The club members were gathered as the rookies were curious about the Duel Monsters boxes that were on the tables. Takato, who was at the ground of the lined-up tables, clapped his hands a couple of times.
"Alright then!" The boy exclaimed before lifting a finger and explaining. "I assume that most of you came here expecting to come here and receive an initial lesson on the basics of the game, BUT…" He would close his eyes and continue, "… that's only half right, we are going to do an exercise to attempt to get you immersed in the practice itself rather than just telling you things over."
The rookies on the club looked at each other gossiping and whispering, Saori among them who wondered "Then what are we going to do…"
"Heh, considering the boxes Takato brought, I have a good idea of what he is gonna have you guys doing." Tetsuo, who was approaching to the table she was standing by, commented, putting a cool smirk on his face. He then bumped his chest stating "But don't worry, I'll be here to give you a hand!"
Saori looked up at him a bit confused and then showed a faint, silly smile before she scratched her cheek and replied, "T-thanks…!" giving him a slight nod.
Van and the rest of his friends saw that scene, unimpressed, with the boy particularly rolling his eyes and muttering "At least that motivated him to join…"
"So, what we are doing today is… deck building!" Takato exclaiming, with the rookies showing their surprise. "However, here is the twist. You will have to make it blind as you are right now. You can, however, ask for tips and some basic guidance on how your overall deck should be structured. But…" The Club's President then looked over at the duelists of the club, "… they have to make the final calls on their decks -themselves-. This deck, you build right now, should work as your starter to get a basic grip of the game." Takato explained, walking across the rows of tables and concluding with. "Over time, by getting more experience and also by learning from all the mistakes -all- of you should go through at some point. You'll know how to work on a new deck completely of your own from scratch, with your cards and not the club's."
Then, Takato turned to face the club members once again, stating, "You may now begin. Duelists, you may check on the tables and assist our rookies with the doubts they have!" he exclaimed with a bright grin on his face.
"He does sound eager, doesn't he?" Sayuri commented as she observed the activities carrying on. "But do you think it's correct for them to start from this rather than basic rulings or something like that?" Asked while looking at Rika.
"I can sound impractical, but I think I get where Takato's point comes from." She responded, still looking at the 'class' he was holding, with a smile on her face. "Trial and error. It's like he explained, learn from your mistakes. They sometimes do have a stronger impact on our memories."
"So… in other words, he wants them to fail?" Sayuri asked again, raising an eyebrow.
"Teaching is not as easy as it sounds, so, it is probable that he wants to see them making mistakes. And then pinpoint a course for a teaching program." Rika responded, looking back at her friend and then shifting her attention back to the club members and Takato "I knew you wouldn't disappoint Takato-kun!"
Van proceeded to open the booster box that was on his table and pulled one of the packs from it. He looked at the newbies, holding the pack between his fingers. "Alright, what we have here is a booster pack. This is rather simple, each of these contains 9 cards." He then pulled from the middle top of the package and opened it. "We open these from there, you don't want to damage them."
Van then handed the pack to one of the rookies, so they could check its contents, and the rest began opening them again. "Now, about the deck size…" The boy commented, giving them further basic information.
Takato observed Van from the distance, smiling a bit before walking away from their table and checking another one. He spotted Haruko close by Saori as the rookie was checking a couple of cards in her hand.
"Anything interesting?" Haruko asked her friend with a smile on her face.
"Hmm… this one is pretty… look." Saori showed her one of the cards the booster pack contained. Yet, her face showed some doubt because she wasn't sure whether that card was good or not.
"Ohh!" Haruko exclaimed while looking at that card, "Well! For the standards of a starter deck? That card can be considered a strong one." The girl looked at her friend with a big smile, always looking to encourage and help her with these learning stages of dueling.
"Hmm…" Saori looked at that card with a serious expression on her face and nodded to herself. "Alright!" he stated, placing the card aside. "This is the first one that stands out to me then!"
On another table, Yamada, Tetsuo and the rest of the gang were checking on the cards as well. Tetsuo didn't really look very pleased by what he was doing, he wanted to be at the other table… with Saori. But his whining gang just implored him to be there helping them!
"H-hey boss, you said your deck is made of beasts, right?"
"For the fourth time, YES!" he exclaimed, tapping his hand on the table, controlling the urge to flat out slam it. "What type of deck are you clowns making anyway?!" he asked, irritated as his goons replied.
"Beasts!"
"Fire!"
"Fiends!"
"Alright, I'll give you five minutes and show me what you losers are doing, come on, come on!" Tetsuo exclaimed, prompting the rest of the gang to acknowledge his orders. His eyes then noticed Yamada, his look didn't show much interest in what they were doing. But still, he was seen checking between different cards that were found in the packs.
Yamada then noticed Tetsuo looking at him and asked, "What…". Just like Tetsuo, he wasn't hiding how displeased he was.
Tetsuo smirked as his friend nodded his head upwards, "What's up, what are you making?"
"Stop getting any ideas in that bonehead of yours, you idiot." He said after sighing in exhaustion, "I'm just killing time here. I'd rather be moving things in the gym, than doing… whatever the hell we are doing here."
"Right, right. Come on, show me what you get in that deck so far." The second year asked his friend as he approached to his corner of the table, "Ah, you too, eh? It's not looking half bad for a basic deck."
Chiaki and Koji were on another table, assisting the rookies there, with one of them asking. "So, how many spell cards and trap cards should I have?"
"It depends!" Koji replied, smiling at the rookie, who, initially, showed that they didn't get the answer they were looking for.
Chiaki, stepped in to help further. "He is not wrong, every deck has its own structure depending on the play style. But for something really basic? Keep it balanced. For example, I remember in my first deck I had an equal number of spell and trap cards. Five of each!"
That actually caught the attention of the rest of the rookies of the table, thinking that it was a good point of reference for a basic structure. At least now they had a better idea of an ok number for traps and spells. Now all they had to do was find what was good for them.
"Haruko sempai!" the rookies around her table called one after the other, soon starting to be a bit overwhelmed by the continuous requests. On the other hand, things seemed to start settling down on Van's table.
The rookies were at times asking Van questions every once in a while, which he simply replied with his typical laid-back and casual demeanor. However, there was one little detail from his table that was ticking him a bit… that was off. One of the rookies, Kumiko Takara. She has been quietly working on her deck the whole time. She did not ask a single question through all this time. Although she did, however, take a moment to stop on working on her deck when Van was responding to any question he was asked. Eventually, he shrugged and walked over to her.
The girl did not even react to him approaching her, she was completely centered and focused on her deck. Her expression was pretty calm. Or rather, not just calm. It was almost cold, not showing much emotion.
Van scratched his cheek while asking, "Hey Takara, right? I wondered if-"
That's when Kumiko closed her eyes and turned, facing Van. She narrowed her eyes and lifted her chin, gently bringing a fully built deck. Then she would ask in a well-educated, and well-spoken way, "Pardon me, Van-sempai. But could you be so kind to evaluate this deck I have put together and give your insight on what could be improved?"
"Wait… she is done already…?" Crossed Van's mind, as he slowly took the deck. Not taking his eyes off from Kumiko's lilac eyes, which were staring directly at him. Almost as if they were looking through him. Van shook his head for a second just to focus on the deck, and his eyes widened. "What the-…!?" Thought to himself before he stammered a bit, "T-this…"
The minutes would pass and Takato would eventually clap his hands again, "Alright then, let's see what you guys have built so far!" before going on and stopping by each of the tables. Then started observing them. Some rookies hadn't finished their decks yet, which was some he expected, but a good number of them had done so.
"Alright, you may stop working on your decks for now. Don't worry, you'll get another chance to keep working on them. Those who finished will be able to bring their decks back home with them, as you may need some time to get more familiar with what each of your cards can do. Now, we will carry on to the next part of today's activities."
The reminder of the class continued without any incidents, giving a general overview of the basics of Duel Monsters, though not going into many details. Basically, because most of the time had already been spent on the duel Takato had with Tetsuo and also the deck building exercise.
When the activities were over, the students who were observing the club were the first ones to leave, leaving the club members to clean and tidy the gymnasium up. The air around the members of the club was quite high, specially for the rookies who were experiencing building their first decks. As they were leaving the Gymnasium, Rika and Sayuri were by the entrance, congratulating them on their first official day at the club.
"Hey!" Haruko called when she walked by her friends, "Thanks for waiting for us."
Rika nodded with a smile and responded, "No problem! But uhm… you guys can go, I want to have a word with Takato…" She said, resisting the urge to call him like she usually does in front of all her friends, still feeling a bit embarrassed by that.
Saori raised her eyebrows a bit curious about that and asked "Is there a problem?"
Rika quickly shook her head and chuckled nervously, "N-no, I just want to check On Takato, that's all! I'll catch up with you, I promise!" Then headed inside the gymnasium, noticing Takato checking the storage before closing it and locking it with a padlock.
"Oh, H-hey!"
Takato turned, wondering who it was, and smiled when he saw it was Rika. "Hello, Rika. Is there something I can help you with?"
Rika crossed his hands on her back and slightly shook her head, "No, no, I'm fine. I actually wanted to see how are you, now that the club has finally started. Are you holding up well?".
Takato sighed and ribbed his forehead a bit, "Well, I must admit it was more work than I anticipated. It's not only the activities during the classes and all, but also preparing things for the different classes in advance. It… can be overwhelming, yeah."
Rika's expression started to show some worry and asked, "But… isn't there anyone helping you with that?"
"Well, your friends are helping a bit with the rookies. But I haven't found a proper assistant yet." The second-year responded with a shrug.
"An assistant, do you mean like a coach assistant?" She asked, tilting her head slightly.
"Eh, I think for this particular club, it would be close to a manager's assistant rather than a coach." he then chuckled a bit, which did also prompt Rika to chuckle along with him. Takato then added, "Someone like you could fit that role perfectly. From what I've heard, you already have rose as one of the top of your class, and seem to be a bit of a natural leader."
"W-wait, really? Is that why you…?" She asked, with a faint shade of pink appearing on her face. To which Takato nodded, smiling at her.
Rika would then remember how a couple of days ago, the students who were signing up for the club heard about the state of the Gymnasium. How they were almost taking their frustration on Takato, feeling cheated and frustrated. For some reason, she felt the urge to step up. Specially when she saw people leaving. She wanted to do something not only for Takato, but for her friend Haruko. And she couldn't help but speak on behalf of the Dueling Club…
"Are all of you for real!? Why are you even bothering to join a club of any kind, if you are not going to put the slightest effort!? Some of my friends who will be part of this club are not only aware of the state of the gymnasium, they ARE CLEANING IT AS I'M SPEAKING RIGHT NOW! They are only -FOUR- and despite that, are working to give ALL OF YOU a head start in the cleaning of the old Gymnasium. Look at how many of you are here, if you all worked together, you'll be done in no time. Think about it, all of you together can easily bring this club up. Think about it, you can be part of the start of something new, something big!"
"It's like I told your friends the other day." Takato stated with that same smile, "It was thanks to you that there is a club at all. That people stayed and gave this a chance, tome something new, right?"
Rika would giggle, scratching her cheek, "Hehe… yeah… of something big too… yeah that's what I said. So, are you done in here or would you like some help?"
Takato nodded, responding, "Actually, I only have to close the gymnasium, so we are pretty much done here. So don't let me keep you around if you need to go, don't worry."
"Okay… See you tomorrow!" Rika responded before heading out of the building, hurrying to catch up with the rest of her friends.
Meanwhile, at the campus of the school. The rest of the group were walking together. Saori with a bright smile on her face while shifting through the cards of her deck. Haruko looked at her and commented.
"Someone's a bit anxious, eh?" as a friendly tease, causing Saori to chuckle at her words.
Saori then responded, "Sorry, it's just that… I managed to put this together, and I just can't stop looking at them." blushing a bit in embarrassment, as she tried to hide her head between her shoulders. But then her friends were quick to dismiss that.
"Not at all!" Koji responded "If a duelist tells you that they couldn't stop looking at the cards of their first deck, OR a recently built new deck, they are lying to you alright?"
Van closed his eyes and nodded, "Wise words from Koji, indeed."
Chiaki giggled, adding to the matter "It's almost natural, you just want to see them, and you imagine yourself playing those cards in a duel, making all kinds of combos and plays. That's completely normal, Saori!"
The girl then looked at her friends with a surprised and curious expression on her face, she wasn't expecting them to relate so much to how she was feeling right now. Suddenly, she'd feel Sayuir's hand reaching to one of her arms as she rested her chin on her shoulder, grinning.
"My, my, look at you Saori, already behaving like a duelist!" She went, messing with her friend.
"W-wha!?" Saori exclaimed before Haruko did the same but on her other shoulder, with the addition that she hugged her.
The Kaiba step-sibling didn't mess, "I can't express enough how happy I am that you are also doing this! And I'm so excited to see how you progress!"
"E-eh… Thank-" Then Suddenly she'd feel a pair of hands planted over her head.
Rika would show up, resting her chin on her head. "What am I listening, Saori is soon to become a graciously vicious duelist like Van and Haruko!?" teased her further.
Saori would have enough and jumped a bit, stretching her arms and exclaimed "S-stop that!" blushing as her friends giggled. Saori would pout and talk, add "Specially about…" then she'd lower her voice and mumble "Van…and Haruko…".
Everyone stopped and looked at her with curiosity, Rika then asked, "What do you mean?"
"It's just… everyone I've seen is spectacular, Koji is a great duelist, so is Tetsuo, Takato and even Yamada. But Haruko is a long-time friend of mine, and only just now I've seen how fabulous and fantastic she is when dueling." Saori stated, looking at the rest of the group while explaining, "And Van… when I saw his duel against Koji, even though he seemed cornered… he never backed down." Then she would look at everyone with a determined look in her eyes, "I want to be like them, brave and amazing like them!"
By the time she was done, the rest of the group were staring Haruko and Van with playful smiles, as they were now a bit embarrassed by the discovery of how much Saori admired them both. Both of them were blushing a bit, however Van was the one to just literally walk it off. As he pulled his blue, small, sunglasses and put them and just walking away towards the train station, which made everyone else burst out laughing and Saori shout apologies to the boy.
After the day at school was over, Haruko was taken home by her driver as per usual. Once she was finally at the Kaiba manor, she was met by Dean.
"Good afternoon, miss Haruko, should I prepare your bath as per usual?" He politely asked while bowing at her.
The girl smiled and giggled at him, quickly replied, "Yes, pretty please Dean!" And with that, Dean would nod and head over to prepare her bath. Haruko would then wander a bit around the manor. At some, she would pass by the door of Seto's office and overhear him talking inside. Thinking that he is probably having a work related call, she decides to head over to her room, where her bath was waiting for her.
During her bath, Haruko couldn't think of anything else but the dueling club, and giggled to herself with excitement at the things that were happening so far. Looking back, she starts to wonder if the bond all their new and old friends have will be as strong as that of Yugi and his friends, like Ryuji described to them. Or maybe even stronger and be able to surpass the merciless test of time. She sighed as she washed her long, blonde hair.
Haruko's memories would also bring her back to that duel on the school rooftop. How she felt like she was about to lose her father's memento. But something else stuck in her mind… the look Van gave to her, how… scary it was. The complete opposite to that 'annoying idiot' he usually is, but no less of a good person. After she was done and changed into her casual clothes, Haruko was soon called to the dinning room. Upon arriving there, she was immediately greeted.
"Hey sis!" Mokuba exclaimed while sitting at the table. Smiling at Haruko while she took a seat. "Seto should arrive at any moment."
"Wait, is he actually going to dinner with us this time around?" Haruko asked, surprised at her step-brother's words.
Mokuba nodded, "That is right, at least we got a chance to dinner the three of us together for a change, right?"
"Mhm…" she let go between her lips, before taking a napkin and placing it over her lap, then sighed and asked. "And I assume that you also being able to be here means that everything is going smoothly with Kaiba Corp's current projects?".
"Well, without Seto overseeing things, I've got to admit we are not making as much of a swift progress as we normally would." The boy said a bit disappointed, but then he changed his look to a more fierce one, "But for his sake I'll keep pushing forward!"
Haruko smiled a bit at him before both of their attention was caught by the sound of doors opening, Seto would soon enter the room and join them at the table. "Sorry to keep you waiting." He said with his typical tone. In other words, not sounding as sorry as he said to be.
"So, Mokuba, you managed to fix the logic loops of the upgraded AI's?" He asked, looking at his young brother while also reaching for his napkin.
Mokuba then shook his head, "I'm starting to think that working from the previous version of the AI won't prove fruitful. We have upgraded the data banks and storage of each of them. But they seem to struggle properly adapt to the systems we have added. I think we may have to start from scratch and develop a new one, separate to divide the tasks."
Seto hummed, "Should've figured, the current Duel Disk system was already pushing it." Then sighed, closing his eyes, "Very well, we will work on two new ones. One will be exclusively as an update for the Duel Disk system, I would rather avoid mass reports of errors from consumers. The second AI will be for our other project."
Haruko just sighed, looking at both his step-brothers and shook her head, "I've got no idea what are you talking about. What is that second project?"
Seto looked at Haruko from the corner of his eye and stated, "Nothing to be disclosed as yet."
Haruko would then pout at him, annoyed at his attitude, while Mokuba couldn't help to laugh a bit at her reaction towards Seto. Then, their servers arrived and started placing their dishes in front of them. Serving their dinner soon afterward. The eldest of the Kaiba siblings then asked, "How is everything at school, I trust are having no issues at all, correct?"
"Hmph, don't you think it's a bit early to be demanding results already? I'm fine, you'll see I won't have any issues with my grades!" She replied to him. She knew that Seto would be on her during her time at high school. He was already strict when she was still adapting to her new life with them, it wasn't going to be different with her and school.
"And what about the dueling club?" Mokuba then asked her, "Did Van and the others join right?"
"Yes, even one of my older friends, Saori, decided to join!" She responded cheerfully, adding, "She never really seemed much into the game, but now she seems to have finally decided to give it a chance!"
"Any interesting potential duelists in that club?" Mokuba then asked her.
"Well, the club's president, Takato, easily comes to mind. He has a pretty strong deck that he clearly knows how to use." The girl replied before poking her chin, thinking a bit. "Then there is also Tetsuo. But… I wouldn't shrug off some rookies either, I think the club can be full of surprises!"
"And what about the brat who challenged me?" Seto asked, looking at Haruko with his sharp, and fierce eyes. "The one with my old duel disk."
"The brat who…" Asked, confused, as she didn't know he actually had done that. "W-wait, he actually challenged you!?"
Seto smirked before adding, "Ah, so you didn't know. Well, yes, he thought himself to be in the same league as I." Then he leaned back against his hair and closed his eyes, "But… perhaps, just perhaps, there could be something to him that may make him reach to the level of my heels."
Mokuba just laughed a bit nervously, seeing his brother talking about one of their step-sister's friends and noticing how Haruko wasn't taking all that well.
However, before lashing out at him. She noticed something about his brother's words. She narrowed her eyes suspicious at him and asked, "Wait a minute… are you keeping an eye on him?"
"Well… he may have done a bit more than that." Mokuba noted.
"What!?" Haruko asked, looking at Seto "Why would you even do that?!"
"Do you think I would hand over my duel disk to just anyone? Dear sister, please, do well to remember that my standards are still the same as ever." He replied smug. "But I must admit what Mokuba and I found was a bit surprising."
"What… do you mean?" then looked at both her step-brothers, "What are you talking about?"
"Hm, so he hasn't spoken about that matter?" Seto asked Haruko "Hm, I wonder why he would keep that from you."
"What are you even talking about!?" Haruko asked as she planted her hands on the table
Meanwhile
Van was resting on his bed, tapping a couple of keys on his phone's screen. He was writing a text message from his mother, although after finishing it, he just kept staring at the screen. He was unsure if he wanted to send this, yet still felt that it was something that had to be addressed early. The message read
"Look, I know you've been talking to uncle Daichi. Just give me a call, alright?"
Knowing that she was trying to keep in touch with him through his uncle, did give him the thought that his mom was not entirely trusting of him. There were matters in the past, of course, that would naturally lead her to do so. But it was still bothering him.
He was actually considering deleting the message, but at the end of the day; Van decided to hit 'send' and then got up from his bed.
He started to walk and phase around the room. Waiting for his mother's answer. and just a couple of minutes later, his phone would vibrate a couple of times. Two messages, but, they weren't from his mom…
"Haruko?" Van muttered to himself before, having almost forgotten that Koji began adding her and the others to their little chat group, making it the way for Haruko to get his number. Still, it wasn't any less strange that she was sending 'him' messages. He then decided to open the messages and check them out.
"Hey"
"Need to talk, u got a min?"
"Jeez, what now, this is not the time, Haruko." Then, his phone would receive a new message. This time, it was from his mother. Van sighed and when checking the message, it read.
"Very well, give me a moment, I'll give you a call in a bit. Alright, Botsu?"
The boy then walked up to his balcony's slider window, so he could step out and hang around there while waiting for his mom's call. He was growing nervous, anxious even. To the point that he wasn't even thinking about Haruko's messages, his mind was just set on the conversation of, a topic neither him nor Hinata were fond of talking about.
Finally, his phone began ringing and vibrating. It was her. Van allowed the phone to ring for a bit, then answered the call. brought up to his ear and took a couple of seconds to answer, "… Hello…"
Meanwhile, Haruko was sitting on her bed, looking at the screen of her phone. Both his messages were read by Van, but she was given no answer whatsoever. There was a mixture of a saddened and disappointed expression on her face. More disappointment than sadness, as there was also a hint of anger in her. Whatever she had learned about Van, it was something that drove her to be like this. And she thought that he was being pretty silly about ignoring her messages like this because she could simply meet him at school tomorrow.
And they would have a word or two in private.
Author's note: Alright here is the next chapter. Sorry about the delay by the way, cat ate my fanfic! Have a good one and see you all next week!
