"Ugh…. Everything…. Hurts…."

Crossed Van's mind while he stared at the ceiling of his bathroom. The previous afternoon he chose to quickly go back to his apartment and avoid his uncle, so he wouldn't have to explain the bruises on his face, and went to bed early. However, upon waking up, the mix of having the exercise done during the P.E class, and the beating he took the previous day, were now passing the bill on his body.

His legs ached from all the running and squatting, his arms were the same from the push-ups and blocking the kicks, his torso mainly hurt from some of the kicks that landed there. In short, it was absolutely correct that everything hurt. And he foolishly didn't see it coming, the boy just thought the extent of the pain he was feeling was what he felt when her body was still hot, active. But after a night in bed, with his body relaxed and cooled down, hell broke loose.

The first thing he thought to help ease this pain was taking a cold bath, and that's where he spent most of his morning. With his phone as his company to keep him entertained. "Ugh…" he winced when switching positions in the bathtub.

"Now that I think about it, she wasn't that wrong at all…" thought the boy, with Haruko's scolding going through his memories

Then he hung his head back, "Well, I guess things will go a bit smoother from now on." Then he closed his eyes and took some air before submerging underwater and getting lost in the silence that being like that brought, "I wanna see her again… feel that sensation I felt then… that confidence, that certainty. It felt real, like nothing one had to force upon oneself. It wasn't a struggle—it was just there…"

Then he pushed his torso up, sitting on the tub as the water ran down from his body, then let go a sigh. "'Can't let fear guide your life' you said." muttered under his breath, then closed his eyes and rubbed them with his fingers, adding "It's… so exhausting…"

He then finally decided to get off the bathtub and wrap a towel around his waist. He did press his teeth and winced in pain when he moved, it wouldn't be that easy. Furthermore, he opened the case behind his mirror and checked for a tablet of pills he had bought on his first run of groceries. Anti-inflammatory Analgesics, that mixed up with some resting, might help him to carry on through the day and properly recover. When he closed the case, the boy took another look at himself in the mirror. Diving into his thoughts again.

"Great job… sure made a huge first impression out of everyone on this week." His voice echoed in the boy's mind. A mocking tone in its ring.

"It's my thing, I guess, and still manage to end up making a fabulous disaster out of it." The boy said with a low voice tone, tired.

The echo of a question followed "And what was it for, a welcoming shock factor?" sounding almost annoyed

"Nah…" the boy slowly shook his head, "My typical idiocy…"

"You are a mess." Was then heard by him, this time with a sound that hinted both anger and disappointment.

"I am…" then sighed, "It is what it is…"

"Yet… they liked it, didn't they? Well, sorta…" sounding almost with a genuine curiosity.

The boy then closed his eyes, "It won't last."

"Yeah, it never does. I guess the track record shows that truth." The voice noted in agreement.

"Mhm…" Van remained in silence for a bit, collecting his thoughts again.

"So, when that time comes, after all this effort you made, and all this effort you are making to put this brilliant facade. What's next?" The voice then asked, almost with a taunting sound this time around.

The boy then nodded his head a couple of times, slowly, giving that thought some reflection "What's next indeed… what's next…"

"Oh… you'll do 'it' again, won't you?" Sounding devilishly entertained. Almost as if it were both taunting and mocking the boy.

Van then just let go another sigh and left the bathroom, heading over to the kitchen, with one of the pills from the tabled he gathered in his hand. He downed the pill with a glass of water, and ate some crackers to avoid consuming medicine with an empty stomach. Then a single ringing sound coming from the bathroom caught his attention. His phone, he left it there.

When he checked the phone, saw a text message from Koji.

"Hey man, feeling better? If you are, then we will be at the Game's Store. Let us know so we can meet and go have a drink or something. There is a good place in Domino Plaza! Sounds good?"

Van then stared at the screen for a while, moving from the bathroom to the bedroom. He got changed into some home clothes, then laid in bed and relaxed for a while before looking at the screen of his phone again. He clicked his tongue a couple of times. In his head, he really didn't feel like going out, he just wanted to lay in bed all day. He was convinced to decline that offer. However, at the last second, for some reason, he again thought about his mom the speech she gave him before leaving Germany, and before he could realize, he was tapping the screen of his phone

"Sure, I'll be there" Van wrote, unsure of why. He wasn't known why he accepted an invitation he was certain of rejecting, why he thought about his mother. At the same time, he was still holding on that feeling he had when Haruko gave him back that duel disk, which certainly was the same Mokuba had given to him. But… then again, he figured a bit of distraction would be good, at least he wouldn't be beating himself up in his thoughts, and he wouldn't grow anxious at the desire for the weekend to pass; so, they could meet again at school on Monday.

Van still decided to rest for a bit over an hour in bed, to let the analgesic do its magic, when the timer he had set on his phone started ringing to wake him up; The teen started getting changed, choosing a fashion that was more similar to his first arrival in Domino City. This time around, he selected a white and gray plaid shirt, unbuttoned and with its sleeves tucked. A black, long sleeve shirt underneath, then some gray cargo pants that matched with the plaid shirt, while his sneakers matched with the rest.

Van's day wasn't, however, the only one that was picking off. While they were exchanging text messages, Koji, was at his home. More precisely, in his bedroom, checking things on his computer. "Alright, let's see what rumors have been going on this week." said to himself while logging on into the different Duel Monster forums he was registered. On one of the sections, there was a thread titled in all caps, 'I'VE MET HIM!' When he entered, he slammed both hands on his desk and leaned closer to the screen, "Oh, you lucky bastard!". The boy screamed when the threaded loaded in and low and behold, there was a photo of Yugi Muto and another person, obviously the author of the original post. And of course, the thread would be packed with hundreds upon hundreds of people responding, either congratulating the poster for the photo, questions about the king of games himself and; your usual haters who would antagonize the figure of Muto for one reason or another.

Noticing that the 'OP' was pretty active, Koji cracked his fingers and started typing. As a fan himself, the boy wouldn't miss a chance to ask all the questions he wanted and figure out any news regarding Yugi. He would also take a moment to pause and grab his phone, frantically tapping on its touch screen, sending a message to someone else. Koji continued tapping the touch screen until he stopped for a moment and realized, "Ahh right, I don't think he knows about these sits yet… Oh, I want to see his reaction."

Moments later, Chiaki, who was having breakfast with her dad in their apartment's kitchen; noticed how her phone vibrated and rang its text message alert. "Hmm?" The girl checked on her phone.

Her dad, with a smile, said, "Let me guess, Koji, right?"

"Haha, yep!" As she opened the message, the link of the forum thread's link would be presented to her. The girl did open said link and logged into her account while commenting to her dad, "Huh, an official duelists' forum link… Oh, woah!" The girl exclaimed in surprise at what he sent her. The surprise being this wasn't your typical old picture; this was clearly a recent one. "So cool, hey, check this out!" She exclaimed to her dad, handing the cellphone out to him.

The dad looked at the photo and held his chin, smiling, "Ah, it's good to see he is still as cheerful as ever." Aoki said while handing the phone back to her.

The girl then reached back to her phone and started texting back to Koji, "Now let's see what he really wants to do today…" she commented, chuckling a bit to herself.

By the city center, a small Chinese restaurant was finishing up all the preparations for their midday service. The staff in the Kitchen consisting of two young men, one being a young adult and the other a teenager, assisting another man who one could easily tell; double their age.

"Alright, this is done. Takato!" The man said, "Clean up and take out the trash, then you are done for the day, come on quick!"

The boy nodded and quickly got to work, hastily aiming to keep up with the phase of a professional kitchen while replying "Yes father!". While he did have a decent experience, his speed wasn't on par with that of his father in the kitchen, neither his endurance of being in a small, hot and weight place like that. That's why carrying out the trash canisters from the kitchen came out as a blessing. With him sighing in relief as soon as he felt the fresh air before taking a moment to pull out his phone and make a call.

At the Kaiba manor, Mokuba was walking down one of its hallways. A tablet in hand as it tapped its touch screen, shifting through different documents related to the next schedule research in Kaiba Corp.

Noticing that the status of most projects related to it, for the moment, were halted, or simply were tasks which not demanded the presence of Seto to overwatch them. Hinting that his brother continued to cooperate with what both him and Haruko had protested. It did seem like this time he was taking weight off his shoulders and focusing more on his recovery.

Then… music. His attention was caught by the tune of music coming from a room he was passing by, his step-sister's. Mokuba walked up to the bedroom's door and knocked it a couple of times.

"One second, I'm coming!" The girl's voice responded from inside. The door knob turned and while opening it, "Dean, I told you I wasn't hu- Oh Mokuba! I thought you had left with Seto."

The boy closed his eyes and with a proud smug on his face, he shook his head, "While it was impossible to get Seto to actually take a break; we did get him to take things down a couple of notches." Then raised a finger noting "But! I am now keeping an eye on the projects involving the next stages of solid vision tech, and others with heavier workload. At least that should help keep him a bit more at ease."

The girl then crossed her arms and leaned against the door frame. "Maybe, but what about you? Am I standing before the start of a second Seto?" she asked playfully.

The boy let go a single chuckle before looking at her with a cold a sharp look on his face, similar to that of his big brother, "All for perfection and excellent. No less is expected from Kaiba corp!" he stated while bringing his clenched fist up.

After a moment of silence, both of them would burst out in laughter, with Haruko pointing out "Hey, that's a great impression! Hahahah!"

"Hah, well… I love my brother and share his vision. But his drive can be too much at times, and I guess it's my duty to try to help him pull back at times." The young boy replied, adding, "I am also putting my part by overwatching the still ongoing projects related to Solid Vision Technology."

The girl then lifted an eyebrow, asking "What's even next?" asking cluelessly, solid vision seemed already incredible as it was. The fact that Seto was even trying to push things even further with was crazy on its own.

Her step-brother shook one of his fingers and winked at her, "Tsk tsk tsk, that's top secret!"

The girl would pout and huff before stating, "So, let's go back to the previous topic." Then pushed away from the door frame and brought her hands down to the sides of her waist and asked, "Are you making sure to take time off when necessary?".

Mokuba blinked before crossing his arms behind his head and responding, "Well, actually…!"

The day carried on and the afternoon arrived and as usual, young men and women would be all around Domino's City center. Van simply hung around outside Gemusense game store which, to his surprise, was only being attended by Aoki, and neither nor Chiaki nor Koji anywhere to be found.

The boy just pulled out his phone and checked the messages, reading the last messages he had with Koji. The screen displayed the initial message:

"See you at Gemu at 14:30!"

And now… it was almost 15… The exchange of texts between both Koji and Van:

"Hey, where are you!?"

"Almost there!"

But he didn't really have any other choice other than waiting already. He didn't wait inside the store because he didn't desire to potentially distract Aoki from whatever tasks he had to carry out for the store. So, he simply waited outside.

However, about fifteen minutes later, he would spot both of his friends running across the crosswalk at the corner of that same block. The Van sighed, walking up to them.

"Heeey!" Chiaki cheerfully exclaimed in a greeting.

"Sorry for making you wait, man!" Koji then apologized as a follow-up.

After rolling his eyes, the German teen asked, "So, what's the plan, are we hanging in the store or somewhere else?" With a rather unimpressed tone.

Chiaki, picking up on this, would note "sheesh! Someone is a little moody today, is it all that because of the bruises?"

"Hmph…" Van just kept walking, barely addressing what she said.

Then Koji, leaned closer to the pink haired girl whispering "Come on, we can't just pretend we didn't do anything…"

"Hush, shut up Koji, trust me It'll pass!" she replied, slapping the boy's shoulder. Then she'd raise her voice again stating "Alright then, let's go have something nice to eat and a drink, how about that!"

"Where then?" Van asked, lifting an eyebrow.

"Oh" Koji tapped his fist on his palm, "Knowing her, I know what place she is thinking. We are going to Domino Plaza first."

"Mhm!" she nodded with a smug on her face. "That's right, we are going to a popular Café there, then we can decide what are we going to do the rest of the afternoon. Alright?"

Van then shrugged and replied, "Sure, getting to know more places could be cool." However, despite agreeing to her idea, he did still sound like he was annoyed or angry.

And while Koji did seem worried about his behavior, Chiaki, on the other hand, was more optimistic and pushing on Koji the idea that everything was alright, and they should just ignore it. Because, according to her, 'it would pass'.

As they boarded the subway train, the trio would fortunately manage to find some seats and enjoy a ride in a relatively empty train. The boy then looked at his friend, still bruised, although patched up. "Hey… how are you feeling?"

"Well… combining all the stuff from yesterday? I feel like a wrestler's practice dummy." Van replied while rubbing his torso a bit. "I hope to be fine by Monday, though, it would be a pain in the ass to go back to school feeling like this… what about you? Took some hits as well, didn't you?"

Koji just clicked his tongue and shrugged, "bleh, mostly my neck from that chokehold, but seriously, are you sure you are good? Maybe I shouldn't have called you today, should just rest."

His friend just shrugged, "Relax, I'm OK." He did still seem a bit indifferent to both his friends, as there was still a certain something bothering him, and it was related to both his friends. And they were handling that situation in different ways, respectfully.

Chiaki just played it the fool, while mostly managing to keep her cool.

On the other hand, Koji did try to do the same just as the girl of the trio suggested him to do; however, he was struggling a bit to keep his cool. It was clear that having his friend, notably, be annoyed by their oopsie from the previous day still bothered him.

Eventually, they would arrive at the Domino Plaza station, and make their way up the stairs. They'll end up exiting the subway station from the same gate Van and Daichi did so on their last visit to the Plaza.

"Alright, follow me!" Chiaki exclaimed to both her friends, cheerfully trotting ahead. The girl went on and lead them to her favorite place to hang around and have a drink in the Plaza. "There it is!" The girl exclaimed, pointing at the establishment.

Both Van and Koji just walked their way towards her, managing to follow her lead easily without having to hasten their step. The bruised and patched up kid stopped on his tracks, looking at the front of the place. He adjusted his glasses and lifted his eyebrows, "Well, that looks nice."

It was a small, but cozy-looking café, with enough room to hold half a dozen tables in its small patio to the front of its doors, and hold room for more customers indoors; yet from his view, Van was unable to tell how many. A sign could be seen on each side of its simple frameless door. The letters read 'Otogi's Café'.

"This is it, they've opened recently but everything here is so good, come on, let's go get ourselves a table!"

The trio then decided to go inside the café, the aesthetic of brick walls, wooden floors and simple wooden tables, combined with the jazz music in the background, gave a very relaxing vibe. Once finding a table of their liking, the group took their seats and just a minute or so later they would be greeted by the waitress.

"Oh, welcome, you guys!" the young waitress said, cheerfully. "I didn't think I'd see you around today!"

The trio looked over at the waitress, noticing that it was none other than Saori, wearing a rather simple uniform. A brown shirt and a pair of brown pants, and a dark blue apron with the name of the Café embroiled on it. Her sneakers, clearly not being part of any uniform or dress code and purely comfort.

"W-what, Saori!" Chiaki jumped from her seat and rushed to give the girl a hug, "I didn't know you work here!"

"Hey, how are you!" Koji exclaimed, waving at her from his chair.

Meanwhile, Van, who was the closest to the waitress, turned his body over to look at her over his shoulder, smiling. "Hello there! So, you work here part-time, eh?"

Saori chuckled while hugging Chiaki back and nodded at the trio, both as a greeting gesture and as a reply to Van's question, "It is actually my first week working here. I work part-time and only a couple of days in the week. Today, I'm just covering for an absence."

"Even a better reason to start coming here regularly!" Chiaki noted before asking, "So, what would you recommend Saori?"

The girl thought for a bit, trying to remember the items on the menu, and then replied, "Oh. If you are looking for something sweet, we have freshly made Black Velvet Cake, along with a drink of your choice!"

"Hmm, I'll have some with a black coffee." Van replied, tapping a couple of fingers on the table.

His order was followed by Koji's with a simple "Me too!"

"I'll take something cold, a fruit mix!" Chiaki then called before going back to her seat.

Their classmate and waitress, took notes of her orders and nodded, "I'll have them ready soon!" then she headed back to the kitchen.

The trio looked at each other smiling in satisfaction, or at least almost all of them. Chiaki then noticed Van staring at her, with an unimpressed expression. Arms folded on his chest and not saying a single word.

The girl would then pout and press her lips hard, becoming flustered and frustrated at the boy's persistence, "Ah come on would you cheer up a little!?"

The boy would be unfazed by this and just hum silently.

"Grr!" She'd slam a palm on the table a couple of times, "Come on, you can't still be mad about that, we didn't intend to do that!"

"Oh, you totally did." Van replied, "Are you going to tell me that the nurse room's door pulled you both in?" with his eyes narrowed and leaning forth inquisitively.

The girl would lean back on her chair and cross her eyes. Then pressed her eyes shut and raised her chin up to a side, acting as if she were ignoring her friend. But in her mind, she couldn't stop thinking how they messed up.

Her memory brought her back to how Koji and herself were waiting outside the room

"Hey, they've grown a bit quiet, you think they are fine?" She asked Koji

"I mean, if something happened, wouldn't you think Haruko would start calling for help?" Koji asked, shrugging before blinking at his friend, standing up and approaching the door, "Hey, what are you doing?"

The pink haired girl responded while waving her hand at him" Oh" relax, I'm just going to check, there's no harm in- huh?" She paused and then leaned her ear close to the door. "Ooh, I hear voices!" The girl commented a bit excited on a lower tone. Then a playful expression drew on her face, while looking at Koji, and asked "Do you think they are having 'a little moment' for themselves?"

The chubby boy then stood up and sighed, "Come on Chi'… cut that off, besides you don't want to piss Haruko off. You already saw her going off at Van." Then he walked up, decided to pull her away. However, at the last moment, he did start hearing the muffled voices of both classmates inside the room. Koji tried to fight the urge of his curiosity, the boy pressed his lips and looked at Chiaki, whom in turn, looked back at him with a smug on her face, almost telling him with the expression alone 'come on, join!'.

Finally, the boy gave into his impulses, and leaned against the door as well. Now, both of them had their ears planted on it, trying to figure out what they were saying.

"Hey!" The girl whispered, "are you picking up anything they are saying?"

"It's… hard to tell?" Koji replied, adding, "I-… I think something about 'more than balls?'"

"More than balls!?" She replied, completely confused, keeping the whispers up. "Hmm… maybe he is boasting about being brave after getting into a fight…"

"What?" Koji asked, confused as how she even pieced one thing with the other like that.

"Shh, let me liste-!"

*CLICK*

The sound of the door lock being pushed made Chiaki's mind just think of one word, "Damn…" Then. Both she and her friend would lose their footing as the door was pushed forth, effectively falling flat on the floor with the door suddenly opening by their weight and push. "Ouch ouch ouch ouch…." The girl muttered.

"Ugh… I knew we shouldn't have…" the boy muttered, then he looked up noticing both Van and Haruko, completely surprised. "Uhm… I can explain…"

"What the hell are you doing!?" Van exclaimed, "Seriously, spying!?"

"H-hey, we just wanted to check everything w-" Chiaki tried to explain before…

"Wait a minute…" Haruko cut her midway, "is this…" Then looked over at Van, "Are you part of all this?!"

"What—NO!" the boy exclaimed before pointing at them, "I have no idea what these two idiots are doing!"

"SILENCE!" The Kaiba sibling exclaimed while pointing her finger right in front of Van, "Just when I was starting to trust you…" However, she paused for a moment keeping a frown before taking a breath and saying, "Now, you are going to go and get some rest! We'll continue this conversation another time… you better hope I don't find out all of this was a ruse of sorts…" Haruko then picked up her stuff and stood up, walking tall away from the room. "Good day!" She said, clearly still annoyed and feeling offended.

"Hey wait!" The German teen called out.

"I SAID, GOOD DAY!" the girl yelled over her shoulder, before finally leaving.

The boy would just hang his head down and drop his arms. "Ugh…" could be heard, with the biggest tone of disappointment heard from him thus far.

Back into the present, she couldn't just help but start crumbling under the pressure. From both, the guilt of probably souring further the relationship between her classmates. "Fine, FINE!" she exclaimed, slapping the table a couple of times and then clapping her hands together, bowing her head "I'm sorry, I'm really, genuinely sorry, we messed things up"

"You" Koji corrected

Chiaki then corrected herself, "…I messed things up!" "Can always count with your partner…" crossed her mind after Koji's words, effectively eliminating the chance of at least sharing a bit of the blame, after all, he chose to also listen… right?

The boy then finally sighed, relaxing his demeanor and replying, "Eh… I guess it doesn't really matter that much now, but it's fine." Then rested his elbow on the table, so he could hold his fist under his chin. "It's such a pain how everything keeps getting complicated. Hm?" Then his eyes caught onto Saori returning to the table, handing them their dishes with a slice of Black Velvet cake for each of them, followed by their drinks.

Performing a bow, she stated, "I hope you enjoy!" Then would shyly ask, "Uhm… by the way. How are you feeling, Van?"

"I'll live." Smiled back at her

"We were talking about your friend, you know?" Koji added before taking the first bite of the cake, humming in satisfaction to how it tastes.

"Oh, is that so?" she blinked, "I've heard you guys were able to find her card, right?"

The German teen adjusted his glasses and stated, "It's quite a story, but yeah. We got it back. Sadly… I don't think if things changed that much between both of us." Then sighed in defeat.

"That's so unfortunate to hear… I really hope that matter can be solved sooner than later. I feel that we could all become great friends if we just give us each other a chance, don't you?" Satori said while holding down her tray by her waist.

"It would at least make things a lot less awkward, yeah" Koji noted while shaking a package of sugar and pouring its content into his coffee following its opening.

"Besides, I feel having us around who are duelists ourselves, in addition to you, her old friends, will be helpful for her." Chiaki then added, "It's impressive how well she can keep it together and move on after her loss.

"It wasn't always like that" Saori stated, then proceeded to explain, "When it happened, she didn't take time off or try to slow things down as most of us would do… she just pushed forwards…" A saddened expression appeared on her face as she went on, "But it was… painful to watch. It was clear to see that even though she tried hard to move on, she was just dragging all that pain with her. Don't get me wrong, she was always the calmest of our group. But even then, she is 'there'. During those times, she just wasn't…"

"So… what happened then?" Koji asked, with his attention focused on Saori's story.

The girl then smiled at him and replied, "We did what we had to do as her friends. We remained by her side as much as we could, tried to pull her up when she was clearly down. It wasn't easy because she became more reserved about accepting help from others. But we just kept trying, while also finding a way to give respect her space and feelings." She would then bring a hand to her chest, as a sign of relief, concluding "Fortunately, our help is paying off, she is closer to her older self than she was before." Then she stopped to think for a bit, "But. you may be right!"

"Huh?" Chiaki tilted her head, "About what exactly?"

"About you getting close to her as well. Sayuri, Rika and I are not duelists, and barely know anything about the game like she does." The waitress stated before looking at Van, "But seeing how she started to behave with you, Van, I barely remember the last time I've seen her like that. Perhaps sharing that interest in the game lets her reach out to that more lively and passionate part of her than with us." She would then bow before the trio at the table and plea to them, "So please, do not give up on this. I'm sure everything will be much better once all of this is solved and settled down, It will be of great help to her!"

"Easy, easy there…" The German kid waved his hand at Saori, "You don't have to tell us that. We'll do it, don't worry about it" With a small smile before crossing his arms behind his head and closing his eyes. "It would be a bit easier if her personality wasn't the equivalent of an entire box of lighten TNT…" The boy stated

His just looked at Van and listened to him, however, their attention and worry would be picked up by the arrival of two new individuals. With one of them resting their arms at the top of the back of Van's chair.

"Ahh… an explosive attitude?" A girl's voice called

"At times out of control, I'd say…" Van just added replying to that new voice, unfazed that it was a new individual.

"Volatile… then?" The voice asked.

"Hmmm a bit…" Van replied, now worrying his friends even more.

"Uhm… Van…" Saori called.

"Ah… crap…" Koji muttered.

"Well, it was nice knowing him…" Chiaki also muttered.

"What?" The oblivious kid asked, thinking that the girl's voice, for some reason, was either from Chiaki or Saori. Then he decided to look up. And there she was, Haruko, staring down at him with not the friendliest of faces.

"Hello Van." The girl then greeted him, showing a warm smile, but clearly talking while pressing her teeth, "Feeling better already?"

Van didn't even say anything… he just dropped his arms and sighed in defeat, knowing that once again, he had messed up…