The cheers and applause from those present at the gymnasium echoed through the court. The projected solid vision arena began to disappear after Saori's life points hit zero, and Kumiko was officially declared the winner. Cheering went both ways. Congratulating Kumiko on her victory and incredible comeback, and congratulating Saori on putting up a great match.
The raven-haired girl sighed, easing the tension and nerves that had built up in her during her duel. She even wiped off a couple of drops of sweat that had built up on her temple. She won, yes, but it wasn't the landslide victory she was expecting to have. This, to her and likely to others who watched this duel as well, was a narrow victory. If she hadn't had the right cards at the right moment, Saori would have won the duel without a shadow of a doubt. Before she could realize it, the girl saw Saori already approaching her. Kumiko looked at her with a more neutral expression. Not as stern nor serious as before, and was met with her opponent's gentle smile.
While bowing her head, the girl spoke, saying, "Thank you for the duel, Kumiko-sempai I-..."
"Don't…" Kumiko then interrupted her. Switching her expression back to a more serious one, stating, "... You are being overly formal. You may just call me 'Kumiko'", and the girl then paused for a moment, slowly closing her eyes before opening them just to give a narrow stare at her classmate. After a bit, she lifted her chin a bit with a huff and walked away, just to wait for her next duel at the tournament's finals.
Saori just couldn't help but giggle a bit at Kumiko, seeing her in a new light; at least she saw her as someone who seemed to be extremely competitive and not as a mean person. Then she sighed and began to walk away; however, she would soon be stopped by members of the club and observers who watched the duel and just couldn't help but admire and congratulate Saori. Hailing both her and Kumiko as the 'star rookies' of the club.
"Saori!" Haruko exclaimed as she rushed towards her along with the rest of the group. "You were great; that was an amazing duel!"
"Yeah, that Tualatin play you pulled is terrifying; if I were your opponent, I'm not sure if I could have pulled a comeback out of that." Koji added, giving her a thumbs up with a big grin on his face.
Chiaki then put her fist up cheerfully, stating, "And you are just getting started; there is so much growth ahead of you, Saori; I have no doubt you'll be one of the top duelists in the club in no time!"
Saori looked at everyone, surprised by how much they were complimenting her. She wasn't used to this, or, to put things more specifically, she was used to being complimented, perhaps on her academic performance or as a friend on a more personal level. But this, to her, felt almost as if she were being admired to a certain degree, and to make it more impressive, being admired by people 'she' admires.
Soon, Sayuri and Rika joined the group, reaching for the girl's shoulders from behind and playfully shaking her.
"Semifinals in your first tournament, no bad, Saori!" Sayuri exclaimed, "I'm almost tempted to dig into this card game, but…" then the girl sighed and rolled her eyes, "Too many rules to remember…"
Saori giggled a bit nervously at her statement while scratching her cheek, while Rika just facepalmed and shook his head, bothered by Sayuri's slacker tendencies, as usual. The President's Assistant placed her hand on Saori's shoulder and said, "Even I, who still don't understand every aspect of the game at all, could tell that Kumiko is not an easy opponent. You were excellent in that duel."
Almost overwhelmed by all of this, Saori smiled back at everyone, exclaiming, "Thank you all; I really, really appreciate it!"
The chatting and gossiping kept going for a while until the next duel started, the finals, in which Kumiko would take on the other finalist of the tournament.
And thus, Saori joined her friends, standing around the same spot where her friends were sitting before and cheering for her during the previous match.
The minutes passed, and Van was observing the duel calmly, knowing full well that this might actually be an easier duel for Kumiko than her match against Saori. When the thought of that duel came back to his mind, he looked around and noticed the absence of the girl in their group.
Van then casually approached Haruko and tapped her arm before whispering, "Hey, did Saori leave already?"
Haruko raised an eyebrow at his question initially, but then quickly blinked and looked around, now noticing that Van was right. Saori was not around them. "Ah? When did she…?" The girl wondered before nodding at Van and saying, "I'll check around and see for myself."
The rest of the group seemed well focused on the duel, so they didn't pay attention to their little exchange or notice the absence. Van chose to help Haruko by also looking for Saori, going his separate ways while looking for her.
The boy could already see that she wasn't on the upper floor, where observers could get a high view of the duels.
His search led him to check the storage room, the surrounding areas, and the old locker rooms, but there was no trace of her. When stepping back into the gymnasium, he looked at the stage and slapped his fingers, since he did remember that there were both a backstage room and another small storage room underneath the stage.
The boy walked up the steps of the stage, and with most of the people distracted by the finals of the in-house tournament, his little search went unnoticed. As he walked through and checked behind the curtains of the stage, Van would suddenly be grabbed by a pair of mysterious hands coming from the cloth, making him jump out of the sudden scare.
"Hahaha, I got you!" Haruko said playfully and proudly that she managed to catch the boy off guard.
The boy caught his breath while holding a hand on his chest and screaming, "Are you trying to kill me or what!?"
The girl laughed a bit louder at his reaction, tapping his shoulder a couple of times while holding her ribs with one hand. "Hahaha Ah… wha-… . Ah... what are you doing?" she then asked as she tried to catch her breath from all the laughter.
"I'm looking for your fucking friend, alright!?" He responded with a gasp, finishing composing himself.
"Our friend." Haruko corrected him, still showing a playful smile. "You couldn't help it but join the search, eh?" Then she folded her arms in front of her chest, adding, "I already checked the upper floors and the storage room; I was going to check here and then outside."
Van shook his head, saying, "I already checked the storage as well, and I checked outside. So, I guess she is either here or she left."
"No." She instantly responded, adding, "She wouldn't leave like that."
The boy just looked at Haruko in silence before nodding, clearly trusting the girl's judgment, as, of course, she knew Saori better than he did. Right after that, they walked down the steps of the backstage, which would lead them to a set of doors. One led to another small storage room, used mainly for stage props, and the other seemed to be a dressing room for those who would be performing. The door of the dressing rooms was open; the teenagers looked at each other upon noticing this, with Van pointing at the door and raising his eyebrows as if he were silently asking Haruko 'Do you think…?'.
The girl nodded twice, and both students walked towards the door. Upon peeking inside the room, they would spot Saori sitting on a bench. She was shifting through the cards in her deck, looking at them in silence.
"Saori?" Haruko asked, surprising her friend, who quickly looked up at them, letting go of a short yelp. "What are you doing here? You'll miss the final match."
"Ah, Haruko, Van!" She exclaimed in surprise before nervously looking down and saying, "I was just..." Then she looked down again at the cards in her hands. Then she pressed her eyes shut before shaking her head rapidly and saying, "Never mind, let's go watch the duel, yes!".
She then tried to walk past her friends; however, both Haruko and Van reacted by reaching out and placing a hand on each of her shoulders. Saori looked up at both, confused, and she was met with the serious gaze of Van and the concerned gaze of Haruko.
"Saori..." Haruko said, not uttering any further words and just allowing the silence to work as an invitation for her friend to let out whatever was bothering her.
That seemed to be enough for the girl to take a step back, look at the ground, and sigh.
"You know... Haruko." She said before looking at her friend for a moment and then shifting her look to one side with a solemn smile, "I'm not really a confrontational person, which is part of why I never really get involved in any competitions and was always fine by just standing on the sidelines and being the one cheering." Then she brought her deck up; "And then I saw Van dueling, it was exciting to watch, even though the clash between him and Koji was very intimidating... I just couldn't stop thinking about the game. Later, I saw you doing the same thing, Haruko, like I said before. You looked so graceful and brave, like some sort of heroine." She then shook her head. "I realized how silly I've been in ignoring dueling for so long, and the club then came as the perfect excuse to take a first step with both of you as inspiration."
Then, Saori began chuckling a bit. "I still can't believe I didn't crumble under the pressure of facing Kumiko in our duel, especially with the extra layer of intensity that the solid vision system does add to the game.". Her voice then started cracking a bit, and her eyes were growing a bit watery.
"You lied when you said you were taking on Kumiko just to 'test' how well you could do against someone stronger, didn't you?" Van asked, drawing the attention of both girls.
"What?" Haruko asked before looking back at her long-time friend, who was also looking at the boy with an expression of surprise.
Saori's expression, however, would change. She'd bite her upper lip, and her breath started to hiccup as she tried to hold back her tears. "A-as... as I won the duels, I r-really... thought." She then took off her glasses and started to rub her hands against her eyes, trying to wipe the tears that were already forming. "I..." She then repeated with her voice cracked, as now Haruko was embracing her tight, to which she responded in kind, "I really wanted to win...!" before finally breaking down in her friend's arms.
Haruko just shared the pain with her friend, tearing up as well, while Van simply remained in silence for a bit, understanding the frustration of what she was going through. And through that sentiment of understanding, he had a glimpse of some memories from when he was getting into the game. He could remember how his mind was so invested in it, thinking about strategies and ways to rework his deck. And whenever he took part in his first competitions and lost, he was in a similar place as Saori is right now.
Then another memory hit him, prompting him to open his mouth and break the silence he was maintaining.
"Hold on to it..." escaped Van's lips before adding, "Hold on to that frustration..." before pausing for a moment with an expression on his face as if he didn't realize that he said that out loud.
His words caught the attention of both Haruko and Saori, still with tears running down her eyes—more Saori than Haruko.
The boy froze at first, as he was still digging through his memories and trying to connect the exact dots of where he heard those words and why he felt they were appropriate in this particular situation.
"That frustration, it just means that you haven't given up yet." the boy said as some memories from when he heard those words finally got to him, before he showed Saori a small smile and asked, "You haven't given up yet, haven't you?"
Saori blinked a couple of times, initially confused by the words he said; however, she then shook her head and exclaimed, "N-no, of course not!" with her look changing to one that showed a mix of fluster and determination, "It's just that... I wanted to win; that's all. I'm not going to give up!".
Her words were followed up by a thoughtful humming, and her expression changed to one of curiosity. As she looked at both of her friends; with still-drying tears on her face, she asked, "Have... you two been in a situation like this? Losing a tournament when you are close to the final rounds?"
Both Haruko and Van looked at Saori. Haruko tilted her head, rubbing her chin while muttering, "Hmm... no, believe it or not, I haven't really taken part in tournaments." However, her eyes widened when she realized the topic they were touching, "Wait... Van!" she thought before the boy spoke up on his own terms.
"Many times." He responded. Then the boy slowly leaned back against the wall that was beside him and slowly sat down on the ground, which invited both Saori and Haruko to also sit down on the ground while listening to him. "Back in Germany, I took part in several tournaments, both official and unofficial." Then, as he recalled those days, "The first time I remember..." He paused, narrowing his eyes, and looked aside, blushing a bit.
Saori leaned in, wiping the tears from her face, and asked with more curiosity than before, "What happened?"
Van looked to one side and scratched his cheek, explaining, "So, on my first duel monsters competition that I've ever signed..." He paused, his face still a bit red, before sighing and telling the full story, "I think it was a random amateur tournament in a games store. I kind of... got too excited the previous night and couldn't sleep, so I accidentally slept in the next day and got disqualified by default for not showing up...". As Van told his story, it appeared as if he tried to bow and bury his head between his shoulders more and more due to the embarrassment of that situation.
"Oh... that's..." were the only words Saori could utter, before she was interrupted by Haruko who burst out laughing.
"Hey, don't you laugh, idiot!" The boy barked out, flustered, with his face getting more red from the embarrassment.
"Hahahaha sorry, I just... I just, hahahahaha!" Kaiba replied, still holding her ribs.
"You better not lose a single duel before me because I'll be there to laugh at you!" Van explained, clenching his hand at her.
"You'll have to make sure to be present and not fall asleep to see that happen!" She joked around with Van, only managing to annoy the boy even more, feeding into her entertainment.
Van retorted, "That's big talk for someone who still hasn't properly competed yet. How about you step onto the stage, and then we talk, huh!?"
Haruko showed a smug smile and shrugged, saying, "Aw, please, do you seriously think that I could ever struggle 'on the stage' as you call it?"
"What I am 'seriously' thinking right now is that you and Seto are actually blood related!" he responded, pointing out her, at times, cocky personality.
The back and forth between Van and Haruko would continue, at this point becoming a trademark that everyone expected to happen at some point whenever the two of them were in the same room. Saori already having, not only accepted, but also grown very aware of this, just looked at them and covered her mouth while letting her laughter escape from her lips.
That caught the attention of the German-born boy and the Kaiba step-sibling, who looked at her, with all the gloom and sadness that had been seen in her face before, now gone. They then looked at each other and began laughing along with her, giving into the ridiculousness of the situation. What seemed to start as an intervention to cheer up and motivate their friend, ended up being a display of the goofiness that can build up when Van and Haruko are left together for enough time.
A couple of minutes later, when things settled down among them, Saori tried to bring the conversation that had her curiosity before back. "So... You mentioned that you competed in tournaments before, Van?"
The blue-eyed boy then sighed, a bit, in defeat before hanging his head for a moment, and then he clapped his palms together. Looking up at Saori with one eye open and a worried expression on his face, he said, "I'll tell you if you, please, keep this among us, alright? So far, Haruko is the only one who knows about this."
Needless to say, Saori was confused by the secrecy surrounding the topic, but he just nodded and brought a hand to her chest while saying, "Of course, but if it's that delicate of a topic, don't feel pushed to talk about it to me."
"Eh... It can be complicated, and let's leave it as that." He replied before he moved onto the topic itself. "So, yes." He nodded and added, "I've competed in several tournaments before. If I'm not mistaken, I think I started competing almost the same year I started dueling."
"Wait, really?" Haruko then leaned in, asking with a surprised tone, "You didn't tell me that!"
"I don't exaggerate when I say that this game took over my life when I started playing it. " The boy said. Chuckling a bit as he explained, "And you are certainly going to come across people who are better than you." he then stopped and huffed, adding, "Pft, I remember in the first couple of tournaments I took part in, the competition wiped the floor with me. But... yeah, I adapted, started picking up on some things I saw from my opponents, and being eliminated in the first rounds turned into being eliminated in the second rounds, then the third rounds." He gestured with his hands as he kept going, "Then the semifinals, then the finals, and yeah."
"So, you were a professional duelist then?" Saori asked, with her eyes wide open, paying attention to what Van was saying, as if she were a curious child listening to a fairy tale. "How is it to compete like that?"
"Hmm... well, it's a grind." He said this as he raised his eyebrows and looked up for a moment, thinking about his time as a pro in Germany. "And very hard for someone our age. The way we had to do things was to just take part in smaller tournaments, not really caring about the prizes; the real prize was performing well enough to be invited to bigger tournaments."
"Hey, now I'm a bit curious, if you don't mind..." Haruko asked before asking, "What's the biggest competition you've taken part in?"
Van looked at her and closed his eyes, nodding to himself before he replied with a slight solemn smile, "Eroberer-Pokal" in his natural tongue, his speech for a moment changing, sounding more relaxed, as that was a word in his natural tongue.
"Huh...?" Saori titled her head and raised an eyebrow.
Haruko, being more outspoken, asked, "Ere-what?"
Van narrowed his eyes and sighed, repeating to Haruko "E-r-o-b-e-r-e-r!" Then he shook his head and decided to reword what he said, "Basically, the 'conqueror's cup' is a series of tournaments that are held across different cities in the country." He then explained further details, keeping the same faint smile, "First, there are two series of tournaments that are divided between the north and the south of Germany. Then, the winners of those tournaments get to participate in the 'Grand Conqueror's Cup'. Which is a fancy way of calling the National Cup of Duel Monsters.
Saori and Haruko gasped together in surprise before they asked loudly, "You took part in the German National Championship!?"
He closed his eyes again and extended his palms in front of both Saori and Haruko "Hooold your horses, I said 'Eroberer-Pokal', nicht 'Großer Eroberer-Pokal'. Ich habe nie gesagt, dass ich am Hauptturnier teilgenommen habe." Before realizing it, Van was speaking fully in German once more.
Haruko would soon speak again, interrupting Van, "German, German! You are speaking German, STOP SPEAKING GERMAN!" she exclaimed as she tapped her palm on the floor repeatedly.
"Ah... sorry." Van cleared his throat and then continued, "I didn't take part in the main thing, no." He then hung his head down as he remembered going to those tournaments with his old friends, adding, "Didn't make things any less nasty around the scene though..."
The blonde girl looked at the slight change of mood in Van and looked at Saori "Well, I think the point he wants to get across is that the pro scene is something else!" Then she looked at the boy, asking, "Right?"
"Yes, but also... and this goes for both of you..." The boy replied, taking that lifeline that Haruko was giving him out of the previous topic and adding, "You may not think it's a lot, but the concept of the dueling clubs across the country, being a gateway for duelists to get into the competitive scene is a lot bigger than what you think."
"It's because of having to just rely on taking on those tournaments?" Saori then asked
"It's because of the many accessibility issues that come with that. Locations, time, and so on. With this... it's like everything is more streamlined." He explained, crossing his arms. "I'm pretty sure the old methods will stay working as they were for the foreseeable future. But, for us — now? We have this one thing that is connected to everything we want and can focus on."
"So that's how the dueling clubs will come to have influence over Duel Monsters in its entirety." Haruko then muttered thoughtfully.
Saori then looked at Van, asking, "From a pro's perspective, what do you think we should work on the most, Van?"
"From the top of my mind, what I can tell you is that you guys need to work on being under pressure. At least in my experience, actual tournaments are not as friendly as the in-house tournament was." The boy responded before adding, "You will be facing people who will perfectly understand that this is their opportunity to be an actual professional duelist. And they will give their all to the last life point."
Then, Van shrugged, adding to his observations, "Now, about your decks and all? Well, that comes with experience and, likely... losing. If what you have works, and it doesn't look like you need to make any changes, then don't do anything." Then, with a slight head tilt as he gestured with his hands, he continued, "And if you start losing, then try to pinpoint the flaws in your game."
Saori then looked down at her deck and hummed to herself, "The flaws in my game..."
He then started chuckling, noticing that the girl was already trying to get her mind into that "Relax..." He said, waving his hand in a friendly dismissal, and continued, "It's a process, nothing you'll do right away in a blink of an eye."
Saori finally closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Alright, by the way, Van, is it okay if I ask for your point of view as a professional in the future?"
Van's eyebrows lifted upon hearing her request. Before he thought things over for a moment, his eyes looked down, and he started to show a bit of discomfort at the girl's request, similarly to when he happens to become the center of attention.
At that moment, Haruko's memories recalled when Van came clean with her regarding why he kept that topic a secret from everyone. Not wanting to be treated differently, and now Saori was starting to continuously ask things from him related to dueling, remaking his 'professional view'.
The girl placed her hand on her friend's shoulder and said, "I think... we shouldn't." Smiling at her friend, followed by her previous words, she added, "We shouldn't make a habit of relying upon Van for things. He already gave us enough insight for now, if he feels there's more we should know, I'm sure he will tell us". The Kaiba teenager looked over at the blue-eyed boy, and with a smile on her face, she asked, "Isn't that right?"
Van nodded, smiling back. Feeling a sense of relief that Haruko had his back when it came to this topic, the boy noticed that the air around had changed back to a more relaxed vibe and felt it was a nice time to suggest, "So, shall we go back up with the others?"
Saori nodded and responded, "Yes, and I'm sorry. I guess the final match might have ended already, and you missed it because of me."
"Oh, please, don't say that, you know we wouldn't place watching a duel over one of our friends' well-being." Haruko responded while getting back on her feet.
Saori was the first one to leave the room, Van and Haruko followed. And as they did, the blonde girl gave him a friendly nudge on the boy's shoulder and winked at him. Van just smiled back at her, giving her a nod. Both smiled at each other, feeling a more palpable growth between them and a greater sense of trust. They were begging to feel that they had each other's backs.
Van felt this because of Haruko's repeated attempts to drive the conversation away from him having to touch on the topics regarding his competitive career in Germany. Haruko felt this, she grew in her trust towards him by seeing how he could put himself in an uncomfortable situation over and over for their friends' sake.
By the time they reached back up to the gymnasium, the people were already gathered and chatting among each other. The final match had already ended with the expected victory of Kumiko, making her the champion of the in-house rookie tournament.
When asked, the trio were simply vague and beat around the bush about where they were during the duel, they preferred to omit details about the conversations for now.
As the group was leaving the gymnasium, Van was approached by the raven-haired girl, Kumiko. Who asked for a moment of his time in private. The boy and the girl then met just outside the building, where Kumiko surprised the boy by bowing before him.
"I just wanted to thank you for your insight about my deck. It gave me the certainty that my approach to it was the correct one." The girl stated this in a very polite and formal tone.
Van kept his hands in his pockets, looking at her with a serious expression on his face before responding, "Yes, you did a good job."
The words quickly moved the girl, who lifted her head, looking at him with a slight surprise.
"However, keep in mind that Haruko, the person you have challenged, is not a rookie." The boy then narrowed his eyes and said, "I still haven't figured out what's driving you so badly into dueling, nor what's your story with Haruko." He then paused for a moment before adding, "But I won't stop you." with a smile on his face, raising his fist gently at her, in a cheering manner. "Do your best, just remember that she is truly going to be a challenge for you."
"I... I understand," the girl responded, still looking a bit surprised at his words, and the way he seemed to be rooting for her.
The boy then turned around and began to walk back towards the gymnasium's entrance. He looked over his shoulder at Kumiko, saying, "Well, if there is nothing else. I'll be seeing you around, Kumiko!".
The girl then watched him walk away, towards the entrance. Then she leaned a bit against a wall and brought both hands to her face, covering the fluster that was now showing. "He is... so..." crossed her mind before she looked back at the boy from the distance, noticing that now the rest of his group of friends had joined him.
Kumiko's eyes were set on Haruko; he was speaking with him, and they seemed to get on really well with each other; in fact, they seemed quite close. That bothered Kumiko, a lot, "Haruko Kaiba... you..." She thought, as her blood was boiling with both anger and jealousy for the one she seemed to consider not only her rival, but flat out her nemesis. And she wouldn't let that girl get in the way between her and Van.
Author's note: New chapter's here, sorry for the slight delay. In other news, I managed to mess around a bit with some AI engines and managed to get a couple of base references of both Van and Haruko's looks, so now I have nice couple of references to give to an artists for when I get to request some comissioned artwork!
I hope you all have a nice week and I'll be seeing you all next time!