The familiar beeping sound of a heart-rate monitor passed through Kyoji Yagumo's mind as he stared at the comatose body of his best friend.
One Ryouga Kamishiro, nicknamed Shark by the people who knew him due to his shark-based deck and the shark-like grin he often gave while dueling.
But he would not see that grin for a while, as the nurses didn't know when he would wake up from his coma, if ever, due to how traumatic his injuries had been.
Being set on fire and suffering third-degree burns did that, as currently, his entire body was bandaged like a mummy.
Though, like at the state of his friend, Kyoji couldn't help but reminisce about how he and Shark had first met each other in the Orphanage.
Xxx
Ryouga's fist hit Kyoji's face as the two eight-year-olds got into a brawl about a duel monster card.
A Monster Reborn.
As Ryouga had accused Kyoji of taking it from him.
The other kids cheered.
"It's my card!" Kyoji shouted.
"No, it's mine!" Ryouga shouted back, the boy with dark purple hair cocking back his fist for one more hit.
Kyoji hated dealing with children; they could be so stupid; he had just pulled that Monster Reborn from the pack that the Orphanage had given each and every single one of the kids.
"Stop it, you two," A new voice cut in, and a girl with duel-colored hair go between the two of them.
"Rio," Ryoga said as he looked at the person that was his sister.
"I know how to solve the issue," She said as she picked up the dropped card. "I will be taking it."
…
"That is not how that works!" Both Ryouga and Kyoji shouted at the girl, who just grinned at them.
Xxx
Kyoji chuckled; he and Ryouga had not actually gotten along at the start, but it was due to his twin sister Rio that they had become actual friends and thick as thieves, the two of them going on actually becoming a tag duel partners in the tournament that allowed for it.
Their friendship being fully cemented as an eternal bond by Rio one day four years ago.
Xxx
The lights of the Heartland Theme Park shone down on three pre-teens as they sat on a bench hunching on cotton candy.
"I think this has been a pretty good day so far," Kyoji said as he finished his snack. It wasn't his favorite theme park snack, but he could deal with it.
Sugar was Sugar, after all.
"I agree," Ryouga said, which was actually an unusual statement coming from him as the twelve-year-old boy was such a chuuni in Kyoji's opinion. "This day was actually pretty damn good."
"That means I am a genius for suggesting to go here for the last day of summer vacation," Rio said as she got off the bench. "And I've got something that is going to make it perfect," Rio said as she pulled something out of a pocket. "Ta-dah!" She said as she held out three silver rings. "I've got us friendship rings to show that we are all friends forever."
"That was what you went to buy earlier today?" Kyoji asked.
"Where did you get the money for those sis?" Ryouga asked.
"Sold some cards, but that doesn't matter, I wanted these more than them so here, one for each of us, even got our initials engraved in them," Rio said as she handed Kyoji one.
"It does," He said as he put it on; the thing was a little bit too big for his ring finger, so he put it around his thumb. "Thanks, Rio… come on, Shark, take the ring or else. your sister is going to be mad." Kyoji teased.
"Fine," The chunni complained as he grabbed the ring and put it on, Rio smiling as he did. "There,, are you two happy now?"
"I am satisfied," Kyoji said with a smile.
"Hehe, I am happy, Shark," Rio said as she smiled.
Yeah, today was a pretty good day.
Xxx
Kyoji looked at his hand, the ring now able to fit around his ring finger now that his hand had grown.
But as he looked at Shark, at Ryouga's hand, there was a distinct lack of ring as it had to be removed. Though right now, it was located on an entirely different person, that person being Rio.
And speaking of Rio.
He turned his head to look at the person who was sitting on the other side of the hospital bed that Ryouga laid in, his breathing steady as it could be.
Rio Kamishiro, the person that he, Kyoji Yagumo loved most in the entire world, and it hurt him to see her looking so despaired over her brother's condition.
The damaged ring around her other ring finger.
The silver slightly warped and melted.
Kyoji ignored the voice in his head that said that this was a better outcome than Rio being the one burnt to a crisp.
Because that was what should have happened.
Rio was the one who was supposed to have been in that bed after being burnt during a duel, with whom he couldn't remember.
Not Ryouga, but things had changed, and it was obviously due to his presence as he, Kyoji Yagumo, had not existed in the original Zexal anime.
Yes. He was a reincarnator, having been reborn into this one after having died in his previous one, and in that world, he had watched the anime known as Yugioh Zexal, which was now literal years ago, but a few things still stuck to his memories.
Rio Kamishiro being burnt.
Astral.
Barians.
And the Numbers.
That he couldn't forget.
The plot would start to happen in the coming months, but it was clear to Kyoji that this version of the universe was not going to follow the canon plot as he was now a factor.
But he should have realized that this was heading in an AU direction going by Rio's bodily growth.
As she was pretty much a walking boob fetish as, over the last two years, she had been hit by the puberty truck and now, at age 16, carried around a mighty pair of tightly packed tits that were twice the size of her head; how her second-year uniform was able to contain the explosive tits I didn't know.
And he was pretty sure all the girls in their class were mega jealous of her as Rio didn't seem to be at all in discomfort from having so much tit flesh attached to her body.
Though if he were to ask Rio, she would trade her heavenly bust for her brother's full recovery in an instant if she could.
As them seeing Ryouga's injured body for the very first time had shocked the both of them to the core, and it had changed them.
Rio had gotten a lot colder to the people around them, and was now dubbed the school's Ice Queen due to her cold demeanor and her ice-focused deck.
Whereas Kyoji had focused hard on Duel Monster Tournaments, winning cash prize after cash price to support themselves and also help pay for Ryouga's medical bills, as while the Health Care provided a lot, it did not provide everything as skin-grafting was expensive.
While Heartland City was as close to a utopia as you could get, it was still a capitalist world, and money made the world go around.
Which was why…
"Going to have to go now," Kyoji said as he stood up.
"Oh, it's time now?" Rio asked as she looked up at him.
"Yeah, finals are going to start soon," Kyoji said as he went to leave. He had a nationals to win and, with it, a pro career that would set him up for life.
Xxx
Banned.
Banned.
Banned. Banned. Banned. Banned. Banned. Banned. Banned. Banned. Banned. Banned. Banned. Banned. Banned. Banned. Banned. Banned. Banned. Banned. Banned. Banned. Banned. Banned. Banned. Banned. Banned. Banned. Banned. Banned. Banned. Banned. Banned. Banned. Banned!
The word repeated itself over and over again in Kyoji's head.
He had been banned from the tournament in the middle of the duel with his opponent, a nineteen-year-old named Quattro.
As apparently, somebody had reported him having seen his opponent's deck before the duel started, which was against the rules.
But he hadn't meant to; the deck had fallen off the table and spilled all over the place.
Of course, he couldn't help but look at it, but cameras had recorded it, and it had been played in the arena alongside the announcement he was banned from the Duel Circuit.
Not just for a few months or even a year.
Permanently…
How the fuck was he going to make money now.
"Kyoji, are you okay?" He heard the voice of an angel, and he turned around to see Rio looking at him with heartbroken eyes. She quickly ran over to him after she looked into his eyes and hugged him.
He couldn't even muster up his usual reaction her, pressing her breasts against his body.
"It's going to be okay, it's going to be okay." She said.
"They banned me, Rio," Kyoji said. "They banned me for fucking life!" He cried.
"Shhh, we are going to find a solution."
"I was about to win, too; we were going to be set up for life; I was about to be the champ," He choked. "And now my name is in the gutter, and now we can't get extra money."
"We will find a solution," Rio simply said.
"I don't want to go back to the orphanage," Kyoji cried; he had never liked the place, and so the moment he could, he had made arrangements so that he, Ryouga, and Rio could get their own apartment to live in, and now if they couldn't pay for rent, utensils, and food. They would have to go back as they still weren't full adults.
"You won't, Kyoji, we won't; we just have to rely on our savings for a bit; let's try to find cards and sell them like we did before," Rio said as she did her best to comfort her friends.
"Cards," Kyoji said. "Sell cards… yeah, we can do that, and I just know how we can get rare ones." His voice was now a little dark.
"How?" Rio asked her cold, as she was so tired of bad things happening to all of them, first the car accident, then the fake, her brother burning, and now this. It had her so angry; why? Why couldn't the universe just let them be happy?
"Well, have you heard of Ante Duels?" Kyoji asked, a slightly mad look in his eyes, but Rio didn't care, for she knew he would never hurt her.
"I haven't." She answered.
"It's duels where you bet your rarest card."
"Oh," Rio simply said. "That gets us cards to sell."
"That it does."
Xxx
A few months later.
"Doom Dozer, destroy his monster for game," Kyoji declared as the last of Tetsuo's life points were eliminated, oh 4000LP format; how he loved it, but that was offset by the fact drawing the out was a legitimate skill that could be trained, meaning that duels got a lot more bullshit, and they were also a bit slower than back in his old world, though that still varied between decks, his own insect deck could get out a lot of fodder really quickly. "Now give me your card."
"N-no, I won't let you have it," Tetsuo protested, but Kyoji didn't care as he took the D-Pad off his arm and pocketed that prized Xyz ace monster that would go for a pretty penny.
"You done?" Rio asked him as he returned to her side.
"I am." He replied.
"Hey Kumo!" Kyoji heard his nickname be shouted as just like Shark; he had now gained a nickname based on his animal motif that, of course being Spider.
And he turned around to see none other than the protagonist himself standing there the setting sun highlighting his figure. His girlfriend standing right next to him like always.
Fucking useless.
And man, was he a joke.
Well, at this point in time anyway, Kyoji could still remember Yuma pulling off some nonsense, but he had no Astral.
So, the worst duelist in the school he still was.
"What is it Tsukumo?" Kyoji asked.
"Give Tetsuo his card back!" Yuma shouted.
"I think not," Kyoji replied. "He lost his card fair and square, he agreed to an Ante Duel, it is not my fault he lost."
"Then I will duel you for it!" Yuma shouted at him.
"Nah, everybody knows you don't have any cards worth dirt," Kyoji replied. "But what about that pendant of yours?"
Yuma looked shocked by that statement, but it seemed that he managed to find some measure of resolve.
"Fine!" Yuma said as he pulled out his D-Pad and visor. "I am feeling the flow today!"
"…what does that even mean," Kyoji replied as his D-pad activated once more, and his D-Gazer flashed on.
"AR Link established, Duel!" They both shouted.
Xxx
A/N: If you like this or any other of my stories, you can donate to my SubscribeStar. Adult /StreamingViking or my Pa Tre on at pa tre on. com (slash)StreamingViking776 and read commissioned stories and chapters before they are released publicly and where you can participate in polls, that determine which story is written next or determine things in them for only 3$ a month or for 10 and up see character at work for the stories. Pa tre on money goes towards more artwork