I'm sorry if you weren't satisfied with the last chapter. I'm not sure if you'll be satisfied with this one either, but I promise that the next chapter is going to ramp things up. I'm just trying to tell the story how I intended it to and I'm very sorry if any of you are disappointed. These chaters are very important to establish characters and story events for future chapters. I'm grateful that you're all still following me and I appreciate any feedback you give me so I can improve. Thank you, and please enjoy.
*Boys' Dorm Room, Tokyo University Duel Academy*
It was Sunday morning and Shroud was knocking on the door that led to their room's bathroom.
"Come on, Naoto!" Shroud called out. "You've been in there since you woke up! I know what you're doing!"
"Uh… just wait a few more minutes!" Naoto called back from in the bathroom.
"I still have to brush my teeth!" Shroud persisted. "You still have all day to-"
"Please don't say it out loud!" Naoto also persisted. "J-Just wait a few minutes!"
"Fine, you got 5 more minutes!" Shroud gave in.
"That's all I need!" Naoto stated.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK.
Shroud answered the door to their room and it was the twins, Momo and Hikari.
"What are you all doing here?" Shroud asked.
"Well, since Spiral and Aura are out for the day, we came to see if you and Naoto wanted to do anything." Chun responded.
"Where's Naoto?" Momo asked.
"He's in the bathroom." Shroud answered. "Been in there for quite a while actually."
"Is he feeling well?" Hikari was concerned.
"He's not sick or constipated." Shroud stated. "He's… um… I don't know how to say this since you're all girls…"
"Wait." Chan may have figured it out. "Is he…" Chan felt uncomfortable saying it out loud, so she whispered it in Shroud's ear.
"… Yes." Shroud seemed surprised. "How did you make such an accurate guess?"
"Momo does that every night before she goes to sleep." Chan stated.
"Why did you tell him that? !" Momo became flustered. "He's going to tell everyone now!"
"I don't see what there is to be embarrassed about." Shroud said. "With me as the exception, everyone does it at least once in their life. Although, Naoto started doing this more frequently fairly recently. If my guess is right, and it usually is, it started almost immediately after Ms. Krystal became our teacher."
"Wait, does that mean Naoto has a crush on our teacher?" Chun asked.
"Possibly, but I think he should know that-" Shroud was about to say until Naoto came out.
"Oh, hey ladies." Naoto greeted the girls. "What brings you here?"
"They want to 'hang out' with us." Shroud told Naoto.
"As long as it's something we can all enjoy." Naoto sort of agreed.
"Ooh! I have a suggestion!" Shroud raised his hand.
"Knowing you, it's probably going to be something boring." Naoto said.
"I was going to say that we should visit the Exhibit of-"
"No." Naoto shot Shroud down.
Spiral and Aura were walking on the sidewalk toward their destination.
"Remind me again why you signed us both up for this?" Spiral wondered.
"It's nice to do good things for people and I feel it should give us experience with kids when we have our own." Aura stated.
"You mean 'when we each have kids'?" Spiral said. "… Damn it! Shroud's rubbing off on me! I was hoping it'd be the other way around!"
"It should be… right about… here." Aura was looking at a slip of paper with directions on them and they saw a small-school-sized building and walked in through the front doors to the reception lobby. Aura went up to the receptionist at the front desk.
"Excuse me?" Aura spoke up to her. "We're today's volunteers. Can you show us where we need to go?"
"Down that hall, to your right." The receptionist pointed down one of the halls.
"Thank you." Aura thanked the receptionist.
Aura went in the pointed direction and Spiral followed her until they hit the room where the children were playing in. The sounds of the children playing could be heard from outside of the door. Aura opened the door and the first thing to happen was-
Fip.
A paper airplane jabbed Spiral right in the eye.
"Ah!" Spiral exclaimed in very brief pain. "What the…"
Spiral and Aura saw that the kids were playing like normal kids. Chasing each other around, coloring pictures with crayons and generally just having fun.
"Don't get mad, Spiral." Aura calmed Spiral. "They don't know any better yet."
"I'm not mad, but I still didn't like getting a paper airplane jabbed into my eye." Spiral held his eye. "Can you check to see if it didn't leave a paper cut?"
Back at the boys' dorm, everyone was playing some sort of card game, but it wasn't Duel Monsters or anything rooted in fantasy. It was just some board and card game that Shroud had pulled out. Lee and Camaru were playing the game with Shroud, Naoto and the girls. It was Shroud's turn, who seemed to be the only one who understood the game.
"All right. I want to build a road, but I need wood." Shroud said. "Do any of you have wood?"
Naoto, Momo and Camaru all slightly giggled when Shroud said that.
"What's so funny?" Shroud wondered.
"Oh, it's just… eh… nothing." Naoto simply told Shroud.
"I need wood in order to erect my monument." Shroud told them.
Their giggling got even more noticeable.
"Even I don't understand what you're all laughing at." Chun stated.
"Um…" Hikari whispered into Chun's ear. "You're not old enough to know why they're laughing."
Chun just sat where she did with a vacant expression.
"Why is this so hard?" Shroud asked.
The three of them laughed again and Shroud continued to be clueless as to why they're laughing.
Aura was playing dolls with some of the girl orphans while the boys were pretty much jumping all over Spiral (Literally, a kid wanted him to give him a piggyback ride). Eventually, Spiral was just sitting at a small table with his head down and on his arms. There was a little girl sitting next to him, looking at her Duel Monsters Deck. The little girl was 8 years old, wore a white sweater and pink pants and had brunette hair and blue eyes.
"Are you one of those big kids that are here to play with us today?" The little girl asked.
"Yeah." Spiral sighed in exhaustion. "I actually have more fun with little girls than little boys because they typically don't have a habit to jump around like monkeys. Some boys were actually pretending to be monkeys and tried to eat the bugs out of my hair while shrieking like chimps."
"Is the girl you came with your girlfriend?" She asked.
"Aura? No." Spiral answered. "We're close, but I wouldn't say we're a couple."
"Where are you from?" She asked.
"Well, I was raised here in Japan and Aura was raised in London." Spiral responded.
"Are you a Duelist?" The girl continued to ask.
"Yes, I'm actually a student at Tokyo U."
"Really? Can I duel you?"
"Hmm? Uh, aren't you afraid I might get a bit rough?"
"No, I Duel with the boys all the time, so I'm used to it."
"All right then. I'll ask Aura if you can borrow her Duel Disk and Duel Gazer. She'll definitely say yes."
"Yay!"
The group was still playing that board game.
"All right. I finally got wood." Shroud stated.
The giggling then commenced again.
"He's got to be doing this on purpose." Naoto whispered to Lee and Camaru.
"I can't believe you guys still think this is funny." Chan didn't seem amused.
"Maybe you just don't understand it." Camaru responded.
"I understand it and I didn't even think it was funny the first time." Hikari stated.
"Yeah, neither do I." Lee agreed.
"It might have something to do with your cult thing." Camaru said.
"People, can we get back to the game, please?" Shroud asked.
"You're right." Momo said. "I believe you were in the middle of your erection of your monument."
"Yes, it's in my hand." Shroud responded.
The three burst out laughing when Shroud said that.
Aura and most of the kids moved to the walls of the room so Spiral and the little girl could have their Duel.
"By the way, what's your name?" Spiral asked.
"Etsuko." The little girl said.
"All right! You ready?"
"Yeah!"
"Duel!" They both shouted as the augmented reality was established and their Duel Disks activated.
Spiral (LP 4000) Etsuko (LP 4000)
"I'll start!" Spiral said as he drew his first card. "I summon the Tuner Legendary Guardian Wall Golem (Lv.2 0/1800) in defense mode! Then I set one card face-down and end my turn!"
Etsuko drew her first card. "I summon Madolche Mewfeuille (Lv.3 500/300)! When Normal Summoned, Mewfeuille lets me Special Summon a Madolche monster from my hand! I summon Madolche Baaple (Lv.3 0/1800) in attack mode! Each turn, Baaple lets me choose a monster on each of our fields in attack mode and switch their positions and they can't switch their positions until the end of your next turn! I choose Baaple and your Golem! Mewfeuille, attack Wall Golem!"
Mewfeuille jumped on top of Wall Golem and destroyed it, inflicting Spiral with 500 points of damage.
Spiral (LP 3500) Etsuko (LP 4000)
"I end my turn by activating the Continuous Spell Madolche Ticket and setting one card face-down."
Spiral drew his next card. "I summon Legendary Guardian Shock Sniper (Lv.2 800/200) and he'll attack Madolche Mewfeuille!"
Shock Sniper aimed down his sights and shot Madolche Mewfeuille, destroying it and inflicting Etsuko with 300 points of damage.
Spiral (LP 3500) Etsuko (LP 3700)
"When Mewfeuille is destroyed by you, I can return her to my Deck and since a Madolche monster I control is returning to my Deck by a card effect, Madolche Ticket activates and I can add a Madolche monster from my Deck to my hand." Etsuko explained as she added a card to her hand.
"I end my turn!" Spiral concluded his turn.
Etsuko drew another card from her Deck. "I summon Madolche Butlerusk (Lv.4 1500/800) and when he's Normal Summoned, I can add a Field Spell Card from my Deck to my hand as long as I have another Madolche monster." Etsuko added a card to her hand. "Now I activate that Field Spell. Madolche Chateau."
The augmented reality caused the school around them to transform into a chateau made out of various sweets.
"Madolche Chateau gives all Madolche monsters 500 attack and defense points!" Etsuko explained. "Now I activate the Spell Double Summon so I can summon another monster. I release Madolche Baaple to Tribute Summon my favorite monster! Madolche Puddingcess (Lv.5 1000/1000)! Now I activate my face-down Trap Madolche Lesson! This lets me shuffle a Madolche monster in my Graveyard back into my deck and increase the attack and defense points of all Madolche monsters by 800! And as long as I have no monsters in my Graveyard, her attack and defense points go up by 800! With Madolche Chateau and Madolche Lesson, my Puddingcess has a total of 3100 attack points and Butlerusk has 2800! Oh, and Madolche Ticket activates again and since I have a Fairy-type Madolche monster, I can just Special Summon the Madolche monster I grabbed from my Deck! Come forth, Madolche Magileine (Lv.4 1400/1200)! Before I attack, I'm going to overlay Madolche Butlerusk and Madolche Magileine to Xyz Summon Queen Madolche Tiaramisu (Rank 4 2200/2100)! Puddingcess, attack Shock Sniper!"
Spiral was about to activate his face-down card, but he pulled his hand back before he activated it. Shock Sniper was destroyed and Spiral lost 2300 Life Points.
Spiral (LP 1200) Etsuko (LP 3700)
"Queen Tiaramisu, attack him directly!"
Tiaramisu dealt a finishing blow to Spiral and reduced his Life Points to 0.
Spiral (LP 0) Etsuko (LP 3700)
"Yes, I win!" Etsuko jumped up and down.
Seeing Etsuko happy made Spiral crack a smile. Aura then walked up to Spiral.
"Spiral, can I look at the card you put face-down?" Aura requested.
Aura then took the card from Spiral's Duel Disk and saw that it was Mirror Force.
"You had this face-down since your first turn and you didn't bother activating it at all?" Aura was baffled. "You lost on purpose, didn't you?"
"Is that true?"
Spiral and Aura noticed that Etsuko had dropped in on their conversation.
"I just wanted you to be happy." Spiral explained. "You're still a kid and your Deck is very good, but-"
"I wouldn't care if I lost." Etsuko spoke up. "I just like dueling."
Spiral just stared at her for a few moments and laughed at himself.
"I just assumed that you would rather win a duel than have fun." Spiral thought of himself as an ass. "I'm sorry. How about we have a rematch? And I won't hold back."
"It's a deal!" Etsuko became happy again.
Sunset eventually came by and Spiral and Aura were about to leave.
"Spiral, wait!" Etsuko wanted to tell him something. "Do you think you could get your parents to adopt me?"
"Um, I'm sorry, but I don't even know who my parents are. But if I did, I would hope so." Spiral answered.
"So you're an orphan like me?" Etsuko wondered. "Do you live with other relatives?"
"… Something like that." Spiral responded.
"Because I really would like it if you were my big brother."
Spiral smiled when she said that and he looked like he was starting to tear up.
"Oh, that is SOO cute! You're like a big brother now!" Aura said.
"Will you come visit again?" Etsuko asked.
"I most certainly will." Spiral assured her.
Spiral and Aura walked their way back to the Academy.
"You're so sweet, Spiral." Aura said. "You always think of others before yourself. That's what's so great about you."
"Is that so…"
English Voice Cast
Todd Haberkorn Spiral
Alexis Tipton Aura
Stephanie Sheh Etsuko
Maxey Whitehead Shroud
Laura Bailey Hikari
Monica Rial Momo
Yuri Lowenthal Naoto
Kyle Hebert Camaru
Tom Gibis Lee
Preview
Shroud: I still don't understand why you were all laughing!
Momo: Oh, that was so sweet of you, Spiral!
Naoto: GET THESE SWEETS AWAY FROM ME!
Spiral: What's wrong with Naoto?
Aura: I think it has something to do with the next chapter.
Lee: Yeah, after a couple of story-focused chapters, we're going to finally see some action again as another person enters the world in the mirror.
Spiral: In other news, a (somewhat) astonishing truth about Ms. Krystal is revealed.
Chun: What will it be? Tell me! Tell me! Tell me!
Spiral: You'll have to wait until the next chapter to find out.
Chun: Oh!
Spiral: Next time on Awakening of the Soul! Sweet Gluttony!
Shroud: Can someone PLEASE tell me what was so funny? !