Just a note. The double entredes are DELIBERATE. :D
Disclaimer: Yugioh belongs to its rightful creator and the company who manages everything, from anime to manga to the card game itself, of course. What you see as original is mine creation. :D
New Thunder
Chapter 2: Being a teacher is hard work
"Ruka, have I already told you that you're a genius? And that I love you very very much?"
"Just ten times since you woke up today, Rua." She had never seen his brother so eager to help cleaning the house, even if that was mostly automatized. Ever since she had told him that she had managed to get Manjoume to agree to coming to lunch at their home, he had been hyperactive in both cleaning and preparing himself and his cards. Seems like the teacher-aide wasn't leaving that house without a duel.
Herself, she was acting pretty much normally, but she was eager too for Manjoume's visit. She finally had someone who she could talk with about her powers. Really talk with. Rua was a good listener, but having someone who knew what she was talking about as an interlocutor was something else. As she thought about what they could talk about first, there was a knock at the door.
"COMING!" Rua shouted and with that was away to the door, and Ruka followed him with her gaze. The male twin opened the door and there was standing Manjoume, wearing a more comfortable attire to him. A black shirt under a black jacket, black pants and black shoes, and he was holding a black wrapped box. "Manjoume-san! You're... Uhmm..." Rua observed the older duelist from head to toe. "Black."
"Thanks for stating the obvious." Manjoume replied, narrowing his eyes. Rua just grinned and let him in, and the black haired duelist began to observe the apartment... But calling it apartment was a real diminutive. "... Not bad."
Heavy priced furniture, heavy priced materials, but what really took the cake was the garden outside, complete with a swimming pool. "Not bad at all. You guys are among the wealthy, huh?"
"Heheheh! Our parents get paid lots and lots of money! Not bad, huh?" Rua explained, and Manjoume walked forward till also Ruka's head poked out.
"Manjoume-san, welcome. Did you have trouble finding the place?" Manjoume shook his head. He had just gotten lost once, but it seemed that everyone around that palace knew where 'the nice girl and the rowdy boy with green hair' lived. Then, he stopped, blinking owlishly. Ruka noticed this and got confused. "Huh... Something wrong?"
Manjoume stared a bit more then smiled, smugly as always. Maybe no one had ever seen Manjoume smile normally. "So, you're the cook?"
"Eh? What... Ah!" Ruka lowered her gaze and she noticed that she was still wearing her pink oven gloves and an oversized apron with a chrysalis dolphin on it. The little girl blushed up to her ears. "Ahh! J-Just one moment!"
"Ahahah!" Rua laughed at his sister's predicament as she dove back behind the wall and removed her cooking attire, still blushing profusely.
"I-I'm sorry." Manjoume just chuckled and walked past her.
"Don't be. I think it suited you." The comment just made the poor girl more embarrassed, and Rua snickered, which in turn earned him a kick in the right shin. As the boy howled in pain, Manjoume removed his jacket and started looking around. "Your parents are going to be joining us later?"
"Ah. N-No, they're not here." Ruka replied, staring at the ground as she followed him. Manjoume stopped walking again and turned to the girl again.
"They left you alone the day when someone they don't know is coming home? And where did they go?" The mood of the two seemed to darken a bit at that question, and he could see their smiles becoming a little forced. His eyes widened. "I-I'm sorry! I didn't... I mean, I didn't imagine...!"
"It's alright... We're used to it." Ruka replied, her head dropped. Manjoume felt that sting of pain again.
"Yeah... I mean, it happens. What can we do about it?" Rua replied, and Manjoume was really surprised of how maturely he was behaving to his gaffe and at talking about such a sensitive subject. "Work it's work. Can't be helped if they stay away most of the ye..."
"IF THEY'RE NOT DEAD, SAY SO TO BEGIN WITH, DAMN IT!" Manjoume exploded, red in the face and that earned at first a scare and surprise from the twins, then laughter. It was the black haired man's turn to blush. "... Seriously. You made me feel like an ass."
"Ahahahah... Sorry, sorry. Our parents aren't dead, they're just abroad for work." Rua was still struggling to calm down, but he managed to get some words out nonetheless. "They're gone most of the time."
"... So, you live alone? Who takes care of you?" Ruka shook her head from side to side.
"No one. It's always just me and Rua." Manjoume's eyes widened before narrowing again.
"Can't say I approve..." He commented, his eyes closed to not glare at anything. "... Though, I guess it tells much on your maturity, even if in Rua's case, one would never think of something like this."
"Hey!"
"Twelve years old and living on your own." He relaxed and dropped the wrapped box on the nearby table. "That takes bravery, and a lot of maturity for kids your age."
"... Thank you." The twins said this in unison and bowed, and the would be teacher rolled his eyes, amused.
"Alright, alright. Now let's see how well you two can cook."
-Breakline-
"Hmm... He's more interesting than what I thought." As requested by Jack, Mikage had promptly started doing research on Manjoume, and the first step was consulting Security's and as such, Kaiba Corporation's archive. At least, as much as her level of clearance allowed her to find.
Manjoume was a pretty notorious person in the dueling world and in the external world as well. Youngest of the three Manjoume brothers, heirs to a group which is said to be second just to the Kaiba Corporation in power and influence. He had joined the Duel Academy immediately being placed in the Obelisk Blue students because of the high placement in his exams, votes which he kept for all his academic history.
After graduation, his entrance in the pro dueling world was expected and anticipated, and he didn't let down the expectations. Out of his other past friends from the Academy who entered the pro dueling world after graduation, he's the only unbeaten one. 79 Single Duels, 15 Triangle Duels, 21 Tag Team Duels, 4 Pro Tournaments. He won them all.
His decks...He seems to have a preference for Union Machine Types and LV Decks. Even if... Mikage was currently fast-forwarding a match were Manjoume was using his Ojama Deck. Ojama. He's usually one for power, so monsters like these are really strange for him to use... And still, he uses them with mastery. She sighed looking at the screen. "He has much more experience than Atlas-sama, that's for sure."
"Who does?" Mikage almost jumped out of her skin. She turned around in her chair and then her heart really threatened to give out on her.
"D-Director Godwin!" She stood up and bowed maybe a bit too deeply to him. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't hear you enter!"
"I noticed. You seemed very focused on your research." Godwin's gaze focused on the computer screen, and he got a close up of the Ojama butt-combining for their Delta Hurricane. "What is it about?"
"Ah... It's about a duelist that Atlas-sama is interested into. I met him recently." She raised her body again. "His name is Manjoume Jun. He's a retired but undefeated pro duelist, and Atlas-sama has expressed interest in dueling him... Well, or better, he believes he came here to duel him."
"Hmm... I take it that's not the case." Mikage shook her head from side to side gently.
"Last I asked, he didn't know who the King was." She explained with a small frown. "Still, if the King wishes to duel him, so it will be."
"Hmm... Agreed. Though, keep me adjourned on the matter, as always." Sagiri bowed again as Godwin turned around and began to leave.
"Of course, Director." As the grey haired man walked out of the room, he thought about the small piece of information he had just received.
A retired professional duelist... I can use this.
-Breakline-
"Hmm... Duel..."
"He falls asleep so quickly?"
"He's been running around all morning and now he stuffed himself. It's only natural." Ruka replied to Manjoume's comment as they observed Rua napping on the nearby couch and they cleaned the table. Good thing they had a dishwasher, Ruka had used lots of tools and plates to cook lunch, with good results, Manjoume had to admit. Had been ages since he ate a good homecooked meal, and it was incredible that it came from the hands of a twelve years old girl. "I hope he wakes up before you go. He was so eager to duel you."
"Too bad. He shouldn't have eaten all the pastries." He hadn't had the time to unwrap the box and open it that Rua had already started stuffing himself. His fault for choosing his favourite shop, he guessed. "Also, I didn't bring any of my cards."
"Hehehe. Saw that coming." Ruka giggled before putting the last glass in the dishwasher, closing the device's door and starting it, a humming noise filling the air. "We're done."
"Good. I think I will indulge myself with the other couch, then." Manjoume commented before letting himself drop on said couch, a 'huff' escaping him. "You're one hell of a cook, kid."
"Thanks. Ehm..." Manjoume raised his head from the resting place on the couch's back to look at Ruka, who was now flushing and fidgeting, hesitating in something, once again. "Since Rua is sleeping, can we... Ehm..."
"... Hmm..." Manjoume just replied by patting the place on the couch next to him twice. Ruka got what he meant and slowly approached him and then sat on the couch, on the opposite end compared to Manjoume. "Closer." He said.
"Y-Yes." Ruka edged closer to Manjoume... By a few centimetres. The ex-pro sighed.
"Kid, this is something that we can't do unless you get a lot closer to me." Ruka flushed even more and then got up from the couch, walked right up to Manjoume and sat on his right. "There. Was that so difficult?"
"... A bit." He groaned. This was going to be a nightmare.
"... So. Here we are."
"Yes." He resisted the urge to bash his head against the floor. He raised his arms so that they were resting on the back of the couch and crossed his legs.
"So, you said you had lots of questions. Shoot." He edged her forward, and Ruka nodded and began to think about the question she wanted to ask first, cute sounds of thinking escaping her lips every now and then.
"Well, I guess the first would be... When did you start seeing them?" She finally got out with it, and Manjoume nodded.
"Good question. It was the first year of the Duel Academy." He started, and Ruka stopped flushing as she focused all her attention on his words. "Basically, I was in a slump because while I had been hailed as a prodigy when I first entered, I had been losing all my duels with people who were supposed to be inferior to me, and because of that, the same people who respected me started treating me like less than the dirt under their shoes."
"Oh... That's..." Ruka lowered her gaze, trying to imagine the situation. "Not nice..."
"Not nice is an euphemism. It was hell." Manjoume said, reminiscing on the lane of memories. "Still, I reacted possibly in the stupidest way possible. I decided to leave. I believed to be Miyamoto Musashi or something, I guess. Point is, I stole a motorboat and left... There was the problem that I knew next to zero about how to steer it or in which direction the nearest patch of dry land was. So, at a certain point I finished the fuel and the damn thing started sinking."
"I-In the middle of the sea?" Ruka put a hand to her mouth.
"The north half of the pacific ocean I think. It was cold. But let's go with order. In the end I fell in the water and was swallowed by what I would later discover was a mechanical whale... A submarine of sorts." Manjoume continued, remembering how the principal of the Northern Duel Academy had masqueraded himself. "There I met a person who gave me Ojama Yellow. It was the first card spirit I ever met."
"Oh... That card?" Ruka remembered the yellow monster pestering Manjoume during dueling practice, and he nodded.
"Yeah... He immediately started pestering me to go search for his brothers after he materialized... What a bore." He groaned.
"But... I mean, nothing happened to you? Nothing serious?" The young man raised an eyebrow at that.
"What do you mean? Well, I was swept to sea, but the submarine probably landed me directly on the shore, so, I wasn't really in danger... Why do you ask?" Ruka hesitated a bit before talking again.
"Well... In my case, it happened like this. When I was very young... While I was dueling with Rua, I fell into a coma." Manjoume managed to keep his surprise to a minimum, mostly because it was more shock than surprise. How could dueling make one go into a coma? "I spent a month in coma."
"A whole month?" Ruka nodded.
"Yeah... And ever since I woke up, I've been able to hear the voices of the spirits and to see them. The first I ever met was..." Ruka dug into her pocket and picked out a card, and Manjoume's forehead twitched. "My Kuribbon."
"... So I see." Of all the cards...Is the Kuriboh line special or something? Manjoume sighed at the memory of another person who walked around with a Kuriboh and could see its spirit. "So, you thought that maybe our stories had something in common and you could discern what made us able to see spirits?" Ruka nodded again, a bit disheartened since it didn't seem like the case. Manjoume rubbed his chin.
"Hmm.. Well, maybe there's something..." Manjoume continued, making Ruka raise her head. "You see... Maybe it has something to do with big shocks, or being reborn." Knowing that she wouldn't comprehend what he was saying, he started to explain. "Think about it. You had to fall into a coma and come back, while I had to have my whole personality and goals destroyed and turned around. And a friend of mine..." ...Maybe when he was young? Judai had told him once about what had happened with 'that' card whenever he summoned it and how one of his friends had fallen into a coma. "Still it's not enough, I guess... Lots of people receive shocks and fall into coma, but they don't become able to see monster spirits. The big shock is probably the trigger, but what makes us special is already there..."
"... Special?" All his speech and she had heard just that word? He frowned at her but then she saw how she looked at him like an expecting puppy. "... You said special? Not strange? Different?"
"Nope. I'm pretty sure that being able to see spirits of the cards and being able to talk to them makes us special, not monsters." Manjoume chuckled, and then tossed Ruka a smug smile. "After all, do you know who else is able to see monster spirits? The Duel King."
"... The Du..." Ruka gasped at the information. "F-For real? How do you know?"
"... How do I know?"
"I got it from that Yugi! I swear!"
"Yes, of cooooourse..."
"I swear! I bet that he can see Duel Spirits too and he knew I could see Winged Kuriboh! That's why he gave him to me!"
"... So, the Duel King is a Spirit Seer?"
"... Wow, you make it sound so cool. Spirit Seer..."
"FOCUS ON THE SUBJECT, DAMN IT!"
"... I got the information from someone who met him." Manjoume said with a smile that Ruka, this time, noticed that wasn't his usual smug one. It was warm, normal, kind, with his eyes looking at nothing in particular on the ceiling. Like he was reliving a fond memory. He then turned that same gaze on her and put a hand on her head, stroking her hair like that day in the park. She blushed and mellowed again under his touch. "We're gonna try to find something more about it, don't worry. Till that moment, though, remember that we're not freaks, but chosen ones."
"... Manjoume-niisan, that's a bit too much, I think. AH!"
"... Eh?" Ruka flushed red and jerked away and Manjoume stiffened like a statue while his skin reached an even paler tone than normal. If it looked like priceless marble before, he now looked like a corpse. He hoped he had just heard wrong. "... What... Did you just... Call me?"
"Ahhh! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to... I mean..." Ruka was desperately trying to hide her face with her hands, but they were far too small, and shaking her head from side to side. She stopped, feeling her face temperature reaching critical mass. She slowly moved her eyes to Manjoume's cadaverous figure again. "... It's just..."
"Just..." Manjoume followed her gaze. She wasn't looking at him exactly, she was staring at a particular part of his body. His hand. His right hand. The hand she had been using to pet her. He gasped and slapped it down under one of his legs. "... The hell?"
"It's just... Well, it's just me and Rua, most of the time, and... I mean, mom and dad aren't..." She was fidgeting again, and a sinking feeling was now in Manjoume's gut, understanding, comprehending, and damning himself for doing things without reflecting. It was obvious. The same thing had happened to him when he was young.
His dad and brothers weren't the kind, protective, hugging types. They would compliment him and praise him if he did something well, but that was it. The only person who shoved him physical acts of affection, hugs, kisses, having his head petted, was his mother. After she died he had been left starved of that kind of attention.
Ruka and Rua were probably in the same situation, considering what he knew of their life. He didn't know what kind of people they were, but if he knew that his twelve years daughter was prone to get sick and had fallen once in a coma without a precise medical explanation, he would do anything but leave her living alone with her twin brother, so that didn't make him that optimist about their priorities. They lacked an adult figure in their life. While Rua seemed strong enough to overcome it, at least judging by his usually enthusiastic approach to life, Ruka was far more timid and sensible.
In short, the occasion in the park and what he just did now, even just the memory of his rival brought disasters in his life, was the first affective physical contact she had had in maybe years. Rua didn't look like the hugs type either. And that led him to the train-wreck he was currently facing. After the realization downed on him, that Ruka had just imprinted on him as her favourite adult person, he gasped, and then the two spent minutes staring at each other, not moving nor saying anything, until... "... Uhhh... Can I call you onii..."
"HELL NO!" That made Manjoume recover and go from shocked to ballistic and furious. "WHAT THE HELL? YOU SNEAK-HUG ME IN THE PARK, YOU CRY ON MY CHEST, YOU INVITE ME TO YOUR HOME AND NOW YOU WANT TO CALL ME ONII-CHAN? AND HOW IN HELL IS HE SLEEPING THROUGH ALL THIS?"
"Hmm... Go, Power Toll Dra-zzzzz..."
"Gonna kill you..." Manjoume snarled and then returned his gaze to Ruka and felt a stab of pain again as he took in her crestfallen look. Since the wall was too far to bash his head into, he just started pulling at his hair and snarling till he calmed down. He slowly let go of his hair, his stare on the floor. "... Nii-san. And just in private." Ruka suddenly perked up, and Manjoume raised his head, still glaring, and his right hand with just his index finger stretched out, in admonishment. "It's still Manjoume-san at school, understood?"
"... Thanks, Manjoume-nii." Ruka smiled a beautiful smile but Manjoume was unaffected by the thing.
"Manjoume-nii-SAN." He repeated. He then took a hold of his jacket and put it back on. "Alright. Gotta go and work a bit on my first lesson for Monday. See you at school."
"Bye... Nii-san." She repeated, giggling right after. Even if this time she got it right, Manjoume still shivered from head to toe before opening the front door and slamming it behind him. "... He's so funny."
-Breakline-
Manjoume had one thing to do before going back home. He found the nearest public toilet, got inside, checked that no one else was in the stalls. "... No one." He breathed in and out deeply, and then... "WHAT THE HELL? WHAT KIND OF FREAKING PARENTS MAKE THEIR CHILDREN SO AFFECTION STARVED THAT THEY LATCH ONTO THE FIRST PERSON TO SHOW THEM SOME KIND OF ATTENTION?"
-Breakline-
He didn't know how he knew where he would exited Satellite from, but there he was, waiting for him. He stopped his D-Wheel and removed his helmet to look at him, perched on his elevated position, on another lane of the city's highway. "... Jack."
He laughed at him, that cynical laughter, that mocked his opponents. It was the first time he had ever heard it used against his own person, though. "It's been a while, Yusei." They just stared in each other's eyes before Jack 'hmph'-ed and then raised his gaze to the sky. "As soon as I looked at the moon, I had a feeling you would be coming here." Or better he knew that was one of the few ways to get into Neo Domino City from Satellite unauthorized. "How many years has it been?"
"Two." Yusei replied as the blonde King kept his gaze fixated on the moon.
"Two, huh?" He murmured before lowering his gaze to his old friend again, or better, to what he was riding. The flaming red D-Wheel. "You've built quite the D-Wheel, there. That's not surprising." Yusei had always had a knack for repairing, salvaging and just plainly building things from scratch.
"You did ride off with the one I built before, after all." Yusei was gentle enough to not put in his old friend's face the fact that he had basically stolen it.
"A king never lets a chance slip him by." He commented, not trying to justify nor explain his actions, returning his gaze to the moon, and that irked Yusei a bit.
"... Where is it, now?" Jack slowly returned his gaze to Yusei.
"It's obviously already broken." Yusei clenched his right hand into a fist that he would have had the instinct to throw at Jack's face, had he been a bit closer.
"... What about my card?" Jack had stolen something else precious from him.
"Stardust Dragon, you mean?" Jack dug into his right pocket and took out a single card, holding it between his right index and middle fingers, showing its front to Yusei. It was the card Jack had nominated.
"... That was part of our dreams too."
"Our?"
"... All of our friends in Satellite's dreams." Yusei explained, and Jack just kept on smiling smugly at him.
"Are you still prattling on about that childish nonsense? Now that I've become King, it's a card I no longer need." Jack raised his arm and then extended it, throwing the card straight at Yusei, who caught it with the same two fingers Jack had been using to hold it up. "You can have it back!"
Yusei stared a bit at the card and at Jack's figure, like he was pondering something. He then closed his eyes. "What's wrong? Place it back into your deck."
Instead, Yusei threw it back at Jack once again, who caught him face down. The gesture surprised him, as Yusei dismounted from the D-Wheel and stared hard at him from his lower-placed situation. "I'll get it back in a duel. I bet you had the same thing in mind."
"... Hmph. Fine then." Indeed, he felt like it. Like showing to Yusei his strength, the strength of the King.
-Breakline-
"Is an inter-dimensional synchronized sneeze even something possible?"
"... Just what kind of question is that?" Manjoume murmured under his breath as he started the washing machine by pressing a single red button and then sitting on a free seat, pulling up one of the discarded newspapers. He couldn't for the life of him figure out why he had brought his cards with him, though.
"I don't know, aniki... I felt like it was a question I needed to do after your latest outburst..." Ojama Yellow continued, and the duelist just ignored him. The yellow spirit soon forgot about the predicament and then grinned, floating in front of his leader's face. "Ahhh, but I'm so happy! Aniki got a younger sibling, now!"
"... Shut. Up." Manjoume snarled and tried to focus on the article that said something about this 'King' which Mikage had chewed him about.
"Ahhh, younger siblings are always spoiled by their older ones! That girl sure is lucky to have aniki as an older brother!" He gritted his teeth together till he felt one crack. He then howled in pain. "Ohhh... Aniki, maybe you should make your cute imotou kiss it better... Black an-chan always..."
"For the love of all that is good and decent, SHUT UP!" He roared at his spirit. Fortunately, the place was deserted.
"But I still haven't said anything." Or so he thought. He turned around and he realized that Mikage, wearing the same clothes from the first time he met her, had just entered the laundry and had heard his outburst. He blushed in embarrassment.
"... Sorry. Wasn't talking to you. Didn't see you there." He explained, even if that left Mikage more confused.
"I noticed. But then, who were you talking to?" The question he dreaded.
"... Myself." He let himself fall back on his seat and stared at the ceiling. Mikage chuckled, amused before making her way to a nearby washing machine.
"Had a though week-end?" He nodded in reply.
"You have no idea. I went from having lunch with two crazy twins to preparing my first lesson all day long today." He groaned and lunged forward, slumping over his own legs. "I can't complain about the latter one, but why do kids want to get involved with me that much?"
"Hmm... Care to elaborate on that?" She had a feeling about what could have happened if it concerned children, but she wanted him to come out with it.
"... They just... Keep coming, you know? I mean, it wasn't like this when I was a pro. Sure, there were hordes of fans, but..." He groaned and put a hand over his eyes. "Most were girls. Never seen this many kids around. Not that I met my fans very often. Now, though... I should just be a teacher. I can understand asking me help with things at school, but..." He shivered as he recalled a young voice calling him 'nii-san'. "What those two... I mean, it exudes."
"Well, you got to understand... You're not just a simple teacher to them." Manjoume blinked and turned to Mikage. That sounded familiar. "You're probably some kind of superhero for the most of them, if you're teaching twelve years old."
"... A superhero?" His imagination suddenly ran wild and he didn't know why, he thought of himself dressed up as Sparkman, with a laughing Judai to the side.
"At that age, all children who like Duel Monsters want to become strong, charismatic, undefeated duelists, like you and Atlas-sama." Mikage turned to him for a second to gift him with a beautiful smile. It seemed that it mostly happened when she talked about Jack. "Most of these people though are... Distant, they can just admire them from afar. By becoming their teacher, though, you've become accessible to their attentions. To have just two bold ones out of the whole bunch is lucky, actually."
"... So, I'm a hero..." Manjoume repeated, and then he chuckled darkly right after, surprising Mikage. "Well... I guess it can't be helped. I am strong, after all."
"... Y-Yes... You are undefeated, after all." He seems to have something in common with Atlas-sama. Mikage was referring to how easily their egos were stroked. That made her remember that she was supposed to organize a match between the two. "Ah, by the way could you..."
"Huh? What's that?" Manjoume's comment made Mikage stop and look in his same direction. Out of the store through the glass, and she saw that the night outside was being bathed in violet light. He got back on his feet in a flash. "Red light?"
"... What's going on?" The two walked slowly to the door and stepped out into the street, and they noticed that they had been mimicked by a lots of other people, who were also raising their heads to the sky and pointing them in a certain direction. They followed it and they found themselves staring at the Duel Dome. "T-The Dueling Dome? Don't tell me...!"
Suddenly, all the lights in the city went out one after the other, earning quite the reaction from the crowd in the streets. The only light was the violet one covering the dome, and then that went out as well. "... What... Ah!"
"Ahhh!" Suddenly another light shone, this time not from the dome, but from above it as an enormous figure suddenly appeared from inside it, aiming at the sky. It was rough, made of black and red, but he could vaguely make out.
"... A dragon?"
"Anikiiii..." He turned around and he saw that all the Ojama were out, hugging each other and trembling. "That's so scaryyyy..."
"Ojama... What is that? Is that a card spirit?" The trio shook their heads in synchronization from side to side.
"No... It's different... But we can feel that it's powerful, and scaryyy..." Manjoume returned his gaze to the enormous figure, who was now shining with white light. In a few seconds, it scattered and disappeared, leaving the night sky empty once again.
"... What was that?" Manjoume really didn't understand what had just happened, but he had a strange feeling, a familiar one, that he had experienced other times in his life. In all those occasions, he had found himself face to face with...
"I-I gotta go!" Mikage suddenly ran back inside and grabbed her purse and jacket and ran again past Manjoume, putting something in his hands. "Please, could you do my laundry for me as well? That's my phone, give me a ring call so that I know how to contact you! Later!"
"E-Eh? Wait a..." Before what she had said had even had the chance to course through his brain, she had already disappeared into the night. "... Crazy woman." He placed the ticket in one of his pants' back pockets, walking inside back past the owners of the laundry, before kneeling in front of the washing machine Mikage had been filling with the clothes she had brought with her using a bag. "Better get down to it so that as soon as the light comes back..."
It came back right in that instant, and Manjoume finally realized that of all the clothes he could have touched first, he was currently holding in his hands... "... P-P-P-P-Pa...!" He shot one of his hands to his nose to stop the incoming blood-loss and not stain any clothes. Black silk panties. His favourite colour and quite an adult set of undergarments. In the bag there was a matching bra too. "... She has... Good taste, I guess."
-Breakline-
"... Well... I guess that this is fate, after all." When Godwin and the others had realized that Jack had met with someone from his past from Satellite he had got angry, really angry. They had invested too much in Jack's figure as King to risk the truth about his past coming out.
Though, that had all changed when the outcome of their riding duel was that they now had confirmed that Jack was a Signer and that his friend Yusei was another. Adding to that their other two suspects, they had a complete group.
"Hihihihi... Well, so... I guess we can put in motion the second part of the plan, Director." His clownish assistant said, and Godwin nodded, opening a file on his computer, that had been just adjourned. It opened with four pictures that lead each one to a different file. Two were of Jack and Yusei, one was of Ruka, the last one was of a figure with long dark red hair with a mask covering its face.
"Indeed... Now, about the other contestants..." With another impish laugh, the red-clad man produced out of nowhere four files laying them on the desk in front of the director of Security, who went through the names quickly before opening the first one.
"These four are the ones we have selected. They're all strong duelists, and their peculiarities also make them ideal for our goals. Hihihihi..." Godwin started going through the file of a certain Shira, but his mind wandered to someone else. A duelist that Mikage had mentioned...
"D-Director Godwin!" Talk about the devil. The two occupants of the room turned around as the automatic doors opened and let in a panting Mikage, still wearing her 'civilian' clothes. "Is... Is Atlas-sama... Alright?"
"Quite zealous, Sagiri. Working this late?" Jeager mocked the blue haired woman with his laughter, which earned him a glare from Mikage.
"Hmm... Mikage-san, did you manage to complete your research on that... Ex-pro duelist, was it?" The sudden question from Godwin earned him surprised from both of his interlocutors. Mikage stared at him for a few seconds, still regaining her breath before nodding.
"Yes... I made a copy of everything I could find with my level of access and sent a copy to your terminal as well, Director. You should find it in the shared directory." Godwin nodded. That wouldn't be enough, though. He opened his front drawer and picked out a digital key, throwing it to Mikage who caught it swiftly.
"That digital key will give you a master level of access to the archive of the Kaiba Corporation." That earned him surprise from both Jeager and Mikage. "I trust your discretion to only access the necessary files to make a complete profile of the man."
"... Yes, Director." Mikage got back in a normal standing position, clutching gently the digital key in her hand. "But... Can I ask why?"
"The King expressed an interest in battling this man. I merely want to see if the opportunity should be given to him." Mikage observed the director's face a few more seconds before nodding and excusing herself, under the confused stare of Jeager.
"Director... What was all that about?" Godwin just smiled.
"Let's just say that I have researched a suiting duelist myself." Of course he had already read the file Mikage had sent him and did his own piece of research, but appearances and secrecy were important, after all. For all she had to know, they were looking for competitors for a Duel Monsters tournament, nothing else.
-Breakline-
"... And that's it." Manjoume had returned to school with his first week of lessons planned out, and while miss Maria thought of it as pretty normal, the principal knew better. He could see the hidden pattern under all those lessons, and where they would probably lead.
"I see you thought these out pretty well... But..." Maria had noticed something else too. "Each day you want them to study and utilize a different kind of deck?"
"A crash course will let me understand just how well they can adapt to cards they're not familiar with. There are times when duelists are not allowed to use their favourite cards nor to familiarize with their new ones." Manjoume stated, remembering his own experience at the Northern Academy. "It's for their own good. Also, it will let me see who are the ones in direst need of help... Well, even if I have a feeling."
"Ehm... I guess." Miss Maria laughed nervously. If he had been paying attention, he would have noticed which student had been losing all his duels except for when he was allowed to use machine-type monsters.
"Very well... I approve of this. I'm very curious about the results." The principal chuckled as he thought about the reactions of the students.
-Breakline-
"... Say it was a malfunction of the Dome's light system."
"And they expect us to believe that?" Tenpei commented as the class discussed about the same subject: last night's incident with the dome and the red dragon. "A simple malfunction could explain the intense light, but something like the apparition of that red dragon shape? Not a chance."
"Hmm... True." Rua conceded, scratching his chin in thought. It was going to be the whole city's talk for a long while, he bet. Shaking his head from side to side, he grinned widely right after. "Ah, whatever! I can't wait for class to start!"
"Because today it's supposed to be Manjoume-san's first lesson, right?" Bob said, cutting in. Rua just nodded. "But how do you know that?"
"Heheheheh..." Showing himself quite genre savvy, Rua closed his eyes and shook his right index finger from side to side, before opening a single eye and smiling at Bob, who just sweatdropped. "Now, that's... A seeeeeeeeecret!"
"They're coming!" Before anyone had a chance to comment, the whole class quieted down and turned around, before standing just as Manjoume got inside the classroom ahead of miss Maria, bowing and then sitting down again. Manjoume dropped his suitcase just beside the desk before placing a hand on it, moving his head as to observe slowly all the students.
"Hmm... You seem to have a certain amount of discipline ingrained in you already. Good. That will come useful in the following days." He crossed his arms in front of his chest. "As you may have understood, this day marks my first personal lesson... And to begin, I ask you a question. What are you here for?" The question seemed to confuse most of the class, and Manjoume just kept on moving his eyes slowly, trying to catch a raised hand, a sign of someone wanting to reply. "Well? I'm waiting for an answer."
"Huu..." Patty tentatively raised her hand. "We're here... To learn how to duel..."
"Wrong!" He immediately interject with a loud voice, scaring the hell out of the poor girl and some others. He stretched his right arm and corresponding index finger, pointing it at no one in particular in the classroom. "That kind of conviction isn't going to take you anywhere! You're here to become great duelists! Perfect duelists! Your aspiration should be to become the best duelist around!"
"Heh? But that's..." Tenpei voiced his surprise and shock, or at least tried to, as he covered his mouth with both hands right after.
"Impossible? Of all the people in the world, you're the least qualified to say that about yourself!" That confused even miss Maria. "No one knows his strengths and weaknesses from the beginning! His hidden qualities, his faults, if he's special in some way! He can learn though!" As he started to explain himself, the class focused their attention on him again as he trust his arms to his sides. "Each person learns that in a different way! Musicians play music, create pieces! Writers write! And what does a duelist do? How does a duelist discover the truth about himself?"
"... He duels." Rua whispered, his gaze locked on Manjoume's figure, who then trusted his arm in his direction.
"Louder!"
"H-He duels!" Rua got up from his chair in a flash, scaring his neighbours a little as he raised his voice in the process. "A duelist duels!"
"Exactly! A duelist duels! He prepares for duels, he creates decks, he duels opponents! That's the only way he can discover the efficiency of his strategies and sometimes, truths about himself! That's what I'm gonna help you do!" Manjoume declared, crossing his arms behind his back right after. "I may not be with you for long, but as long as I'm allowed to teach you, I'm going to do everything in my power to help you discover truths about yourself and become better duelists!"
Many of the students were now staring in awe at the aide. Patty was one of the ones who were just being impressed by the sheer intensity in his voice, and that allowed her to notice that surprisingly, the one who was most entranced by Manjoume wasn't Rua, who seemed to already have a particularly strong admiration for the black haired former pro, but Ruka, if her smile and shining, she swore they were shining with some kind of light, eyes were any indication. "In return, I want you to give me your all! 1! 10! 100! 1000 percent! Is that clear?"
"Yes, sir!" Rua actually saluted.
"Manjoume-san will suffice." Manjoume declared, crossing his arms over his chest and closing his eyes, waiting for the clamour to die down. When he reopened his eyes, he noticed that he had managed to get to his objective. All the students were showing at least some degree of determination. Seems like Mikage was right.
He had decided to make that speech only overnight, after the short speech he had had with Mikage and the bit about him being a superhero of some kind to those small children. He then guessed that he could use it some way, and he had been right. Nodding to himself for a good job and then flushing as he remembered that he would have to call her to return her laundry, including some embarrassing undergarments, he grabbed a piece of chalk and started writing on the blackboard. "Alright. Let's start our lesson. We're going to study a different attributed each day, and practice with it in the afternoon classes. We'll start with Fire. Now, who can..."
As Manjoume started his lesson, miss Maria was just at that moment recovering, flushing slightly as she realized that she had been affected by the speech herself.
-Breakline-
"Alright. Next couple." Manjoume had started falling into line with the teacher's job. Until now, it came naturally to him, as it probably was because the subject and the procedures were familiar to him. He only had problems on the first day, when he realized that he would have to dumb down his language to get some aspects of the subject through to his students. When he had used the word 'polymerization' instead of 'fusion' they had all stared at him like he had just grown Blue Eyes White Dragon wings.
They fell into a certain routine from the first day: theory in the morning, practice in the afternoon. To be able to make all the children fight once every day, he had made the special rule that every fight had to end in ten turns. Miss Maria had observed that it was too little of an arc of time to evaluate the students, but he had had no problems with that. He had been forced to do similar evaluations in even less time, on some occasions with his life on the line.
He was quite pleased with the results, at the moment. They were at the third day, studying the Wind attribute, and it seemed like most of his students had understood that just going into battle unprepared wasn't doing them much good. The first day the results had been tied to just dumb luck since they didn't know what was in the deck and it was presented to them only when it was time to start fighting. So, how to get a familiarity with it?
The first one to get it was, unsurprisingly, knowing her grades, Ruka. She had been observing closely the other children's fight since day one, understanding that in that situation it was the only way she was going to become acquainted with the decks before fighting. Judging from her performances, he had half an idea that she had managed to memorize all the cards, barring ones that for a chance didn't get draw and/or used at all. It was impressive, to say the least.
She had also been the only one to be able to conclude her match in those ten turns he had allowed. She was probably already familiar with wind creatures. He would have to up the challenge for her. The next day she would be the first to fight. He found herself smiling at her and she caught him, if her blush and pretty smile were any indication. That caused him to pause and slap his face twice, earning confusion from Maria.
Though... To tell the truth, other people had won their matches in that arc of time. One each day, even on the first day, but he didn't count those. Why? Because it wasn't because of any particular ability on the winner's part... "Ahhhh! Come on! I lost again?" But it was a lack of such on the loser's side. He sighed as he saw Rua's life points drop to 0 once again.
Even from the first day and the previous week, he had understood Rua's type. His grades were bad, but he wasn't particularly lacking in talent. He could become a good duelist, but he still had the enthusiasm that characterized a child and his favourite toy. Once he found it, he would focus on it and it only. In Duel Monsters, that was an habit that needed to be kicked out of him as soon as possible.
Rua absolutely loved machine-type decks, and he could safely bet the Morphtronics line of cards, and he was pretty much unstoppable when using his own deck. When he was fighting kids his own age, that was, with the exception of Ruka, obviously. That was because she already understood the makings of a great duelists. Studying. A duelist never stopped studying because they never stopped releasing new cards.
Most duelists once they were out of the academy or once they found a style of play they were comfortable with, studied other cards because there was the definite chance that one day they would find themselves facing an opponent able to use them. That was the defining difference between good duelists and champions. "If only I could have used my own deck..."
"Sadly, that's not the purpose of the exercise, Rua." Manjoume said as he noted down the result of the duel.
"But I can't win with such weak cards! It isn't fair..." Ruka was about to admonish her brother but instead, her attention got diverted by Manjoume, but there was no trace of admiration or affection. This time, she was surprised and a bit worried.
Manjoume's whole body had frozen. The tip of his pencil had just broken, rolling and falling to the ground silently making a strangely audible sound. She couldn't see his expression because his head was held low, but she couldn't feel anything good coming.
"... Weak cards?" He repeated, his head still held low and his voice even lower.
"Yeah! I mean, there are so few with special abilities and most have weak attack power. How am I supposed to win with these kind of cards?" Rua seemed to not have caught the tension in Manjoume's voice, nor he seemed to notice the older boy's pencil snapping in his right hand. Maria and Ruka surely did, if their bodily reactions were any indication.
"... Really, now." Manjoume seemed to relax, at least his face seemed neutral and he calmly set down the broken pencil and the pad. He stood up from his chair, grabbed his briefcase and started walking in Rua's direction. "Rua, do you happen to have your deck with you?"
"Eh? Yes, of course." Manjoume nodded as he stopped in front of Rua.
"Good. Then, class, we're going to stop the exercise for today. We're gonna have a special lesson." Those words surprised everyone. "Rua, you're going to duel me."
"EH? REALLY?" Rua exploded, suddenly exuberant. His sister understood why, that was what he had wanted to since Manjoume had arrived at their school. He trusted his hands into the air. "Yatta! I get to fight Manjoume-san!"
"I'm happy to see that you're so eager. Well, shall we make it more interesting for you?" Manjoume suddenly opened his briefcase and started browsing through it before picking out a couple cards out of it. "If you manage to win, I'm going to give you these."
"Huh? The... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Rua got even louder, if possible. His eyes got almost glued to the couple of cards Manjoume was holding in his hands. They were two magic cards that he knew very well, since his deck was built around equip cards. "BUTTERFLY DAGGER ELMA AND MAGE POWER?"
"Oh, so you know these cards?" Rua nodded even more eagerly before realizing the condition.
"But... I mean, I doubt I can win against you, Manjoume-san..." The boy suddenly became meek, but Ruka didn't notice any chance in Manjoume's attitude. He was now smiling, but she could see the malice behind it.
"Oh, it's alright. I said this was a special lesson, didn't I? I'm going to use a special deck." He placed the two cards back into the briefcase before pulling out a deck. "This deck is very peculiar, Rua."
"Huh? Is it? How so?"
"All the monsters in this deck have an attack power of 0." If the announcement of a 'special lesson' surprised everyone who wasn't Manjoume, this announcement had left everyone floored, some students letting out loud expressions of disbelief.
"Manjoume-san... Ahhh, I see! You wanted to gift your favourite students but you had to choose a way to not make it look like it was favouritism, right? Man, you're the best!" Rua elaborated on his own, while Manjoume's stare didn't falter. The young boy pulled out unceremoniously the practice deck and handed it to one of his classmates before replacing it in the Dueling Disk's slot with his own. "Alright! Let's do this quick!"
-Breakline-
In the case of the first time he ever used that deck, it had been a very close battle where he had proved his strength as a duelist and also that every card is only as weak as its owner. It was one of the most glorious moments in his life, the day he finally got rid of his brothers' pressure and he started walking his own path.
Since it was the first time he used that deck in a real duel, coupled with the bunch of rare cards bought by his brothers, the whole thing had been a difficult duel. Not a close call, since there was no way he would be defeated. He was Manjoume Thunder, after all.
But the duel he had just finished with Rua? The matter of a few minutes he had just gone through?
"R-Rua..." Ruka always fought with his brother, often berated him for his behaviour and his lack of application to anything academic but he remained first and foremost her dear brother.
"... Damn it." The class as a whole had winced and Patty let a curse slip by. Usually teachers took their sweet time when dueling students, turning the loss in a lesson, an education. Sure, that probably wouldn't have worked with the thick headed Rua...
"I... I..." But there hadn't been a trace of mercy in the speedy duel they had just disputed. Manjoume had been merciless and most of all, silent. Through the whole duel Rua and the whole room had only heard him declare his actions, not even the names of his cards, all the while his eyes were observing the aquamarine-haired student with pity and... Disgust.
"... The lesson's over." Manjoume declared, putting his deck back in its holder and removing the duel disk from his arm. "Can anyone tell me what have we learned today?" He addressed the whole room but his gaze kept on being stuck on Rua. "No? Well, it's quite simple. There are no strong or weak cards. There are only strong or weak duelists." Rua flinched when Manjoume's gaze suddenly took a turn for the worse. He was truly and utterly pissed. "In short words, if you keep on getting your ass kicked by all your classmates unless you use always the same cards it's your own damn fault! Don't go blaming your deck for something that it's your own fault, brat!"
"... Ah... Aaaaah!" With that, Rua broke down, running out of the gym with tears coming out and a desperate tone in his voice.
"R-Rua!" Ruka left after him. The first to react was miss Maria.
"L-Lesson's over! Go back to class, please!" The woman pressed her students on while the Ojama let themselves be heard to Manjoume.
"A-Aniki... That wasn't really nice."
"You could have showed a little mercy..."
"Yeah! With words, at least!"
"Then I would have missed the point of all this entirely." He answered to his spirits and he turned to his right side to see miss Maria, the students removed from the gym, approaching him with a pissed off face.
"Manjoume-san! You've gone way too far!" The young woman shouted, to which the black haired duelist reacted with aplomb if not complete indifference.
"I thought our duty was to educate students." He said, meeting her angry eyes with his cool ones. "That boy needed to be educated on recognizing his own faults before we could even hope to teach him how to duel."
"Do you think I don't know? I've been Rua's teacher for much longer than you, Manjoume-san. I know he needed a wake up call, but this isn't the way!"
"... This is the way I got mine." Manjoume continued to which Maria reacted with confusion. "I got defeated, humiliated and abandoned by those same people that called themselves my friends... Well, not that I really thought of them as such." He chuckled grimly. "Only after I was humbled I recognized my faults and how to overcome them."
"... I can only sympathize with that, but Manjoume-san, the point is that not everyone is as strong in spirit as you are." Maria continued, an exasperated sigh taking the ex-pro's attention. "While I agree with you that Rua needed to be humbled, there were other ways to do that. Not everyone can recover from a face-first collision with the harsh truth. Sometimes it needs patience, time. Rua is just a kid."
"... Patience, huh?" One thing he still had to master when it didn't come to certain aspects of his life. He sighed. "... I get it. Seems like being a teacher is more complicated work than I thought."
"It's not only about a student's academic results. It's about making them into adults trying to not traumatize them in the process. Kids don't have only problems related to school. There's family, friends... Many other things." Maria continued. "You're not that old that you could have possibly already forgotten that."
"True." Manjoume groaned. He acknowledged that he may had been a bit too harsh with Rua. The duel would have probably been fine by itself but he just couldn't resist badmouthing him too. "... What should I do?"
"Properly apologize for what you did wrong. Learn from your mistake and try to be a better teacher for him." Apologize? Now there was an elephant in the room.
-Break-
"Rua... Come on, we have to go to school."
"You go, Ruka... I'm just going to hide in here till the day I die." Ruka sighed and leaned her head softly against the cabinet's doors. This was ridiculous. He had been hiding in the closet since yesterday evening. She really hoped he had gotten out for bathroom breaks.
"Rua, I understand that Manjoume-san hurt you when-"
"It's not that he hurt me." Rua interrupted his twin sister which left her slightly confused. He wasn't hiding in the closet because of hurt feelings? Then, why... "It's that he was right... I mean, I've always been goofing around and faulting the cards I used whenever I lost. I've been an idiot."
"Well, yeah but... Then, if he didn't hurt your feelings and you're not angry with him then why are you hiding in a closet?"
"... Because he hates me. How can I show my face to him again?" Ruka palmed her face, loudly. So that was it. It's not that he was angry at Manjoume or downright destroyed because of the 'lesson'. He was ashamed of himself and didn't dare show his face to the person he idolized and had gotten angry with his idiocy.
"Rua, for..."
"So, I've been worrying and trying to think of a good way to phrase an apology all night long for nothing?" The closet itself jumped, both twins startled by the sudden appearance of a familiar voice.
"M-Manjoume-san?" Rua calmed down a little. "How did you get inside? The door..."
"Don't sweat the small details." He amended the young girl with a pat on her head before stopping in front of the sweating closet. "Rua. Come out."
"N-No!"
"Don't make me open this thing." Manjoume pressed on the scared boy, crossing his arms in front of his chest. Not that he could see him but the kid probably 'felt' it at a base level.
"... Ok." With a wooden noise the door began to open and a pretty dirty and messy aquamarine mop of hair suddenly appeared in view.
"... So, maybe I was a bit too harsh with words. For that, I apologize." Manjoume began, pausing for a few seconds to let the fact that he, the Thunder, was apologizing sink into the twins' heads. "But that out of the way, I take you understood why I did it?"
"... Yes."
"You understand that I absolutely hate people who place faults in cards instead of themselves and don't try to better themselves daily?"
"Yes."
"Good." Manjoume approved with a nod. Then he smirked. "Also, I have a strong dislike for people who skip school and suddenly decided to stop attending my lessons."
"Ah! I-I'm sorry...!" Suddenly Rua felt a hand on top of his head. He blinked and looked up. Manjoume was smiling at him.
"Be sure to attend school everyday, Rua. A teacher's not a teacher without his students, right?" The black haired aide then removed his hand and turned around, heading for the entrance. "And take a shower. You can't become a strong duelist without taking care of yourself first."
"Eh... Y-Yes." The male twin was left utterly confused, while Ruka quickly acquired a warm smile as she watched the young man walking out of their apartment. "W-What was that about? Why was he smiling?"
"Because he was happy that you weren't angry at him, Rua. And also because you understood what he wanted to teach you." She explained and Rua looked embarrassed at the floor. "So? What do we say to that?"
"... Maybe I should start studying a bit more?"
To be continued
In the next chapter...
After starting to adjust to life as a teacher, Manjoume gets thrown for a spin in something bigger that is about to encompass the whole city. A shaking event of which he gets a first taste because of his two favourite students. Stay tuned!