With troubles apparently left behind. The group walked together. Takato, having joined Van in the back row of the group, deciding to keep him some company since the first year, wanted to avoid starting another scene with his classmate.

"So I noticed a bit of a slip in your accent. You are not from around here, aren't you?" Takato asked with a small smile on his face.

The German teen gave him a calm and short nod, responding, "Yep, I came from Germany not long ago. Though my mother taught me how to read and speak Japanese since I was little."

The second year would chuckle and reply, "Well congratulations, your mom must be a great teacher and also, you must be a great student as well!"

Van shrugged, smiling a bit back at this new person, "Well, it's not like I really had any other choice at the time. And my mom can be quite… eh, let's just say 'convincing' … at times."

"Ooh, yeah, I get it. I was also raised by strict parents. But hey, it paid off, didn't it?" The second year then asked with a wink and a thumbs up.

"Hah, you could say so." Then Van looked at the front again for a moment, and that's when the need to ask a question to Takato got to him "Hey, so… what's your history with those guys, exactly?"

The boy's expression switched to a more serious one and replied, "Unfortunately, we are from the same class. And they are precisely what you see, troublemakers, nothing more, nothing less. So, you better stay away from them." Then he'd look ahead at the rest of the group, "However, you did good at interfering when you guys did. I don't even know what would they want with those girls… Or rather, I don't want to know."

Van just hummed again, looking at the group of girls that now were also hanging together with his new friends. But he couldn't shake off the thought of what those guys wanted with them, and if they won't try to do so again.

Meanwhile, the rest of the group were also involved in their own little chatter. With Haruko being the center of the topic.

"Hey, you are a superb duelist!" Said Koji with a big smile on his face, followed by, "You took down that punk in a blink of an eye!"

"Eh?" Haruko reacted, looking at Koji with a mix of confusion and surprise.

Chiaki then joined Koji in the praising, stating "Yeah, and to top it all, you have such a rare card in your deck, even with supports for it!"

Haruko's expression shifted from confusion, to realization, and then slight embarrassment. "W-wait, you saw the whole thing…?"

Both of them nodded, with Chiaki adding "Oh yeah, the three of us did…" with a smug on her face, Chiaki looked over her shoulder for a second. Then she leaned closer to Haruko, whispering, "Certain someone didn't make any comments, but sure did look impressed by how you swiftly took that victory."

Haruko then looked over her shoulder, following the direction Chiaki looked back, and of course; it was towards Van. The girl looked at him for a moment before frowning and sticking her tongue out at the boy.

To which the boy, simply, responded in kind by frowning and sticking his tongue back at her.

"But that aside, your deck is so cute, Haruko!" Saori noted.

Her praise would soon be joined by Sayuri's who would say "It was so vibrant and shiny, not like Van's!"

By now, all the praising was starting to get to Haruko, as she tried to hide her head between her shoulders with a faint blush appearing on her cheeks "It's… not that much…"

"Not to mention one other thing." Rika said, followed by, "I can't remember the last time I saw you with that look on your face."

She quickly glanced at her friend, "W-what?" getting more flustered by becoming the center of attention.

"Hmm, I guess I could be hard to describe…" Rika responded with a hint of thought in her voice.

"Oh also, that card!" Chiaki exclaimed, butting into the conversation between Haruko and Rika. Easily catching the group's attention. Then, the pink haired girl would quickly move in front of Haruko. And while almost hopping on her spot, she'd plea "Please, please can I see it!?"

Haruko stopped on her tracks and was surprised, "U-uh… you mean…?"

"Your Dark Magician Girl, of course!" the girl responded, with such a bright look that one could almost see stars sparkling from her eyes.

Doubtful at first, the Kaiba sibling decided to respond to those pleas and pulled out her deck. Digging through it, she revealed the card before them. And it would take less than a second for Chiaki and Koji to be completely shocked.

"Hold on, Chiaki…!" The boy exclaimed.

"Y-Yes, I see it!" leaning closer to the card impressed, "where did you get it?"

Rika would naturally be weirded out by their reaction, "Ugh, it's just a card, what's so special about it?"

"It's not just a card!" Chiaki exclaimed back, then proceeded to explain. "The Dark Magician girl, in itself, is considered a very rare card. But to top things off, Haruko's card is even rarer…" Then she pointed at the card's holographic detail, "See that? Well, only a couple of cards in the entire rooster of Duel Monster have gotten that treatment. As far as I know, less than a hundred cards that are considered 'rare' have been printed with that style in the world. Thus, making it a VERY valuable card".

"In the world?" Saori and Sayuri asked with a clear hint of surprise in their voices.

Rika simply shrugged before asking again, "So…? It's still a card…"

Chiaki would then show a smug before lifting a finger and explain "Forgot to mention, my father showed me logs of rare card auctions. And a card as rare as this has been sold for almost three hundred thousand yen."

That's when Haruko's friends, Rika included, exclaimed in shock, "THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND YEN!?" With Rika adding, "That's almost… half a year's work for my dad!"

Koji would then laugh and comment, "Ah, the virtue of living under Kaiba's roof, right?" In a genuinely playful way.

Haruko, however, would yell "No!" almost sounding offended by the comment. With her yelling even making both Takato and Van, who were now circling the group that had stopped and move in front of them, to stop and pay better attention to what was going on.

The girl then looked down at the card, with a solemn smile on her face, "This… this was the first card I've ever got. My dad gave it to me…" She would then bring the card close to her chest, holding it gently between her hands. "Both him and my mom are a big part of why I started dueling…"

The group then got silent for a while. Haruko's friends being aware already of the whole story, with Rika now feeling terrible for describing that memento of his father 'just a card'. While Chiaki, Koji, and Van had already picked the pieces together, from the fact that it was rather obvious she wasn't blood related to Seto and Mokuba.

Van would be the first one to get back on his way to school. Prompting Takato to hurry and catch up to the boy. Spending the rest of the way there with little talking and a lot of thinking. He wanted to avoid hearing the rest of what she had to say, and he knew very well why.

Once at school. The group and Takato would go to their respective classrooms, and the day would carry on with nothing important taking place. However, as the day went on, it appeared that the tension between both groups of friends was alleviated, since it appeared that Koji and Van's intervention to what happened earlier managed to create some bridges between them.

After the lunch break, the class would have their first P.E class. And thus their first introduction to the Gymnasium locker rooms.

"You know, having this class on Fridays is flat out evil." Koji commented to Van and the rest of the boys.

Van shrugged and commented, "Look at the bright side. You reach home beaten up and tired, and you can take a nice shower to relax, knowing it's Friday."

Koji just rolled his eyes, while some boys found that comment entertaining enough. While they were changing and getting ready for class, the boy pointed out. "Hey, what's up with that?" referring to Van's right arm.

He was wearing a long arm sleeve that covered most of his forearm. Van looked at it for a moment and shrugged, "Just like wearing it."

Koji just hummed and shrugged the thought about it away, it was just an arm sleeve after all. And they moved onto their first P.E class. They would be introduced to Instructor Botan and be given their first routine of exercises.

After half the class had passed, they would be given a couple of minutes for rest. Van would take the chance to head back to the men's locker room. And pick a towel he had brought ahead of the class to wipe some sweat off his face.

Suddenly, "Huh?" crossed the boy's mind as soon as something caught his attention. It was a smell; one he was familiar with and disliked. Cigarettes. "Outside?" crossed his mind before approaching to the small window of the room, an open egress window which led to a small alley at the back of the Gymnasium. He was already able to hear some male voices chatting amongst each other, and snickering. Then Van took a look outside, there they were, Yamada and his group.

The second years were hanging together, chatting with each other and smoking. To Van, it was easy to guess they had probably skipped classes and went for a spot where it would be hard for teachers to spot them while smoking.

"Come on, hurry, man!" One of them said before, from the first year's perspective, it would look like one of them, who was surrounded by the group, stood up from the ground simply saying "Alright, we got it, big prize!"

Yamada would then nod at his classmate and respond, "Good, now let's kill some more time and go back to class when the bell rings."

"What are they talking about?" Van thought as he was getting ready to spy them further before one of his classmates opened the door of the room, making the boy jump back and away from the window in surprise. "Ah!"

"Hey, instructor Botan is calling everyone back to class, break's over" the classmate then paused, noticing he had startled Van. "Hey, everything ok?"

"… Uh… yeah, everything cool…" Van replied while holding a hand on his chest, calming himself down and then heading back to class. What continued was a more relaxed part, a game of dodgeball nonetheless. As a way for the instructor to bid a welcome to his new class.

However, the boy couldn't shake the thoughts regarding Yamada's group, he wondered what they were doing there. Was it simply their hiding spot to smoke, were they plotting something regarding the threat he had given him earlier?

"Van, watch out!" Koji screamed in the middle of the dodgeball match.

Van blinked, "Huh?" paying attention back to his surroundings shortly after. With the first thing, he'd see being a ball flying straight to his face. "OH SH-!"

BAM

The sound of the ball hitting the boy's face followed by that of his body falling back over the ground echoed in the gymnasium. His classmates started laughing at how someone managed to deliver such a good, clean shoot on him. The boy sat on the floor, rubbing his reddened face with his hand, "Ugh, damn it…!"

The ringing sound of the instructor's whistle called the game to a halt, "Alright, Keller's out. Please step out of the field!"

The German teen sighed and slowly stood up, still rubbing his face.

"Seems luck wasn't on your side this time around." A girl's voice called.

When Van looked at where it came from, he saw Haruko with a smug on her face. Van grumbled and walked out of the field. Part of him was glad because at least he could go on and rest for the remainder of the class. Or that was, he thought. When he sat out on the floor, the instructor stood next to him and blew his whistle once again, allowing the match to continue. Then, he poked the head of the teen sitting on the ground, prompting the boy to look up and be met with the instructor shaking his finger.

"Aw crap…" he thought before the teacher instructed him to stand close to the wall behind them, and start performing squats for the duration of the game. Each student, eliminated from the game, would share his fate. By the end of the class, most of his classmates had joined the boy. Botan then called his class and promised his students they were just given a light day today as a welcoming first class; however, the future ones would be a lot rougher.

That, struck all the students in shock, as they were all pretty beaten up from the season of exercises given by their instructor. With the end of the school period being announced by the bell, the class made its way back to the first floor of the building, so they could start cleaning their room and pick up their belongings.

"Ugh… I would rather not worry you guys, but I think I might have a heart attack…" Koji told his friends. Just to be quickly slapped on the back of his neck by a Chiaki.

"Quit being such a drama queen, It was just some exercise!" She yelled at him. The hit landed beautifully enough to let the loud slapping sound by heard by those students going up the stairs along with them, causing them to either laugh or cringe at the impact, suggesting they imagined feeling it themselves.

"Ow, hey come on, that routine is no joke, and it's going to be even worse!" Koji retorted at the pink haired girl while rubbing the back of his neck. "Hey Van, you got to back me up on this one, man!"

"Can't tell if my legs or my face are killing me…" The boy replied with an annoyed expression on his face, "Damn that girl…" he thought, grunting under his breath.

Chiaki started laughing, "Seems that someone got into your head, eh?" then said, teasingly while poking his arm with her elbow.

"How about I throw something at your face, and we take time on how long you'll stop thinking of that?!" the boy replied, obviously taking the girl's bait to get him angry. Yet, he was soon to calm down, as no ill intent was behind his friend's actions.

At the classroom, the entire group had already picked up the phase of the routine, which is why they were able to get things done a lot quicker; thus, those who did not leave immediately after finishing the cleanup, hung around with their friends.

Haruko, Rika, Saori and Sayuri being some of them.

"Alright, where to then?" Sayuri asked, surprisingly eagerly.

"Well look at you, I thought you'd be complaining just like Koji would" Rika noted with a smile on her face.

Sayuri then lifted her arms triumphantly, "I don't care, and that's because It's FRIDAY!" Then she pointed at her friends, "And we have to go out!"

"Couldn't you at least let us cool our heads out of school?" Rika asked, ribbing one of the sides of her temple and sighing.

Haruko and Saori chuckled at them, to which the 'leader' of the girls group noticed how Haruko seemed to be more relaxed and cheerful than usual.

"Today was a good day, wasn't it?" Rika asked Haruko, spiking up the curiosity of their other friends.

"What do you mean?" Haruko asked, caught off by her question.

"Well, since the duel this morning, you looked a bit more like…" Rika then stopped, realizing what she was going to say and shook her head, "N-no, never mind…" Then she paused, thinking for a bit. "There is something I wanted to say regarding this morning, thought…"

Haruko blinked at her, "You are acting awfully strange, Rika, what's wrong?" she asked, smiling at her.

"I'm Sorry" her friend replied, "It's about that card. I disregarded it as 'just a card' and I didn't think about what it could mean to you…"

Saori then decided to back up Rika stating "And it's clear to see that you took great care of it, and worked hard to make that card shine. It was very exciting seeing you play"

Sayuri then added, "Not to mention she looks adorable, along with your princess. It's no wonder you are so into the game, you make it look bot easy and adorable!"

"Adorable?" Saori and Rika thought, a bit confused by the choice of words from Sayuri.

Then the girl finished, "So I think the three of us owe you in part an apology for shrugging it off all this time we've known each other!" That last part saving her speech and prompting Rika and Saori to join her in the sentiment of apologizing to their friend.

Haruko was taken aback by those words, "Oh come on, you…"

While that was happening, Van was already getting ready to leave. "So, we are meeting tomorrow at the store… you promise Goro won't be there, right?" the boy asked while putting on his sunglasses with his eyes narrowed and suspicion.

Chiaki just waved her hand, dismissing his worries, "Aw come on, I'm sure he won't show up for a bit longer, you did hurt his ego quite a bit."

"We could duel again at the store or take our rematch to the arcade, what do you say?!" Koji eagerly proposed to Van.

The boy looked up, rubbing his chin, as he noted "Well, the arcade doesn't sound bad… we already dueled the ot-"

"It's not here!"

Haruko's desperate yell caught the whole group's attention immediately, with Chiaki standing up and asking, "Hey, what's wrong!?"

"It's… her card, it's missing!" Rika exclaimed to Chiaki before looking at Haruko's table, helping her on checking her deck she was carefully trying to reorganize.

Chiaki quickly rushed over there to assist them, leaving Van and Koji just a bit confused on how they could do anything at that moment. "Alright, hold on, let me help you check. If it's not here, we can always try to check again in the Locker's Room."

Haruko then blinked, realizing the possibility. "Wait… y-you are right. I did leave my deck there during practice. Thanks, Chiaki!" Then quickly stood up and rushed off the classroom and into the hallway, her friends following behind, calling her to wait for them.

"Van, Koji, just to make sure, can you check the classroom while I help them down there?!" The pink haired girl hastily asked, as she was standing at the room's door, clearly ready to join the search downstairs.

"Count with us!" Koji replied, then looked at Van and both nodded at each other with a confident smile on their faces. The groups separated and the search began.

However, they would spend an hour, if nor more, searching around without any findings. The boys in the classroom, with the assistance of some of their other classmates, and the girls downstairs in the locker room and the gymnasium itself. Unfortunately, the resolve of the rest of the students was not as strong, as little by little they left the classroom and decided to head home before it got too late. Leaving Koji and Van on their own.

"Damn it, man, where on it earth is it?!" Koji asked frustrated. "I'm sure we checked every corner of the room!"

Van sat on the teacher's desk, staring at a random spot while thinking where it could be, he'd comment under his breath. "And Chiaki's not back, so… doubt they are having any better luck than us…" His gaze then moved over to the classroom's entrance when he noticed some movement. It was a group of students walking past them.

It was Yamada's group of second years. They were heading to the stairs, likely leaving. The group minded their own business until Yamada himself noticed Van looking in their direction.

"What are you looking at, punk?" The second year asked threateningly.

Van didn't say a word, in fact, he didn't seem to mind his threats, mainly because he trusted him not to be stupid enough to start a fight inside the school.

And his guess was correct, Yamada simply looked at him angrily before raising his hand and showing him a finger, or as it's commonly known in other parts of the world. 'Flipped him off'. Then moved on with their afternoon.

"Pft…" Van decided to focus back on the matter at hand before a thought came to his mind. "Hold on…" He did remember how the group was at the back of the gymnasium during their class. Van focused more on piecing things together, and his mind became clearer, "that person who stood up back then…" The boy did remember the type of window that place had; with a bit further thinking, he just theorized the girl's locker room had the same type of window. "Big… prize…" Then it clicked in his mind.

"No freaking way…!" Said Van, getting off the teacher's desk.

"What, what is it?" Koji asked, "You know where it is?"

"A wild guess, come!" then he rushed off the classroom, not even picking up his bag

"Wait, where are we going!?" the chubby teen yelled back, trying to follow him, even with his whole body aching from the P.E class.

"Yamada, they were by the Gymnasium during our class!" The boy explained as they carefully, yet quickly, descended through the stairs. "Could be me being an idiot, or wanting an excuse to dislike him more, or he could actually have it!"

"Stealing Cards, so what's your plan!?" Koji asked, stopping midway in the stairway.

Van then looked up at his friend. "Fists flaming." he replied

Koji gulped. They had a close call to a fight with them earlier that day, and now they were going headfirst into another. However, even though he understood that Van had no real plan at this point, he had a hunch that maybe, just maybe, his friend was spot on.

The boy clenched his fists and nodded at his friend, "Fists flaming!"

Thus, both of them rushed out into the campus and out the school premises, trying to quickly search around for where Yamada and his group could've gone.

Minutes later, the girls would return from the gymnasium, feeling defeated. Chiaki, however, tried to keep the group's spirits up. "Hey, hey, don't worry We'll find this card, I'm sure—NOW WHERE DID THESE TWO GO!?" She screamed, noticing how Van and Koji were gone. "They were supposed to be searching for your card here!"

Saori looked around and noticed the backpacks. "Well, their belongings are still here…"

"Where did they go then?" Sayuri wondered, "Maybe they are searching in other rooms?"

"Hgn now we got to look for them too!" Chiaki scratched her head, annoyed by how inopportune both her friends are. The search did continue, with the groups of girls splitting up between the search of the card and the boys.

Meanwhile, a couple of blocks away from the school, trouble was brewing up. Van and Koji had caught up with Yamada and his group. Both groups had chosen a small back alley where they would be likely unbothered.

"Pardon my language, but the hell you said you wanted?" Yamada said bluntly.

"I know I'm asking for too much, but stop clowning around, I saw you guys by the Gymnasium today…" The boy said, keeping a straight, serious face on focusing on keeping his cool, even though he knew the odds were greatly against them.

"Ah shit, he knows…!" One of the second years commented before Yamada screamed, "Shut up, you idiot!"

Koji then exclaimed almost excitedly, "So you were onto something!" to his friend.

"I wouldn't get so happy yet, this will not be pretty…" Crossed the boy's mind as soon as he heard his friend's words.

"Screw it, looking for this, right?" that's when Yamada pulled out the golden prize from his pocket. Haruko's Dark Magician girl "Sorry to tell you, but We went through a bit of trouble to get this, and I already have someone interested in it. With a nice fat sum behind it." The bully just shook the card from side to side while holding it, asking "So what are you g-" Before Yamada could end taunting the teen, Van was already taking his blue jacket off. "Oh shoot, he wants to do this…" then turned to look over his shoulder "He actually wants to do this!" exclaimed, almost cracking up with his friends before one called out

"Oh shit, watch out!"

"Huh?" When he turned around, all he could see was blue. Van had thrown the jacket at his face, effectively covering it for a moment. However, before he could pull it down, his face would be met with a blunt force impacting clean off on his mouth, almost hitting his nose as well. Knocking Yamada over to the ground.

Van had managed to get him with his guard down, he didn't care about fighting dirty, this was a street fight after all. The card fell on the ground, that's when he tunneled vision his focus on it, tried to pick up before a loud

"THINK FAST, SHITTER!"

caught the boy's attention. One of the bullies was stupid enough to send his foot down on his hand, clearly wanting to stomp it. However, that could severally damage the card as well, so before he had a chance to pull the card off; the teen chose to plant his palm on top of it, letting his hand take the painful stomp "AAAGH!" Van screamed, at the stomp.

Another of the bullies would stand next to the teen on the ground, laughing at how pathetic his act of heroism seemed to be, "You had this beat down going since this morning, you idiot!" He pulled his leg back before suddenly the weight of the chubby student pushed him to a side in a strong tackle.

"HAAH!" Koji screamed while tackling the second year, and as soon as both fell on the ground, he delivered a clean punch to his face. "How about this!" the boy screamed in his attack.

That caused the student stomping Van to get distracted, and let the boy push him back on the ground. The German teen managed to stand up and check on the card, fortunately didn't get damaged. He did, however, press his teeth at the pain on his hand, red from the impact, some minor cuts on his skin that didn't hurt as much as the impact of the stomp itself. Clenching his fist hurt, and that would clearly be problematic through this.

"Eat this!" Yamada yelled, having recovered, though his upper lip was swollen and with a small cut from Van's punch. Now delivering one himself to the younger teen.

Van was quick enough to react in time and step aside. However, he did not expect his opponent to be faster than him.

Yamada did not let the boy have room to react and pressed on, but he was met with a bit of resistance from his adversary who wasn't just going to give in easily, as a punch from the German's kid good hand. The bully moved to a side but managed to quickly catch the boy's arm under his, and keep it on a tight hold "Hah, got you now!" The second year screamed.

The first year pressed his teeth and tried to pull from his arm "Damn it, let… go!" then in an act of desperation, decided to try and deliver a punch with his injured hand. But Yamada was aware of it, and used his own arm to block the punch. The impact alone actually caused more pain to him than to his opponent as it was obvious his hand wasn't in a good condition. "Hng… son of-…"

Following up to that, Yamada pressed on and pushed Van back, cornering against one of the walls of the Alley and then delivering a violent knee blow and landing a clean heat above first year's belly; precisely at his stomach's pit.

The push from the impact combined with the blow itself just made him let go a grunting "UGH!" hitting the wall behind him and then dropping on his butt, crossing his arms over his torso and coughing. Yamada knew how to fight, -much- better than him.

The second year spat on the ground before saying, "I should beat you senseless, but you are not even worth my time. Hey you two idiots, have at him if it works for you…" said before learning back against the wall, opposite to where Van sitting and catching his breath.

The two-second years who were not fighting were soon to stand next to the first year, who just looked up, still not recovered from the last hit, with one of them taunting him "What's up, still tired, or just one hit is all you can, get your ass up come on!" Soon a kick would be delivered to his head, coming from his right.

Van managed to lift his arm and let his forearm absorb part of the impact, though it wasn't any less painful for his arm. "Damn it…!" thought as he realized it was his arm with the arm-sleeve he was wearing. When the next hit came, Van tried to switch his guard, letting the other arm absorb the impact, however without the proper reflexes of a trained fighter, or an actual experienced brawler like these second years clearly were; The second kick that came from the front managed to impact on his arms and push them back against his head, causing Van to hit its back against the wall. A loud ringing sound, and a dizziness, afflicted him.

And there he was, his great heroic plan boiled down to him crawling in a corner, blocking the kicks that those two were mercilessly delivering to him, and just managing to catch a glance from the corner of his eye at how Koji was doing. Only to see the second year he had tackled, now having him pinned down in a chokehold, letting him watch how he was being beaten up.

"Enough!" a new male voice called, followed by, "What the hell do you think you are doing!?"

Yamada looked over at the person who had arrived and did not say a word; however, some obvious words crossed, stating how he felt about this new person "God damn it…"

It was the second year they had met, earlier that day, Takato. Who, without thinking it twice, rushed up to the students to were kicking Van, pushing them away "What's the idea here, try to hurt someone, or worse!?" Then he looked over at the one holding Koji, "Let him-No. Let THEM be, now!"

"Pft, they started this, you know?" Yamada responded with a cocky tone before shrugging, "But I guess the party's over."

Takato then walked up to the bully, "Leave, now!" His eyes angrily staring at Yamada's, from behind the crystals of his glasses.

Then Yamada shrugged and actually pushed himself off the wall, getting ready to leave. One of his friends or at this point better called 'goons' protested, "Hey, why do we have to always leave when this four-eyed clown tells us too?" Then proceeded to rush at the new hero of the scene from behind, "It's all about turning off his lights!" while trying to sucker-punch him

Takato, however, was quick to react. The teenager quickly ducked underneath the way of the punch, letting his opponent's arm just cross over his shoulder before quickly wrapping his arm over his aggressor's shoulder, and the other onto his arm. Grabbing firmly on his clothes, when kicked off his momentum by slowly pushing back and letting his shoulder rest below the goon's armpit. Takato then bent his body forth, initially putting enough force to pull his classmate off the ground, and then let weight and gravity do the rest, effectively performing a beautiful shoulder throw.

When the aggressor's back was slammed over the ground, a chocked scream was heard. And was soon approached by Yamada, who shook his head and laughed at him. Then pointed a Takato "Cause that four-eye'd clown right there, competed in the Judo Club last year, not about to mess with him. But you enrolled this year, you wouldn't know, eh! Hahaha"

That alone, finished de-escalating the situation, as now Takato standing on alert and in a fighting, pose took away any funny ideas to the remaining bullies, who just proceeded to help their friend up and leave along with Yamada.

"ugh… we are saved…" Koji commented while rolling over the ground, belly-up, catching his breath and relaxing.

Van, meanwhile, wasn't even aware of the situation from his previous stun and adrenaline shock and was still keeping his head buried behind his arms. When he felt how someone was grabbing one of them, he struggled and threw a half-assed effort of a kick.

"Hey, hey, Van!" The second year exclaimed "It's me Takato, can you stand!?"

That's when things began to clear out for him, slowly relaxing his guard and pulling his arms down. Letting him see the familiar face, his face both in shock and confusion, "W-what are you doing here?" Asked with his voice still sounding agitated. In addition to being all dirtied from the dust on the ground, and the marks of the kicks on his clothes. Van's arms were visibly hurt, bruises over them, especially on the one he wasn't wearing his sleeve, there were even some marks on his face, a nasty bruise on the left side of his forehead.

"Damn… come on, let's take you guys back to the school. Nurse might be gone by now, but we might be able to get permission to use it."

Eventually, the trio made it back to school, with Takato and Koji helping Van reach back, as he had taken the worst part of the beating. When they arrived at the campus and made their way to the main building, someone would spot them from one of the first floor's windows.

"Wait, are they…?" Sayuri said when she spotted them. She had been standing by the window, wondering about the whole situation. Fortunately, that decision allowed her to see them and quickly call out to the rest of the group, "Heeey, heeey! They are back!"

The boys would help their friend sit down by a bench outside the nursing room, "Alright, try to catch your breath here." Said Takato before checking the nursery room's door, managing to actually open it "Huh… it's not closed? Hmm… Let's-"

"Hey, there, you ar- what happened!?" Chiaki, along with the rest of the girls, arrived at the scene, easily noticing the looks of both Koji and Van. She quickly took a close look at the German teen and then at Koji, "What did you guys do!?"

"Hey, hey, relax, let us explain" The boy tried to calm his friend down.

Sayuri, Haruko and Saori approached both Van checking on him. While Rika approached Takato, asking him, "Where were they?"

"That doesn't look good…" Sayuri noted when she looked at the bruises on the boy's forehead.

"And it's not only his forehead, look…" Saori then reached out to one of Van's arms, lifting it up just so her friends could also see the bruises along the arm, and the ones left on the stomped hand. Now darkening a bit and taking a bluish tone as the adrenaline heat from his body had worn off.

Van kept his eyes closed, resting up and allowing himself to be checked by the girls; however, he couldn't help but laugh a bit. "Pft… should've seen how the other guys ended up…"

That comment caught the girls surprised. With Rika quickly bringing her attention back to Takato, "Wait, does that mean they were…?!" Only to be responded by a silent nod from the second year. "Wh-…" Rika said, not understanding why they would even do so.

Takato then proceeded to state in a serious tone "Look, what's important now is letting know anyone with the authority to do so, that we will use the nursery room for a bit. I believe we can f-" However, his explanation of the plan was cut short by…

"HAVE YOU GONE OUT OF YOUR MIND!?" Haruko screamed directly to the teen sitting on the bench. "IT'S THE FIRST WEEK, AND YOU'VE ALREADY GOTTEN INTO A FIGHT!?"

Everyone was shocked by her reaction. With Saori trying to pat her friend's back, "E-Eh Haruko, I think right n-"

"No!" Screamed at her friend, "He is going to hear it now, he got off easily this morning, but not now!" The girl then leaned close to the boy, pointing at him, "Are you seriously thinking this is how things are going to work out for you here!? You just arrived to Domino, enrolled here; Then you met my step-brother and boasted about reaching to the top as a duelist and giving him a run for his money!" The girl took a pause to catch her breath and continued berating the boy. Who, much to her frustration, was just looking aside, with his eyes narrowed, clearly not interested in hearing a scolding, of all things.

"He is not listening…" Koji muttered to Chiaki

The girl just responded with a nervous "Uhuh… do you think Van finished burning that bridge with this…"

"Well… if only…" Koji muttered; however, he stopped, almost fascinated by the moment of catharsis from Haruko

"Are you THAT desperate to show off and be noticed by others!?" Haruko continued what it seemed to be an endless scolding before finally being interrupted by the beaten up teen.

"Jeez, could you just shut up for two minutes? That's all I ask, two minutes!" Van stated after rolling his eyes

That, while actually managed to shut up Haruko for a second, she would get even more flustered. Her face getting a bit redder out of a mixture of frustration, nerves, and pride. "THAT'S IT!" Then she'd point at Rika and Takato, "You two, go and look for someone to let them know what's going on!" Then pointed at Saori and Sayuri, "You two, go and bring cold water, or anything cold at all!"

"Uh… R-right…" Takato replied before motioning Rika to tag along with him.

"Hey Saori, let's get going!" Sayuri commented, before whispering to her, "She's already angry, let's not antagonize her…"

Then she would quickly reach out to Van's ear, "AND YOU COME HERE!" aiming to drag him inside the nursery room and almost slam the door behind them

The boy's ear was easily grabbed and pulled from, that would prompt him to get up and follow her while screaming "Hey, let me go, LET GO!"

When the door was slammed, anyone outside could hear the voices in.

"You are going to rip my ear off!"

"Stop being a big baby and sit down!"

"Who gave you a crown and made you queen!?"

"SHUT UP AND SIT DOWN!"

Koji and Chiaki were the only ones left outside the room, absolutely flabbergasted, they didn't know what to do or what to say and just stood there, listening to what was going on inside before finally Koji decided to break up that silence between them. "Uh… I think we are waiting here, what do you say?"

Chiaki just scratched her cheek, "Yeee…. I think I'd rather avoid Haruko when she is this angry… maybe you could explain clearly what happened, now?" Before moving onto the bench and sitting down. Her friend nodded and sat down beside.

While inside the nursery, Haruko was checking through the different shelves and cabinets where medical items were kept, while Van was just sitting on a bed and following her with his eyes.

Much to the girl's misfortune, most of them were locked; Potentially as a safety measure.

"Could you stop already? I'm fine!" The boy protested.

Before the girl slammed one of her palms against one of the cabinets she was inspecting. "Shut up, I don't want to hear it" Before getting on her knees and checking the bottom part of the cabinets, the ones without any locks in them. In there, Haruko found a small First Aid box. "Great, this should do it!" She thought

Meanwhile, Van reached to one of his pockets, pulling out his sunglasses and putting them on. His icy blue eyes then, from behind the color matching lenses of his signature accessory; How the girl, while holding the first aid box, pulled a medical stool next to his bed and opened the box.

The girl pulled out a small bottle of alcohol and pulled a small cotton ball from a plastic bag. "So, what's the next big plan, taking over the school just to make yourself known?" The girl asked, still mocking how reckless he was, and angry and how apparently, he was worse than she imagined. Yet, she couldn't tell why, she almost felt disappointed at him.

Van, however, decided not to give in and replied, "Well, that's the long-term plan. I still have to assemble my group of supper vill-OUCH!" He had stopped paying attention to the girl for a moment, expecting her to yell at him again and entertain his mocking answer, instead of that; he was met with an alcohol-dipped cotton ball being rubbed against the small cuts on his forehead's bruise.

The boy just managed to open up one of his eyes, noticing how she, through all the while, kept a frown on her face. Van then sighed and asked, "Why are you-ow! … why are you even going through this trouble?"

The girl closed her eyes, discarding the used ball and dipping another one in alcohol. "You helped me on the stairs, have you forgotten already? I'm just returning the favor. Then after this, we can return to ignoring and disliking each other. I think it was better that way."

Then she reached to his injured hand, and just like with his forehead, she started cleaning the injures there.

The boy's winced in pain, not only from the mild burning sensation from the alcohol on the small cuts over the stomped hand, but also because it swelled area itself hurt upon being touched. "Tsk… hey…" he said.

"Just try to bear with it for a bit." Haruko bluntly replied.

"No, I just wanted to ask." Van corrected, before asking "What is it to you?" the question did catch Haruko's attention, though she clearly didn't get what he meant until he asked again, being clearer "Dueling… what is it to you?"

The girl stopped what she was doing, blinking a couple of times and asking back, "What's with that question… why do you even care from all of a sudden?"

The boy then clicked his tongue, "Never mind…"

Haruko looked at him for a moment, and then she continued. Both of them remaining silent, awkwardly so. After a while, she would comment, "This… is just from the top of my head, I never really gave it that much thought, and I'm not sure if it is what you want to hear..." then sighed and added "… when I held that card, and used it on duels it just… it helps me think of him – on them rather, both mom and dad." Then she shook her head "That's basically it." Her tone was surprisingly serene, even when referring to something as terrible for her. However, for the slightest moment, when she spoke about the card and the memories it brought to her, there was a genuine sound of nostalgia, and joy.

The boy just looked at her, with attention "I don't really know what is to lose someone, but…" said looking aside. "… yeah, I can understand the sentiment… at least in part…"

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Well… how can I say this." The boy hanged his head back, eyes closed while thinking for a bit "Going back to a better moment, that sort of thing." The boy then paused for a moment thinking "What am I even saying, of course is not the same thing, idiot." Then proceeded to back down from what he said "You know what? Eh… scratch that, I guess I'm just trying to sound too smart at the wrong moment and I'll just end up looking like too much of a jerk by trying to compare things…"

"Compare with that?" Haruko thought, she decided to not linger on the topic, so then just focused on his last remark about himself and noted "You could always try to apologize" before placing the alcohol bottle and the cotton balls away, and then pulling out a gauze roll "No, these may be overdoing it… wouldn't be?"

The boy then replied, "nah… I think that's cheap… anyone can just say 'I'm sorry'" exaggerating the tone of his voice when he said those words.

The girl then stood up and closed the box, he looked again at the cabinet, leaving the box there, and now spotting a roll of bandages. "Ah this!" Then hurried back with Van while asking, "Are you sure is not just a pride thing?" looking unimpressed by his words.

The boy then offered his injured hand, letting her bandage it, being surprisingly collaborative with her now. "Nope!" He replied, "Just like my dad says, 'It's always about doing more than words.' Or, like I said before, talk is cheap."

"Thanks, but no, thanks. I can get things done on my own, you know? Trust me, an apology will do." Then she'd stop and add, "And perhaps also tell me what's wrong with you, why did you get into a fight this bad, did you go after those second years? Please tell me you are smarter than that…" with an expression that went from seriousness to, again, disappointment.

With the bandaging finished, he clenched his fist and then relaxed his hand, it still hurt, but it was better than before. "This will do for now I guess…"

The girl then stood up with her eyes closed "And I guess avoiding my question is another option, sure…" then she stood up placing the bandages back in the compartment. She made sure everything was in place and then moved back to the stool, picking up her bag which she had brought along. Getting ready to leave. "Now we can go to our routine of indifference."

"Wait…" the boy called. Then he reached under his arm sleeve, pulling out a card from underneath it. "It didn't get damaged or bent, fortunately" Then handed it to her.

"What's this?" she asked, lifting an eyebrow. Then blinked, lifting both of them, "Don't tell me…"

"More than words." Then he flipped the card between his fingers, letting her see that it was the rare, holographic Dark Magician Girl.

She was shocked, even took a couple of steps back and sat down in the bed next to the one Van was. "W-what… how…?"

The boy just shrugged, "Yamada… he and his gang of idiots sneaked into the locker room during our P.E class. I saw them but at the time didn't think anything. I later put two and two together."

"Then you should've told me! Why did you go out of your way to get into a fight, you realize how lucky you are things didn't end up any worse!?" She protested

The boy would hang his head sideways and smile, "Ah, see? Told you disregarding luck was a naive, sometimes it can be all you have!" Then he would close his eyes and add, "Besides… I get why I made you so mad, it shows how much it means to you, not just the card, dueling in general… I just had to try something when the chance was there."

Haruko would close her eyes and press her lips, initially she almost chuckled at how much of a child he was, bringing the luck thing again in this situation, barely kept it together. She was also annoyed because he chose to act on his own rather than telling her. He chose to fight in her stead. Then she rubbed her eyes and reached into her bag and pulled Seto's Duel disk.

"What…?" Van didn't know what she was planning and just pulled his hand with the card, back a bit.

Haruko then stood next to him, reaching to that same hand "Here", the boy then cooperated as she strapped the disk back on his arm. "Thanks… but I want you to promise me one thing…"

The boy just looked at the disk, surprised and then back at her, listening to what she had to say.

"This meant a lot to me; you have no idea… but I hate people fighting my fights for me… I've already done plenty of fighting in my life, ever since…" She shook her head and looked at him eye to eye. Her orange eyes intensively look at his icy blue ones. "The point is, never keep me in the dark if something involving me like this happens. If you want to help me, then that's fine… At least now I know I can trust you that much."

Van just remained in silence for a moment, something felt weird, as if he was suddenly filled with confidence, real confidence and not the one he tried to show before Seto or Yamada. It almost felt like when he was watching her during that duel against the bully. That air of confidence and determination, mixed with her apparent flawless dueling skill; it was intimidating, and he felt that like an aura emanating from her. He envied that, he wished to have that something she had. And now it was again, but it was different. Rather than just something he felt in the air, coming from her. It was almost as if that sensation embraced him, it was welcoming rather than intimidating.

Van then just smiled at her again, now with a small and eager grin, and nodded "So if there is trouble, we deal with it together, as friends then?"

The girl then smiled back at him and nodded as well, now reaching for her card, "I'd really like that better than what we've done until now."


Author's Note: And here we are Chapter 10! A bit longer this time around but I just didn't feel like cutting and dragging bit of the story. Anyways, not much to say other than the usual thanks to everyone who has been reading this Fanfic so far. I hope you are enjoying reading it as much as I enjoy writing it. Have a great weekend, take care and see you on the next one. Peace!