In which Mai is Nana's younger sister and adopted her niece to protect her.
Tsukasa hugged her stuffed bird to her tightly.
"Aunty, when can I see mommy again?" she asked. It had been a long, long time since she had seen her mommy. She missed her.
Her auntie, a woman with vibrant purple eyes and golden hair, went down to eye level with her.
"I don't know sweetie. Your mama...isn't feeling well."
Tsukasa looked at her auntie with wide eyes hearing that.
"Mommy sick?" she asked, tears welling up in her eyes.
"You're mommy caught something," said her aunt gently. "Something the doctors are working very, very hard to make better. But they don't want you to catch it too, so you'll be staying with me until then."
Tsukasa didn't understand, but she trusted her auntie. After all, her mommy was really happy when her auntie surprised her with a visit and she was super nice to her!
Her auntie even got her a new stuffed toy, a cat of some sort and she played with her animals on the floor while her auntie went to take a call in another room.
Once the door was partially shut, Mai leaned against the wall hard. She had only intended to take her niece in for a few days, to give her sister a break from being a mother. Her jackass of a husband had basically dumped all the parenting on her and only sent money once a month rather than actually support them. It had pissed her off to no end that her sister was a stay at home mom in a city where she had no support and almost no friends.
If she ever saw Iemitsu Sawada again, she was going to punch his lights out.
Checking on her niece (Tsukasa was well absorbed with her stuffed toys), Mai wished for a drink. She was not cut out to be a parent this young.
However there was no way in hell she was going to subject her innocent niece to the atmosphere in that house. Not after Iemitsu had done something to her older sister.
Mai had gone to check on Nana, mostly to return her daughter after spending three days with her niece. Only the woman who greeted her at the door was not Nana. Not in the least.
Sure, she had all the appearance of her sister, right down to the mannerisms and cooking skill...but there was something so off about her that it made her skin crawl.
She acted more like some sort of demented robot going through the motions of a 'happy housewife' than an actual human. Nana had been tired and in desperate need of a proper break, but she had been okay when Mai left her.
Now there was almost nothing left of the woman she knew. And considering how Nana went on and on about her 'darling' with brief mentions of his 'boss', Mai had a damn good idea who was behind the sudden change in behavior.
Nana had been frustrated with her husband and was contemplating divorce considering he had all but abandoned her. Now she was a marionette that seemed to hang on to any chance of him visiting and would likely follow his word as gospel without a second thought.
Mai didn't know what the hell Iemitsu did to her sister, but she would be damned if she ever let him get his claws into her niece.
The first thing Mai did was have her sister checked over by actual doctors outside the town. Namimori wasn't some backwater village, but the power of gossip could damage her sister beyond repair.
Even the doctors knew something was terribly off about her, and it took quite a bit of coaxing to convince Nana to attend therapy at all. Mai's skin crawled at some of the 'methods' they had to use, like suggesting it would make that bastard Iemitsu happy to see her thriving.
With that diagnosis, Mai set about becoming her niece's legal guardian. Which was ridiculously easy, as the person they sent to inspect the situation agreed within the first five minutes it would be better for all involved if the five year old was kept far away from Nana.
The odds of her being neglected were far too high to risk, nevermind the possibility the woman wouldn't even recognize her own daughter.
Since Mai didn't know what Iemitsu had done to her sister in so short a time frame, she discreetly changed her niece's name to protect her from casual searches.
She refused to let that man get his claws into little Maiya.
Ten years later...
A young woman was laying on her bed with headphones on. She had a magazine about dueling in her hands. Nearby were some snacks, as well as a phone which was playing music into her headphones.
She was about to flip the page when the door opened. She paused the music, and turned. Her face brightened when she saw who it was.
"Aneki! How did the tournament go?"
Mai sighed, and plopped down on her niece's bed. Maiya had taken the fact her aunt was now her legal guardian well enough once she was old enough to understand why she wasn't allowed to see her mother save for supervised visits.
Nana still hadn't come out of the fog, but she had been making good progress.
However to keep her safe from the likely culprit of her mother's condition, Tsukasa had to become Maiya Kujaku.
She didn't like it, but she understood why.
"It went about as expected. There weren't any real players, since it was a regional tournament, but it was a good way to kill some time," said Mai. "Don't forget, you signed up for the tournament next week."
"I know Onee-san," said Maiya. She sat up properly, and took her headphones off. "My deck still isn't nearly as good as yours."
Mai chuckled.
"You're still better than half the female duelists on the circuit," said Mai. "Besides, I'd rather you focus on your grades than dueling."
Maiya made a face.
"That reminds me... there were some packages left at the PO Box we use," said Mai. Maiya perked up at that.
The second Maiya opened hers, she had a confused look on her face.
"What's duelist kingdom?"
Mai perked up at that.
"So the rumors about the creator of Duel Monsters starting his own personal tournament were true! This could be a big score for us, if we play our cards right!"
Maiya looked to her aunt.
"Why?"
"Prize money is enough to set up a real college fund for you, rather than the minor savings I've been putting in," said Mai. "Never mind the fact that you'll be getting some major notoriety the longer you stay in the tournament. Hell, if you make it to the finals they'll have to take us seriously as duelists."
Now Maiya was interested.
"Sounds interesting."
"Only problem is that the invitation doesn't say anything about a time frame, and it's on a remote island so we're likely to be roughing it," said Mai.
Maiya's eyes perked up at that.
"You know what that means, right mom?" said Maiya. Mai looked at her. "To the shopping!"
Mai hugged her niece, who reciprocated happily. She only ever felt at home when she was around Maiya. The girl was the only person to ever love her unconditionally and without restraint.
It was easier to claim Maiya was her younger sibling, considering there was barely a nine year age difference between them.
Mai gave an approving hum as Maiya packed her things for a short trip in the outdoors. While neither girl was overly fond of camping, they had learned the basics of surviving in the wild.
Mostly because someone had been asking around about Maiya, and the easiest way to avoid them was to go off the grid for a little bit before moving to a new area.
This was exactly the reason her sister had been living on month-to-month leases, rather than a long term one, since it was easier to break.
Mai didn't comment on the collapsible staff that Maiya attached to her hip under her skirt. She knew the reason Maiya had learned how to fight, and the dance lessons that she took purely to piss off Iemitsu should he ever show up again, but it wasn't her business.
Though she still found the instructor Maiya found was odd, he was rather polite and was more than happy to share recipes from all over the world for Maiya to experiment with...along with the required spices.
Amusingly enough, her instructor visited with his current apprentice. She was an adorable little girl named I-Pin.
I-Pin squinted at Maiya, before saying something in Chinese.
"Can I hug you?" asked Maiya hopefully. She loved kids.
Her teacher smiled, before asking that to his apprentice in Chinese. When I-Pin slowly nodded, Maiya squealed a little and hugged her. Once she got over her shock, I-Pin hugged her back.
"So what brings you here this time?" asked Mai.
Fon looked a little unhappy about the situation, but explained. Maiya was too busy doting on I-Pin and spoiling her with love.
"So basically they want to turn her into a hired killer, but you want her to have an actual childhood first, is that it?" said Mai. Fon brought the good tea, so she knew this was serious.
"I would not ask this of anyone...but most of the contacts I would leave her with could be coerced into handing her over, or worse might do so for their own gain. Her bloodline is...precious...to certain factions," said Fon.
"You mean the Triads," said Mai. Fon held his poker face, but it was clear she had blindsided him. "This is awkward, because we're due to go to a tournament that lasts for a week at most."
"While the situation is dire, it's not that time sensitive. It would take me a month to get things settled so I-Pin can stay with you," said Fon.
Mai hummed. To be fair, she had been planning to move to a new city to begin with. People had been putting out feelers for Maiya again and she would rather get ahead of it.
"I suppose I can see what sort of schools Domino has," she mused.
Fon blinked.
"Domino?"
"Someone's been trying to find where Maiya is again. Besides, the school here is barely worth the money we're spending on it," said Mai absently. "I have no idea if that man is behind it or not, and frankly I don't care."
"You know I never did get the story of why Maiya keeps changing cities so often," said Fon.
Mai's face grew dark.
"Maiya's father did something to my older sister to the point she went from an unhappy single mother to a barely functioning robot," said Mai.
That...did not sound good.
"Do you have any idea what happened?" asked Fon.
"I have no idea what he drugged her with, and I didn't see any bruises or signs of torture. I offered to babysit Maiya to give my sister a break, and came back to someone who I didn't recognize. That was ten years ago."
Fon was frowning.
"Do you have any idea who hurt your sister?"
Mai cast a glance towards Maiya and I-Pin, who were now watching some kid-friendly show with a catchy song playing.
"Nana's nonexistent husband, Iemitsu."
Anything Fon could have said went out the window.
"Iemitsu? Maiya is related to that idiot?" said Fon incredulous.
"You know of him?" said Mai.
"I've heard of him," said Fon. "A...colleague...of mine tends to bit...I mean vent about him regularly when we meet up once a year. I still don't know why she hasn't tried to cut ties with that group and just give it up as a bad job."
He honestly didn't see why Lal stuck around that toxic environment. Especially with how much she despised her boss.
"...Any chance you could help us file a restraining order?" asked Mai seriously.
"The group he's with is too high up for any civilian order to stick, and the second he finds out who it's for he's likely to try and marry her off to further his own position," said Fon with a sigh.
Mai didn't need to read between the lines of that, and scowled.
"But there is another route we can take. If you're willing to put in some effort, we can formally abdicate any position she might have had with his group due to her lineage and make her a free agent," said Fon.
Mai perked up at that. She knew Maiya would agree to the idea purely because the other option meant possible contact with her sperm donor, which both women justifiably despised after what he did to Nana.
Fon was inwardly cackling, because if he did this right then it would be a major "Screw You" to Iemitsu for all the crap he put Lal through, and give him a chance to nudge his grandson in Maiya's direction.
She might not be active now, but Fon could recognize a possible Sky when he saw one.
