to reconcile and soon enough, the group of four, plus Jillian and Sharlene leave the island behind with their next stop being Singapore to pick up Christopher Lo. But will things be as hopeful for them or the city's cardfighters when they eventually get there? Find out next time on Stand Up, the LRIG! Please share your thoughts and criticisms and I'll see you next time!

Before I go, the ending of this chapter confirms that Kiyoi has picked her own deck for use later in the story and whilst it is hinted to be a secret for the time being between her and Sharlene, to you the readers, it won't be as much of the case. On my profile, there are five different decks registered in a poll and whilst a majority are planned for use at some point in the story depending on how I plan it out, this is where you come in. I'm giving you the opportunity to determine out of the five deck options is the one that Kiyoi will use later on in the arc. For the time being, you may vote for three options before the poll has the highest three voted move on to the next round by the Ride 84 update. Until then, I bid you all adieu.