Title: Hope
Day #16: Ayu hopes for a day where there will be a reason to smile again.
Ayu has always had a bright life, a bright future. She had loving parents, good friends, and could always find something to smile at.
There were heroes and villains, but all could be solved with a little cheer and an explosion of colorful sparks. The world was beautiful like it blossomed from the pages of her storybooks.
At least that was what she thought the world was.
Because when she duels Akaba Reira, Ayu shivers. The boy wasn't scary or intimidating like a opponent should be. Not with eyes that reminds Ayu of pet fish that her parents flushes down the toilet. Souless and empty.
And when Yuuya leaves, Ayu's world breaks into pieces. All the sudden, dueling wasn't just for fun anymore. Duelists, young or old, are recruited into LDS's army.
Ayu's parents take away her duel disk and she is not allowed outside anymore. Tatsuya is already gone, the semi-finalist of the Junior competition, is valuable indeed. And she loses contact with Futoshi.
Ayu looks outside the window and hopes. That the people she love will not have eyes like Akaba Reira, dead on the inside. And that one day there will be a reason to smile again.