"So… you say the Cafeteria is on the bottom floor?" Van asked both Chiaki and Koji, with Daichi's oversight and his unfamiliarity to the school's schedule leading him to not bring any food with him.

"Yeah, but are you sure you don't want some of mine?" Koji asked, just to make sure if he was alright.

Chiaki would back up Koji's care for their new classmate, asking "I'm certain if we both share a bit of what we have it should be enough."

Van simply waved off their worries and gave them a gentle smile, "Don't worry, besides, I'll have an excuse to explore the school a little bit."

Then he decided to go on his way. Hands inside his pockets, letting Koji and Chiaki enjoy their meal together. While he explored the school, he saw the last groups of parents who were bidding their goodbyes. He couldn't, however, see his uncle anywhere, so the boy simply guessed that Daichi had left while he was in class.

He eventually reached to the cafeteria at the bottom floor. And much to his surprise, not only it was full of people, but there was a long line of students formed up as they were picking the meals that were in the menu that day. The boy sighed and was about to surrender himself in forming up along with the others. That was until he noticed several vending machines by one of the walls.

He walked up to them and checked one of the machines out.

"No freaking way…" ran through the boy's mind, as his sight was not deceiving him. The first vending machine sold food, but not in the form he was used to seeing. On other words, he was used that a vending machine that sold food only covered sweets and machine bags of chips. This machine was selling sandwiches! While there was no clear view of the food itself, one could see boxes with different colors and drawings indicating which type was each.

With his wallet in hand, the boy looked at the machine and checked its small menu, just a brief look at it made him mutter "Get out of here, there is no way you are actually selling Pork Cutlet Sandwiches…" The boy pulled out his debit card, and slid it into a slot that accepted cards. Then typed the number of the item.

The machine made a single beep sound as it pushed one of the boxes forth, letting it fall on a small platform inside the machine. Said machine would then start moving and let the box slide on the opening where Van could finally reach it.

Upon touching the box and holding on his hand, the boy was impressed, as it was actually warm, and he could actually smell pork coming from it, making his mouth water at the idea of the sandwich inside. The box was also very well sealed with colored, tamper-proof labels on each edge of the box's top.

Overall, the presentation already gave him a good first impression of what was inside. However, his meal would be delayed a bit more.

"Oh please, not fair…!"

A girl's voice exclaimed. He looked over where it came from, and it was just some feet away, at one of the cold drinks machines. A girl was on its knees, with her head on the floor, trying to look underneath the machine. Van just brought his eyebrows up noticing her looks, brown hair, neck length, two tiny pink hair-ribbons tied around two short locks by her cheeks, big, round glasses.

He recognized her, as she was one of the girls that spoke with Haruko throughout the earlier class periods, thus decided to walk up to her and see what was wrong.

Without any real bond apart from being classmates, and not exactly recollecting her name, Van opted for a simple way to get her attention with a mere "Hey."

The girl responded initially with a "Huh?" resting her palms on the ground to let herself look up and see her foreigner classmate looking at her with curiosity. That rapidly made her snap out and look around, realizing that she was caught in her predicament. Making her blush out of embarrassment and quickly get on her feet, "A-ah I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hoard!" and quickly bow her head at him, with her eyes closed. Then just opened one of them, noting under her breath, "Just… I just dropped…"

Van blinked a couple of times, not really seeing someone react like that before. Perhaps she was extremely introvert? Or perhaps he was actually weird for some students of his class? He figured that at least he could try to take the chance and socialize a bit more. When she tried to explain things to him, the boy simply tried to guess what she was formulating, "Your money, dropped it underneath?" as he looked at the machine's bottom edge over the floor.

"Y-yes, I dropped my wallet while it was open and…" then sighed in defeat. However, her eyes would catch the boy handing the small box to her. "Uh…"

"Mind holding this? Let me see if I can help." stated, showing a small smile.

The girl nodded in silence, and held the box, then watched how the boy got down the ground, trying to see underneath the machine and reach for something.

Van pressed his teeth as he struggled to let his fingers slip underneath the machine any further than knuckle-length.

As she watched with expectation, and squatted down to have a closer look. However, seeing that there wasn't any progress decided to tell him "H-hey, it's alright, I guess I can't be helped…"

The boy closed his eyes and sighed, accepting his defeat before the might of the machine and replied "Yeah, you are right, can't be helped. They must have gone further beneath the vending machine…" Then casually looked over to the girl, as he hadn't noticed that she had squatted down. He found himself midway of his next sentence, "Guess is time fo-" when he stopped, noticing the angle both of them were. He had a full view between her white stocking-covered thighs and underneath her skirt.

"Huuh…" the boy drifted off for a second before his mind went, "Huh… stripes… white and blue… wait what the hell Am I-!?" Crossed his mind before he snapped back and pushed himself back, jumping a bit from the ground and landing on his rear.

Much to his misfortune, just at the same time there was that brief pause between them, the girl did also notice the position she had set herself in, and the angle where he was. And at the same time he jumped back, she quickly jumped back up on her feet, pressing her skirt down.

Both teens were completely red out of absolute embarrassment and unable to utter anything else than gibberish for a couple of seconds, until finally both at the same time went, respectively.

"I-it wasn't my intention!"

And then as if that moment were some sort of comedic sketch practiced beforehand, a third individual announced their presence calling a name.

"Saori?"

Another girl's voice, and one that Van was already familiar with. Both Saori and Van, still a bit red, turned and faced no apart from Haruko. She stood there, with a hand by her waist and head slightly tilted. Staring at them asking "Something wrong?"

To which she'd get both a confusing and surprising answer from both classmates speaking exactly at the same time, trying to give their version of the story.

Saori tried to start explaining"He was…!"

While Van, attempted to also kick off the explanation at the same time with "I wasn't…"

Both looked at each other, in shock and further embarrassment, and gave it another go.

Van said, "I was reaching…!" as he pointed downwards at the machine.

While in exact coordination, Saori said, "I was holding…!" as she then held out the sandwich box.

A wave of frustration was already going through both their minds, this time around took the initiative again then hoping that Saori wouldn't try to explain things again and just went "I was getting her a drink!"

"Y-yes, that!" Saori added.

Both looked ridiculously suspicious to Haruko, who was left almost speechless slowly raising a finger, and looking as confused as anyone witness of that scene could look. All she could spew out was a mere question, "Am… Am I interrupting?" with the finger, she had lifted, shifting to pointing back and forth between her friend and the boy.

"NO!" both of them exclaimed at the same time, starling Haruko even more. "O…kay…" She replied and then moving on with what she was there originally, noting "Well… you were taking a bit long, so I came to check on you, Saori."

"I know…" her friend replied with a saddened tone, "Dropped some of my coins underneath the machine. I was trying to reach it, but there's no helping it…"

"Mm… so what was it?" The boy asked before pulling out his card again from his wallet, placing it in the socked.

"W-wait is that?" Saori asked, leaning closer.

"Looks like a debit card." said, stepping closer along with her friend, watching Van as if he were some odd spectacle. He could feel the eyes of both girls on him from behind before clearing his throat.

"Ahem so… Saori?" The boy called.

"Ah! E-ehm… just orange juice" Saori replied almost out of reflex then she quickly realized "No, wait, wait. You don't have to!"

"Mhm…" Van slid the card in and pressed a series of numbers, pausing in between as each bottle dropped. Then turned around, a lazy expression on his face, handing over her bottle.

"Uh… T-thanks" blushing a bit again out of embarrassment of having him buying her drink, with the root of all this ordeal being how clumsy and distracted she was when doing it on her own.

As she reached out to the bottle, Van, held it firmly, not letting her take it. She then looked at him, slightly intimidated but also confused. And with a dead serious expression on his face, the boy said, "But first… my sandwich" trying to keep that straight expression for a while.

Saori hadn't realized that she still had his food, and handed it back to him.

At that point, Van couldn't keep it together any longer and would snicker, still trying to contain his loud laughter. The girl watched him and, thinking of the whole situation and how ridiculous it was, she'd begin to feel it as well and join the boy in the same sentiment. Soon both of them would be laughing and the entire thing. While Haruko simply looked at them, having no clue what was exactly going on.

"Hey, catch." The boy said, getting her attention just in time for him to toss her a second bottle of the same flavor of juice Saori had. A third bottle would drop from the machine. This last one being plain bottled water, which Van got for himself.

Haruko caught the bottle and was quick to note "H-hey wait, I didn't-" she'd stop, however, seeing as how the boy was making a waving gesture to her, dismissing her worry.

"Just felt like doing so, save it for later or maybe hand it to one of your friends. Or it could work while we talk and get to know each other." Then he shrugged, adding, "We will be classmates through our time here, right?"

That made both girls look at each other, and shrug in a "Why not?" motion. Perhaps the gesture of inviting them both to a drink made it easier to decide, or maybe the curiosity of him being from Europe and having moved to Japan was also enticing.

Moments later, the three of them would be sitting at one of the tables from the cafeteria. Van finally decided to open the small box. His previous surprise to the presentation was only improved by what he saw inside. The box included a plastic bag, and wet tissues to either carry the box if you wanted to take the food with you, and the latter to clean your hands.

Then, there was the sandwich itself was presented in a way one could see the pork cutlets between the slices of bread, with the whole sandwich chopped in 4 perfect cubes.

"So when did you come to Domino?" Saori asked, the boy was checking the contents of his box.

Van then decided to fold the plastic back and use it as a napkin to pull out the slices of the pork cutlet sandwich. When asked he replied "Well, I got here at the start of the week. But my family were clearly working and planning things out for me to move here for at least a month or two." Then he took the turn to ask, "I take it that both of you have known each other for a while, right?" Then pulled out one of the slices, noticing how it was warm and moist. He took a bite, making his eyes open wide and look at the bitten slice while chewing the piece in his mouth, savoring the sauce and seasoning it had. It was delicious.

Both girls giggled at him, with Haruko replying, "Saori, and I have been friends since prep school." Both girls smiled and nodded at each other.

"There are also Rika and Sayuri, our group was bigger, but some of our friends moved to other prefectures when the semester was over." Saori noted. She would inquire some more about the boy, "So you mentioned your uncle, is that the only family you have here?"

The German-born swallowed his food and shrugged, "I assume there may be more, but I have no idea about them. After all, my mother was born here in Japan."

"And your dad is German? Interesting", Haruko said, "How is it over there?-Germany I mean." before taking a sip of her drink.

"Well, not as exciting as it appears to be for people in here." Commented with his eyes closed, yet showing a clear lazy and unimpressed expression on his face, "But… I lived there all my life, and everything there is normal to me, so take my word with a grain of salt. I may just be pessimistic." Then paused for a moment to take a sip of water, then add, "To me, everything here is incredible." Then lifted another slice of the sandwich, "You guys can get these from a vending machine, that's crazy! Most we got back home from those are bags of chips, or cookies, or sweets!"

Both girls chuckled at his remarks about the pork cutlet, finding it entertaining how impressed he was "Is it good, isn't it?" Haruko asked. It made sense to the girls though, they were used to all these things, so to them, it was the norm. "What are you planning to do here?" she asked

"You mean my goal?" then paused to clear his throat from the bits of food, "Well, I want to be a professional Duelist." Then he would lean back a bit and brought his hands behind his head adding "I am to stand along the legends such as Muto, Kaiba and Wheeler…"

"Ooh…" Saori reacted, a bit impressed by his confidence.

"So, you girls are into it as well?" Van asked, with his head slightly tilted with a brow up.

"Uh, well, not me…" Saori replied.

Haruko then folded her arms in front of her chest, "… That's a pretty big goal you are after… but are you aware how unreal it is?"

Saori just looked at her friend, again surprised by her rather pessimistic reaction. Van, on the other hand, narrowed his eyes a bit, looking at Haruko with a more serious expression on his face, replying with just a question.

"Is it now?"

Then the girl elaborated further, "You are talking about some of the duelists with not only the strongest decks, but also reinvented the game."

Then Van retorted, "So I take it you already tried to get there?"

"What?" Haruko replied confused.

"Well, that. Did you already try getting to that level and failed? Is why you are so confident, right?" Van added to his previous question, now not really hiding that he didn't like her attitude.

Now, Haruko was getting serious and asked with a straight face "Have you faced any duelist of that caliber?"

"Guys…" Saori said nervously, as she tried to step in the conversation and hopefully de-escalate it, but Van was quick to reply once again.

"Actually, no, not yet. But if you are a good duelist yourself, you can give it a try and test it out." Said pulling out his deck and placing it on the table. "Or perhaps call Seto and let him know that I would give him a run for his money…"

"Why you…!" Haruko quickly stood up just for having a better reach into one of her pockets, getting ready to get her deck as well.

"Oh, getting into a duel already?" a new voice called. It was Mokuba.

The trio of teens at the table looked over at the younger boy with Van, noting, "Ah, you again!"

"Mokuba, Seto's still around?" Haruko asked. Calming herself a bit before her step-brother.

"Yes, but he is gonna leave soon. Apparently the principal, and himself, had a call with the head of other schools from neighboring prefectures." He stood proudly before giving a thumbs up to Haruko, "Judging by what he told me, things will be really cool." He said with that typical pride he felt through his big brother. After a brief pause, he looked at Van.

"Oh by the way, thank you again for helping my sis, that could have gone pretty ugly really fast."

Van looked over at Haruko and relaxed a bit more, choosing not to escalate things again in front of her step-brother, replying, "We were all lucky I guess."

"Hmm, so I, did I see correctly? Were you about to duel Haruko?" The youngest of the Kaiba asked.

Van then looked at Haruko and after thinking things through for a bit replied, "Perhaps in another moment… there's actually someone in line."

"What?" the step-sister asked confused

The boy then shrugged, "There's already someone wanting to duel me during our little break. I'd rather not disappoint." Then decides to bring another piece of his sandwich into his mouth.

As he did so, the attention of both girls would shift and glance just above over Van's head. Making the boy blink. Suddenly, he'd feel a pair of hands slamming on his shoulders, almost making him choke on his food because of the sudden surprise.

"Now that's the right attitude, man!" The voice of Koji exclaimed, who had just arrived to the scene.

Van quickly got on his feet, pressing his feet and lifting a fist as he angrily called at his classmate, "ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME!? YOU IDIOT!"

Koji simply laughed at his reaction, and before long Mokuba, Haruko and Saori would join in.

"So, are you ready?" Koji eagerly asked as he raised his arm, showing his duel disk strapped on his forearm.

Van quickly brought the final slice of the pork cutlet sandwich to his mouth. Chewing it rapidly while he stood up. Then He did mimic Koji's pose, exclaiming "You bet I-…" Then it clicked in his mind, "…-don't have a duel disk…" letting his shoulders hanging and sighing in disappointment.

That made the rest of the group at the table drop their heads on it, sighing in frustration at Van's lack of awareness of such an important detail.

"Wait, I got an idea!" Mokuba exclaimed, lifting a finger. "Where are you guys going to do this?" asked expectantly.

"Hmm, I think the campus outside should suffice, right?" Asked, looking over to Van and Mokuba, seeking their approval.

"Yep! That should do. Alright, I want you guys to meet me there in a while!" Then the boy ran out from the cafeteria and into the hallway. The rest of the group that was present there look at him leave, confused.

"Hey, he is your brother, right?" Van asked Haruko and then continued, "Any idea what's in his mind?"

The girl shrugged, "How would I know?" Then shook her head, "But hey, I would be heading there if I were you. "

Deciding not to argue about that suggestion, the group then headed over to the campus. Where the hung around for a while before finally Mokuba could be seen running towards them from the distance. Waving his arm as he was now showing a duel disk strapped on his arm. Once he reached them, he'd catch his breath and proceed to detach the disk. "Alright then, Van, today's your lucky day!" Then handed the object to the boy, "Just make sure you guys put up a good show!"

"Oh… so it's actually happening…" Haruko said as she slowly grabbed Saori's wrist, her friend would look at her questioning what did she want with her look alone, then noted to her friend "We may want to give them some space…"

Van, on the other hand, was quick to reach to the duel disk "You are kidding, and it's one of the latest models as well, thanks I always wanted to test one of these out!" He'd laugh in excitement and nod at Mokuba, "I'll be careful with it, I'll give it back without a single scratch!"

"Hahah, no need to thank me, really. You two will be helping, actually!" Then with that, Mokuba ran back towards the entrance of the building, tagging along with Haruko and Saori, whom later picked a spot to watch them play. However, it was sooner than later that he noticed two new figures that were present there who stood out from the rest of the students that were hanging around in the campus. Principal Teramoto, and Seto Kaiba.

Koji noticed them as well, "Put a good show… wait, do you think…?"

"… That is related to that Dueling Club? Yeah…" Then looked at both Seto and his step-sister at the distance, and say "Watch me…" under his breath. Then looked over to Koji, "Alright, let's get this done!"

His classmate nodded confidently and got into position to start. As they were doing so, people familiar with the game were catching up with what was going on. And a crowd started to build up, not only around the campus. But also, students along the windows would watch from the hallways on the upper floors.

Chiaki, among them, who looked at both her friends about to engage in their first duel against each other. "This is gonna be good!" crossed her mind while keeping her bright smile.

"Haruko!" a couple of voices called out, as Rika and Saori arrived to the campus and joined their friends, "I thought you two were just going for a drink! Not that you were going to watch some guys play that cards game." Rika stated

Both Haruko and Saori chuckled at her, and then the Kaiba sibling asked, "Why don't we watch together, have you ever seen a duel like this up close?"

Sayuri just sat down beside them, "Well, it helps kill time, so why not?" then placed a bento on her lap "And besides, it can work well for something to watch while eating!"

Rika did join as well, with her bento. But not as optimistic or showing that much interest. "Only because you are asking me, Haruko. And no, but I don't see how it would be any different from those boring duels I saw on TV."

The pair of duelists, finally stocked their decks in the duel disks and activated them. Two bright lights of the same color would then shine from the blue spheres of the duel.

Detecting Activation of Duel Disk Battle System.

A voice called from both duel disks before that bright lights of each disk were shot in the shape of a small beam towards each other.

Synchronizing. . .

When both beams collided, a new flash of light would be followed by the creation of a ring over the ground where the area of collision. Then, that ring would begin expanding until it finally reached both duelists, so they'd be standing inside. The area inside the ring would be covered with a blue glimmering visual effect.

"This is… !" Van thought filled with excitement as he looked how the duel disk then expanded once again, displaying a small shining board where his cards could be placed and set.

Synchronized.

"Okay, Van, I hope you are ready!" Koji asked with his hand on top of his head, ready to draw his opening hand.

Van managed to collect himself and smirk at Koji, "Alright then, I guess we have to put a show for everyone eh?" Then reached to his pocket before pulling out his small, round, blue-lens sunglasses. Then put them on, pushing them back against the bridge of his nose, "So be it."

And with that, both duelists yelled in unison

"DUEL!"

Turn 1

Van 4000 LP - Koji 4000 LP

"Alright then, I'll start!" Koji called before adding, "By the way, cool glasses!" Then drew his first card before declaring, "I set a monster in defense position and a card, that should be it for me!"

The cards would then start materializing in the field in a flash of both white and blue lights.

"Why thank you. So, you are going to go on the defense, huh?" Then he drew his card and continued, "Then Allow me to start with the offense. Set a card, and then summon DARK BLADE!"

Then another light would appear in the virtual monster slot that was on the field in front of the boy. Soon a knight in black, spiked armor armed with two curved blades, and branding a red cape slowly emerged and stood proudly on the field. Holding both blades crossed on top of each other on its idle state. The red, burning eyes of the monster were the only features one could see from the opening of his helmet, with a black void being all that could be seen from the open bits of his armor.

Dark Blade ATK 1800/ 1500 DEF

"That doesn't look very amicable" Saori commented from her spot as an observer before nothing "By the way, Van doesn't seem to mind being the center of attention now, doesn't he?"

"That's because he is not paying attention to that." Haruko commented, "He is focused on the duel now. Pay attention to him."

"No point on wondering about traps or spells this early, let's push this." Thought before declaring "Alright, battle phase- Dark Blade, attack his set monster!"

The Dark Knight would then kick off and dash forwards, reading both its curved blades to slash over the set monster with a 'X' shaped swing. During the attack, the virtual projection of Koji's set was sliced in a half and then revealed its hidden monster.

A giant, gray colored rat which stood on its back legs, hunched over while holding a skull between its front ones, was revealed

Giant Rat ATK 1400/1450 DEF

Koji smirked and then declared "Alright, thanks to my rat's effect I am able to summon another EARTH monster from my deck with 1500 or less attack. And I choose to special summon my second copy of Giant Rat!" Then he pulled the card from his deck and summoned the monster on the field in attack position.

Van sighed before saying, "It's gonna be one of -those- decks, huh? Alright, I end my turn."

TURN 1 END

Sayuri then brought a bite of her meal to her mouth, and while munching it, she asked "Hmh… so, what'appened there? I thought you could only summon on your turn alone."

"It's because of Koji's monster, Giant Rat." Haruko stated, then proceeded to explain, "Some monsters have special abilities that allow the player to summon even if it's not their turn. You just need to meet the requirements of the ability. In this case, the requirement is the monster being destroyed, and judging by him having a second copy of the same monster. I wouldn't be surprised if he has a third."

"That sounds… redundantly boring." Sayuri said with disappointment.

"It is, yeah, but…" Haruko paused for a moment and added, "Koji is probably buying time.".

Saori then looked over to Haruko, asking, "Buying time, but for what?"

However, Haruko gave no reply to Saori. She just leaned back a bit, placed her hand on her thing, and kept observing with great attention.

Sayuri just smiled a bit, commenting to Saori, "She is really into it, eh?" To which the glasses-wearing girl chuckled and nodded.

On the other hand, Rika observed the duel with a serious and concentrated expression on her face, with her focus particularly on Van.

Turn 2 Start

Van 4000 LP – Koji 4000 LP

"Hehe, alright, my turn again!" Koji said eagerly, then proceeded to declare his moves, "I switch my new rate to defense position. Then I'll summon my Sentry Soldier of Stone in defense position!"

Then, a new bright light would appear above Koji as it took the shape of a large creature. It looked like a mech armed with two giant cleavers, the machine's looking monster seemed to have a color resembling a mixture of gray and green. And big, red, glowing eyes.

Sentry Soldier of StoneATK 1300/2000 DEF

"W-wow… that one is big!" Saori nervously commented as, while Sayuri just kept her comments to herself and did look intimidated by the giant's presence.

Meanwhile, Koji continued with his turn. "I set another card and with that, my turn's over!"

Chiaki watched from the first floor and smiled, "I wonder if you will catch up with Koji's strategy, Van." thought, uncertain who will take the win from this duel.

Van then drew another card. The boy took a moment to look at it, with a cold store. His eyes then shifted over to Koji, "good" Then the boy declared "I summon Marauding Captain!" A second knight would then appear from a flash of light in Van's field. Short, blonde hair, a face showing several scars from battle and also signs of age. Wielding two swords—A long sword, and a broadsword. A teal and golden armor which seemed to show fewer signs of aging than the person himself.

Marauding Captain ATK 1200/400 DEF

"And since it was summoned, its special ability allows me to special summon a level 4 monster from my hand. And I summon Field-Commander Rahz!" Then a third knight showed up. This one seemed more beaten up than the previous one. Short, dark and dry hair, tied with a red bandana. A messy half shaved beard adorned the knight's face along with multiple scars similar to that of the Captain. His armor was really beaten and worn, similarly to the blade he held, a long sword with its edge cracked and dented.

Field-Commander Rahz ATK 1600/1200 DEF

"He is speeding things up, isn't he?" Saori asked, looking over to her friends.

Sayuri nodded and replied, "But from what I see, he won't be able to get past that big guy." noted while pointing at the sentry. "Is that correct?" asked then to Haruko, seeking her confirmation. To which she nodded at her with a slight nod.

"You are right, the attack of all of his monsters is lower than the defense of Koji's Giant Sentry, but he has a couple of monsters gathered, he might be able to bring a stronger one soon. The question is, what is Koji planning to do against that possibility…" She then lifted a finger while she continued explaining. "So all things considered, this might be the last turn Koji might be able to keep up with those defenses before Van brea-"

"POLYMERIAZTION!"

"Huh!?" Haruko's attention darted back over to the duel, as soon as he heard the card Van called.

"Poly-what?" Sayuri asked, getting no answer from Haruko.

"Damn it!" Koji uttered under his breath as he watched Van activate that spell card. "That's likely gonna force me to change my plans…" thought as he observed his opponent's play.

"Now, I will fuse both my Dark Blade with my Pitch-Dark Dragon and bring the great Dark Blade to the Dragon Knight!" At that moment, a dark-colored Dragon materialized in the arena, roaring fiercely and then flying up to the air. Dark Blade looked up and jumped high until both dragon and knight met in the air, and converged together in a flash of light. From said light, the silhouette of a new monster emerged.

The size of the dragon seemed to be larger than before, and on its back, Dark Blade stood proudly as its rider.

Dark Blade The Dragon Knight ATK 2200/1500 DEF

Saori watched, impressed by what happened now, "He… combined them?"

"That's right." Haruko replied. "Certain monsters can combine and fused together to create stronger ones. Koji now is in trouble…" explained before pointing at the Dragon Rider, "…Because with that new monster, Van has the power to take down the rat and the giant."

Sayuri then asked, "So if all your monsters are destroyed, you lose?" to which her friend shook her head in response, then explained.

"No, but you are left open to be attacked directly. It will probably happen at some time during this duel, so it's better to wait and watch rather than using with words alone." Haruko explained.

"Wait" Saori then asked, "Wouldn't Koji still have a last line of defense?" The girl now showed a bit more of a serious expression, unconsciously paying more attention to the details of the duel. Then asked Haruko, "What if he had a third rat?"

Haruko then smiled at Saori, "That's a good observation!" followed by a nod, "If that's the case, then Koji would be safe for at least one more turn."

Haruko's smile did actually catch Saori by surprised, it was a different one. As if it were purer and genuine than all the ones they had shared before. She could tell that, despite not bringing up this game quite often, she was really passionate about it. She couldn't help to smile back at her with a faint blush, holding a mixture of pride and happiness by the compliment of her friend on something she cared that much.

Sayuri then pointed back at the duel, "Oh, there he goes!"

"Go now, my Dragon Knight, take down his Sentry of Stone!" The dragon then soared through the air and over Koji's field. The knight on the beast's back lifted a blade and then pointed it at the giant. Soon, the dragon's closed maw would show sparks of a red light before finally liberating from it a blast of fire that impacted on the giant. knocking it back as it fell broken. Not only a loud explosion could be heard from the blast, but when the giant fell, the surrounding ground did actually tremble a bit, with a dust screen raising on the area where the giant fell.

Koji, was still standing there, however, covering his face from the air blast that the fell creature generated. Not to mention from the dust as well, which prompted him to cough a couple of times. "Nice hit!" complimented to Van.

"What are you planning…?" Crossed the German's kid mind, as his serious expression did not change in the slightest. Through the whole duel, he showed little to no emotion like he regularly does, but a cold and calculating demeanor. Then continued with his onslaught, "Rahz, your turn. Take down that rat!"

The commander then charged across the field and leaped forth, delivering a slice against the giant rat that was followed by a trail of light. The rat was pushed back by the impact and fell down before shattering in an explosion of shining, shattering glass.

"Alright then, you know what that means, Van! I bring another monster to the field. And this time around, I'll bring Destroyer Golem!" And with that, a large humanoid made of stone emerged from the ground. In contrast to the looks of the Sentry, it was shorter, and its look was a lot more clearly made of stone, with its design resembling those of the walls of a castle.

Destroyer Golem ATK 1500/1000 DEF

"Hm… not a third copy eh?" Van thought before finally setting another card, "I set a card and end my turn." "Just a monster on his field, enough for a tribute summon, but that shouldn't be enough to be a great danger…" echoed in his head while he remained silent, and pushing his sunglasses back to the bridge of his nose with his middle finger

"I KNEW IT!" Rika shouted starling, all of her friends

"W-what is it, Rika?" Saori asked as she had almost jumped from her spot due to her shout.

"do you really have to scream like that? You almost made me drop my food…" Sayuri said annoyed.

"Sayuri! Look at him carefully, how can it be you didn't recognize him!?" Then she pointed at Van.

Then, her friend looked at him trying to figure out what was wrong with the boy, "Uh…. yeeeees…?" just said, uncertain of what she had to see on him.

Rika then let out a grunting sigh before noting "The subway, a couple of days ago, remember!?"

On that moment, Sayuri spit some of the rice she had in her mouth before exclaiming "wait, WAIT, YOU ARE RIGHT!" then pointed at the boy as well "He was the wannabe rock star looking boy!"

"Wait" Haruko then said, with a tone of disbelief, "Does that mean that all this time… you looked like you were watching the duel, and very concentrated in it… you were actually looking at Van?"

"Well, I knew I saw those sunglasses not long ago." Then crossed her arms and continued, "It's a bit surprising, sometimes this is a small world…"

Then Sayuri didn't lose the chance to tease her again just like she did in their last hangout, "So, are you gonna ask him out this time?"

"SHUT UP!" Rika angrily yelled back.

Turn 2 End

Van 4000 LP - Koji 4000 LP

Turn 3 start

Koji started his turn and looked at his opponent. "Alright Van, I wanted to avoid hasting things up, but since I didn't expect you to perform three summoning in your turn, I will have to change my plans and take the offense."

Van narrowed his eyes, not commenting nor replying

"Alright then, I'll remove from play two EARTH monsters from my graveyard and bring up my mighty giant GAIA PLATE THE EARTH GIANT!"

Koji then placed the card on the disk's board and just after that the ground began to shake a bit more than before.

"W-wait… the ground is… is trembling!?" Asked as she was starting to panic a bit.

"That's my step-brother's technology…" Haruko commented, remaining rather calm, although still unsure of what was Koji exactly bringing to the play.

"What do you mean, this is part of the game!?" Rika exclaimed as she was feeling just as Saori. "How can you be this calm, isn't this dangerous?!"

"Well… not really." Yet, her mind said, "… at all…" then she noted, "My step-brother is over there watching as well. Think about it. if it was dangerous, do you think he'll allow this?"

That was met with a thoughtful silence from all her friends, yet they choose not to argue against her point.

Back in the duel field. The ground in front of Koji would start generating a large dust cloud as numerous rocks emerged from the ground. Large ones as they occupied a large part of the field making. With one of those rocks being the size of Van's Dragon Knight. Soon, the rocks started to shake before levitating up in the air. Then, they began attaching one to the other, eventually giving the shape of a giant stone made of rocks. Compared to the rest of the monsters that were summoned in the duel so far, this one was massive. Easily reaching to the first floor of the academy in height.

Gaia Plate the Earth Giant ATK 2800/1000 DEF

"W-what is that?!" Saori screamed

"That… is trouble for Van." Haruko replied.

Van tried to keep his cool, yet, his heart was racing. And it was obvious, since Kaiba's technology managed to recreate such a massive creature in front of his eyes. To say it was intimidating, was an understatement. But he couldn't lose his cool over that. Seeing this stuff was the norm around duelists in this city.

"Alright, I hope you are ready Van, Gaia, crush that Captain with your earth-shattering fist!" That's when a deep echoing sound which could be interpreted as some sort of voice from the giant could be heart by everyone around, before it slowly lifted its massive arm, and quickly brought it down. Slamming and crushing Van's Marauding Captain in the process.

"UGH!" Van braced himself from the shockwave of the impact as his life points went down, then coughed a couple of times as he accidentally breathed in some dust.

Damage Calculation

Van 4000 LP - 2400 LP

"And I'm not done yet!" Koji exclaimed. "I activate my set cards Tiki Course and Tiki Soul!" Then his set cards would be revealed. Two trap cards that had the picture of two different figures made from stone, which would come out and move over to the monster slots of his owner.

"what?!" Van thought, as he saw the traps taking the monster spots.

"These traps will allow me to special summon them as effect monsters on my field. I'm sorry to drop it like this to you, friend, but you are not the only one who can swarm his field!"

Tiki Soul ATK 1000/1800 DEF

Tiki Curse ATK 1800/1000 DEF

"Now, Tiki Curse, destroy his Fiel-Commander!" Then the statue's eyes began glowing with a red color before they shot a pair of beams towards Rahz. The commander would then turn into stone and shatter down into pieces.

Damage Calculation

Van 2400 LP - 2200 LP

"And that would be my turn!" Koji declared with a smirk on his face, having managed to turn the whole tide of the duel on his favor in just a single turn.

Van on the other hand, still tried to keep his cool, looking at him with his serious and cold stare, yet a single drop of sweat ran down from the side of his face while another thought run through his mind

"This person… he is actually good…"


Author's Note: Alright here we go with another chapter and a new duel! (finally yay!). A tough week for writing sadly. While im still ahead in chapters I barely managed to keep up with my 2 chapters ahead from upload kind of schedule. We may thank that to the heatwave that struck Buenos Aires last weekend. Writing when you are getting slowly roasted at almost 40° is not a pleasant experience let me tell you. Fortunately storms arrived and now the temperatures have cooled off, and have managed to pick up the phase once again. Chapter 9 is almost done (yes, chapter 9).

Anyways, hope you enjoy this new chapter, and I'll be seeing you all next week. Have a great weekend and take care!