All right, guys! Here's the next chapter! Things are about to get pretty complicated! Please enjoy!
*Outside of the school, Tokyo University Duel Academy*
It was morning, there were numerous buses in front of the school and each class was lining up to their assigned bus. They were going on a field trip for two days to District Neon, an area of Tokyo that became popular with duelists and has numerous shops, clubs and restaurants to suit the needs of those duelists. Ms. Krystal was in front of her class' line, wearing an azure long-sleeve shirt that revealed a bit of her cleavage and her belly button and grey pants that accentuated her ass.
"All right, class!" Ms. Krystal started to announce. "Please enter the bus in an orderly manner… I call dibs on the front seat! Haha!"
Ms. Krystal dashed inside the bus and took a seat in the front. Everyone was in disbelief of how selfish their teacher acted… Or at least they would be if teacher weren't supposed to sit in the front in the first place (In case of confusion, teachers have to sit in the front seat). I think what was more unbelievable was how childish she acted.
"… That was weird." Spiral commented.
"So, who sits next to who?" Camaru asked.
"I call dibs with Spiral!" Momo quickly volunteered.
"… Ooookay…" Chan was suspicious of what just happened.
"All right, I presume the twins are going to sit next to each other." Shroud looked at Chan and Chun.
"Why must you assume that?" Chan felt discriminated.
"Because we always sit next to each other." Chun responded.
"… Fine." Chan accepted the truth.
"Now, I suggest the rest of us sit with someone of the same gender. So…" Shroud looked around at the rest of the group.
"If we're calling dibs, I want to sit with Camaru!" Naoto quickly volunteered.
"… That's what my plan was anyway." Shroud stated. "I'd rather sit by myself as to prevent any awkward conversations. Then that leaves Aura and Hikari."
Everyone got on the bus and after Spiral sat down in one of the middle seats, Hikari tried to push Momo out of the way, but Momo pushed back and the two were trying to push each other away.
"Hey! HEY!" Ms. Krystal yelled at them from her seat in the front. "WHAT'S GOING ON OVER THERE? !"
"I called dibs on this seat and she's trying to take it away!" Momo explained while still pushing Hikari.
"You cheated!" Hikari shouted at her.
"No, you're cheating!" Momo shouted back.
"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Ms. Krystal yelled at them while giving them her infamous evil glare. "MOMO, SINCE YOU CALLED DIBS, YOU TAKE THAT SEAT! HIKARI, YOU DIDN'T SO SIT SOMEWHERE ELSE!"
"Y-Yes, ma'am!" Momo and Hikari stood upright towards Ms. Krystal and took their respective seats.
"… Gee, Ms. Krystal can be really scary when she wants to be…" Momo commented to Spiral.
"She's the most unbelievable person I have ever met." Spiral responded. "And by that, she pretty much defies the laws of physics and nature. It's like she's not even human."
"She's one of a kind, isn't she?"
Shroud tried to find an empty seat, but there were none available. In fact, the only available seat left was with some fat, disgusting guy that was already asleep. Shroud had no other choice, so he sat at the edge of that seat. The fat guy then leaned toward Shroud and fell on top of him, crushing him beneath the massive weight.
"Errrrrm!" Shroud's cry was muffled by the body fat.
"All right, let's hit the road!" Ms. Krystal was cheery again.
All of the buses started moving and were on their way to District Neon, which was a two-hour drive.
An hour had passed and some of the kids were fooling around, such as launching paper airplanes, talking and other shenanigans.
"Spiral, I have a question…" Momo said.
"Hm?"
"What… kind of girls do you like?"
"Oh, um… I like them nice, cute, understanding… uh, what else…"
"Sex appeal?"
"Uh… I'm actually not that concerned with that. I consider it icing on the cake than a key ingredient, but I wouldn't make that a deciding factor in anything. How I feel towards her takes far more priority than that."
"Oh… okay… You're certainly not shallow. That's what's so likeable about you."
"I guess that's one reason."
Meanwhile, Shroud was still trapped under the sleeping fat guy. In another seat, Chun was looking out the window and poking her sister at the same time.
"Are we there yet?" Chun poked Chan.
"No."
"Are we there yet?"
"No."
"Are we there yet?"
"No! You're closer to the window than I am! Why are you asking me? !"
"I just always wanted to do that!"
Asuka was sitting behind them alone and sighed in exasperation of Chun's strange behavior.
After another hour, the buses had finally arrived at District Neon at almost noon. They stopped at a nearby hotel. The teachers checked the students in after they decided which rooms to stay in. Since guys and girls had to sleep in separate rooms with each room having a max of 3 people, Spiral had his own room while the groups of Aura, Momo and Hikari, the twins and Asuka and Naoto, Shroud and Camaru were all staying in respective rooms.
"How come you're the one with his own room? !" Shroud complained. "It should be me!"
"You need to understand that interacting with people is necessary for a fulfilling life. Otherwise, it gets pretty dull and lonely." Spiral answered.
"So, remind me again what we're all doing here?" Naoto asked.
Aura looked at the schedule to understand what would be going on today. "Well, we're going to various points in the district, then later we have free time to do whatever we want within the district's limits."
"How about this place right here?" Camaru pointed to a spot on a customer map that they took from the front desk. "It's a place called 'Café Rakuen'."
"A perfect name. 'Rakuen' is a literal translation of paradise." Momo pointed out.
"So, it's called 'Café Paradise'?" Spiral asked.
"Yep." Momo said.
"Sounds like a plan." Spiral said. "After the mandatory activities, all of us, including Lee, will head to Café Rakuen."
After the somewhat boring hours of guided sight-seeing, it was finally time for the group to head to Café Rakuen. The inside was what you'd expect from a club, but since it was for everyone, it was mainly just tables and a dance floor.
"This is the first club I've ever been to…" Spiral stated. "You know, a real one."
"Please don't bring that up." Momo knew what he was talking about.
"It's also my first time, too." Aura empathized.
"Let's get a table and see what's on the menu." Hikari said as she looked at the people eating at the various tables. "Looks like they have a bit of everything from everywhere."
"Do they have fries and chicken fingers?" Shroud asked with excitement.
"Looks like they do." Hikari noticed at another table.
"YES!" Shroud became even more excited. "What are we waiting for? ! Let's get seated!"
The group got seated and a waitress came up to their table.
"Welcome to Café Rakuen." The waitress greeted them. "May I suggest our famous lemon soda?"
"That sounds really good." Lee expressed.
"Yeah, we'll have 11 of those, please." Spiral agreed and ordered.
"I'll bring them right to you." The waitress left to get their drinks.
While the waitress finished getting the pitcher for their drinks, one of the other employees came up to her.
"Excuse me? There's something that we need your help with, right away."
"All right." The waitress went to help the other employee.
The waitress placed the pitcher of lemon soda next to another pitcher of a yellow drink and a male waiter took the pitcher that was she had placed down.
After a few minutes, the waitress had brought them all their drinks.
"Here you go. Sorry for the wait." The waitress apologized.
"Thank you." Spiral said as he and everyone took a drink.
Meanwhile, at another table were a group of middle-aged men and they appeared to have the same drink Spiral and his friends were having. They all took a sip of their drink and then they looked like something wasn't right.
"What is this?"
One of the guys dipped his tongue in the drink again and made smacking sounds with his tongue. "… This is lemon soda."
"Lemon soda? ! Where are the margaritas we ordered?"
…Oh boy.
Everyone took a drink of their suspicious drinks. Chan, Chun and Shroud only took a sip to notice something was wrong. Lee could tell something was wrong before the tip of the glass could reach his lips. It took Spiral and Asuka one gulp to notice it. However, everyone else didn't seem to notice.
"Man, this lemon soda is insane!" Spiral expressed.
"Yeah, I don't taste the amount of carbonates that usually accompany soft drinks." Shroud stated.
"I noticed that, too." Chan agreed.
"Yeah, me too." Chun also agreed.
"This smell…" Lee muttered.
"Hm…" Momo finished her glass. "What is it, Lee?"
"Oh…" Aura kind of moaned. "Why is the room shaking?"
"Why do I feel so hot?" Hikari also wondered.
"This is… liquor." Lee said and surprised everyone.
"Wait, how is that possible?" Spiral asked. "I could've sworn we ordered soda."
"Maybe orders got mixed up." Chun had a thought.
"Oh no!" The waitress overheard their conversation. "I'm so sorry! I had to take care of something and another waiter must've taken them! Please don't tell my boss!"
"If that's the case, it's not your fault." Spiral assured her.
"Thank you!" The waitress was grateful. "I'll get your lemon sodas right away!"
Before the waitress could leave, Momo stood up.
"KING'S GAAAME!" Momo exclaimed. "I remember hearing my relatives play this game whenever they had drink. Now that I've had some, I don't want to pass the opportunity to play this game! Waitress, could you bring us 11 chopsticks, please?"
"H-Huh? !"
After the waitress had gotten them their chopsticks, Momo put little marks on each of them and put them in the cup with the marked parts inside the cup.
"Okay, here are the rules!" Momo announced. "Each one of you draws a chopstick and whoever draws the one with the red mark is the King while everyone else has a number! The numbers can't be revealed until the King gives the orders! The King declares a number and what that person has to do! The person with the declared number has to do whatever the King declares!"
"So… it's like Truth or Dare… without the truth?" Spiral tried to clarify.
"Exactly, sexy!" Momo confirmed. "Everyone, draw a chopstick!"
Everyone drew a chopstick from the cup and looked at theirs while hiding them from everyone else.
"Who's the King?" Momo questioned.
"I-I'm the King." Chan stood up.
"Well… what's the order?" Hikari asked.
"Um… uh… Number, uh… 8… has to… uh… drink that whole glass of lemon soda without any breaks!" Chan made up an order that was sensible and not crazy.
"I guess that's me." Naoto stood up as he took his full glass of lemon soda and drank the whole thing in one go. "Ah! Man, my vocal chords are gonna feel that in the morning."
"Laaaame!" Momo insulted Chan. "Oh well, what's done is done."
Just so you know, Hikari, Aura, Naoto and Camaru are feeling the alcohol's effect to a small degree, but Momo was far tipsier since she actually finished her margarita.
"Chan, you're out!" Momo told Chan.
"What? !" Chan was somewhat confused. "Why? !"
"Because you're such a buzzkill!" Momo complained. "On to Round 2! Oh, and the next orders have to be more extreme than the last one!"
Everyone except Chan drew another chopstick and they were ready for the second round.
"I'm the King!" Shroud announced as he held up his red chopstick.
"We're already doomed." Naoto stated.
"I command Number 3 to recite all elements of the periodic table in 1 minute!"
"What? !" Lee stood up, since he was Number 3. "That's ridiculous! How could you expect anyone to-"
"The King's word is law!" Shroud ignored Lee. "Go!"
"Oxygen, Hydrogen-"
"Wrong! I should have mentioned that you had to name them in order! You're out!"
"What? !"
"The two contestants dropped!" Momo stated in excitement, under the margarita's influence. "Now, to Round 3!"
Everyone except Lee and Chun drew chopsticks again.
"Ooh! I'm the King!" Aura stood up in joy, somewhat drunk. "Or should I say the Queen?" *This could be my chance! I can't let it pass me by!* "The Queen commands the lucky subject to give her a kiss! Right here, on my lips!" Aura put her finger on her lips. "Number… 7!"
"AH!" Asuka jumped up in shock.
"I-I meant Number 2!" Aura tried to change her choice.
"Sorry, no takebacks!" Momo denied her change. "Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!"
"Au-Aura, please don't!" Asuka stepped back away from the table.
"I-I'm sorry, but it's the rule!" Aura apologized before pouncing on Asuka.
"Ow! Get off me! Help!" Asuka screamed as she was forcibly kissed by Aura.
*… I wonder if she actually liked that.* Naoto wondered in his head.
"Wow! Two contestants out in one round!" Momo got more excited. "Things are getting intense! Time for Round 4!"
Everyone except Lee, Chan, Aura and Asuka redrew their chopsticks.
"Ooh! Ooh! I'm the King!" Chun jumped up and down. "Number 4 has to tell me about the birds and the bees!"
"You… don't know what that is?" Spiral asked. "I thought you would know that with your intelligence."
"I overheard some other people talking, so it must be more than just a guy and a girl getting in bed naked with each other." Chun explained.
"Well, I'm Number 4, so I might as well tell you." Spiral went along with it. "You see, when a woman and a man love each other very much…"
Spiral went on in great detail about how the birds and the bees went.
"Although I've never done it myself." Spiral concluded.
Chun was left with a wide-eyed look on her face. "Wow… I never knew there was so much to it."
"You're still young, so I wouldn't recommend doing it until you're both over 15 and in love." Spiral informed her.
"Why?" Chun wanted to know why.
"I just said why; because you're too young!" Spiral repeated himself.
"I don't think I want to play this game anymore… I drop out." Chun seemed a little sad.
"I second that emotion." Shroud agreed with Chun and dropped out.
"Oh well, on to Round 5!" Momo declared.
Everyone drew chopsticks again.
"I'm the King this time!" Naoto announced. "I command… Number 4 to… give me a hug!"
"…Huh?" Spiral felt like this was a bit odd.
"So… who's Number 4?" Naoto asked everyone.
"… I am." Spiral reluctantly responded.
Spiral and Naoto stood up and reluctantly hugged each other for a couple of seconds.
"I only like you as a friend." Naoto blurted out.
"Yeah, me too." Spiral felt the same.
"Naoto, you're out!" Momo declared.
"You know what?" Naoto started to express. "Can we please stop this? This is getting out of hand! And who knows what kind of order will come next!"
"… Naoto's right." Spiral agreed. "I think it would be wise to just stop this game where it is."
"Can we eat dinner first?" Shroud asked.
Momo suddenly got up and ran toward the ladies' restroom.
"What was that about?" Chun wondered.
"I think she's starting to puke…" Spiral guessed.
They then turned around and saw that Hikari was asleep.
"… I think we'll just skip dinner…" Lee supposed after looking at Hikari.
After they had all gotten to the hotel, Hikari was more alert and sober as Spiral was holding her upward.
"Spiral… I think I'm going to vomit…" Hikari presumed. "Take me to your room so I can use your toilet… I don't think I can make it to my own room."
"O-Okay!" Spiral responded. "Guys, you go back to your rooms while I take Hikari to my room until she gets better."
Spiral quickly took Hikari to his room and as soon as they got in, Hikari wobbled her way to the bathroom and started puking into the toilet.
"RRRAAGGH!"
"And there she goes." Spiral commented.
After about an hour or so of vomiting, Hikari finally stopped and brushed her teeth in Spiral's bathroom, since it made her breath stink. She finished brushing her teeth and came out of the bathroom.
"Are you feeling better?" Spiral asked.
"Yes, much." Hikari answered. "Thank you."
Hikari then went to lie down on Spiral's bed on her back.
"Spiral… have you ever had feelings for anyone?"
"Hmm? By feelings, do you mean…?"
"Romantic, yes…"
"… I think a little bit of alcohol I had earlier is probably making me honest, but… there is."
"This might be taking things too far, but… is that person me?"
Spiral remained silent as he did not know how to properly answer the question right away.
"… Actually…"
Spiral continued to be silent and in thought.
"… eh… uhn… y… yes…"
Hikari then had this smile spread across her face and pulled something out of her pocket. It was two of the chopsticks from the King's Game.
"Pick a chopstick." Hikari held out the sticks to Spiral.
The marks were hidden by Hikari's fist, so which one Spiral would draw would be by luck. Spiral took one of the chopsticks and it listed… '1'. Hikari unveiled the remaining stick in her hand as the one with the red mark.
"I guess that makes me the Queen." Hikari smiled.
"What are your orders?" Spiral asked.
"I, the Queen, command you… to…"
Hikari then whispered something into Spiral's ear and then started kissing Spiral on the lips. Spiral then kissed back and the two started making out. As the two continued to make out, they fell on the bed.
The next morning, Spiral was starting to wake up. He was looking up at the ceiling and then at the sunlight that came through the blinds.
*Oh…* Spiral thought. *It was just a dream.*
Spiral then felt something soft on his arm. He turned over and saw that it was Hikari clutching onto him in her sleep. When he realized this, his mouth was left agape and he dripped with sweat.
*Oh, God!* Spiral worried. *Girls aren't supposed to be in any of the boys' rooms! I let my emotions get the best of me! We are in deep trouble!*
"Spiral?" Hikari started to get up. "Is something wrong?"
"I-It's just… you should get out of here before you get caught." Spiral responded. "We'll both be in trouble if you do."
"Oh!" Hikari just realized this. "I'm sorry, Spiral. I was kind of drunk and let my emotions overcome me! I just want you to know… that my feelings for you were true."
Knock. Knock. Knock.
"Spiral, is Hikari okay?" Naoto's voice was heard from the other side of the door.
"It's the two of us, just so you know!" Shroud's voice was then heard.
"Hold on! I'm not decent!" Spiral shouted to them. "Hikari, you need to hide!" Spiral told her in a hush voice.
"Spiral, they're our friends." Hikari hushed back. "They won't tell anyone."
"It is difficult for Shroud to lie because he has a tendency to stay with the facts." Spiral explained in the hushed voice. "Take your clothes and hide in the bathroom."
Spiral tossed Hikari her clothes and she went into the bathroom. Spiral quickly got dressed himself and opened the door for Naoto and Shroud.
"What's up?" Spiral asked.
"Why are you out of breath?" Naoto was curious.
"I was just I a hurry to get dressed and open the door." Spiral told them. *I'm not even lying yet!* "Yes, Hikari's fine. She fell asleep in the bathroom after an hour of vomiting or so. She's awake and fine now."
"That's good to hear." Naoto was a bit relieved. "We're meeting the others for breakfast. You guys wanna come with us?"
"Sure." Spiral answered. "Just give us a moment."
Hikari came out of the bathroom fully dressed.
"What's going on?" Hikari asked.
"Oh, we're just meeting the others for breakfast." Spiral informed her.
"That sounds terrific." Hikari agreed to go.
As they left the room, Naoto felt something was off.
"Spiral, your room smelled kind of funny…" Naoto pointed out to him.
"It was probably the leftover scent of barf." Spiral tried to hide.
"No, it wasn't that… smelled like… sweat." Naoto seemed to have an idea of what happened. "… Hey, guys, Spiral and I need to use the restroom before we go, so just wait for us."
Naoto took Spiral by the wrist and went into the men's restroom.
"Did you and Hikari really-"
"What? No!"
"Spiral, don't lie to me. I recognize the smell of… 'man juices'. You totally did Hikari. How was it?"
"Uh… huh?"
"Come on. Unlike Shroud, I can keep your secret."
"Uh… well… I can't really describe it…"
"Well, I'm sure you'll come up with a description. Now let's go get you breakfast. I'm sure you've worked up quite an appetite."
Spiral, Hikari, Naoto and Shroud had arrived at the hotel's breakfast buffet and their friends were all sitting at a table.
"Hey, guys!" Momo greeted them.
"Hikari, you were at Spiral's all night." Aura stated. "Are you okay?"
"She's fine." Naoto answered. "She fell asleep in the bathroom after she yelled at the toilet."
"… She… 'yelled' at the toilet?" Lee didn't understand the phrase.
"That means… you know? Blagh!" Naoto tried to emulate the sound of puking. "Anyways, what's on the menu?"
Everyone took their seats, but Spiral still seemed kind of anxious. Momo and Aura noticed it and one of them had to speak up.
"Spiral, are you okay?" Aura asked. "You seem… tense."
"O-Oh!" Spiral became a bit nervous. "Um, nothing important."
"Did you get enough sleep last night?" Momo asked in concern.
"Hey, I didn't sleep with anyone!" Spiral blurted out.
The whole table remained silent until Spiral spoke up again.
"I-It was just a dream… I dreamt I was sleeping with someone." Spiral tried to recover.
"Who was it?" Momo asked.
"… Uhhh… That's… kind of private." Spiral kept covering himself.
"Tell us." Aura wanted to know, too.
"I… don't think this is breakfast conversation." Spiral wanted to get off the topic.
"Spiral… what is it you're not telling us?" Momo began to interrogate.
"What makes you think I'm hiding something?"
"Well, you're sweaty, your breath can be heard and it's rather irregular and strange and to top it all off, you're stuttering more than that one cartoon character. Who was that…"
"Was it Porky Pig?" Shroud guessed.
"Yes!" Momo thanked Shroud for reminding her. "Come on, Spiral. Stop hiding it from us. We're your friends. We can keep secrets with each other."
"… I don't know." Spiral wasn't sure.
"That's it!" Momo got out of her seat.
Momo grabbed Spiral by the back of his shirt collar and dragged him away with Aura following behind them. When they arrived at an empty corner of a hall with no other people around, Momo threw Spiral against the wall and held onto his shoulder.
"All right, Spiral." Momo was ready to interrogate. "Maybe this quiet spot is better for you to spill this secret."
"I… I don't want to tell you."
"Spiral…" Aura looked at him with trustful eyes. "Just trust us. You know you can."
"… Fine… last night I… slept with Hikari."
The girls remained silent and this made Spiral a bit nervous.
"… Spiral…" Momo muttered before-
BAM!
Momo had kneed Spiral in the groin and he fell to the floor.
"Ahh! … What was that for? !" Spiral groaned in pain.
"Why? !" Momo questioned. "Why her of all people? !"
"I don't understand what the problem is!" Spiral was confused. "It's not like I cheated on anyone!"
Momo didn't answer and just left. Aura looked down at Spiral and left along with Momo. Spiral was left in pain all on his own.
"… uhhhn…" Spiral groaned again.
After the day's activities and they had gotten on the bus, Spiral was sitting next to Naoto, Shroud next to Camaru, Momo next to Aura and Hikari was with Asuka. The twins were still next to each other.
"Momo and Aura didn't seem too happy when they came back." Naoto talked with Spiral. "They must be pretty mad at you."
"I don't see why they should." Spiral was still confused. "Then again… I think I figured it out."
"Figured what out?" Naoto wondered.
"I think they're mad because… they like me, too." Spiral stated.
"No!" Naoto sarcastically responded, as he seemed like he was way ahead of Spiral on that answer.
"Actually, Naoto, there's another complication to add to this." Spiral quietly told him.
"What's that?"
"… I didn't want to tell them that because… I think… I like them, too."
"Huh?"
"I… like Hikari, Momo and Aura. I just wanted to keep it hidden until I made a decision, but I feel like I don't really have a choice but to go with Hikari. I mean, after what happened, I can't just leave her be. That'd be cruel."
"Man, Spiral, I never thought of you as that type of person. Do you like Asuka, too?"
"What? No, just those three."
"Well, you have a point about Hikari. You slept together, so you two pretty much need to start."
"Naoto, promise me you won't tell anyone about this."
"Cross my heart and hope to die, stick a thousand needles in my eye."
Naoto and Spiral shook hands as they made that promise.
English Voice Cast
Todd Haberkorn Spiral
Laura Bailey Hikari
Yuri Lowenthal Naoto
Monica Rial Momo
Alexis Tipton Aura
Maxey Whitehead Shroud
Alison Viktorin Chan/Chun
Caitlin Glass Asuka
Tom Gibis Lee
Kyle Hebert Camaru
Wendee Lee Ms. Krystal
Preview
Spiral: I need some serious time to think about things…
Naoto: I'm afraid you won't have time, Spiral. 'Cause in the next chapter, a new victim arrives in the mirror world.
Spiral: Huh? !
Naoto: Next time on Awakening of the Soul! Hikari the Heretic! Stay tuned!
Spiral: Things are just so confusing right now…