"But as the world took shape, the dragon's voice began to fail. It realized then that it would never see the world it was creating—never meet the lives that were beginning to shine. But at least, no one else would ever be alone. As the dragon's light faded, it sang it's final notes, and released one final tear."

the Heartbeat Cycles. Author unknown

Yuma looked over his shoulder again. Was there something following him?

It was probably just the feeling of Akari watching him walk to school. Gosh, she didn't even trust him to walk all the way there by himself. She had started showing up at the end of school, too, to walk him home. It was embarrassing. The kids already teased him enough.

Yuma swallowed thickly and grabbed at the key around his neck. Dad had given it to him, just a few days before he disappeared, and Yuma hadn't taken it off since. It was all he had left—besides dad's cards, of course, which he kept safely tucked away in his pocket so that Akari couldn't take them.

The metal of the Emperor's Key cut into his skin when he squeezed, and the faint pain made him feel like he was actually awake. He found himself wondering that a lot. What if everything was just a bad dream, and that's why his parents weren't here? It would make sense...but it was also scary to imagine that this was all fake.

Just like Lua's world.

He pushed the thought out of his head, like usual, and scurried on ahead down the road towards school. He wouldn't even acknowledge that thought anymore. He was a big kid now, and there wasn't any room in a big kid's head for imaginary friends. He had his key, and he had his dad's deck

"Yuma-kun!"

He turned around to see Kotori jumping down the last step from her house, running to catch up with him.

"Morning," Yuma said. He couldn't find it in him to match Kotori's cheerfulness, and Kotori seemed to notice, her face screwing up briefly before smiled again.

"Morning!" Kotori said, with her usual big smile and flushed face. Her mother had her do kendo early in the mornings, so she always looked like she had just been exercising when she ran to catch up with Yuma. "Oh! Guess what, Yuma-kun!"

"What?"

Kotori was usually excitable—usually not quite as much as Yuma was, but Yuma had been having trouble just walking forward, much less sprinting along to school like they used to. Yuma wondered if Kotori's extra cheer was to try and make up for Yuma being so quiet.

Kotori opened her mouth, but then a loud shout rang out behind them.

"Oy! Nerd!"

Yuma didn't even flinch when Tetsuo brought his skateboard to a skidding stop inches from Yuma and Kotori. Kotori jumped, though, squeaking.

"Watch it!" she said, her fists flailing back and forth. "You could have hit us, Tetsuo!"

Tetsuo just huffed loudly, scowling at Yuma down over the top of his nose. Yuma curled his shoulders inward a bit, wondering why Tetsuo was glaring at him. Tetsuo wasn't really a bully, not anymore, at least. There were worse bullies at school; Tetsuo only made fun of Yuma's cards or his dueling. He always dueled with Yuma when asked, though, unlike the other kids who just laughed in his face and tried to push him down before running away. And he never said anything bad about Yuma's parents, either.

Still, Yuma wondered what he wanted today...why was he glowering so much?

Tetsuo scowled, looking frustrated. Then he pointed a finger at Yuma, almost stabbing him in the chest.

"You and me are going to duel after school!" he said, like it was an order and not a question. "And we're gonna keep dueling til you stop making that gross face!"

"W-what face?" Yuma said, surprised by the announcement.

"That—that sad face!" Tetsuo said. He waved his arm around as though to gesture at what he was talking about, but Yuma didn't get it. "What happened to that—to that thing that you did before when you were losing? The kat-o-bang thing."

"Kattobing," Yuma corrected him. His father's saying—to challenge, to never give up.

"That!" Tetsuo said, pointing again. "We're gonna duel until that comes back! Okay?"

Tetsuo looked all scowly, still, but there was...was he blushing? It dawned on Yuma then—Tetsuo was trying to make him feel better. Tetsuo was trying to tell him that he wanted Yuma to be happy again. Tetsuo was telling him to get his kattobing back.

Oh... Yuma felt like a blindfold was being pulled off of him. He hadn't...he hadn't been doing his kattobing. He had given up—after mom and dad disappeared, he had stopped kattobinging. He had stopped even trying. Mom and dad would...would be so disappointed...

Yuma's vision blurred as the tears bubbled to his eyes.

"W—what are you crying for?" Tetsuo said, looking alarmed.

"Stop it, Tetsuo, you're being mean!" said Kotori. She marched around Yuma and whacked Tetsuo on the arm with her book bag, and the boy yelped, looking legitimately worried of Kotori's wrath.

"N-no, Kotori-chan, it's okay," Yuma said. "Ahaha, I'm such a crybaby...to-chan would be disappointed."

Yuma rubbed quickly at his eyes.

"Okay, Tetsuo-kun," he said. "Let's duel after school, every day, okay?"

"Hmph! That means nothing changes then," Tetsuo said. "I'll see you losers at school!"

"Uh-uh," Yuma said. "I'll see you at school!"

And then before Tetsuo or Kotori could say a word, Yuma burst forward, running as fast as he possibly could. His tears flew out behind him as he ran, ran as fast as he possibly could, ran faster and farther than his tears and his sadness and his anger and everything, until the wind and the ground under his feet was the only thing there was.

"KATTOBING!" he shouted as he leaped from the top steps leading down into the school.

For a moment, it felt like he was flying.

He could...

He could make it.

He could do this.

He just had to cling to his kattobing...and everything would be all right...

This is a wild goose chase. He knows it, they know it, everyone knows it.

The energy from the Numeron Code has completely disappeared from any system that was fine-tuned enough to search for it. Even the oracles are in agreement. The Code has vanished. They were so close to finding a way into the world where it was held, but now it's gone. It's fled, somewhere. Almost like it has a sentience, like it knew that it was being sought.

But it mustbe found. The Emperor of Emperors is insistent on it, terrified, even. He seemed very out of sorts earlier in the day, and not just from the constant threat of encroaching war with Astral. The Ice Empress hadn't been seen for a few hours, not since the Winged Emperor had asked her to meet her elsewhere. The Emperor of Emperors worries about her, and the Seraph Emperor cannot deny that he is worried as well. As soon as he and the Dragon Emperor complete this brief look at the human world through their instruments, he's going to check on both of them.

He knows this is a fool's errand, and the Emperor of Emperors probably did too. The Dragon Emperor won't stop complaining about it, but the Seraph Emperor tries his best to ignore it. He'll do as his Emperor asks, without question.

The logic is simple: if the Code has disappeared from it's own pocket dimension, where will it go instead? If it feels threatened, where will it end up? The Emperor of Emperors is betting on its hiding place being in the Physical Realm, among the humans. There are already safeguards there, ways for the Code to hide itself. It has the ability to take on the form of a human if it needs to. They need only find a human with the correct soul signature—

Oh? What's this?

The Seraph Emperor brings up the alert to his first crystal, studying it closely. It's an image of three human children—the one in question is the boy running ahead, with dark hair and red bangs, a curious necklace bouncing against his chest that this image cannot get a clear image of. Several markers match, enough to put an alert on the system...

...no. It's a false alarm. Several soul markers are the same, but they are an ordinary bunch. His soul is as ordinary as a human soul can be. The human boy is of no consequence after all.

The Seraph Emperor releases the image and moves on to the next alert, which will probably also be a false one.

After all, the Code wouldn't really be among humans, would it...?