I cover my cleavage with my hands, stuffing Rocky back in stealthily. A group of men shove their way inside the open door. I'm behind Yusei faster than you can say "card games."
More of these guys! I just hope they aren't here for me.
Yusei takes a protective stance in front. "Come on," says the largest of them, pushing the three of us out the door. The dominant shoves continue all the way to the ground floor where they round us up. Yusei and Yanagi keep their feet under them. I, however, meet the ground at the last of them pushes my back. The hand that offers help belongs to my protector. He pulls me up to stand with him.
"Welcome to my duel field," annouced one of the group's members. His hair was cyan blue, poking out all around the crown of his skull. He was big and muscular, too much for anyone of us to take down if he decided to go that way. "I'm Himuro. This is my realm."
He's the big cheese around here, I see. He's not chasing my skirt, so he must have some semblance of dignity.
Yusei pulls me behind him when Himuro moves toward us. Yanagi bounces around, a ball of nervous energy.
"Since you're new, you don't know that there are two sets of rules." He leans in closer to Yusei. "One for inside the facility and another for the outside. Got it? And I rule the inside."
Thinking there's no way out of a duel here, I'm puzzled to see Yanagi's excited smile. "I know who you are!" He exclaims. "You're the pro-duelist Himuro Jin, right?"
"Shut up, Jii-san!" There was no harsher a rejection than that.
"Awesome! I'm so lucky I can meet you in a place like this! Hey, An-chan," He addresses the violet-eyed man. "I've seen him several times on TV."
My hand comes to rest on the old man's shoulder. "Yanagi... I know you're not fangirling over the guy that's going to MURDER US RIGHT NOW! Stop being a groupie!" I can't believe he's letting his hero worship get in the way, here. "He's threatening us, don't you see?"
"Stop talking about the past!" The fact that we're speaking casually must also be making our guest upset. He's angry, that's for sure. "Hey Jii-san! When I talk about the rules on the inside, it means you have to duel me to determine your rank. The lower rank must obey the higher rank!"
I gulp again when Yangi speaks up. "Hey, I figured this would happen, so I brought my deck." Himuro seems pleased. "My deck is incredible. It's the rarest of the rare! I call it the treasure deck! Look! Look!" He gathers the cards into both hands.
"It's good that you're prepared," The muscular male chuckles. How about you two?"
Yusei looks straight ahead. "I don't have one."
"I-" I have to swallow to get some saliva in my mouth. "I don't duel anymore. I don't have cards, either. I'll take a low rank."
Himuro stalks a circle around us. "You're trespassers from Satellite. That means you don't have a deck." His face comes closer, enough that I can feel the heat of his breath. I'm sure Yusei is doing no better. "Just by being citizens of Satellite, you're the lowest of the low."
"Hey, Yusei doesn't have it on him, but he does have cards!" By now, I know it's time to shut my mouth but I keep going. Himuro is glaring down at me, getting angrier by the word. "And he's more man than you'll ever be. Yusei doesn't look down on people because of where they were born."
I've pushed too much, I know when Yanagi jumps between us to save my skin.
"Well now, Pinoko didn't know anything!" He pushes us apart. "Take it easy on her, Himuro-chan!"
"Stop saying my name like that!"
"Anyway, let me borrow a Duel Disk!" He slides on the proffered device. "I'm so happy that I get to duel against Himuro-chan."
I prayed the old man isn't full of false confidence, but my hopes were dashed. Yanagi was quickly defeated, seemingly unable to make use of his card's effects.
I don't know who would build a deck like that. It's like he just loved the cards so much, he didn't think about how they'd perform altogether. Like when I'd try to build my deck, and Ryuga would teach me.
"Pinoko, you can't put a card in your deck just because it's cute."
"But I love Cheepcheepcheep! It's fluffy and there's adorable mice crawling on him."
"But look at it's effect, does that help you in battle? Can you pair it with any of your other cards for a combination?"
"I don't get it, Nii-san."
"Here, you have Cockadoodledoo over there. If you flip summon Cheepcheepcheep, you can special summon it from your deck, plus it has a bunch of other ways to summon it through monster effects. That's how you make a combo. Now what do you do once you have them on your field?"
I shake the memory away. Yanagi's monster had just been defeated in battle.
"It's fate that fakes quickly vanish. It's your turn, Jii-san. Bring it."
Yangi is rattled. "T-Then it's time for my next card! I draw!" His pessimism quickly turns around. "This is pretty good too. Its defense points are excellent! Look at this card. I summon it in defense position!" A tower grows out of the ground as he summons. It's a big tower, but what does it do? Defense position should be used to set up your next move, not just a stop-gap, but he clearly cares for his cards. I can empathize. "That's right, Ashoka Pillar is a mysterious iron pole that exists in India. This perfect iron pole was made using techniques that didn't exist during that era!"
"Jii-san, do you really want to duel?" calls Himuro from the end of the room. "You've played nothing but lame cards! Are you making fun of me?"
"I'll show you even more shocking cards! From my hand, I equip the spell card Spirit Mask on Ashoka Pillar!"
"So? What are you planning to do with that?" Himuro's concern is understandable. The only effect for that card is that you'd have to send your own to the graveyard if it was destroyed. Why equip it to your own monster unless you had a plan for it?
"Stay tuned," he laughs. "I end my turn."
"My turn! I draw! Jii-san, all you want to do is show off your cards. All your cards are useless garbage that don't work well together!" What a thing to say! Yusei is clearly affected, same as me. "This is a waste of time! I'll wipe away those garbage cards! First I release Ushi Oni!"
"Eh? Why?"
"I special summon Giant Ushi Oni! Giant Ushi Oni is a monster that can only be summoned by releasing Ushi Oni. Giant Ushi Oni, attack Ashoka Pillar! Specter's Bite!" The pillar was demolished high above the crouching old man. "You're pathetic. But don't think you've escaped yet! When Ashoka pillar is destroyed, you take 2000 points of damage! And don't forget the effect of Spirit Mask. When that card is sent to the graveyard, you have to send another card in your hand to the graveyard."
"Oh yeah," Yanagi sadly grumbles, sending a card to his graveyard. This is heartbreaking to watch. The men that follow Himuro start to chatter amongst themselves.
"It takes skill to gather that many useless cards." Yusei glares at them.
"Giant Ushi Oni's monster effect! If it destroys your monster in battle, it can attack again! Attack Jii-san directly!" This is the duel's end. Yanagi falls back like he expected the monster to actually hurt him. Cards scatter. Yusei and I race to help him off the ground. I stop to collect his cards. He was so proud of these. I can't bear to see them treated like they're useless.
"Are you okay, Jii-san?" The mechanic helps up Yanagi from his spot on the laquered wood floor. He comes to my side, gathering each card, panicked over their well being.
"Jii-san, you lose. Sheesh." None of us are happy with the pro-duelist, but Yusei is livid. He stays rock solid at the approach of the vested man. "Not only didn't I lose any life points, but you dueled in a manner that was insulting to me!" Himuro steps on the last treasured card.
"Hey, what's wrong with you? Don't you have any respect for others?" I shout. He's holding his foot on the card like it's not there.
"Jii-san, you and the girl will have the same rank, as low as possible!" I'm standing now to meet him.
"You're as low as possible! The power you wield so carelessly is what makes you so awful! Yanagi only wanted to-"
"It doesn't matter what he wanted. He was making a fool of me!"
"I wasn't trying to make a fool of you! I was just trying to show these cards to an incredible duelist like you!" Yanagi weeps, pleading with him. "I love these cards! Am I not allowed to love them? It's true that I don't know much about effects and such... but I love these cards because they tell me about the mysteries of the human world."
"I love these cards! They can show everyone that cute can be strong too!"
"Please move your foot. My precious cards are in pain!" Himuro starts grinding his limb into the monster card. Yanagi buckles, as do I.
"How awful... a card so cherished doesn't deserve such treatment! I'm begging you to show this card some decency!" My own tears are flowing in response to the display when Yusei has had enough.
"Huh?" The man with blue eyes claps a hand onto Himuro's shoulder, sweeping his legs from underneath him.
Yusei...He's always saving my dumb ass.
"What are you doing, you punk!"
"Will you let me borrow that deck?" Yusei only addresses the old man I kneel next to.
Yanagi and Pinoko both stare up at me, tears in their eyes. The woman's trusting eyes meet mine.
This Himuro has done enough. I'll show him what power these cards hold.
"I want to win with that deck." I crouch in front of them. I then address the opposing duelist at the collective confusion. "You said you were a professional duelist. I'll be your next opponent." I turn around, facing him.
"Interesting. You're saying that you can beat me with that lame deck?"
"That's right. Of the numerous cards in existence, not a single one is useless." He's amused by my declaration, taking the field arrogantly. My two cellmates wait behind me, outside of the field's lines.
"Satellite punk, do you know how to duel?"
"You'll find out soon enough." I choose to be vague, but the long haired girl from Satellite has become my staunchest supporter as of late.
"He can duel! And he'll win! You don't know what you've gotten yourself into!"
"You're just going to quickly fail and embarrass yourself. The cheer squad won't help you in a duel."
The other side starts heckling me.
"If you want to quit, now's the time!"
"What can you do with that lame deck?"
"Himuro-san, finish him off fast."
"This is in the bag, Yusei!" It sounds like Pinoko has her own duel, manifesting in the form of cheering to drown them out. "You're better than this dickbag!"
"An-chan, will you be okay?"
"Just watch."
"I activate the spell card Trianlge-O! Triangle-O destroys all cards on the field. Then the damage that I would have taken due to the destroyed card's effects will be dealt to you!"
Himuro's life points are brought to zero. I feel something around my neck, but its only Pinoko. She jumps on me, hanging by her arms. "I- You are stupefying! I don't even know what to say! Oh my stars, Yusei!" She's gigling, back to her normal self now that the duel is ended. Pinoko is under 5 feet tall, the top of her head barely reaching my shoulders.
She's little. It's funny how much personality she keeps in such a small body. But she also has secrets. She has experiences that I can't ask about, ones that I have to trust her to tell me when she's ready.
"An-chan, you're awesome! You won by reflecting back 3000 points of damage that you were going to take. I didn't think it was possible."
"I just fulfilled the wishes of the cards." I smile at him.
"An-chan..." The space Pinoko vacates is taken by the old man jumping upon me. What brings the situation back to serious is Himuro who crosses the field.
"You won without even attacking once. You were chosen by the cards. That was a good strategy. I'm amazed. I didn't know a duel like this was possible. What's your name?"
"Yusei" I don't know what to make of him yet. If he seeks retribution, I can't get too comfortable.
"Jii-san. I'm sorry that I stepped on your cards."
"It's fine, it's fine!"
"Girly, I'm sorry for not believing you about your boyfriend's skill."
"Oh, uh. I mean, I was pretty rude to you, too. But we aren't, we're not... that. Uhh." She's clearly embarrassed at the assumption.
It's true there's nothing between us. Sometimes, though, the way she looks at me, the way she touches my hand or my back... It makes me think there may be something forming.
"Anyway, take a look! See? Doesn't it look like Crystal Skull is smiling? An-chan, you're really incredible!" I shake away the thoughts that place a warm feeling in my chest.
"It would be a waste if you're stuck here. I want to send you to the world of the pros." I finally crack a small smile at the other duelist. He holds his palm out for a shake. "Will you duel me again?"
"Anytime." We shake.
"Number 88!" The gravity of our situation is brought to the forefront again. "The cheif wants a word with you. Come with us."
Another interview?
Pinoko is at my side in a second, grabbing my wrist.
"Yusei, be careful. I know there's not much can do, but..."
"I will." Hers is the last face I see before being taken to meet the cheif.
