The bell rang, signaling the end of class. The extra emphasis on the length signified that it was also the end of the day. A girl with dark skin and straight black hair jerked up. Kotsu Masumi, ranked first in the Fusion Course of the Junior Division of LDS, quickly stepped up from her desk and prepared to leave. She was currently in the classroom of the General Studies professor, having endured a lecture on graveyard methods. A recent innovation by none other than Visas Enterprises themselves. Of course, graveyard methods always existed, just not as prominent as when Visas began pushing them.
"Oi, Masumi," a voice sounded and she saw her classmate, Shijima Hokuto, approaching. "You going to Marco again?"
"Yes, what's it to you?" the girl curtly.
"We all know you like the guy, maybe a bit too much," Masumi blushed a little and shot him a sharp glare, making him laugh nervously. "Don't worry, I like him too. He's a chill guy, but you've been going to him a lot recently. More than you usually do. Why?"
"What do you think?" Masumi remarked. She gathered some papers and picked up her deck. She usually did her normal schoolwork during LDS lectures, so she had more time to focus on dueling during her downtime. The teachers didn't really mind, first rank privileges prevail.
"That Sakaki girl?" Masumi breathed deeply out her nose. "Don't you think you've been obsessing over her a little too much? I heard that she's classified in the Senior Division, so it shouldn't matter to you that much. Why not let our senpais worry about her?" she didn't answer and just continued packing her stuff. "It was bound to happen, you know, Fusion, Synchro, and Xyz no longer being exclusive to Leo. If anything, her brother is the strange one. He's the one who beat Strong Ishijima with that new summoning method."
"I don't really care about that," Masumi answered. "That has nothing to do with me. Besides, you're one to talk. Don't you feel your position threatened? I know you have quite the ego. You don't feel it being attacked? After what all the media people are saying?" Hokuto narrowed his eyes in annoyance.
"Tch. You don't have to tell me. There's that girl from Visas, Stelle- Stelle De something," he muttered. Hokuto was first ranked in LDS' Xyz Course in the Junior Division, and Stelle from Visas Enterprises became famous for being the first person unaffiliated with Leo Corporation to perform an Extra Deck summon, which happened to be Xyz. It had been almost a year since then. "Obviously, I want to duel her, to shut all those idiots up, but she lives halfway across the world. Either way, the point is that the difference is she's Junior Division, or whatever it's called where she's from. Sakaki is Senior Division. I have reason to care about my position, I don't see why you do."
"I have pride," Masumi answered. "It's not that deep, Hokuto. As the first ranked in the Fusion Course, I can't let them drag LDS' and Professor Marco's name through the mud-"
"Oh, so it is about Marco," there was clear disappointment in his tone, but it was also portrayed mockingly.
"Shut up!" Masumi snapped. "I was the only Junior Division student to receive the new archetype Fusion cards. Everyone else was in the Senior Division," She held up Gem-Knight Fusion and Brilliant Fusion.
"Oh yeah, I heard about those, wish they had something similar for Xyz Summoning," Hokuto shrugged. "Would make me feel special."
"I heard that Akaba Reiji himself handpicked the people who would receive these cards," Masumi said, pushing the cards further into his face. "Do you know what that means?!"
"Geez! I get it!" Hokuto complained, pushing her arm away. "But what? You're telling me Akaba Reiji chose you!?"
"Yes!" Masumi hissed. "I've been recognized by the President himself, I can't just let that go by. I have to keep up! I might as well be a part of the Senior Division!" She opened and closed her hands in anticipation.
"Oi, oi. Don't get ahead of yourself," Hokuto snickered. "Don't you think you're reading into this too much?" Masumi shook her head.
"It doesn't matter, I have to prove that I was worthy of being chosen to receive these new cards. I'm going to challenge Sakaki Mikazuki to a duel."
—oOo—
Mika entered the confines of her home. She slipped off her shoes and headed straight for her room. On her way, she noticed her mother, Yoko, sitting at the dining table sipping some coffee. Mika was often told that she was the spitting image of her mother. Which was something she was extremely grateful for, given certain events. You would have to be blind to not notice the resemblance. She was essentially her mother when she was her age, probably the only notable difference was Yoko's hair was more rough and spiky, while Mika's was more smooth and straight.
"Oh, Mika, welcome home dear. How was the trip?" Yoko smiled warmly as Mika went up and gave her mother a hug. She was doing much better these days. In the months following Yusho's disappearance, her mother had looked like she had aged at least 10 years. Yoko had often gotten calls from Yuya's school about him getting into fights or arguments with other kids who insulted his father.
Mika… was not that much better, but she was more subtle about it. She essentially became a loner and had to endure some bullying and was often stared at like an animal at a zoo. She had become emotionally unstable from built up rage and frustrations. Eventually, she was noticed by Visas scouts who learned of her backstory and they offered her a place at their school. Mika accepted and had a brief stint trialing for them before she transferred out and finished her education in Europe, and eventually emerged as the (invisible) face of their Fusion program. She had also become good friends with the candidate of their Xyz program during that time. However, she had returned home to Japan about six months earlier, so she was unsure of the status of the Synchro program which was still in its early stages last she heard. It had gone through some complications.
She was mostly independent and occasionally did jobs for Visas, from accounting and secretary work to card testing. And she was also getting paid for it. All from the comfort of her room. She had wanted to stay home and keep an eye on Yuya, as he was getting older.
But for Yoko, her problems didn't stop at just her children. News people often staked out their home trying to find something to write for their tabloid or agency. She also had to endure abuse at her work. Colleagues often talked behind her back saying that her husband likely had an affair and ran off. Fortunately, all of that gradually went away and they were doing much better now.
Luckily, they had all the money Yusho earned from his career as a Pro Duelist, so if anything happened, they could still live quite comfortably.
"It was fun. I went up to Sendai, visiting some friends," Mika answered.
"Wonderful, I'm glad you're keeping in touch. Now, where is Yuya? Did you meet with him? I'm sure you heard about the duel," Yoko asked.
"Oh I did alright, why didn't you tell me?" Mika crossed her arms.
"You needed a break. I wasn't about to disturb your vacation. I'm his mother, it should be my job to stress out over him," she said sternly.
"Yeah, I know but… letting him duel Strong Ishijima of all people, was quite a dangerous gamble wasn't it?"
"I have faith in him," Mika just snorted and rolled her eyes and Yoko chuckled.
"No, you're absolutely right. It was quite the gamble, Yuya got very lucky with that new summoning method he came up with. But-" her expression turned serious. "This was exactly the push he needed. Yuya is getting to that age where he needs to start making his own choices if he wants to thrive and be happy. Whether he succeeded or failed determined his future. He succeeded and now he will forge his own path."
"Yeah, I get it but-"
"He may be your kid brother, but he won't be a kid forever," Mika flinched at those words. "You want him to succeed, you want him to decide for himself, I know that, but if you keep doing what you're doing, you'll just hold him back. If you keep holding him back until it's too late, he'll have missed his chance. Isn't that what you did?" Mika just stood there silently for a few moments until Yoko cleared her throat.
"I know," Mika said abruptly, making Yoko narrow her eyes slightly. "I said something similar to him just now. I suppose you just confirmed what I'm now realizing." Her mother smiled.
"Well, that makes it much easier, but my apologies, I didn't mean to start lecturing you. You seem to be in quite a hurry, Visas?" Yes, Yoko knew about Mika and her affiliation with Visas Enterprises. There was no way she couldn't tell her mother about it. As for Yuya, she had just told him that she needed to get away for a while and was offered a scholarship in Europe. Being the oblivious kid he was, he believed her, but didn't accept her actually leaving. He initially begged her to stay, not wanting his big sister to leave him like their dad. He had grown more attached to her since their mother was always busy and tired following Yusho's disappearance. Hearing that, Mika almost changed her mind, but Yoko stepped in and Visas modified their offer and let her remain in Japan. Mika accepted it and because of that compromise, Visas saw another side of her and she was eventually recruited into their Extra Deck projects and placed in the Fusion program. Mika was gone from home in short bursts and eventually Yuya had gotten used to it. He was soon fully swayed and she was on her way to the west.
"More or less," Mika answered.
"Already huh? Not even a day since you returned?"
"Apparently, there is something big going on. At least, that's what I've gathered, but I have no idea what it is," Mika shrugged. "I'm pretty sure they want to talk about Yuya though."
"I see. Well I definitely trust you know what to do. I shouldn't keep you waiting then."
"Oh, don't worry about it, they'd probably just be annoyed at most," Mika reassured her. She turned and began to head upstairs.
"I'll bring you dinner if you're not done by then!" Yoko called.
Mika entered her room and closed the door behind her. She sat at her desk and booted up her computer. She pulled out a flash drive and plugged it in. It contained a secure environment. Mika was required to use the OS for any tasks or business she had with Visas. They were all single-use flash drives. She was given multiple packages of them regularly. They were delivered to a discreet location, a different place every time. She would also return the used drives at the same time.
Initially, Mika was taken aback by how far they were going to keep things a secret. She eventually asked about it, but was given a very vague, but intriguing answer.
Initially, this was done to protect ourselves legally from Leo Corporation, but recently, we've made a startling breakthrough. It must be kept under wraps as long and as much as possible. I'm only saying this much to you because it is somewhat related to how we tested you and the others. The head of Card Development and Duel Technology told her.
It had only piqued her curiosity even more, but she had her emotional impulses completely locked down. She respected them. They took her in when she was in a bad state. They kept her, despite her failing multiple times. They were patient enough to wait until she succeeded, it was the least she could do, to follow their wishes.
Mika began a video call to the address she was given, she leaned back in her chair and waited for someone to respond. Soon, the image of a familiar girl with purple hair and pink highlights tied in a long braid appeared.
"Stelle?" Mika spluttered. The girl smiled brightly and flashed her a peace sign.
"Ohaaaaayo! Mikaaaaaa-chan!" she greeted. Stelle Sachiko De La Fontaine, born to a Belgian-Dutch father and a Japanese mother. Though she usually omitted "Sachiko" from her full name for some reason.
"Ohayo? It's evening here."
"Oh? Same difference," Stelle waved her hand in dismissal. She was quite a strange character. Extremely bubbly. Extremely cheerful, maybe too cheerful as it got overwhelming sometimes. She didn't exactly take things very seriously, except for stuff she had a passion for, like dueling.
"Why are you answering the call?" Mika inquired. "I thought it'd be someone from Card Development."
"Aww. I thought you'd be excited to see me. We haven't seen each other since you left Brussels. I'm hurt," Stelle pouted and pretended to wipe tears. Mika snorted. Stelle was quite good at it, truth be told. If you weren't familiar with her antics, you might actually believe she was offended. "But to answer your question, something came up, so I'm here to keep you company for the time being! I also wanted to be the one to let you know that we're about to wrap up our Synchro testing. There's something particularly advanced, yet archaic about Synchro monsters, but our guys seem to have it down. They're fucking amazing!" And she liked to swear a lot.
"Do we have candidates?" Mika asked.
"Candidates? We are long past that process! Our first Synchro user is going to show himself off at the duel festival in Bern in a few days!"
"What? Nobody told me anything," Mika raised an eyebrow. "Is this what everyone is being so secretive about?"
"Secretive? What are you talking about?" Stelle's expression dropped a little and she raised an eyebrow. "I think it's because it happened so fast we didn't have a chance to tell you." That sounds like bs to me but okay. Mika thought.
"That did sound like a bullshit reason huh," Stelle put her finger to her chin and wore a thoughtful expression. Mika blinked a few times. "Well, I don't really know why, maybe it's because we just forgot? Maybe they assumed you knew? Either way, it's very exciting isn't it?"
Stelle raised her arms up, but she accidentally jammed her fingers against the roof of the car she was in. "Ow! Shit," she muttered. Mika decided she would ask about that later.
"So who is it? Who did we choose to be our first Synchro user?" Mika noticed her face fall to a neutral expression.
"Remember that boy you met during the trial camps in Japan? It was before you went to Europe," Stelle asked.
"Kaiyo?" Mika asked. "Kurayami?"
"Bingo!" Stelle snapped her fingers and pointed at the screen winking at Mika.
"Of course I remember him, you were there, that's where I first met you. Do you think we're strangers or something? We're friends," Mika said, a little puzzled by the question.
"I don't know, that's just how people ask it. It's a… figure of speech I guess," Stelle muttered.
"I actually went to visit him when I was on my break, but apparently he was out of the country. I hung out with his sister instead, she's such a sweet girl," Mika smiled softly, with Stelle mirroring her expression in agreement. "Is he our Synchro user?"
"Oh no, not him. It's their big brother, Shinju."
"Shinju?" Mika thought for a few seconds where she had heard that name before, then her eyes widened. "Wait him!? That jerk? When the hell did he join the program? You chose him of all people to be our Synchro user?" she exclaimed, almost yelling. "And he's Kaiyo's brother too? They never told me he was their brother..."
"Oh, you've met Shinju? He get under your skin as well?" Stelle asked dryly.
"Of course he did! I met him at the Amsterdam campus almost a year ago! You know, during the competition between the major campuses? It was being held in Amsterdam that year. You weren't there since you had just revealed your Xyz Summoning, but he's an insufferable bastard! Why on Earth would you ever choose him?! How was he even accepted into a Visas school?" Mika asked furiously. She slammed her hands on the desk and stood up, glaring at Stelle. "He's too ambitious for his own good, for anyone's good!"
"Oh, they're well aware of his attitude and behavior," Stelle's voice suddenly turned serious and her cheerful persona completely fell. "But don't yell at me, I had nothing to do with the selection process, obviously. But, I don't like him either. His perfectionist attitude, the way he looks down on everything, you know the lot." There was a short pause. "The way he tries to kiss up to and please his superiors. It fucking pisses me off." Mika had to flinch a little at the venom being dripped from those words as Stelle's eyes narrowed into orange slits. She had never seen her enraged like this before. "To be honest, I don't really know why he was chosen. I was just given a stupidly vague answer. 'He satisfied the qualities we are looking for.' Yeah, no shit. Like really? I'm Stelle De La Fontaine, daughter of your head engineer. The guy who made you all. Not even my dad would tell me anything," Stelle scoffed. "You'll just have to bring it up with them. Maybe they'll tell you more, but I doubt it."
"Where did you meet him?" Mika wondered.
"I was visiting Lisbon, where the Synchro program is based, since I was taking a break from my time in Marseille, where the Xyz program was. That's where I met the little shit," she hissed. "I almost wanted to duel him and then crush him, I was able to Xyz Summon by then, but it wasn't revealed yet. Oh, how tempting it was…"
"You know that's not really why I dislike him so much. I can handle snobs, I did it all the time," Mika's face was scrunched up in rage. "What got to me was the way he insulted his family, especially his brother and sister. Something about them holding him down. About them being a burden." She recalled Kaiyo and began to understand further why he was the way he was.
"Yes, that part would particularly hit home for you I'm sure," Stelle figured, eyeing Mika closely through the screen.
"Is he dueling under the Visas name?" Mika asked.
"Yes, he is. Keeping your affiliation a secret was more of an experiment to see what the rest of the world would do, particularly Leo," Stelle explained, then she sat back, a particular glint in her eyes. "So about your bro-"
"What about Kaiyo? He was interested in Synchro Summoning, wasn't he? Was he ever considered?" Mika asked.
"Oh, definitely. For all he lacks in confidence, he's actually pretty good. He got pretty far in the selection process, I was almost certain he would be the one, but something about him caught the eye of the testers, so he was removed and sent somewhere else. I'm not exactly sure what it was, but apparently he said something very intriguing. I'll have to ask him when I see him next time," Stelle shrugged.
"So he failed?"
"I don't think he failed. He… hmm, how do I say this," Stelle thought for a few seconds. "It's like you're on a path. That path is to become our first Synchro user. When you fail, you turn back. In Kaiyo's case, he was shifted sideways onto another path. What that leads to, I don't really know. I'll let you know once I do."
"That's why Shinju was chosen?"
"No, we know Kaiyo was removed from the program, but that doesn't explain why that bitch was chosen," she replied.
"I see. Do you know what kind of deck he uses?" Mika inquired, holding back a laugh.
"Oh ho! You want to know his deck? Already fired up?" Stelle smirked, returning to her previous persona.
"Of course. If we ever duel, I'll be damned if I lose," Mika narrowed her eyes.
"Unfortunately, I don't know. I had nothing to do with the Synchro program," Stelle blew a raspberry in disappointment. "We do know what his monsters are based off of, but that doesn't really say anything about his dueling style."
"You do? Wait 'we?' What do you mean 'we?'" Mika asked.
"What do you mean? You don't know?"
"Of course I don't know, I wasn't involved in the Synchro program. How the hell do you know?!"
"What?!" Stelle exclaimed, genuine shock in her voice. "You're telling me you don't know what your monsters are based off of, and what mine are? You don't know why your Reinoheart seems different from the others?"
"What about Reinoheart? Nobody told me anything. I thought it was because they fit who we are! I mean, I suppose I can kind of relate to my Tearlaments," Mika muttered. Seriously? Am I the ignorant one?
"Yes, we might share some similarities with them," Stelle admitted, sounding a little uneasy about saying that. "But our monsters are based on an old Dutch-" she was interrupted by a beeping sound. It looked like someone else was about to join the call. "Well, that's it for me! I'm headed to Bern as well for the duel festival. I was actually invited to be a part of their exhibition duels! I'll bash in that moron's head for you if you want!"
"Wait! You didn't tell me-"
"Doei!" Stelle's face cam disappeared. "That girl," Mika growled softly. She liked Stelle a lot, though there were times where she felt like burying her six feet under. She wondered what else Stelle had buried…
"Hello, Mika," a man with short, blond hair appeared on the screen. He had orange eyes like Stelle and wore a brown coat. He had a particularly youthful feel to him, despite being in his forties. He was among the more laid back when it came to the higher ranked individuals at Visas.
"Oh! Professor! Nice to see you again," Mika greeted. This was Carolus De La Fontaine, the head of Card Development at Visas Enterprises, and Stelle's father. She used her better judgment and decided not to ask about whatever Stelle was about to tell her, there was a possibility she missed something and didn't want to be embarrassed by it.
"To you as well Mika, I apologize for calling you so soon after your break. I hope you enjoyed it," Carolus said.
"No problem, I completely understand. After everything that happened today, I would've been surprised if I didn't get a call," Mika reassured him.
"Yes, well I also apologize for being late, I hope Stelle kept you company in the meantime."
"Oh, it's fine, I enjoyed it. I haven't talked to her since I returned home. We were just discussing Visas finally achieving Synchro Summoning," she couldn't keep the distasteful expression off her face.
"Oh, I see she told you who it was. I'm sure you are… less than pleased about who we chose," Carolus looked a little guilty. "No one was supposed to know, but she somehow found out. I don't think I've seen her so angry, not since… Well anyway, I ask you to hold your questions about Shinju Kurayami. I'm sure they'll be answered in due time. I don't know if you've realized this by now, but part of our program to produce Xyz, Synchro, and Fusion monsters has always been a bit of a psychology experiment. Remember what I told you? We've stumbled upon something. It was by accident, but then we chose to step feet first into hell." He rubbed his eyes. "Part of our reason for choosing Shinju is because of that. Please understand. Of course, don't say any of this to him, or even Stelle. I don't want her digging around. She's too nosy for her own good. I almost feel like she was a detective in a previous life." He chuckled a little.
Mika sighed. "It's okay, I trust you Professor. I'm sure you have a good reason for it. I'll admit I wasn't the most pleasant person either," she said. "If I may ask, what about his brother, Kaiyo? Stelle told me he was doing well in the selection process. Why was he taken out?" Carolus groaned slightly hearing that Stelle said that.
"Well, I sent him to Iceland, to our campus at Reykjavík. I have taken a particular interest in him."
"...What?" Mika was dumbfounded. "Iceland? I didn't even know we had a facility in Iceland."
"I see you've been out of the loop for a while. After Stelle showed off her Xyz Summoning, it became much easier for us to establish facilities in more remote areas. She had significantly boosted our reputation. We now have a campus in almost every major city in America, we were even able to take over Leo in the western United States, Australia, and New Zealand," he explained. "In South America, Brazil is emerging as the hot spot and center of dueling on the continent. Our partnerships with the various football clubs has most certainly been a major factor. The strong football culture between Brazil and Europe has helped us maintain a strong connection." Mika felt a little embarrassed at not knowing all of this. Perhaps I need to leave my bubble for a little while. "But Leo is still far better than us, their technology aside, the population they hold dominance over, specifically Asia, has deep roots in dueling, while it has never been that popular in the west."
"From what I've heard, more people here are giving attention to Visas, so I think the power is starting to shift," Mika suggested. "I'd say all the innovative techniques and play styles that our people are coming up with are a major contributing factor to it. Like who would've thought milling cards and basically emptying my deck into the graveyard could be so useful? I mean unless someone plays a card like Macros Cosmos," she muttered that last part.
"Who knows? You may be right. But moving back to the original topic, Kaiyo would've been an excellent representative of our Synchro Summoning along with you and Stelle for your respective methods, but I found a better use for him. It would benefit him greatly, more than Portugal. I read the reports of what he was like in Sapporo. He was absolutely in love with the place, and he loved the ocean just as much. I decided to send him to Iceland as it is more remote and he could be more in tune with the environment. We're essentially building a deck for him based on what we see."
"Wait, you're producing cards for him?" Mika asked. "I mean I know you produce individual cards for your students and you recently started doing Xyz and Fusion, but you're telling me you're building an entire deck for him?"
"Well, it's more like we're modifying his current deck. You know those fish monsters he's so fond of? We're turning them into something more," Carolus explained. "I believe with a deeper connection to his deck, he'll thrive. I am administering a similar test as to what I gave the other candidates for the Extra Deck programs," He clapped his hands. "Anyway! We've gone off track long enough. I'm sure you know why I called in the first place."
"Yes, and to answer your upcoming question. I have no idea how it happened, and Yuya doesn't know it either," Mika said. "I can tell if he's lying, don't worry."
"Well, that's unfortunate," Carolus said.
"I'm pretty sure you can Special Summon monsters from your hand as long as their levels are in between those numbers. That's the main function."
"Yes, that was easy to figure out, but from what we were able to observe we also found out the purpose of the second effect. You know the smaller text above the main effect?" he added. "We are almost certain that when a Pendulum monster is in the Pendulum zone, that effect applies. That is how your brother was able to shut down that Action Card and Trap Card."
"In a way, I feel like they act as Continuous Spell Cards, because I'm pretty sure they don't attack," Mika added. "Maybe it has something to do with how the cards look half monster and half spell."
"We're also thinking along those lines. However, we don't have access to the data, so we can only assume from what we see. Now as much as I'd like to examine his cards, I won't ask you to do anything you don't want to do."
"Yes," Mika confessed. "I'd prefer to keep him away from all of this, let him live his life you know? As disappointed as I am with his career choice, his happiness means more to me. But he did tell me something, however," perking the man's interest. "He told me that his pendant started glowing and he saw his cards change before him. He has no idea how or why it happened, but the next he knew, he won the duel. Maybe it's related to that Chaos Energy thing you tested us with."
"That is… very peculiar. I don't think this has anything to do with the Solid Vision. This is, oddly similar to how we chose you…" his voice drifted off. "I take it back, would you mind if I tested him? It would be similar to what you did, nothing harmful. Again, the decision is completely up to you and your family."
"To be honest, I also want to know what happened," Mika admitted. "But definitely not now, he's going to have a rough time after all that's happened today. I will think about it though."
"Please do. In the meantime, I certainly don't need to tell you to keep him away from Leo Corporation as much as you can. It doesn't exactly help that you live in the same city as their headquarters," he muttered. Mika was slightly conflicted, she didn't want to baby him anymore or act like a controlling parent.
"If I may ask, and don't take this the wrong way. Is it just a corporate thing? If you can't have them, then nobody can?" Mika asked.
"Well, I suppose that is a part of it. We do have some annoying execs in the company. Luckily, there are enough of us to keep their egos in check," Carolus rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "No, it's mainly because this is a very strange phenomenon. People don't like what they don't understand. Look at how the world reacted when Solid Vision was first introduced, it caused a slew of panic because you were able to manifest solid objects from just energy. Obviously, people thought monsters could be used as actual weapons, but that was shut down immediately because of how incompatible Solid Vision was. We dodged a bullet there, but technology is improving… Leo Corporation's Solid Vision is getting even better by the year," he said ominously.
"Could people recreate Pendulum cards?"
"Your brother did duel in one of Leo's stadiums, using their Solid Vision. They likely collected the data from that summoning energy," he theorized.
"So they could do it?"
"Now? Possibly, they definitely have a head start in that race because we don't have access to that data. It's hard to tell exactly how difficult it will be to produce them. I assume it will be quite hard because it also introduces a new zone to the field, the Pendulum zone. And we don't exactly know how they function," he shrugged. "Speaking of new cards, we have some new ones for you and Stelle. I have a new Fusion monster for you and a new Xyz monster for Stelle, as well as some more main deck support. I have someone coming to Japan in about a week, so I'll send the cards with them." Mika's deck was actually incomplete, or at least, she didn't have enough cards to make a fully-centered Tearlaments deck. She had to use a lot of generic support cards in the meantime.
Carolus then cleared his throat. "Well then, that is all I wanted to know. I need to go now, quite a busy day ahead."
"Of course! It was nice talking to you, Professor. Have a great rest of your day," Mika was about to end the call.
"Actually wait, there is one more thing I wanted to tell you," Carolus suddenly said. "You don't need to worry about keeping your affiliation with Visas a secret anymore. That has fulfilled its purpose, it's your choice now how you want to proceed. As you know, the Maiami Championship is coming up and we will be sending students to represent us."
"I see. I'll keep a secret for a little bit longer, at least until the whole thing around Pendulum Summoning has died down."
"I understand you and your family haven't had the most pleasant time since your father disappeared-" he paused a little.
Mika let out a small laugh, "It's okay, I'm not a petty, angry little girl anymore. You can mention him. It's not like Voldemort or anything." Carolus chuckled.
"Of course, you're right, but things may get tough for you and your family again. If there's anything you need, please don't hesitate to ask. I also owe you for what you've done for the program… and Stelle."
"Thank you. Goodbye, Professor," Mika ended the call, she was a little curious what he meant by Stelle. I mean, all I did was become friends with her. "Wait!" She had completely forgotten to ask about the red-haired girl's Fusion card. She slammed her head on the desk and cursed herself. Damn it!
"Mika? Is everything all right?" she heard her mother at the door. "I heard something strange. Are you done? Dinner is ready."
"Yes, everything's fine. I'm coming down."
Duel Terminal:
No duel this chapter.
See chapter 4 for endnotes, I initially wrote these as one chapter, but decided to split them.
Doei – Dutch for "bye" (casual) according to DutchPod101