I'm averaging 4 reviews per chapter before this one.

Once Luna had seen enough 'disproportionate' media theories regarding Yusei's dueling style, she fell soundly asleep, not so much as inching away from her belief in him. Still, there were some questions left to be asked, but those would wait until the morning.

Daylight returned to the city, signaling yet another day. The first one to greet this day, not surprisingly, was Luna. She stretched her limbs out similarly to how a cat would. She rolled out of bed and slunk very gingerly over to Yusei's side. The young woman took a few seconds to take in how Yusei looked when he was asleep: calm, relaxed, and peaceful, as anyone else should.

"Sleep well," she breathed in a voice that could've been carried by the wind. She sealed the deal by brushing her lips over his temple like a feather. The college girl then quickly cleaned herself up, switched into a light workout outfit, and quietly stepped outside into the rain cooled environment to work in a few miles of jogging while Yusei continued to doze.

"It feels good out here," she echoed inside her mind. This also gave her a close-up opportunity to see what else was different in New Domino.

The girl was on the tail end of her jog when Yusei decided to wake up from his slumber. After all, considering the challenge he endured the day prior from Leo, it was understandable that he would want to get some shut-eye. When the guy discovered that Luna wasn't next to him, he didn't fly off the handle.

"She must be downstairs or maybe outside," Yusei yawned, uncurling his arms. "She can take care of herself." He wandered into his bathroom, washed his face off, and went through the arduous task of setting his hair into his signature black and gold-streaked flame. After it was set, he came down the stairs just as Luna came through the front door.

"Good morning," the scientist greeted her.

"Don't...scare me like that," she heaved, heart still racing. "Please?"

"Understood," he chuckled back. "There's something I still want to know." The two stepped into the kitchen and Luna took a seat while Yusei put on a pot of coffee and heated up a few breakfast sliders.

"These are hot, so watch out," the guy warned her as he set the plate and mugs on the table.

"I hear you, I hear you," she assured him, trying to cool down her drink. "Now, what did you want to know?"

"Your brother seemed strangely calm when you told him that you and I were together," Yusei recounted. "Care to explain?"

"It's a little thing called maturation," the girl pointed out. "My brother has excelled as a duelist and as a person. Both of us have."

"Well, when did he start 'maturing'?" the scientist quizzed his female charge.

"I guess it was when he committed himself to becoming a champion turbo duelist," Luna theorized. "Whenever I saw him training, and he trained a lot, Leo took on your mannerisms to see if that would work for him."

"And I assume it did?" he jumped the gun.

"Yes, but he also had and still has trouble with one key element," the girl continued. "Patience. You saw it during the duel. He's okay for a while during a match, but when it starts to drag out, he gets impatient."

"This has happened before?" Yusei questioned again.

"Plenty," Luna emphasized, taking a sip. "In the times when he has kept his cool, he's really good." All Yusei could do was nod as he took a slurp of his brew.

Back at the hospital, Akiza could only tread through her shift, just wondering how Yusei's duel went down. The difference between reading something and actually seeing it happen was obvious: unless if left up to the imagination, one has to see it to believe it. She returned to her office after performing check-up after check-up to numerous patients. She enjoyed her job but it sometimes got repetitive, day in and day out. Upon opening her door, sitting on her desk was a DVD with a coded label on it. Automatically, Akiza knew what it was.

"Sam, you are a lifesaver," the female doctor praised mentally. She closed her door and inserted the disc into her computer. She scrolled through the opening graphics and started viewing when Leo was talking smack to Yusei.

"If I want to be the best, I gotta beat the best," the boy said towards Yusei.

"His confidence hasn't changed," Akiza thought out loud. "But that's what I should expect of him." Through the first few turns, she saw how the kid got the jump on Yusei and chopped through over 1,000 of his life points in those first turns.

"How much has he improved?" she gauged to herself when Power Tool Dragon roared on her screen. The recording went on to show her Yusei summoning Junk Archer and Leo shielding himself with the Quickdraw Synchron used to summon it.

"He's really good," she gasped slightly. The duel progressed through the sequence where Leo took out 1,600 of Yusei's life points in two attacks.

"This is unbelievable," the doctor gasped again. "Leo must've been working his tail off for this." She got to the point where Stardust Dragon blasted the boy with 3,500 points of damage and he got them back with Life Stream Dragon.

"You gotta be kidding me," she scoffed in shock. "Yusei had him on the ropes with that attack." The next big break was when it looked as though Yusei would fall from Sonic Buster's effect, but he managed to reverse it from Damage Eater's effect.

"Never count him out," she beamed at the older turbo duelist. A closer zoom-in from the recording revealed Leo's impatience leaking out in the open. The match came up to Yusei whipping out Draco-Equiste and using its effect to reverse Speed World 2's burn ability. Up next was Leo trying to defend himself with Power Tool Dragon, but Yusei pulled the victory out with Defense Buster and one last attack from Draco.

"Where do those two go from here?" she wondered out loud again. "Then again, it's like the saying goes: never judge a book by its cover."

Well, there you have it: I split this chapter with Luna explaining how Leo became a maturing duelist and Akiza seeing the duel from start to finish. For the sake of practicality, I had to cut parts of the match out to only include the major highlights. As for where Akiza stands in this story, I don't know if I should introduce her as a second plotline or not. Someone, anyone, I could use a rational explanation on this. I do realize by adding her, the story will run longer than I expected, which it already is. Anyway, review if you wish.