When we last left the plot, Vector appeared to be putting a plan in motion that will make Yuma feel down in the dumps as he believes that will make him less of a threat in a duel for his Numbers. Let's rejoin the plot know and see if it plays out the way he wants it to.
The sun was rising in Heartland city and the day was just getting started. Just like on any other day, middle school students were making their way on to the grounds of Heartland Middle School. Some of them were standing outside exchanging gossip, while others were entering the school corridors to be prepared for the school day ahead of them. Between all of the students as a whole though, a handful of them were holding copies of the most recently printed newspaper and were showing it to a few of their nearby friends. As the students were reading the main headline, there was a mixture of surprise and disbelief to be found in their facial expressions. One would think that such a headline would be the last thing to ever enter the paper.
Within the crowd was a certain group of students who did not have a newspaper with them, but rather they were making their way to the classroom for their first class. The group in question consisted of Yuma, Ray, Bronk, Caswell and Flip. The former two were laughing their heads off at a joke that Yuma was sharing to his friends, while the others simply stared silently at Yuma and Ray in amusement.
"Wait! Wait! It gets better…," said Yuma, trying to catch his breath between laughs, "So then the barber says to the woodcutter, 'Hey, shaving cream and tree flocking, they are not the same thing!'" and with that, Yuma and Ray laughed harder than ever, while the other guys grinned with a sigh.
"Oh ho, you are killing me, Yuma," Ray burst out while trying to calm down, "Perhaps you might have a future as a stand-up comedian."
"I do not know how Yuma does it," said Flip, "But he is always able to keep his spirits up wherever he goes."
"Indeed," continued Caswell, "if there is one thing that will remain for certain, life is never a dull when he is around."
"Not to mention," Bronk said, "whoever is with Yuma, they will never know what kind of excitements or disasters will happen-," but before he could finish by saying 'until it is too late', they had entered their classroom only to jump and be caught off guard by a loud shout.
"YUMA!" the guy turned to the direction in which they heard the shout coming from, and there was their friend Tori, stomping over to where they were standing. She seemed to be holding a copy of the newspaper. From the look on her face, the guys could easily tell that she was not in a happy mood.
"Tori? What's the matter?" inquired Yuma, "We got into the classroom before the bell rang this time."
"Not the point right now!" Tori barked back, "How do you explain this?!" as she said this, she smacked the newspaper right into Yuma's face. The paper fell off Yuma's face to reveal him with swirly eyes. When the paper conveniently fell into his hands, he shook some sense back into himself and took a glance at the paper.
"What are you talking about, Tori?" Yuma asked, "All it says is-," but then stop and went bug-eyed as he looked closely at what he was holding. It was the main headline with a picture of Yuma himself holding the World Duel Carnival trophy to signify the title he won. But the headline above the picture was contradictory to what he wanted to see:
WDC CHAMPION YUMA TSUKUMO: SOLID EVIDENCE OF CHEATING!
The other guys with Yuma caught a glimpse of the headline and were surprised themselves. Then Tori forced the paper down so she could make eye contact Yuma.
"Well?!" asked Tori in a tone that sounded like she wanted answers.
"Well what?" began Yuma, "I never cheated during the WDC! There must be some misunderstanding! I swear I dueled fair and square."
"Oh please," put in Tori, "We all know full well that before the carnival your dueling skills were at the bottom of the barrel, so there is absolutely no way that you could go from dueling zero to dueling hero just like that!"
"But Tori-," Yuma started.
"Don't 'but, Tori' me!" she interrupted again, "I am never friends with cheaters, so I will not talk to you!" then she turned and walked away. Yuma made a few attempts to call her back, but they were in vain. The other guys were at a loss of words from hearing the exchange. They had never recalled Tori acting in such a manner at all.
"Never mind her, Yuma," Ray tried to assure his friend, "from what I've heard, not all news stories tell the legit truth all the time. We know you did not cheat and I am sure others think the same."
"I hope so," said Yuma, still seeming a bit fazed by what happened. Then the bell rang, so the gang got to their seats to prepare for class. As the class progressed, while Yuma tried to pay attention, some students would take a glance at Yuma and then immediately whisper something to a classmate next to them, while Tori, sitting right next to him, would periodically shoot a cold glare at him. Yuma tried his best to avoid looking at Tori, and therefore was unable to notice a faint glow coming from her right hand.
-Lunchtime-
Having completed their morning classes, the five guys had gathered on the rooftop for lunch.
"Strange," said Ray, "Tori and Cathy are nowhere to be seen. Where do you think they're at, Yuma?"
"Well, I'm not sure where Cathy would be, but due to that headline, I think Tori might not want to come near me," he was able to shake some of his morning exchange with her off, but there was still a few things she said that were getting to him.
"Maybe," Caswell spoke up, "but try not to fret too much over that Yuma. Like Ray said earlier, you definitely did not have any cards up your sleeve during the carnival. Besides, many students in the school have grown to know just who Yuma Tsukumo is, so you can be certain that just one little headline can't grow into something big," this helped Yuma regain some of his good spirits.
"You're right, Caswell," Yuma replied, "What happened then was definitely not a big deal. I still feel in good spirits no problem," and his friends agreed with him. However, as the guys were about to continue eating, a figure appeared right from Yuma and scratched him on the cheek.
"OW!" exclaimed Yuma. He turned around and noticed Cathy standing behind him who was just retracting the claws on her hands, "Hey! Cathy? Why did you do that?"
"I think you should know why, Yuma," answered Cathy in an unpleasant tone, "Take a look here and see for yourself," and she tossed a copy of the newspaper in between the guys so they could all read what the part of the paper that was open to them. They could not believe their eyes. It was a continuation of the front headline in the form of an article claiming that an anonymous interviewee had worked undercover during the WDC and claimed that he/she was able to discover that when Yuma used his ZEXAL morph in the finals against Vetrix, it created a blinding light that he/she claimed was a distraction so that Yuma could glimpse at both his and Vetrix's decks and rig them with his bare hands to his favour. Yuma was having trouble speaking over what he was seeing.
"No…please, Cathy not you too!" begged Yuma, "I swear, none of this is true!"
"Don't even try talking yourself out of it!" retorted Cathy, "The newspaper states clearly that any interviews printed are 100% legitimate! I can't believe I became friends with someone as low as you, so I am through being your friend!" then she swerved around instantly and headed for the stairs. Yuma tried to tell her to wait, but with the same success as Tori in the morning. Just as Cathy left the guys site, a small glow came from her neck.
The other guys were silent once more and noticed that Yuma started to look more down than he was before.
-After the final bell-
As the school day came to an end, the guys were exiting the building. While they walked, they could not help but notice most of the students staring at them and then whispering things to each other. The guys could hear some of them clearly and could tell it involved the rumour in the newspaper.
"I can't believe he would stoop that low." "He really is a dueling zero." "To think he of all people would do such horrible things," were what the guys could hear, and deep down, Yuma started to feel as if his 'Feeling the flow' spirit was being drained.
"Don't get down in the dumps, Yuma," said Flip, as they walked across the school grounds, "We still know that you're not a cheater. Those people have no idea what they're saying."
"Flip's right, Yuma," said Bronk, trying to cheer his friend up, "We've got to keep you in high spirits. Say, I know just the thing to cheer you up!" this gave Bronk Yuma's attention, "How about a duel? I know all too well that you would never say no to one," this made Yuma cheer up a little.
"I always enjoy a good duel to get me up and running, so why not?" asked Yuma.
"Now you're talking!" said Bronk ecstatically. But as luck would have it, just as the two long-time friends were preparing their duel disks, a new sound rang out.
"GAH! Look out!" shouted Ray, and the guys turned to see where he was looking. Sure enough, a projectile was headed their way!
"Hit the deck!" exclaimed Flip, and they all jumped out of the way in time to avoid the blast, and just as Yuma was about to get up, he heard a familiar voice.
"There you are!" exclaimed the voice.
"Oh no," Yuma thought. Jumping off her cannon and landing right in front of Yuma, was Anna.
"Time for you to pay up for you crime, Yuma!" shouted Anna as she took aim at Yuma.
"What crime are you talking about?!" questioned Yuma.
"This!" and she tossed the newspaper in front of the guys for them to see another article regarding Yuma cheating. It has stated that yet another anonymous interviewee claimed he/she had caught Yuma peeking in all of the finalists decks, claiming that he had fallen as low as Reginald Kastle. Yuma desperately tried to reason with Anna.
"Anna, please! I never did anything like that!"
"Don't play dumb with me! Any newspaper interview only ever states the truth, and I don't take kindly to cheaters like you!" Just as Anna was preparing to fire, a voice stopped her from doing so.
"Don't even bother with him, Anna. Someone as low as him isn't worth the trouble," everyone present turned to see that Tori was the source of that voice.
"Yeah. Having a ruined image would probably be worse for him than a ruined health status," said a voice next to Tori, which happened to be Cathy. Anna then glared at Yuma causing him to step back.
"Eh, what the heck?" said Anna as she withdrew her weapon, "Those two are right. I shouldn't be wasting my time with an unlikeable cheater like you," and she turned her back and walked away from the scene with a glow on her left hand unbeknownst to the others.
"Yes indeed," finished Tori and Cathy, as they did the same as Anna. Bronk, Caswell, Flip and Ray had their mouths agape at what just happened.
"Okay…," Caswell said breaking the silence, "this sounds like a strange turn of events, and I understand Yuma if you- huh? Yuma?"
As Caswell paused mid-sentence, he and the other guys turned to see Yuma walking away slowly with his head down and making some small sniffling noises.
Oh dear. Yuma has taken a lot of negative insults to the head and seems to be losing his 'Feeling The Flow' attitude. What else could this turn of events have in store for Yuma? Stay tuned for the next chapter to find out.