"Hey kid I said there were no tickets available already" the guard from before said to me.
"Oh I have a ticket moreso my fr-..err acquaintance here has mine" I say pointing to Natsume who sighs as she shows both her tickets.
"Oh sorry for the suspicion" the guard apologised.
"Nah It's fine you're just doing your job. Maybe we should duel sometime. I just managed to snag my first win" I said.
"Argh" Natsume muttered under her breath and walked inside.
"What's her deal?" I said with a clueless face but knowing exactly why she was pissed.
"Anyway I gotta go, don't wanna miss the main show if we meet again we should duel sometime" I say waving to him as I rush after Natsume.
Why follow Natsume you ask? It's because she's the only person here that I'm familiar with. I lied, I just wanted to irritate her a bit more.
I should tone down the assholery before my face ends upon the news.
Separated from my body.
Though she was an interesting person I'll say.
"Hey Natsume wait a minute" I spotted her normal looking blonde hair among the sea of multicolored hair.
"What do you want? Here to gloat about your victory" she spoke bluntly.
"Sadly no. I'd rather just tag along with you since you seem to have no friends" I retorted.
"Grr maybe I don't so what? You don't seem to be with anyone other than me at the moment" she says.
"Well that's easy to explain, I'm new here. You see I traveled to Maiami city for the tournament and that's my excuse" I said.
"Anyway"-I say changing the subject-"What's up with all these disgruntled fans, are the rates for snacks really that high?"
"I'm not really sure I was planning to ask around before you interrupted me" she said.
"Hey what's got all the people here in a frenzy" I went ahead and asked a man who seemed to be there with his family.
"There's been a delay. Yuya Sakaki who was supposed to fight the sledgehammer has proved to be a no show" his wife replied.
"That Yuya Sakaki is a coward just like his father" somebody from the crowd called out.
I then went back to where Natsume was waiting and explained what happened to her.
"So the duel will probably be cancelled, guess our tickets are gonna go to waste after all" she looked disappointed as she said that.
"I have a sneaking suspicion that might not be the case. But it seems quite a few seats have been freed up. We may as well take them" I said motioning towards a couple of free seats.
"Fine then" she said as we walked forward and took the seats.
As we took our seats an awkward silence surrounded us as we waited for what to me seemed like a while until I caught sight of a familiar looking clown.
Following that Yuya took off his clown disguise thus leading to the start of the duel.
We watched the duel as Yuya rushes around on his hippo searching around for action cards and ends his turn. The sledgehammer on the other hand special summons lava battleguard and swamp battleguard who he then tributes to summon what could be considered his ace battleguard king.
I start to zone out during the duel since I knew what was going to be the outcome only coming back to my senses when Natsume interrupts me.
"So who do you think's going to win I'm betting on the sledgehammer he's been able to keep his title as the ultimate action duelist for three consecutive years I don't see anyone that's not a pro beating him" she says.
"Well you may be right but I always like rooting for the underdog. It's not like any of us know the future pfft" I said the last part while slightly giggling.
"What's so funny?" she says looking at me confused.
"Nothing, I just remembered something funny," I said, stopping my laughter.
"Anyway"-I turn to watch the duel where I see Yuya's odd eyes dragon being destroyed-"guess the match is almost decided" I said.
"So your prediction was wrong then" she said.
"Yeah too bad" I say as I continue watching the duel with my smile covered by my hand.
The moment Yuya is about to lose his pendant glows, leading to his cards changing and allowing him to pendulum summon.
"What's going on? How did he manage to summon three monsters like that" somebody from the crowd yelled.
"As expected from that coward's son to be a cheater" someone else said.
"It seemed to have been accepted by the duel disk so he hasn't been cheating" Nico smiley announced.
So the duel went on it's natural course with Yuya defeating the sledgehammer and him gaining the respect he desired. At least that's how I interpreted it.
"Well I guess I'm done here" I say standing up.
Around me a bunch of people were already scattering. I waited for a while looking around the arena.
"Let's exchange duel id's since I demand a rematch" Natsume who was standing beside me said.
Exchanging duel ids was similar to exchanging phone numbers. Luckily the technician I showed my duel disk managed to hook me up with one since he couldn't find my original id.
"Sure I'm down for another beatdown" I say cockily.
"Next time will be different I'll make sure of that" she said as she rushed away.
I sat back down on my seat as my thoughts caught up. The fact that this was a different reality where I knew what was happening started to really freak me out.
Changing the future was bad.
I'd read 100's of novels to drive that fact in my skull. But my very presence here is already a shift from the norm.
'I'll need to be close to the plot and for that I'll need a way to introduce myself' I thought.
I dial in the duel id of the Leo corporation which I had picked up from a billboard on the way.
"Hello I'd like to come maybe sometime this week to check out the academy since I was planning to enroll... That's fine, great I'm looking forward to the visit" I say disconnecting the call.
'Now all I need to do is stalk Yuya until his cards are taken. Good thing I'm a kid otherwise this stuff would be way more suspicious' I think to myself as I head back home.