The next day was that special event at HLA I was talking about. I used a Shadow Gateway to get there when I was in my costume. It had a long, jet-black cloak with silver fabric bordering the arm and neck areas. Gold fabric at the chest was fashioned into an eye shape embedded in the silver at the neck. A silver circlet went around my head with a green cat's-eye crystal on the forehead. To complete the look, two dark brown feathers were attached to the circlet by the stems, hanging down. Though I may not have had the hairstyle of the duel monster, it looked very nice. Taking care to stay in the less crowded areas, I made my way to the Monster Cafe.
When I got to the Cafe, I heard and saw Cathy and Tori in there. Cathy was dressed as her Cat Girl, and Tori was dressed as Yuma's Gagaga Girl. They gladly welcomed me in, and they both seemed to like my costume.
"You look like the Witch of the Black Forest," Cathy observed, recognizing my cosplay. Tori nodded, "That's actually pretty fitting after everything we learned about you."
I nodded in agreement as Yuma came in, also complimenting me for my costume. He was dressed as his Temtempo the Percussion Djinn, though for a downtrodden reason. Tori went back to taking orders from customers in the Cafe. I was standing in the corner when, out of nowhere, the wall not far away from me blew up. In the giant hole was a pink-clad girl astride a hovercraft cannon that she probably fired at the wall. Her name - appropriate to her actions and short temper - was Anna Kaboom.
"What's up, Tori," she grinned mischievously, "I heard your school's having a Fun Fair, so I thought I'd crash the party."
"Anna, what were you thinking?" Tori demanded.
"Yeah, this isn't a drive-thru restaurant," Yuma added.
"Hey Yuma," Anna greeted, running to him before stopping and laughing, "Wait... when did you become a circus clown?"
"I'm Temtempo the Percussion Djinn."
"What made did you pick that getup?"
Yuma hanged his head, "When I got to the costume shop, this is all they had left."
"Purr-sonally," Cathy viewed, "I think Yuma's costume is extremely rockin'! *sigh* He looks absolutely purr-fect."
I walked up to them, "My costume is just something I found in the attic at my place. This Witch of the Black Forest outfit doesn't seem half-bad if you ask me."
Anna turned to look at me, slightly surprised at how tall I was compared to her. She looked over my costume with her eyes, silently impressed. I began to hear shouting from down the hall, recognizing "Ray's" voice and thoughts. He came dashing through the door, dressed as Dandylion, with news for Yuma.
"What's a Couples' Duel?" Yuma asked as "Ray" finished telling the news. He explained, "In this tournament, teams each made up of a guy and a girl will battle it out. Whoever's left standing at the end gets to take on two pro duelists. Brook and Mayday Walker are a husband and wife team who have won a ton of tournaments together. If you want to test your skills, this is a golden opportunity."
"A chance to duel against two pros," Yuma grinned, "Count me in!"
"Cool," the carrot-head replied, "But just remember that it's a Couples' Duel tournament. Which means you can't enter without a partner. You should sign up though, 'cause I heard Brook Walker's planning to retire soon. And this may be your last chance to duel her."
Anna didn't seem to like the part of Brook Walker retiring. I could see that she personally knew the pro duelist as a mentor and close friend. She mentally exploded, grabbing "Ray" by the collar and lifting him off his feet.
"Brook would never quit dueling!" she exclaimed, squeezing a bit too hard. Yuma tried calming her down.
"Hey; don't hurt the messenger."
"Take that back!" she ordered, paying no mind to Yuma. Her victim was literally choked up.
"Okay... but it won't change the truth."
She dropped her grip, looking down at the floor. I don't understand; Brook loves dueling. Why would she give it up? She turned to Yuma, "Yuma, I want to be your partner for the Couples' Duel."
"You can't enter the duel, Anna; I'm afraid you simply aren't eligible to be Yuma's dueling partner." Tori's friend Summer informed from near the door. The other girl, Jen, added, "You have to be currently enrolled as a student in this school to participate."
I knew that those two also meant that I couldn't be part of the tournament either. I was fine with it anyway, since I didn't want anyone to be scared of me or my monsters. Anna - however - didn't like the idea of being a student at HLA.
I decided to go over to the drama club room of the school, where Rio was taking part in a play. I stood near the back of the room with Shark. He was also impressed by the authenticity of my costume. He was a little irritated by the royal romance theme of the play. Rio was playing the princess of the story, while one of the boys who was clearly crushing on her was the prince.
"Greetings, oh brave prince," Rio purred from the top of a staircase, "Long have I yearned for the hour of your arrival. The anguish of our last parting has lain heavily upon my mournful heart."
The prince approached Rio on the staircase, taking her hands in his. He cooed, "Dear princess."
Shark groaned in disgust next to me, "This play feels like a dream; a really bad one."
"Chill out, Shark; I think Rio's a natural," Bronk chimed in as I felt his mind come in close. We both looked at his costume and slightly flinched at the design.
"Who're you supposed to be?" Shark asked in surprise. Bronk's costume was a little trashy and seemed to be made of a few cardboard boxes and soup cans.
"I'm Gogogo Golem. What do you think?"
"I think your costume... is even worse than Rio's play!"
"Quiet back there!" Rio yelled a split second after Shark snapped. I ducked my head to dodge Rio's high-heel, which got poor Shark in the head.
"Don't spoil our big romantic scene, or it's curtains!" she hollered at her twin. I put a hand on Shark's shoulder.
"Let's get you out of here so you don't take another hit." Shark nodded as I led him out of the drama room and away from Rio's other high-heel. After we got out, I went up to visit the floral design club. Most of the girls there were busy with their arrangements. Caswell was already up there, cosplaying as Gagaga Magician.
"This arrangement is a little formal Caswell," Lotus pointed out. Her customer was a little embarrassed and unnerved about being up here to begin with. The source of it was something that had happened during the day I first came. Caswell looked down, "You think?"
"On the other hand," Lotus added, "... it is also quite sophisticated, just like you. I think it's adorable."
Caswell was taken aback by her words. I could tell that the president of the club had special feelings for the bashful customer. He blushed heavily at Lotus, "Really; you do?"
Meanwhile, I noticed that one of the members was having difficulty with her arrangement. It was an assortment of lavender and moonflower vine with a light blue calla lily. I padded over to her and knelt down in front of her with the vase between us both.
"May I?" I asked her, gesturing to the flowers that she was having such trouble with. She nodded and turned the arrangement over to me.
With a careful hand, I wrapped the moonflower vine around the calla lily's tall, stiff stem. I kept the pure white flowers of the vine facing outward. I also took care not to choke out the leaves of the lily. Then I arranged the lavender stalks so that they surrounded the entwined flower and vine. I turned it back to her when I finished, "What do you think?"
The girl looked over the arrangement, awed by how nice it looked after I was done. She kindly thanked me for helping her with the flowers. I began to hear Lotus approaching me after Caswell left.
"You seem to have talent for floral design, Star," Lotus observed, "I believe you would fit in at our club."
I smiled at the compliment, and bowed to her politely as I stood and left the room. I went down to one of the outdoor food stands and ordered a strawberry milkshake. I noticed something down off in a secluded corner outside the school. I took a peek over there to see what was happening. Flip had some sort of booth with all sorts of posters for the pop-star Scarlet Starling. (I only knew her because it was always somewhere in Girag's mind whenever I saw him.) But it had a dark side, because the Student Council President was also standing there. Flip wasn't looking too brave, since he was probably caught. His thoughts had swapped from his business model - fake concert tickets for rarest duel cards - to one word: Busted.
Since I knew what the fuss was about over there, I secretly teleported to the outdoor stage. I stayed up near the roof, where I could easily get a good view. The concert was being held there, and I wanted to look without needing a ticket. Scarlet's singing was pretty nice, and all the students down below were cheering. Some of them were chanting Shark's name, since he was playing electric guitar perfectly in time to the song, along with a female guitarist and male drummer.
Afterwards, I teleported back down to the food stand area, secretly following Yuma, Astral, and "Ray." Yuma ordered something from just about all the food stands. He ate everything: caramel-coated noodles, a cake pop, even a chocolate-covered banana on a stick, among other things. And he was still hungry after eating all that, which slightly weirded me out. Either Yuma's all-stomach, or he forgot to pack a lunch for the day. Though the first assumption is somewhat believable, I'm guessing the latter; it wasn't on Yuma's mind. Even Astral noticed he was eating much more than an average person would. Yuma guessed that he was hungrier than most people. Astral assumed that perhaps his stomach simply enjoyed the exercise.
"Hey Yuma," Anna's voice called, getting both their attention and mine. Holding her cannon behind her back, Anna was wearing an HLA first-year uniform. But I could tell that she was really borrowing Tori's uniform to get into the Couples' Duel. Anna explained falsely, "I just enrolled as a student here. And now that I'm officially part of the school, I can enter the Couples' Duel with you." Anna aimed her cannon at Yuma with a harsh threat, "Don't disappoint me, Yuma; or else!"
Yuma put his hands up in clear terror, "Put down the blaster Anna! Okay, we're a team!" I shook my head in disapproval from where they couldn't see me. I went over to just outside where Brook Walker was for the competition. I stayed just outside the closed door, listening.
I haven't dueled against students since I was in school. And that was a long time ago, I heard Brook speaking her thoughts. The lights went out, much to both of our confusion. I heard a different mind suddenly enter the room through the door, instantly recognizing it. I banged my fist against the door, my powers coarsing through the walls and room. I felt Vector's mind vanish, to my relief, and I left when I heard Mayday coming close. Hoping that I stopped Vector, I teleported back home.
When I got up to my front door, I noticed a small package on the doorstep. Curious, I picked it up and brought it inside. I opened it on the small table in the living room to see what was inside. I pulled out a lavender moonflower and a blue hydrangea, tied together with red hemp-string. There was also a letter underneath the flowers, written in recognizable blue ink.
Dear Star,
We all hope that you are doing well with Yuma and his friends. There is something that we found some time after you left. One of our family photos has a certain someone in the background. I'm quite sure that you would recognize the familiar face in the photo. We were all surprised that we didn't notice it before.
I never dreamed I would meet someone now from when I was very young. Even less so that it would be someone like you. But I remember you now, as does my brother and our father. Even though we've changed a good deal since back then, I will always care for you, my ghost princess.
Sincerely,
Christopher Arclight
Quinton wrote that letter; that explains the hydrangea and ink.
The hydrangea symbolizes heartfelt emotion, and gratitude in understanding. The moonflower stands for mysticism and intuition, with strong connection to the night. Of course, red string means two people are soul mates. But if the hydrangea and moonflower represents Quinton and me, the red string must mean we're soul mates. I felt a hint of a blush creep up my face as I recalled the last sentence of the letter. Ignoring the blush, I pulled out the last item: an old, framed picture of the Arclight family.
The faces of them were all familiar to me with the photo of them sitting on a couch. Byron in the center; Chris on the right; Michael displaying a card on the left; Thomas lying by the greyhound on the floor. But looking a bit closer, I noticed what the letter was talking about. Standing behind the couch, - just at Chris' right side - was me, when I was phantomized. I won't lie, I was surprised that I was in the photo. Something about the flash of the camera must've peeked through the seal at the time, because my eyes were their normal colors. I was glad for the package, and put the tethered flowers in a vase on a shelf, with the photo alongside it.