A Light In The Darkness...
4
"Attention, All Duelists! Welcome to this event sponsored by Industrial Illusions" s group of what appeared to be guards stood and loomed over the railings of the ship that was at port to take Duelists away to the island hosting the Duel Monsters tournament. It was a hard to miss, luxury cruiser-
But it seemed Shizuka had missed a few memos about this tourney...
"You have received, with your invitation, the starchips that will grant you entry, into the contest."
Invitation!?
Star Chips!?
It seemed this Tournament was invitation only...
And those who actually got an invitation also received "star chips" as proof of being a contestant...
"You are all elite. Invited by us after close observation of your past Duel Monster's Contetes..."
That was another thing. Shizuka didn't even have a Duel Monster's record for them to look up to possibly even consider- So simply asking was going to be off the table for sure...
"You each have a fair and equal chance to win- it all comes down to how well you've chosen your cards...and how well you play."
Apparently there was a small tournament that was held that had an invitation to the tournament as a prize- Tobi had mentioned it to her, as he had watched it on tv...
Unfortunately Shizuka didn't know about it- and so missed her chance to compete...
"Now then Duelists... cross the ocean- and Enter the Duelist Kingdom!"
Well shit...this isn't good...
She thought to herself as the crowd started moving toward the check point.
She needed to find a way to sneak on board somehow and weasel her way into the contest if she wanted any chance of-
"AHH!" a small yelp sounded from her as she found herself suddenly whisked away and grabbed bu someone from behind ducking into the shadows.
What was this!? Had she been caught already!? Was she being kidnapped!?
Her thoughts went wild as she struggled to break free until she heard the sharp hissing of a "Shh!" right in her ear.
`"Calm down it's all right- it's just me!"
She stopped.
Wait...
? There's only one person she knew who called her that...
Her blue eye shifted behind her and from the shadow came the milky white complexion of her classmate- After feeling her calm down and relax, albeit undoubtedly a bit confused...he had finally released her.
"Bakura-kun?" she said his name softly, "Bakura Ryou, right!?" she asked, "What are you doing here!?"
"That's right." he chuckled softly, "And I was about to ask the same of you." he said with an awkward smile, "Were you invited to this tournament too?" he asked curiously with a tilt of head.
"W-Well erm..." she gulped awkwardly and shifted her gaze down cast, "Not exactly..."
"What!?" he blinked, "And you were just going to waltz right up to a guarded ship and hope they'd grant you entry?"
"Well...I haddn't exactly figured that part out yet, I figured I would by the time I got there and-" she paused, "Wait a minute, Bakura-kun you got an invite?" she asked curiously, "But how?"
"I did." he chuckled softly, "Believe it or not I've actually competed in a couple small tournaments and fared rather well." he explained, "I guess they heard about that and it allowed me to make the cut to be invited."
"Oh...I see." Shizuka blinked, "I didn't know you played..."
"Haha, I think there's quite a lot of things you don't know about me, ." he said softly, "In fact probably a lot we don't know about each other."
This was true...
Shizuka wasn't exactly very social at school, she didn't really have any friends. In fact the only person who really seemed to notice her presence was Ryou Bakura...
Sure he was nice enough. He seemed friendly, and helpwed her out a few times with missed notes, but other than she didn't really know why he was so nice to her in particular...after all it wasn't as though they were good friends who hung out often. Their chats rounded out to casual small talk at best...
"Perhaps you and I can get to changing that once I get you onboard." he smiled.
"Uh yeah...maybe." She blinked curiously, "But...I don't understand." she said softly, "You're...willing to help me get on board? But...why? And how?"
"We'll talk about that later once I get you on the ship." he said softly with a smile, "In the meantime...just leave it to me." he winked.
The crowd moved smoothly in an orderly fashion. As per Bakura's directions, Shizuka stuck close to him...and left...whatever he was planning to do to get onboard up to him-
Though the close they got to threshold...the more nervous she got.
"Please show your starchips at the check point in order to board."
That was the part that worried her.
"Here they are- my starchips, see?" said Bakura as he held his palm up and rattled around to star shaped pieces in his hand.
"Very good, thank you." said the coroner, "Next."
Shizuka's eyes widened.
But...I'M next!
She gulped,
How on earth am I gonna-
"Go on then darling. It's your turn." Bakura said softly to Shizuka, taking her hand in his and subtly and slipping something into it.
"Show the man your starchips." he smiled.
Her eyes widened.
I see...so THAT's what he's doing...
"Uh...right... of course." she said softly, curing her fingers around the objects he had oh so subtly slipped into her palm, "They're right here...see?" she said softly. Her hand rose up above the table and opened to reveal two small stars in the palm of her hand.
"Silly girl isn't she?" Bakura chuckled, "Sorry for my friend's nerves...she's a shy one is all."
"Very well." said the guard, nodding his approval of Shizuka's "Entry fee" , "Welcome aboard, we're happy to have you." he said to them.
"Thank you very much." said Bakura, giving a soft nudge to Shizuka to snap her back to reality-
She honestly couldn't believe how easily that worked...!
"Right-" said Shizuka, bowing, "Thank you!"
To Be Continued...