The moment of silence between both teenagers was put to an end by the knocking of the door.
"Ma'am. I've brought warm beverage and appetizers for yourself and your friend." Dean's voice called from the other side of the door.
"Ah, yes, Dean, please bring them in!" Haruko exclaimed, while Van simply remained silent, just shifting through the notes he had taken.
Then the butler came in, setting the platter on one of the spacious night tables in the room. He revealed that besides the drinks and the snacks he had brought for them, he also brought a roll of bandages, some alcohol, and other small medical supplies for the boy's hand. "Alright. Mister Van, allow me to help you with your bandages."
That snapped Van back to his senses, quickly looking at the man and leaning to a side while waving his hand in disapproval, "H-hey no, it's not necessary don't worry, really!"
Dean shook his head, "You are the one who needs to worry not, Mr. Van. I insist."
Haruko would then speak up playfully, adding, "Would you rather me help you out with that again? It wouldn't be the first time I patched you up." reflecting on how she ended up patching him up and bandaging one of his hands when he got beaten up by Yamada and his goons.
The boy's eyebrows lifted, and his eyes widened for a second, getting flustered by her comment, before he dropped his head down and stretched his hand towards Dean. "F-fine! Just get it over with…"
Dean chuckled before taking a pair of small scissors and the roll of bandages, and sitting on the ground next to Van, "It is true, however. Miss Haruko could have done that if she wanted. I taught her how after all, at least some basics, that is."
As Dean was cutting through his now dirty bandages, the German teen spoke, "Well, I guess you did a good job…" Then he noticed Haruko handing him one of the cups of tea they were brought. Reaching out to it with his other hand.
The butler shook his head, "No, you are the one who did an impressive job assisting her." Before adding, "It's not every day you see someone putting their body in the line for someone they barely know, or even did not get along with at all."
"W- You told him!?" Van exclaimed, looking at Haruko.
"Of course I did! I was still mad that you decided to go on and do things your way when it was a matter involving me. A fight of mine no less!" Then the girl scoffed, looking to a side, "I need someone to lend me an ear while I vent my frustrations at times…"
Van narrowed his eyes and grumbled, looking in another direction as well, but this time he spoke addressing the butler. "Don't… don't get any wrong ideas just because I helped her."
"I didn't." Dean calmly responded. "I simply assumed what you did was a reaction. A reckless reaction, but a reaction in the end." Upon finishing removing his bandages, Van's wound was revealed. It wasn't just a blunt impact on the hand, but it had also multiple hurts over his skin, a couple just a tad bit deep.
The man proceeded to clean and disinfect the wound with alcohol. Causing the boy to wince in pain, as he worked on that, Dean kept talking. "You don't always need to have any sort of sentiment for someone else to do something to help them. Every so often we do things like that just because. Or maybe there were feelings involved, but not towards miss Haruko, instead, those sentiments were towards that person named 'Yamada'." The man explained as he now started placing the new bandages on his hand. "Might be it was just your dislike towards that person what made you help her. Or perhaps, and just perhaps, mister Van. It was a long time coming. There are moments when we see injustice happen before us and we don't do anything at all and just watch. And at times, our heads just say 'Not this time' and we simply act."
"Hmph… that's a lot of thinking, isn't it?" The boy asked before adding, "So… you are Haruko's buddy whom she shares all her secrets or such?"
"I guess you could say that." The girl then replied. "Dean has always been really nice to me. Not just as a butler, he had always tried to cheer me up when I'm down or just listen when I needed someone to listen."
"Hmph… right…" The boy replied before taking a sip of his tea.
"Whatever the circumstances may have been that brought you closer. I can say I'm glad they occurred, Mr. Van" Dean commented as he was giving the final touches to the new bandages on the boy's hand. "You remind me of the rest of miss Haruko's friends I've gotten the pleasure of meeting. Miss Saori, Rika and Sayuri. The kind of people whose company will simply be good for her well-being".
"Hey… now you are making me feel a bit awkward…" Haruko commented, blushing a bit.
"Ah, my apologies, ma'am. I think I should be taking my leave then. Uh, is your hand alright now, Mr. Van?" Dean politely asked as he stood up and gathered the rest of the supplies and picked up the leftover pieces of bandages.
"Just… call me Van, and yes, it actually feels great. Thank you!" he said with a small smile, opening and closing his hand a bit.
Dean then bowed respectfully, "Very well then. I shall take my leave. If you need anything, just let me know, ma'am." And with that, the man left the room. Allowing the teens to enjoy their refreshments and snacks in peace.
"Well, that's Dean for you, haha." Haruko commented while drinking her tea and picking one of the candies they were brought by the butler.
"Yeah, but it doesn't look like you see him as an employee, huh?" Van asked while raising an eyebrow.
The girl nodded, "He was warm and welcoming from the start with me, specially when I was still not in the best space of mind… too many changes in little time. He is like… the same as the girls. He tried to cradle and support me and let me get used to things at my phase."
Van moved a bit over the ground, leaning against the night table just to be within reach of the snacks. "Seems you were pretty fortunate in your lowest moments… you've had plenty of people helping you."
Haruko shook her head. "That's not exactly it…" the girl responded with a lower tone.
"Huh?" The boy blinked a couple of times as he didn't really catch what she said at all.
"No—Nothing!" She quickly replied, smiled at him before adding, "Do you… mind if we change the topic?"
"Ah, sorry… I guess I was being a bit inconsiderate. So, what would you like to talk about?" The boy asked, reaching for one of the sweets.
"How did you get interested in duel monsters?" Haruko asked, with an expression full of curiosity in her face, looking down at Van relaxing on the floor, while she casually kept swinging her legs back and forth.
Nodded and closed his eyes, smiling a bit, "Thanks to my dad, actually."
She gasped and let go a silent "Just like m-" Though she pressed her lips shut before finishing the sentence.
Van caught up of this and nodded at her, "Kind of… you told me your dad gave you your first card. Well, my dad went the mile and brought me a basic deck."
"A whole deck!?" Exclaimed, pushing herself up from the bed with her hands.
"Yep, and that's not rare coming from him." He leaned back his head against the night table and lifted a finger while explaining. "My dad has this firm belief and kind of motto to view life. 'Passion is the fuel that drives us forward every day.'"
Haruko's eyebrows went when she listened to those words, quietly listening to Van's story.
Noticed her expression and nodded, "Yep, and dueling wasn't the start of it." He smiled a bit as he shrugged, gesturing with his hands as he kept explaining, "He actually enrolled me in different activities and sports to see if any would catch my interest, and spark any passion towards them."
"Wait, really?" The girl asked before letting go a snicker and asking, "How… many were there before dueling?" she asked, already entertained by the thought of how many activities his dad might have had Van enrolled in.
"Well lets see…" He started counting with his fingers as he mentioned them. "There was football, basketball, drawing, music, acting…" He then shrugged and shook his head laughing at the memory, "… I'm sure there were more, but I honestly cannot remember them all right now…"
Haruko started giggling, commenting, "I can't imagine you on a stage acting in a play"
Van chuckled and responded, "Oh no, trust me. I didn't get that far. It was one of those situations as just a couple of days into that I approached my dad and told him without beating around the bush 'Get me out of here'" Then burst out in laughter along with Haruko.
After they both calmed down a bit, he kept talking, "I was good at the sports I got enrolled, yeah. But I sort of just enjoyed them as a pastime, there wasn't any real spark behind them that kept me thinking about that even after I wasn't doing it."
"So, how come you ended up getting a deck from your dad?" Haruko then asked with curiosity.
"Well, you see… my dad's a journalist, a sports journalist. He has been running his Magazine with a couple of colleagues he had met through his career. Not long before what you said happened, his Magazine started focusing a lot on the phenomenon of Duel Monsters, which started spreading further from just Japan and The USA." The boy tilted his head and lifted one of his shoulders in a bit of a shrug. "So I guess he got the idea that perhaps Duel Monsters could be my thing, and he got it right. You could say that I was part of the first, or a couple of first waves of duelists showing up across Germany."
"Your dad seems to be pretty sharp. He's got an eye not only to see what could be your passion, but also to see the growth of a new trend." Then she sat down on the bed. "What was it like…? You know, to be among the first ones."
"It was… messy, I guess that's a good way to describe it." He commented before laughing a bit and scratching his cheek while thinking about that. "Imagine a… well, a countless number of duelists who 'do know' about what has happened with the game in America and Japan. That knows very well about 'The King of Games' and, of course, everyone wants to be the next one." Then he sighed and added, "Yeah… I think it's better to keep it short and just describe it as messy."
Haruko then got up from the bed, "Hmm… is he avoiding the subject?" Thought to herself before stretching a bit, "Hey you would, you like me to show you around a bit?"
"Huh, you… mean the manor?" Van asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yep! I've had you talking plenty, I think it's fair if I did a bit of talking haha" The responded with a silly smile and a giggle, to which Van simply nodded, not exactly nervous; but simply as someone who was just behaving enough in someone else's home.
"Alright then. Lead the way." The boy responded, getting up from the floor and walking after his friend. Van kept his hands in his pockets, looking around at the different rooms he was shown.
Haruko led the way, showing Van the different rooms of the manor and went on to describe some details about them, the boy remained relatively silent and only making the occasional comment from time to time.
"Alright, there is another place I'd like to show you!" She exclaimed before motioning him to follow.
"Hey, by the way. Doesn't it feel a bit lonely at times around here…? You know, such a big place and all… you know…" Kai asked with curiosity.
Haruko giggled a bit and nodded, "I get what you mean, but you get used to it. Besides, Dean and my stepbrothers keep me good company."
"Ah yeah… speaking of which… where is him?" The boy asked.
"Hm… he is likely busy in his office. He simply can't stay still, he ALWAYS has to keep himself busy with something…" Haruko sighed. The girl then led them in front of what it seemed to be an automated door.
Van raised an eyebrow, asking, "An elevator?"
"Aha, you'll see!" she said before pressing the button calling the elevator, and leading them both in. The lift would take them down, apparently to a location below the manor, when they reached the stop and the gates of the lift opened; they were met with a large room with the lights turning on the moment they stepped in.
"Woah… this is…!" Van's eyes widened as he saw a large duel arena before them. It resembled one of the stages he had seen in pictures from the American tournaments.
"Yep! An actual duel arena. On top of its regular functions, Seto and Mokuba have integrated an AI with a vast database of cards to emulate different decks and strategies and practice against them." Haruko commented as they walked around the place.
Van let go a short nervous laugh, saying "The benefits of a boundless fortune I guess…" Then looked over at Haruko asking "Do you use this often?"
Then she shook her head, "No, not really. I don't use it that much… I prefer the face-to-face experience, instead of… practicing to a machine." Then she looked at Van, how he was just admiring the arena before them, in silence. She smiled for a moment before her expression changed to a bit more serious one as her thoughts came back. "Hey, I was wondering, what are your thoughts so far about the duelists here compared to those in Germany?"
Van then snapped back at her question, "Oh! Eh…" he reacted before thinking, "Well… there are a lot of differences, yeah. Back at home, everyone's really desperate to become a pro and be at the top of the scene. Here… it feels different, I don't know how to explain it… more… natural I guess?" Then rubbed the back of his head, shrugging.
"Hm… and what about the duels you had so far?" Haruko then asked.
"Uh, what do you mean?" the German teen raised an eyebrow.
"Were they any challenge for you so far?" Then she asked, her expression not changing.
Van was able to catch on to that, but after a moment of silence, he decided to shrug it off and nonchalantly reply, trying to sound cool, "Well, Koji and Tetsuo did put a good effort!" Even though, in truth, he did acknowledge that they were good duelists in their own style of playing.
Then the Kaiba step-sibling asked her next question, "Did you hold back during any of your duels?"
The boy then paused, with his laid-back attitude switching to one more serious, being caught off guard by that question "If… I held back, what do you mean?" He asked confused.
Haruko's eyes remained focused on him, with a hint of determination in them, before she finally decided to bring up the topic she wanted to address with him. "I… found out about your run as a pro in Germany…"
"Wait, what!?" He exclaimed with his eyes showing a clear look of shock, "H-how did you…" Then quickly walked up to her, "Did you tell anybody else!?"
"… No… not yet…" She replied, a bit surprised by his reaction. But then pressed on asking "… I haven't decided what to do yet…"
Van then reached to hold her shoulders, "Listen, please… just… don't tell them, I'm serious Haruko!"
Her eyes locked onto his, narrowed, looking annoyed as she asked, "What's the big deal behind that, or are you just toying around with amateur duelists or what?!"
The boy then just pressed his teeth, he thought that the reason might sound just silly to her, and that thought was embarrassing to her. That… and the deeper roots that spread within him regarding said reason. So, he simply did not reply, he remained quiet, getting his hands off her shoulders and looking to a side, annoyed and embarrassed.
Haruko just looked at him with a determined look on her face then she decided to speak up "Fine… if that's the case then, let's speak in a language we both will possibly get to understand things better…"
Van blinked and looked at her again, "Huh?"
Then she pointed at him and exclaimed, "Van Keller, I, Haruko Kaiba. Challenge you to a duel, If I win, you will come clean once and for all. If you win, then I'll just accept that you want to keep that answer for yourself…"
Van just closed his eyes and exhaled, letting the air come out from between his pressed teeth. "Fine… guess I don't have any other choice anyway…"
Then, right after that. Both Haruko and Van headed over to their respective sides of the arena. When both decks were placed on their respective slots, the arena activated and the platforms where both of them were standing began moving, having both Haruko and Van hovering over their respective sides of the field.
The boy would normally be surprised by this, but being in the middle of this situation, nervous and shocked that his friend knows some of the things he has been keeping silent for himself. And the wandering thought of her, probably knowing even more, kept the boy distracted from admiring the technology marvel that was that arena while it was functioning.
"Didn't think this would be the situation we would end up dueling against each other…" Van commented, sounding a bit down by the prospect of the situation.
"Listen now, Van!" Haruko then exclaimed, looking at the boy with a serious expression on her face. "I'm not planning on holding back nor pulling my punches against you… better do the same…"
Van's eyes narrowed, "So that's what is all about… an annoying misunderstanding." Then he silently reached to his pocket and pulled out his small round, blue lenses sunglasses. He then looked at his opponent while drawing his opening hand… and there it was again. "Right…" he simply replied before both of them exclaimed together.
"Duel!"
TURN 1
Haruko 4000 LP – Van 4000 LP
"Go on and take the first turn…" The boy then stated with his eyes focused down on his hand.
Haruko blinked a couple of times, noticing that Van wasn't even looking at her when he spoke. Then huffed and narrowed her eyes, before drawing her first card, "Fine!".
The girl then looked at her hand and picked three cards. "I'll set two cards and summon Neo The Magic Swordsman in attack position!"
At that moment, the arena slots on her side of the field started glowing. Two large projections of the face down cards were created in the back row, while Neo emerged from the front row. The looks of Neo resembled a bit that of Van's warriors; a lean man with short, blonde hair with a dark blue bandana on his forehead. Donning silver and blue armor encrusted with red jewels on different parts such as the shoulder pads. He was armed with a single long sword, which he held in one hand.
Neo The Magic Swordsman ATK 1700/ 1000 DEF
"That will be all for now!" Haruko declared, ending her turn.
Van's eyes remained narrow, and looking down at the screen of his board, which allowed him to see the cards on Haruko's side of the field, and also a counter of how many cards she had in her hand.
The boy then drew his first card, calmly stating, "Draw… And I'll summon Marauding Captain in attack position!" Van then picked a second card from his hand and declared. "With its effect, I'll special summon my Gauntlet Warrior!"
Right after the Captain in armor, and with two swords showed on the field. A new warrior with spiked, black hair, donning a strange blue and silver armor and a big red gauntlet on its left hand with a red shield on top of it, emerged beside the former.
Gauntlet Warrior ATK 400/1600 DEF
Marauding Captain ATK 1200/400 DEF
Soon, both warriors would emerge on Van's side of the field, in a similar fashion to that of Neo. Haruko just observed quietly, wondering what was Van's plan, since both his monsters were still weaker than Neo.
Van then picked another card from his hand. And placed it on the back row. "I'll activate the spell card 'Vow of The Sword' which allows me to special summon a level 4 monster or lower from my hand." The boy then placed another monster card on the field, "I bring Field Commander Rahz!"
"Another summon?" Haruko thought to herself, noticing that Van had already made three summonings in a single turn.
The commander, a card she had seen before in Van's duels, emerged on his side of the field. Adding up to Van's initial frontline of warriors.
Field Commander Rahz ATK 1600/1200 DEF
"Now, I'll activate my Commander's effect, so I can move a warrior to the top of my deck." Van quickly picked the card he desired, shuffled the deck and finally set it at the top. "Then I'll use Gauntlet warrior's effect, and tribute it, so I can boost the attack and defense of the rest of my warriors!" Van declared while closing his eyes closed.
Field Commander Rahz ATK 2100/ 1700 DEF
Marauding Captain ATK 1700/ 900 DEF
Haruko's eye widened seeing how both monsters were powered up, "That's enough to take down more than half my life points…!"
"Now, I enter my battle phase!" Van then opened his eyes and looked at Haruko "Now, Rahz, destroy Neo and Captain, attack Haruko's lifepoints directly!"
At that moment, both of Van's warriors dashed forward. When reaching next to Neo, Rahz delivered a heavy slash which cut the Swordsman in two in a flashing light. Then The Marauding captain advanced through Haruko's clear field and leaped close to her station, delivering another with both it swords. However, the impact was now absorbed by what it seemed to be a magical barrier.
"So there it is…" Van thought as his eyes looked at one of the cards his opponent had set, one of them was revealed. "That's one face down card out…".
"Grr… By discarding one card from my hand, I was able to play Hollowed life barrier, reducing all the damage done to me, during this turn, to zero!" She declared, not looking happy in the slightest. "Damn it… I was hoping I wouldn't have to use that so early into the duel…" The girl then looked how the warriors returned to Van's side of the field and their stats returned to their original values. "He is… certainly being more aggressive than what I've seen him against Koji and Tetsuo…"
Van then just hummed for a moment, looking at the two remaining cards in his hand, then at the one at the top of his deck. The boy hummed for a moment and then decided to pick one of the cards from his hand, declaring, "I'll set a card and with that, I'll end my turn.
TURN 1 END
TURN 2
Haruko 4000 LP – Van 4000 LP
Haruko then reached to her deck, "I'll Draw!"
"NOT SO FAST!" The boy's loud voice declared, surprising the girl in the process. He then flipped the card he had set at the end of the previous turn. "I'll reveal my trap card, Time Seal, which forces you to skip your Draw Phase!" the boy paused for a moment and looked at her saying "Now… play with whatever you had left from the last turn…"
"What!?" The blonde-haired girl exclaimed, and then looked down at the cards in her hand. She did certainly have cards that would let him do one or another thing… the problem was, she didn't expect to be pushed this hard, this early into the duel. "So… is this the level of a professional player…? I mean… it's not like Seto but still…"
"You know…" He called, making the girl snap away from her thoughts and questions of which card she should play at that moment.
"W-what is it!" Haruko then yelled, sounding just a bit frustrated by how this duel was quickly developing to be.
"Hmm…" Van then turned his face to a side and spoke again, "You got things half right…"
"Half right…" Muttered before blinking and shaking his head, then she shouted, "what are you on about now?"
"You were correct in one thing…" Then looked at her directly once more, explaining. "I do tend to pull my punches a bit during my first duels against people… I've always seen duelists going all out from the start." Then he stopped just to shrug and roll his eyes, "I like doing things my own way, take it slow and… get a grasp of whom I'm facing."
Haruko's eyes widened a bit at his explanation, "So he wasn't looking down on them… but observing them?" crossed her mind before the boy spoke again.
"However, since you are insisting in this particular situation… I'll make an exception for you." His icy blue eyes staring directly at Haruko's orange eyes from behind the blue lenses of his sunglasses. "Just as you wished, I won't pull my punches. so now I want You, Haruko Kaiba… to show me what you've got."
Haruko then noticed it. The look on his eyes, it was like the first time she noticed it, during his duel against Koji. A look that contained plenty of mixed feelings, and contained into that intense stare. "Very well… now what should I do…" the girl though to herself, "It almost feels like it's all intentional. He hasn't seen enough of my plays yet, so he wants to push from early on. Either to secure his control on the field… or to force me to make my best plays from the start, and on the back foot, instead of doing them on the offense…"
The girl looked at him again, being caught by his eyes, "There is… so much anger behind those eyes. It was the same against Koji and Tetsuo."
It was a that moment that the elevator of that room reacted. Being called by someone in the manor. That caught the attention of both Haruko and Van, who looked over to see who had decided to go down and join them in that duel. Finally, three individuals came out of the elevator doors right after they slid open.
Both teens' eyes widened, surprised by those who walked into the room. Seto Kaiba, and Mokuba Kaiba, accompanied by Dean.
"Looks like we arrived just in time." Dean calmly commented as he walked just behind both Kaiba brothers.
"That's right, it even looks like none of them have lost any lifepoints yet." Mokuba mentioned before looking at Van and greeting him. "Hey Van!"
Van just looked back at Mokuba and hummed for a moment before turning his attention to Seto. The young adult wasn't even looking at him, but at his step-sister.
Seto's cold and sharp eyes were met with Haruko's, who were still showing the hint of surprise by having them join the duel, apparently as observers. "So this is how you decided to confront him?". The man then crossed his arms and looked at the field, "Hm… then make short work of him, you know what you have to do in this situation."
"Come on sis!" Then Mokuba shouted, followed by Dean's serene words.
"Do your best, ma'am. And Mr. Van, I trust you will provide her with a challenge worth her skill." The butler stated without skipping a beat.
"I'm sorry to ruin the moment for you all." Van then responded, "But I'm not about to lose here."
"Is that so?" Then, Seto responded to his statement, making Van's attention dart towards him. "Well then, that's a bold claim. Even if you are or were a ranked duelist in your country, defeating a Kaiba is still something quite above your league, little man." Then smirked.
"Seto…" Haruko thought as she listened to her guardian and step-brother.
Seto continued talking to Van keeping his smirk and smug attitude, "In fact, if you manage to defeat my little sister. Then I may consider giving you the privilege of facing me. How does that sound?"
"What!" The girl exclaimed, surprised at Seto's words.
Van's eyes widened a bit at that proposal. He really did desire to have that chance… of facing someone who was at the absolute peak of dueling, the biggest adversary the King of Games himself had to face.
However, he didn't respond to his words, and just looked back at his opponent. "A chance to face Seto Kaiba… right here and now…" crossed his mind. The boy adjusted his glasses and spoke up to Haruko. "Go on… make your move, Haruko."
Haruko was still a bit shocked, but eventually, she took a deep breath and thought to herself, "Seto is right… I know what to do. Van may have surprised me with that start, but he is not the strongest duelist I've faced. Not even close.". Then picked up two cards from her hand and spoke up, "Alright then, here goes!"
Author's Note: Well, well, well. Here we are. 20 chapters in and finally getting to the duel between our main characters. I hope you enjoy the read of this chapter and make your predictions on how do you think this duel is going to go. See you all next week and take care of yourselves!
