Disclaimer: I don't own any Battle Cards and Star Force characters. I do own a few original characters.

Chapter 5: New School

"Yusei!" Ayane calls her little brother's name. "I'm going to work now! Are you ready for school?"

Yusei comes down the stairs with his green backpack and a strange pair of shoes in his hands. He puts on his shoes and runs pass his sister. However, Ayane stops him and reminds her little brother to kiss her on the cheek when he goes to school. Yusei reluctantly sighs and kisses his sister's cheek. He quickly runs out of the house with his sister waving a goodbye to him.

As Yusei begins to speed up his running pace, the soles of his shoes started to spout out hot air. The hot air started to help Yusei to hover-skate the ground, which is faster than his running. Yusei makes these weird shoes when he was in middle school. He calls those shoes, the Air Shoes and they can generate air-based propulsion after he runs at a certain speed. The propulsion system sucks in the air outside of the shoes and uses that air to make Yusei to hover the ground as if he's skating on air. Yusei can also turn them off with a push of a button from his Transer.

"Yusei!" Omega-Xis spoke. "What is school?"

"I already told you," Yusei responds with a smile on his face. "School is an institution where people can go and be ready for the outside world. Once they get an education and social skills for society, then they go out and get a job or do something for themselves. However, school isn't completely necessary to survive society."

"Then why are you going to school if you think school isn't necessary?"

Yusei only solemnly sighs. "I think you already know the answer to that, Mega."

Omega-Xis does know the answer all too well. He's been with Yusei for at least a week and he already knows much about his partner. Yusei has a sister complex; he wants to protect his sister and he wants to make her life easy. His cares for his older sister too much and that became the sole reason why he's attending school. He wants to get an education and makes some friends so he can make some money to help his sister.

"If you want money, then why not bust some viruses?"

During Yusei's time as Mega Man, he found when he defeated a virus; they leave out something like money or Battle Card data for him. He doesn't know why, but the data is useful. Battle Card data is a data that is trap in the user's Transer and if the user inserts a blank Battle Card, that Battle Card becomes that data. However, he is a little iffy from getting money off of defeated viruses, he isn't sure where the money comes from.

"Let's not talk about Mega Man's job, okay?" Yusei spoke and Omega-Xis becomes quiet. "You better promise me that you won't act up in class! Because let me tell you, school is freaking boring! I can imagine you complaining all the time during my first class! So please don't complain to me how boring school is!"

Omega-Xis grumbles. "I'm not making promises, but I'll try my best to keep quiet."

Yusei sighs and hopes that Omega-Xis does keep quiet for him. If Omega-Xis doesn't, then all of his new classmates would look at him with suspicion and he doesn't want that. Yusei just want to make some friends and hope that nothing bad ever going to happen.

Yusei arrives at Echo Ridge High School as he turns off his Air Shoes to walk nonchalantly pass the school gates. He looks around the five-story building and notices the students roaming around the school grounds. The students notice Yusei and they wonder who he is.

"Yusei!" Geo's voice calls him out from behind. "Your timing couldn't be any better!"

"My timing?" Yusei questions his best friend's words.

Geo smirks as he patted his back. "I promise your sister last night on the phone that I should show you around the school. I thought that you may end up getting here early and ended up getting lost."

For some reason, Yusei couldn't help but agree with Geo. If he did come early, he will end up getting lost because he is the new kid in school.

"Let's go to the teachers' lounge to meet your homeroom teacher," Geo happily suggests.

Yusei spoke, "What about my classroom?"

Geo scratches his head. "I'm not sure… Last time I check, your name is in the same classroom as mines. So I guess we're going to be classmates."

"Is Luna and the others in the same class as us?"

He nods his head. "Yeah. But be careful of Luna, she is in a bad mood since yesterday."

Yusei tilts his head. "Really? What happen?"

"She and Bud got into a fight," Geo answers, "Bud was about to beat up a student for spilling his drink on her. Luna stops the fight and sort of threatens Bud to stop or she cuts off her bond from him."

"Say what now?" Yusei gasps out of anger. "She threatens him just because of that! I understand her reason, but threatening someone is far worse than a simple beat up."

Geo sighs. "She knows and that's why she is in a bad mood; she just felt guilty for that threat she made. But never mind about that, we are wasting time talking about yesterday. Let's hurry to the teachers' lounge!" He and Yusei went inside the building.

Yusei and Geo arrive at the teachers' lounge. When they enter the room, they saw only one male teacher. The teacher has a brown Afro and wears a white lab coat over his yellow shirt, brown pants, and two-beaker bottles strap around his neck.

The teacher notices them and said, "Good morning, Geo. Who's your friend?"

"I'm Yusei Light," he responds with a friendly smile. "I'm the transfer student who's starting school today. And according to Geo, you're my homeroom teacher. Nice to meet you!" Yusei shook the teacher's hand.

"It's very nice to meet you," the teacher smiles. "My name is Mitch Shepar, or Mr. Shepar, which ever works best for you. Yes, it's true that I am your homeroom teacher."

Yusei couldn't help but ask, "What kind of lessons do you teach?"

"I teach science and math," Mr. Shepar answers with a smile. "Though my way of teaching is a bit… different."

"Different? How?"

Geo explains, "Mr. Shepar does his lessons through the use of stories. He makes learning fun for everyone to listen."

Yusei just smiles as he said, "That's interesting, though impractical. To do the lessons through the use of stories to make learning fun… I guess that means that you have kids."

Mr. Shepar laughs in response to his words. "How'd you guess?"

"It doesn't take an Ace Detective to know your life outside of school," Yusei cheerfully explains. "By making learning fun, you connect your way to the students' hearts just like you did to your children. It's one of the responsibilities for parents to do for their children and you applied that to your lessons. It's impressive, yet hard. I can imagine the complaints you must have been getting."

Geo shook his head. "Mr. Shepar doesn't have any complaints. In fact, all of the students who have him love him."

Yusei just solemnly looks at his friend and then sighs. "I'm not judging anyone. I'm just speaking whatever words are in my head. Mr. Shepar… I'll be looking forward for your lessons."

Mr. Shepar smiles at his words. "Okay. You're class is in 1-A, which is the room above us."

"Um, excuse me," a female voice spoke up from behind Yusei.

Both Yusei and Geo turn around as they saw a girl. The girl has short, dark red hair and fairly light skin. She wears a pink shirt, pink-yellow candy-striped fingerless gloves, green shorts with a white belt wrap around her waist, and blue boot-like shoes.

Geo gasps, "Sonia Strumm! No way! What's a famous person doing at our school?"

"To attend school," she answers, "My producer's boss suggested that I should go to school just in case I retired." Then she notices Yusei standing next to Geo who is waving at her with a smile. She gasps, "Yusei! What are you doing here?"

"It's great to see you too, Sonia." Yusei smiles at her without answering her question.

Geo glares at his friend. "Yusei, do you know who this girl is?"

Yusei nods his head. "Yeah. She's Sonia Strumm, a famous idol. Why?"

"How can you talk so casually to her? Also, you act like you have met her before!"

Yusei explains, "I sort of met her at the train station the other day and she looks like she is in need of help, so I help her."

Then Sonia added, "I was a bit suspicious of his action, so when I ask him if he knew who I am, he just told me he doesn't know that I'm a famous person."

Geo apologetically bows to her. "I'm sorry for my friend's rude behavior."

"No, that's okay." Sonia smiles as she looks at both Geo and Yusei. "It's kind of refreshing to meet someone who doesn't ask me for autographs or any idol-related stuff."

Yusei is impressed to hear her words. "You remind me of Ayane from way back then."

"Ayane? Who is she?" Sonia tilts her head.

"My sister, but I don't feel like talking about her right now. So which classroom are you going to be in?"

Mr. Shepar spoke, "She's going to be in the same classroom as you, Yusei. You can say that she's your classmate."

The school bell rings to signal everyone the start of school. Mr. Shepar takes his students to the classroom and during the time of their walk, all of the students they walk past are staring and gawking at Sonia. Both Yusei and Geo felt uncomfortable from the students staring at them because they're walking next to a famous idol. When they enter the classroom, they saw 16 students filled up 20 seats; there are three empty seats next to the windows and an empty seat in the middle of the room. Geo took a seat at the desk next to Zack and the window and Mr. Shepar stands next to his desk as he introduces the two new students.

Yusei starts the introduction by saying, "My name is Yusei Light! It's a pleasure of meeting everyone!"

Sonia added, "And I'm Sonia Strumm! Hello!"

The students begin to whisper to each other, though most of their whispers are their surprise that the famous Sonia Strumm is their classmate. Yusei couldn't help but chuckle as if he's amused at seeing his classmates' reaction. Then he looks at the empty seat in the middle and Luna sitting behind it; he figures that Bud didn't show up in time for class. He notices Luna's face is being whittled with guilt, but he couldn't make a face in front of his classmates. For that reason, he just keeps smiling until Mr. Shepar asks him and Sonia to take their seats; Yusei sits at the empty seat far back and Sonia sits in front of him.

"Now that everyone is here," Mr. Shepar said, "Let's begin class!"

Then Zack spoke, "But Mr. Shepar! Bud's not here!"

Mr. Shepar gasps as he scans the room for Bud and notices one empty seat in the middle. "Bud's not here. That's unusual… I didn't get a notice from his parents about him not showing up."

The teacher just shrugs and started class. Mr. Shepar starts off his lesson about Newton's Laws of Motion; however, the way he explains the lesson is the use of stories. He uses one of his stories about his children playing dodge ball against each other. The way he implies the lesson with his story actually got all of the students' attention as they are actually learning. Yusei is impressed on how he handles the lesson as he too is paying attention. Also, during the time in class, Omega-Xis fell asleep inside Yusei's Transer.

When the bell rings for lunch, the students in Yusei's class started to gather around Sonia. They ask her a lot of questions and Sonia could barely answer them without being bombarded another question. Yusei chuckles to see Sonia being surrounded by her fans.

"Yusei!" Geo voice calls him out. "Luna, Zack, and I are going to the cafeteria! Want to join us?"

Yusei nods his head. "Sure, I'm coming!"

Sonia notices Yusei leaving with Geo as she spoke out, "Yusei! Can I join you?"

"Sure," he answers, "Come join us!"

Sonia is happy to hear that as she quickly breaks away from the students and quickly follows Yusei and Geo. The students who saw the way that both Sonia and Yusei casually talk to each other are surprised. The male students are jealous at Yusei for acting close to her, though it's just their assumption, and the female students are just gossiping to each other about Yusei and Sonia's possible relationship.

The three students enter the cafeteria and quickly grab their food from the cafeteria lady. They walk up the table where Luna and Zack are sitting in. When Zack notices Geo and Yusei, he gasps in bewilderment to see Sonia walking behind them. Luna wonders why Zack is having a hard time breathing, until she saw the reason and she too gasps.

"Why is THE Sonia Strumm sitting with us?" Zack exclaims, which caught the attention of all of the students in the cafeteria.

"She asks me if she wants to join us. Is that a problem?" Yusei asks.

Everyone's eyes are wide in shock to hear what Yusei has just said. Zack shouted, "She asks you! How come she asks you?"

Yusei tilts his head. "I don't understand the problem of why some girl asks me to join us in lunch."

Sonia turns to Geo and asks, "Is he really serious?"

Geo shook his head. "He does understand, he just likes to mess with people's heads. Yusei is more objective to people, so he treats you the same as he treats his friends."

Sonia sits next to Luna, Yusei sits next to Sonia, and Geo sits in between Zack and Yusei. They eat their food and despite the fact that Luna, Zack, and Geo are nervous eating their lunch in front of an idol; Yusei tries to break the ice by asking Luna about her fight with Bud yesterday. Even though he knows it's wrong for him to pry information out of girl who is feeling guilty, he still felt like he should tell her something to get over her guilt.

Yusei spoke, "Luna… Geo told me about your little ordeal with Bud yesterday. Care to explain to me why you threaten him?"

Luna looks grim when she heard him asking her about yesterday's ordeal. She said, "I don't want to talk about it."

Yusei just solemnly looks at her and he retorts, "Threatening a friend just because he thinks the problem could be solved through violence isn't the right thing to do. I understand that you want to stop your friend from committing a heinous act that would get him into trouble. It's a good idea to tell him off, but threatening your friend would only break your only bond with him."

"How would you know?" She yells at Yusei and every student in the surrounding turn their attention towards her. "Don't act like you know everything!"

"P-Prez!" Zack stutters. "Please calm down! Yusei, please apologize to her!"

Yusei glares at Zack, which scares the short boy. "Why should I apologize to a failure of a class president? If someone like her just threatens a student who happens to be her friend, then I'm sad to say that I'm disappointed in her action."

Zack and the other students saw Luna is shaking out of anger. Zack turns to Geo and asks, "Please, Geo! Tell Yusei to apologize!"

Geo shook his head. "I'm sorry, Zack, but Yusei is a type who hates people making others cry."

Geo knows how much Yusei hates injustice. Back when they were kids, Yusei was able to stop some bullies from making a girl cry by calling the teacher as quickly as possible. Geo remembers how much Yusei pointed out witnesses who were watching the bullies and didn't do anything to stop them.

"Even though that he may be making Luna cry," said Geo, "he can sympathize with Bud after I told him about yesterday's incident. Besides, I don't think we can ignore the situation and neither does Yusei."

Yusei just solemnly glares at Luna. "It's true, I don't know everything. But what I do know is that you interpret his actions poorly. I understand Bud's action is wrong, but your action is also wrong unless you apologize to him. Hurry up and apologize to him before the bridge that holds your bond with him burns down and collapses."

Luna didn't say anything and she just storms out the room. Zack follows her as he tries to calm her down. Everyone looks at him and whispering to each other. Yusei can only sigh as he finishes his food. Sonia, who doesn't know what's going on, wonders if Yusei is going to be all right since people are talking about him and she imagines they're not talking anything nice about him. She wants to say some comforting words to him, but she doesn't know what to say to him.

"Never expected that from you, neighbor," said a rough female voice behind Sonia.

Yusei, Geo, and Sonia turn to where the owner of that voice is coming from. The owner of that rough-sounding voice is Tama Watanabe as she smirks out of amusement.

Sonia is surprise and asks, "Who are you?"

"Hi, Tama!" Yusei nonchalantly greets her with a smile.

Sonia turns to him out of shock that he knows who this girl is. "You know who she is?"

He nods his head. "Yeah, she's my next-door neighbor's niece. Her name is Tama Watanabe and she's really a nice person despite her attitude."

Tama slightly chuckles, though her expression shows her wariness. "I'm quite surprise that you can hurt a girl's feelings. I thought that your sister taught you to be nice to girls."

"There are times that being nice doesn't work with people who decided to run away from their problems," he said in a lighthearted tone. "Those kinds of people expect you to say some comforting words to move on, but they need to know what they did wrong through harsh words. People like Luna won't face their mistake if I say some nice things that makes them think it's not their fault."

Geo chuckles. "You still have that harsh tongue of yours. Its still feels kind of weird seeing that side of you again, even after seven years."

"Though I'm more surprise to see you sitting next to a famous idol. I wonder how you convince her to sit next to you." Tama is having fun prying information out of Yusei because she wants to see him to act nervous and panics to convince her that there's no scandal between him and the idol.

However, she never expected him to keep his cool as Yusei replies, "Well, she asks me if she wants to join us and I allow her to join as an act of kindness. Besides, we're both new students and I thought that we new students should help each other out."

It's amazing that he still keeps a straight face while saying that… is what Tama thought. Her expectations of Yusei's reaction are way too high. She decided to change the subject by asking, "Have you guys heard the latest news that has been going around town recently?"

Yusei has no idea what she's talking about, but Geo knows. He explains to Yusei by saying, "She's talking about the news of a store that got wreck by a red bull yesterday. The storeowner was about to closed his store for the night, but a red bull came out of nowhere and make a huge mess of it."

"Is the store by any chance a china shop?" Yusei asks as if he's making a joke of it.

"No," Geo answers, "It's a hardware store, nothing more and nothing less. Though that red bull only destroy a few walls and equipment, the storeowner didn't got hurt."

"That's good to know," he said with a smile.

Then the bell rings for the end of lunch. As they're about to leave the cafeteria, Sonia turns to Tama and shakes her hand. She said, "Even though Yusei introduce you and you know who I am, I thought that I should introduce myself. I'm Sonia Strumm and I hope we get along."

Tama coolly smiles and replies, "Likewise, I hope we do get along."

Yusei, Sonia, and Geo watch her walk away as Sonia and Geo thinks how cool she is. However, Yusei, on the other hand, knows that she's actually happy to shake hands with an idol. He joyfully snickers that his friends didn't know that Tama is putting up a façade.

School is over as Yusei and Geo are walking towards Bud's place to see how he is doing. Sonia couldn't join them because of her idol work; the secretary of her production company picks her up. As they approach a yellow house with a brown rooftop, they notice Luna and Zack talking to an old woman in front of the house. Yusei guess that old woman to be Bud's mom as he and Geo hides behind a nearby tree to eavesdrop on their conversation. Despite that he knows that hiding is kind of a stupid thing to do, he just doesn't want to deal with Luna's drama.

"I'm sorry," said Bud's mom, "but my son didn't come home since yesterday. I'm worried because this isn't like Bud to not come home without eating food. Luna, do you know why Bud didn't come home?"

"I don't know, Mrs. Bison," she answers and her tone sounded guilty and sad. Then she put up a strong face and said, "But don't you worry! I, the Class President, will find Bud! Zack! We're splitting up to find him!"

Zack salutes. "Y-yes, Prez!"

Geo and Yusei watch them leave the place and they split into two different directions. Yusei has gone into deep thinking about why Bud hasn't come back home. He starts to get worried of the possibilities of Bud's fate; is he dead or is he going to commit something that would make his folks sad?

"Geo," he spoke, "we'll help them with the search."

Geo sighs and replies, "I agree. I'm worried about Bud just as much as Luna is."

"We should split up just like them, but I'm going to follow Luna. I want to apologize to her about my behavior earlier."

"I understand." Geo patted Yusei's shoulder before he left the area.

Yusei also left the area, following where Luna went. In his heart, he has this feeling that something bad is going to happen. However, no matter what the trouble is, he would have to face it head on as he hopes that Luna and Bud are both going to be okay.