Chapter 22: Off the Record
The cruise ship Philyra hadn't changed at all since four weeks ago when it carried all the student duelists away from Duel Academy and back to civilization for winter break. But the feeling was different when going the other direction. Heading toward Duel Academy brought with it the excitement of knowing that every day would be filled with new things to learn and new adventures in the world of Yu-Gi-Oh! Gaming.
Bryan watched Matt drop his belongings into the closet and then collapse onto the couch, even before it was pulled out into a bed.
"How are you not more excited about heading back to school?" asked Bryan.
With his face buried in the pillow, Matt's reply was muffled. "I'm plenty excited. Fourteen hours is too long on a plane."
"You should learn how to sleep on the plane. Then you'd be refreshed by now."
"We've already had this conversation."
Bryan made a face. "When?"
"September."
He laughed. "Oh, yeah. How did that end?"
Matt groaned loudly. "Touch me this time and I'll dislodge the spring from your Duel Disk."
"Fine. It's not like I need you with me this time." He expected Matt to have a glib remark ready, but nothing came. Bryan never considered those firm cruise couches to be comfortable, but clearly they were better than airline seats.
Unfortunately, Bryan had forgotten that almost everyone was asleep the first night on the ship. Even Justin, who was usually a night owl, was unresponsive to text messages. Only Lucy responded. She was on the deck enjoying the smell of the sea and invited him to join her.
As soon as he stepped outside, Bryan was glad he'd worn a sweater underneath his Slifer jacket. He guessed that no one would use the deck pools on this trip. The sea air was so much colder in January than it had been in September. He walked over to one of the towel cabinets and opened it. Half the towels had been replaced with blankets, which he happily grabbed and wrapped around his shoulders like a shawl. The air smelled crisp like before snowfall back home, but there wasn't a cloud in the sky, so he must have been smelling the sea.
Lucy stood at the front of the ship talking to Mitsuro Itachu. Bryan had only spent a little bit of time with her during the fall semester, but she was the only student who tied a green rag around her hair, even while in uniform. Both of them wore thick streets clothes instead of the Academy attire. Mitsuro looked over her shoulder to see Bryan's approach before he was even close enough to speak below a shout.
"Another sea bird here to enjoy the night air?" asked Mitsuro.
"It's really nice out here, minus the cold," he said when he was closer.
Mitsuro added, "This is the best place to relax and clear your mind before jumping back into a semester of rigorous study."
"She's the one who got me started coming out here," said Lucy. "The view is beautiful during the day, but the smell and the feel is incomparable at night. Especially tonight. I can't remember the last time the sky was so perfectly clear on one of our cruises."
Bryan asked, "What do you do out here?"
Mitsuro gestured as if Bryan had asked a ridiculous question. "We enjoy the sea breeze."
"Oh. That sounds…"
"Boring?" said Lucy, with a clear question mark at the end.
"No, not that. There's value in silence. That's the whole reason Matt spends all his time at the library."
"I don't see Matt at the library that often," said Mitsuro.
"Back home. His house has twelve people in it, so the library is quieter. At school, Jack and I leave the room often enough or spend enough time studying that going to the library doesn't change the noise level so dramatically."
Lucy looked shocked. "His parents had ten kids?"
Bryan hesitated before answering. He had already divulged more information about Matt's home life than even Matt was willing to admit out loud. So Bryan just said, "Yeah. So he spends as much time elsewhere as he can. A private school like there, where everyone is more interested in studying than causing drama, is exactly what he needs."
Lucy shook her head and sighed. "That's crazy. I have one sister, and that feels like too many sometimes."
"I'm an only child," said Bryan.
They looked at Mitsuro, who held up her fingers. "Two brothers." She wasn't as eager to rag on her family members. But she didn't have the same reservation about Bryan. "Congratulations on the Deck Limitations Tournament."
Bryan blushed. "You saw that?"
"I read Duel Academy email, yes. A dozen students received honors over the break, all listed so that we could be simultaneously envious and inspired by you."
His cheeks grew even hotter. He had no idea anyone even knew about such a niche tournament. "It was no big deal."
"Stop that," said Lucy. "Winning an international dueling tournament is always a big deal. There will be people who try to say that since your opponents weren't professionally-ranked duelists, then it doesn't count. But none of them are out there winning anything except local tournaments and maybe placing in the Top 32 of a big tournament. Take your achievement and own it."
Bryan knew he was still blushing, especially when he saw the huge smirk plastered on Mitsuro's face. "She's right. Enjoy it now. Pretty soon, you'll have the attention of people who want to prove that your win was a fluke."
"Wait. What?"
"Oh, yeah. You see it all the time. Somebody achieves some kind of recognition outside the school, then suddenly everybody wants a piece of them. It's the only unwritten rule more well known than the one where you're not supposed to talk about the Guardian Duelers outside of Duel Academy."
Bryan felt his arm going numb. His throat tightened, and even his vision went a little bit darker. Was he going into shock?
"Don't worry about it," said Lucy. She put her arm around his waist and pulled him into a side hug, pressing her forehead into his shoulder. "You'll be okay. Just keep studying and keep practicing. That's all you can do."
It didn't sound like much compared to being bullied just because he helped Matt win a tournament. It wasn't even Bryan's tournament! He was only involved as part of a deck-building gimmick! "Maybe they'll focus on Matt instead of me?"
Mitsuro said, "Matt will get his share of ire. But he has a higher win rate already, plus he won the School Duel Solos. People are less surprised when he wins." She found the exact words needed to grab Bryan's pride and shatter it all over the deck. There would be pieces of his pride drifting across the Pacific Ocean for the rest of the semester.
Lucy looked sad. "You don't have to be so blunt with him."
"Better to hear the whole truth," said Mitsuro. "Sometimes you have to tear a broken structure down to the ground if you want to build it back up correctly."
This was one of only two days in the year when Cary allowed herself to sleep without an alarm clock. Just sleep until her body decided it was time to wake up. The cruise ship would arrive at Academy Island on the second morning after departure. Along the way, students were generally forbidden from dueling each other on the ship. That meant Cary had one morning where she had no major priorities. Unfortunately, she couldn't study too thoroughly because the motion of the ship created some intestinal distress whenever she read or focused too hard. Plus the first night on the ship exhausted her as she adjusted to the time change and the motion of the ship. Her two options were to get some exercise or to sleep through the pain.
Like all good teenagers, her first action was to check her phone for the time. Breakfast was closed already, but the onboard restaurants were about to start serving lunch. Plus she had several message notifications through the Duel Academy app, which was the only usable app without paying extra for Wi-Fi. They were all from Kasumi, whose time zone had moved forward a couple of hours, so she had been awake for a long time already.
hey! do you think erica would be my mentor?
i want her to tutor me to be a better duelist
since your close could her ask her for me?
Cary needed a minute to figure out the purpose of mentorship, even though Kasumi technically mentioned it already. Apparently Kasumi didn't think she was learning enough from the professors at a school called Duel Academy: She wanted another student to teach her one-on-one as well. Cary wasn't even sure that she qualified as being close to Erica, except that Erica was good friends with her cousin, Dave. Too much thinking first thing in the morning.
By the time she got out of bed, showered in the tiny stateroom bathroom, and dressed herself, it was already lunch time. When she reached the third deck level, she heard a lot of voices. Most likely, Burgerpalooza was already crowded. She wasn't specifically craving a burger and fries, so she went back upstairs to Deck 4. Otogi's was a smaller place, mostly because it was primarily for drinks and snacks instead of large meals, but all the eateries on the ship were linked to the same kitchen, so she figured she could probably get away with going off-menu if she found herself so inclined.
More importantly, Otogi's was a lot quieter overall. There was a piano player doling out tunes from various duel-themed movies and TV shows, so most attendees remained fairly quiet out of respect for the music. Only one group of students chattered with each other, but there was enough lull between laughter to make them tolerable.
As she picked out the empty table in the corner where she wanted to sit, Cary realized that Cee-Cee Silva was waving at her. That meant she wanted Cary to join her. At least her wave was a subtle movement.
"Hey, Cee-Cee," she said as she sat down in an empty chair. Cee-Cee quickly scooped up a bunch of metal pieces she had strewn about the table. "What are you working on?"
"Just a fitness tracker."
Cary noticed how many more pieces there were than most fitness trackers. "Why?"
Cee-Cee chuckled. "The sensor's off a bit. My pulse rate keeps coming up low, which I think is why I came close to blacking out during my workouts over the break."
"Because you ended up working too hard?"
"Exactly."
Cee-Cee was fit. And unlike most of the other passengers, she made it easy to see because her Academy jacket was wrapped around her waist. She wore just a crop top on her torso, which made Cary feel cold even though they were indoors. She would have guessed that Cee-Cee wouldn't handle cold weather that well, considering she was from Brazil, but maybe she was a special case.
Instead, Cary asked, "What kind of workouts do you do?"
"Cardio—stamina stuff, mostly. Anything to help me last longer without getting tired."
Cary ignored the initial, dirty thoughts that crossed her mind. In the time she'd known Cee-Cee, the girl had hardly shown interest in boys. Instead, she asked a sarcastic question. "You get tired from tinkering?"
"No, this is just a nervous habit. Idle hands, and all that. I take jiu jutsu classes when I'm at home. At school, I do the tai chi classes in the rec center. Sometimes dancing, too."
"Wow. That was more answers than I expected. Idle feet, too, huh?"
A cafe waiter approached to ask for their orders. Cary placed hers immediately, but Cee-Cee looked confused. "I have my water," she said, tapping her glass.
"Don't you want lunch?" asked Cary.
"Oh! Is it lunch time?" Remembering that Cee-Cee's fitness tracker was in pieces and therefore unable to report the time, Cary just nodded. "I guess I should eat." Cee-Cee proceeded to order an obscene amount of food: enough to feed someone Bryan's size.
"You know the food is already paid for with tuition, so you can just come back when you're hungry later."
"If I don't eat it all now, I might forget later." Cee-Cee put away her toolkit for a little while to make room on the table for plates.
As she and Cary ate with nothing but piano music between them, Cary started watching the people who walked down the path behind the cafe (which would be a hallway if the cafe had a back wall). The student population wasn't very large—one of the many selling points for the private academy to hike up their tuition costs—so she knew everyone except for the occasional transfer student. But rather than just trying to name them all, she wanted to remember who had won accolades over the break.
Rikuto, Naoki, Chika, and Akira were always together. They were even some of the first students Cary had met back on the first cruise to the island. If memory served: Rikuto and Akira had each placed in the Top 16 of the Chubu and Okinawa regional showings, respectively. It wasn't high enough for them to qualify for the world championships, but at least they qualified for the Japan Nationals, which would take place in the summer.
Shane Pricer walked by himself. Cary wasn't aware of any tournaments he participated in. So if he did, he didn't place well enough to make a big deal of it.
When Jim Martel sauntered down the hall, Cary tried to hide without making it obvious. He never really crossed the line physically, but Cary would rather not notice whatever leer he planned to throw her way. Besides, Jim had won a Sealed tournament—every player received booster packs and had to build a small deck using only those cards. Winning was partly based on luck, but it also required a lot of skill to create consistency out of randomness. Given that he was a senior getting ready to graduate, he was on her list for the semester.
Haruki Yagawa and Miyu Kino entered the cafe and sat down at a table in the corner. Haruki had come in second at the Tokyo Festival, losing to a professional duelist in a duel so tight that it almost needed instant replay to verify the winner. Miyu had come in fourth, only because she had to duel against Haruki in the semifinal round. The two of them watched the piano player for a time before they smiled at each other and started a quiet conversation. Haruki was also the leader of Team OTK, and Miyu was both his lieutenant and his girlfriend. They made a cute couple, but Cary's inner debate was whether to walk over and ask them questions about the spring Academia Circle—the intramural dueling league. The semester hadn't started yet, but she knew they were both set to graduate at the end of the semester, so they would be looking for someone to take over as team leader for next year. Cary wanted that spot.
"They're cute together," said Cee-Cee. As another member of Team OTK, would she also be aiming to take over as leader?
Cary asked, "You thinking of picking out a boyfriend?"
She turned bright red. "What? No. I mean… Maybe? It would be nice. I haven't found anyone yet."
"It's a small dating pool at Duel Academy. If there's anyone worthwhile, you'll find him."
"What about you?" asked Cee-Cee, clearly trying to distract herself from her own embarrassment.
Shaking her head, Cary said, "No. Maybe after Duel Academy."
"Just not interested?"
"Too much else to do. Maybe something casual, if that's possible. But even that sounds like a lot of effort that I don't want to spend." That's when she noticed Matt walking with Lucy Mercer. Matt had managed to become champion of an international tournament. Worse, Bryan had lucked into being co-champion. And that was a tournament Cary probably could have gotten herself invited to if she had known about it even a day sooner.
Matt spoke animatedly, but Lucy looked as if she were mostly ignoring him with all the politeness she could muster. "Take those two. Matt's been trying so hard to hit on Lucy that he's not spending his time on achievable goals."
Cee-Cee made a face. "Yeah, I would never peg them as a couple. I thought he was dating Kasumi?"
"I don't think he knows what he wants. And neither does she."
As Matt and Lucy started to walk by, Cary asked, "Where's your boyfriend?"
That question was enough to make them both stop, but only Lucy was confused. Matt answered, "He's neck-deep in hot dogs. I swear, he won't be able to walk off the ship tomorrow."
Cee-Cee said, "They have wheelchairs here." Cary smirked, wondering for a moment whether Cee-Cee was being facetious or serious. But then she considered that Cee-Cee could just build a wheelchair, if need be.
Lucy said, "Matt thinks I should be the one to tutor Bryan and help him grow as a duelist."
"You came to me," said Matt. "If you really want to help him get better, you know what you should do?" Matt leaned in close enough to whisper and still be heard, but not so close that Lucy felt the need to lean away. "Duel him in a strip duel."
Cary laughed, just loudly enough to obscure Lucy's shocked gasp. Cee-Cee blushed again and busied herself with tinkering. Lucy kept her composure pretty well, minus her cheeks turning crimson. "What!" Now she leaned away and folded her arms.
Matt continued. "You duel against him. Every 500 points, you lose an article of clothing. Nothing will motivate him to learn how to duel faster than that."
"Would that motivate him, or would it motivate you?" The sarcastic tone in her voice indicated Lucy already knew the answer to that question.
He shrugged in an over-exaggerated way. "I would be happy to supervise and make sure everyone follows the rules correctly."
"No, but thank you for offering like such a gentleman."
"Just sharing a new method of power-leveling. Let me know if you change your mind."
As Lucy turned away, Cary shot Matt a wink. "Subtle."
"Was it? Maybe I should be more direct." He continued following Lucy. Since she didn't scream, either she was willing to put up with him, or she killed him skillfully and silently.
Cee-Cee said, "I know Matt's smart, but he's also… not smart." Cary laughed. She had thought the same thing about him every day since she met him. He had some redeeming qualities for now. Everyone had to grow up eventually, right?
Cary realized that she didn't know anything important about Cee-Cee's break. "Did you participate in any tournaments?"
"I thought about it, but my jiu jutsu tournament interfered with the schedule."
"Oh. How'd that go?"
"I won."
"Shit." Cee-Cee blushed, which was not the response Cary expected from someone who could probably beat up half the school by herself.
Cee-Cee asked, "What about you?"
Cary shook her head silently. She was embarrassed enough that she would just as soon have people think she hadn't done anything. In truth, she had participated in the US Dueling Open. Everyone kept telling her how good she was to reach the Top 32 as a freshman, but she couldn't accept it… partly because her cousin Dave finished in the Top 4. It was another tournament frequented by actual professionals, so her rational brain knew she should be proud of herself. And she did qualify for nationals. But she was nowhere near good enough to win that competition yet.
Soon after Cary finished eating, more people she envied walked past the cafe. Justin Nussbaum and Erica Dawkins were both former members of Team OTK and might have been contenders to be the leader instead of Haruki… except that they earned the even-more prestigious positions as Guardian Duelers. For half a second, Cary thought about how they, too, would graduate at the end of the term, which meant two more spots would open in the Guardhouse. But she dismissed that thought because of the specific cards each of them guarded. Justin held Raviel, Lord of Phantasms; summoning him relied on using fiend monsters, which Cary never put in her deck. Erica held Hamon, Lord of Striking Thunder; summoning him relied on using Continuous Spell Cards, which was also not part of Cary's deck. So neither of their cards were useful to her unless she changed her entire play style.
Erica had also been at the US Dueling Open and finished in the Top 32. Justin had won some hobby league—far less prestige, though he did win, so that's something.
Where Matt and Lucy had a sluggish pace earlier, these two moved like they had places to be. But since Cary didn't enjoy long social interactions, that made it the perfect time to intercept, make a small request, and then step aside. She stood from the table thinking she would have to hurry. To her surprise, Erica saw her and diverted her trajectory.
"Cary!" Erica gave her a hug, which was awkward, but then she immediately apologized. "Sorry, I know you're not a big hugger. It's so good to see you again! How was your holiday? Except for the Open, I mean."
"Quiet, but good enough," she said. For some reason, seeing her jogged a memory that Cary couldn't quite capture. Was she supposed to do something with Erica?
Justin asked, "Did you do anything exciting?"
"I'm sure you've already heard about the tournament from Dave."
Erica grinned. "We want to hear it from you instead."
Cary craned her neck to look down the hallway. "Don't you need to be somewhere? You were in such a hurry."
"Nowhere important," said Erica.
"Yeah. We just figure to move quickly when we go anywhere because why take any longer than necessary? We were heading to the onboard theater, but we can always catch the next show."
She shook her head. "Don't let me keep you. But maybe we could get together sometime and talk about how dueling teams will change at the end of the semester?" Looking to Erica, she added, "And how to stand out when you don't wear green and you don't have a penis."
Justin blushed, but Erica nodded. "Absolutely. I'm still figuring that part out, myself, but we can share notes. This is still such a boy school."
"Maybe I can help with that," said Justin. But he hadn't even finished the sentence before Erica said, "No, you can't." So after pausing in a mix of annoyance and disbelief, he changed his comment to: "Okay. But at least I've known Haruki and Miyu for three years, so maybe I can help with that part."
Erica smiled. "That's definitely more up your alley."
"Thanks," said Cary. She made a face as she struggled to remember what she was supposed to say. "Oh, right. Do you know my roommate, Kasumi?"
Justin smirked. "Oh, yeah."
With a smack to his chest, Erica said, "Don't be like that. She's dating one of your friends. Isn't she?"
Cary shrugged. "Who can tell? She wants to know if you'd mentor her this semester."
"Mentor?" asked Erica.
"Her?" asked Justin. That earned him another smack. "She's not much of a dragon expert."
"I think dueling consistency was more her concern," said Cary. "Maybe generic guidance about being female in a male-dominated arena."
Erica nodded. "That makes sense. I don't know if there's much help I can offer, but I'll talk to her."
As they walked off, Cary sat back again, and several more students walked by. Most of them were like Shane—no grand awards over the break. A couple more passed by with hobby league placements and other small-time stuff. At least until she saw Fats—Tamah Fatu, Jr. He dueled in the Apia Festival and also placed in the Top 4. Most people would scoff at the dueling competition in Samoa, but Cary knew better. There were some real contenders there, and Fats was just a freshman. Plus, he was a member of Team OTK, another rival threatening her title.
Another Guardian Dueler entered the hall: Jade Kincaid. She was perfectly friendly to talk to, but Cary couldn't stand how nonchalant she was about schoolwork and dueling, and yet none of it seemed to matter. Jade was a single-digit rank who rarely lost a duel, and she had enviable grades without ever visiting the library. But she never showed any signs of stress, even when she won the Southern England Regional Championship over the break. Of all the students who competed over the break, Jade might have earned the highest accolades.
Maybe that's why Kasumi Sato was hanging around her. Kasumi was Cary's roommate in the Obelisk Girls' dorm. She was far more social than Cary was, but she hadn't been super-close to Jade in the fall semester. They were further grouped with Wikolia and Lei Keil'i, the senior and freshman sisters who spent even more time at the Guardhouse than Cary did by virtue of Wikolia dating one of the Guardians. As far as Cary remembered, they hadn't won any awards over the break.
Kasumi saw Cary, said something to the rest of the girls, then broke away. She stopped in front of Cary and leaned in for a hug. "Hey! I'm so glad to see you!" Kasumi was fully aware that Cary hated being touched, but she was convinced that Cary also craved physical affection. She gave Cee-Cee a hug, too, proving that Kasumi was just a hugger. "I didn't see you last night."
"Went to bed pretty early," said Cary, which wasn't a lie. She didn't fall asleep right away, but she was definitely in her stateroom only minutes after boarding. "What have you been up to, Kas?"
"Just saying hi to everyone and getting myself ready for the next semester."
Cee-Cee pointed to an empty chair. "Would you like to sit?"
"Actually, can I talk to you in private?" She was looking at Cary. With a shrug, Cary stood from the table. Cee-Cee waved, then continued tinkering.
The pair walked down the same hall Cary had been monitoring for the past two hours and took the first exit to the outdoor deck. The air instantly bit at Cary's skin. The crisp smell told her snow was possible. She zipped up her jacket all the way to her chin and wondered whether she would be able to fit two pairs of leggings on at the same time. A few voices carried from the top decks, but she didn't see anyone else hanging out down here.
Kasumi might have been affected even worse by the cold. She was bright red when she finally whispered, "I saw Matt earlier."
"And you're ashamed? That's why you're whispering?"
She hesitated, which almost sounded like an affirmative answer. "He asked me to have a strip duel with him."
Cary couldn't suppress the smile that crept across her face.
"Don't laugh!"
"Weren't you supposed to talk to Erica?"
"I was! But then Matt talked to Justin, and then Matt wanted to talk to me, and he asked…" She couldn't speak more over all the blood rushing to her face.
Cary shrugged. "Why tell me?" Channeling Matt's comment to Lucy earlier, she asked, "Do you want me to supervise?" That only seemed to make Kasumi more embarrassed than she already was. "Don't overthink it. You're gorgeous and he just wants to see it all. If you want to see him, and maybe show off what you've got, then go have fun."
"What if he wants to… do more than duel?"
"He's a boy. Of course he wants to. But doing it is up to you. He'll respect your answer." In reality, Cary was surprised Matt even made one clear move with Kasumi. The only person he was blunt with was Lucy, and that might be because Matt knew Lucy's answer already and therefore lost his inhibitions. Everything else with him moved at glacial pace unless the other person took the lead. And so far, Kasumi wasn't a leader.
Still bright red, she asked, "Should I do it?"
"The strip duel, or the 'more'?"
"The duel."
Cary shrugged. "Still up to you. Did you know he played football last year and still goes to the rec center during the school week?"
Kasumi nodded.
"I'm just saying, he probably looks pretty good with his shirt off. Maybe with pants off, too, unless he skips leg day. Then he'd look ridiculous." Kasumi let go of a nervous chuckle. "I think he shares a stateroom with Bryan, though. So if you don't want an audience, maybe use yours."
"You think I should do it?"
"If you're ever going to, the ship might be the easiest place to get away with it. He can't enter the girl's dorm on campus, and he has even more roommates in his dorm room. It's too cold to do anything like that in the woods. And there might be cameras at the duel stations, so I wouldn't recommend it there, either."
Kasumi said, "We're not supposed to duel on the ship."
Cary laughed. "Just play tabletop. There is no way either one of you will be able to take this particular duel seriously enough to make it official." Shuddering as a breeze blew through her skirt, Cary gave her roommate's arm a pat and then winked. "Good luck. Oh, wait! What underwear are you wearing?"
"Why?"
Cary rolled her eyes. "Girl." She quickly told Kasumi what message she was about to send with the specific underwear she showed a boy. Luckily Kasumi was already self-conscious enough to not need a detailed explanation.
Before Cary could make it all the way back inside, she noticed Sydney King standing on the starboard side of the same deck. Even with her back turned, Syd was easy to spot because of her platinum-blond ponytail dangling over a white, boy's jacket. Traditionally the girls' uniform was distinct from the boys', but there was no actual dress code rule that prevented girls from wearing the boys' uniform, and Syd preferred the longer coat.
But more importantly, Syd was a former pro duelist. Or almost pro: She was a junior league champ before she just quit dueling out of the blue for a couple of years. She hadn't shared her reasoning behind enrolling at Duel Academy when she already had the credentials to go pro. Ultimately, her reasons didn't matter, though. What Cary wanted was someone with experience but not a member of Team OTK, who would give her honest feedback about how she could become a team leader.
"The rules are pretty clear, right? Anything we need to cover, before we uncover?" asked Matt. Kasumi looked especially antsy. He wasn't sure yet whether that was good or bad. "We can still cancel whenever you want."
She shook her head. "No, we can play. We lose a garment for every 1000 LP?"
"Right. Shoes, socks, belt, jacket, pants, shirt, and underpants. Also bra, in your case."
"But that means you only have seven garments."
He shrugged. "I don't mind having a handicap."
"What if each shoe counts as a separate garment?"
"Then it's not fair for you to treat them as one. I can start with only 7000 LP if that makes you feel better?"
Kasumi said, "No, that's worse! Okay, we both have 8000 points and only seven garments. I can combine my skirt and belt so we're even." Matt wasn't about to argue with the opportunity to get her naked even faster. The anticipation alone made him focus on her outfit more than usual. Her school uniform wasn't especially tight, but it fit her well enough to show some curves.
As they both sat down at opposite ends of the small, stateroom couch with the coffee table beside them, Kasumi asked, "Who goes first?"
"I issued the challenge, so it's only fair that you get to pick. Ladies first, unless you make the conscious decision to defer."
He felt as if that were a successful move. Kasumi had the softest smile on her face as she watched him. Without breaking eye contact, she said, "I accept." The pause between them felt heavy. She was the only girl he was thinking about anymore.
Finally Kasumi found the will power to break her eye contact and draw her cards. "How's your opening hand?"
Matt smirked. He hadn't checked it. Keeping the cards face-down so he couldn't see them, he slid five cards from the top of his deck. "It's okay. Am I about to lose it?"
"Not all of it. Hand Destruction." She placed her spell on the field, which forced both of them to discard only two cards and then draw new ones. Matt quickly glimpsed his hand as he also dropped two cards into the graveyard.
Kasumi looked pleased with herself. "This is better. I'll play Red-Eyes Fusion and summon Meteor Black Comet Dragon (8: 3500|2000)." Had they been using holograms, the appearance of her lava dragon would be visually impressive. Warm, too, most likely, with how the duel stations implemented Solid Sense to simulate a battle with real monsters. "As part of his effect, I send Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon (2800) to the graveyard just so I can hit you with half of its points." As she dropped her monster, he imagined Meteor Black Comet Dragon summoning a meteor shower overhead.
Matt reached down and deftly slipped his shoes off. Kasumi didn't say anything, but her face turned pink.
Her voice was full of nervous giggles as she continued her turn. "I'm also going to use The Black Stone of Legend's effect. It went to my graveyard earlier, so by shuffling a Red-Eyes back into my deck, I get The Black Stone of Legend in my hand." She pulled the card into her hand, placed another card on top of her deck, and then pushed her deck forward so Matt could shuffle it. He shifted the cards a bit and then gave it back to her fake Main Deck zone. She placed two cards face-down in front of her. "That ends my turn."
Kasumi: 8000 LP, 2 cards
Matt: 6600 LP, 5 cards
"Eventful start," said Matt. "Let's see if I can return the favor." He looked at his hand and placed three cards face-down in front of him. "Nope. Your move."
Kasumi: 8000 LP, 2 cards
Matt: 6600 LP, 3 cards
Kasumi grinned as she drew her card. "I'll play Red-Eyes Fusion again."
"And I'll chain Eternal Soul. Plus Dark Magician (7: 2500|2100)." He pulled the monster from his Graveyard, also put there by Hand Destruction on the first turn.
"Was that all?" asked Kasumi.
"Yes. Go ahead."
"Okay. Red-Eyes Fusion resolves so I can summon Archfiend Black Skull Dragon (9: 3200|2500)." Another superior black dragon, this time based on the legends surrounding Yugi Mutou.
Matt smirked. "Sorry about this." He flipped over Dark Renewal. He could envision the red casket filling with the souls of his Dark Magician and her Black Skull Dragon, even without the holograms. "Its effect uses both our monsters to summon Magician's Rod (3: 1600|100)."
Kasumi smiled. "You messed up! Just kidding. Meteor (3500) will destroy your monster." She pushed her monster with a fingertip toward Matt's card to simulate the fight. If not for defense mode, he would have suffered a lot of damage… and clothing.
Kasumi: 8000 LP, 2 cards
Matt: 6600 LP, 3 cards
Drawing, Matt said, "I'll start my turn using Eternal Soul to summon Dark Magician (7: 2500|2000) back to the field. But now, let's clear out your backfield." He played Dark Magic Attack, targeting Kasumi's two face-down cards for destruction.
She immediately activated one of them. "I chain Red-Eyes Spirit. This lets me summon Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon (8: 2800|2400) from the Graveyard."
"That's fine. What difference will another big dragon make?"
Kasumi smiled at him, aware he was joking. She had a clear field advantage right then.
"Next Dark Magic Succession lets me banish two spells to bring Dark Magical Circle to my hand." He looked through the deck for his card and then handed it off to be reshuffled. "Of course, I'll activate it, too." He looked through the top three cards on the deck. "No benefit this time. But I'll play Allure of Darkness next." Matt drew two cards and banished a second Magician's Rod to make the imaginary darkness fade. "Next I play Illusion Magic." He removed Dark Magician from the field so he could claim two copies of it from his deck.
He lingered a moment, staring at Kasumi the whole time. He already knew what cards were in his hand. He just needed to read her face for a moment. She looked back at him expectantly. After all, he left his field open to attack. How could that really be the end of his turn?
"I end my turn."
Kasumi: 8000 LP, 2 cards
Matt: 6600 LP, 3 cards
Her eyes widened as she realized how fortunate she was. Two of her biggest, baddest dragons on the field could almost take out all of Matt's remaining Life Points in one turn! If she summoned just one more baddie…
"Wait. Are you throwing the duel?" She blushed even more heavily than before.
He laughed. "I promise I'm not. I will probably lose more clothes here, but it's a calculated risk."
She pressed her hand over her mouth and nose as if that could hide how shy and anxious she was about this next turn. "You know that Darkness Metal's effect lets me summon any dragon back to the field? What if I choose Archfiend Black Skull Dragon (9: 3200|2500)?" She slid her fusion monster out of the Graveyard and placed it beside the other two, massive dragons.
"Hang on. I use Eternal Soul to summon Dark Magician (7: 2500|2100)." Defense mode, for sure. Her dragons were too strong otherwise.
Immediately after, Kasumi placed her giant dragon on the table likewise. "This could be a nice situation for me considering our bet. Now I have three powerful dragons."
"Two," said Matt. Before Kasumi could ask him to explain, he pointed to the Dark Magical Circle card. Its other effect meant that Matt could banish Archfiend Black Skull Dragon from the field just because he summoned a Dark Magician. Kasumi gasped at the loss of an ace monster, but Matt wasn't done playing her turn yet. "I'll also send Dark Magician to the graveyard to return Magician's Rod to my hand." He slid his monster into the Graveyard pile so he could remove the other monster.
Kasumi pursed her lips. "I'm disappointed you removed my dragon, but thanks for leaving your field wide open. I'll play Allure of Darkness to draw two cards..." She lifted two cards from her deck, and then her contemplation turned wicked. "For the second effect, I'll banish Necroface. That activates the effect where we each banish five cards from our deck."
Matt did as instructed.
"Now I play another Allure of Darkness." She drew another two cards. "This time I banish The Black Stone of Legend."
"No effect?" asked Matt.
"Not this time. But now I play another Hand Destruction. We discard two cards and redraw."
With a smirk, Matt said, "Don't like your hand?"
"Just making it better. I have The Black Stone of Legend in my graveyard again. By shuffling a Red-Eyes back into the deck, I can move The Black Stone to my hand." She placed her hand down at the edge of the table and leaned forward to provide Matt with intense eye contact. "Now it's time for two direct attacks." Her Meteor Black Comet Dragon (3500) exploded onto Matt's field like its namesake, and Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon (2800) unleashed a tremendous firestorm of darkness… in his imagination, anyway.
He flinched as he did the math. Kasumi must have been counting, too, because her cheeks found even darker shades of pink. Matt could feel himself burning up a bit, so he suspected his cheeks were no better. He stood up and pulled his jacket off first. Kasumi loosed a small yelp, but her face was all wide eyes and smiles as she watched him pull off his shirt. He wondered whether his body was impressive enough—it's not like he had bulky muscles like Bryan used to—but Kasumi continued to stare, so he assumed it was good enough. He used his toes to pull the socks off each opposite foot.
After he loosened his belt, he hesitated. He had been all too excited to show his naked body hypothetically, but now that the moment was here, he felt all the anxiety pile on at once.
Kasumi's gaze flicked up to meet his eyes. "Are you okay? Did you change your mind?"
Although the anxiety stayed, stubbornness took over in that moment. He couldn't lose face in front of Kasumi. "No. My thumb slipped." Quickly, so he couldn't hesitate again and risk overthinking, he unzipped his fly and then pushed everything down all at once. He watched her expression carefully. She made the sound of nervous laughter, but her expression was slightly different. From the way she stared, he hoped that she was actually just fascinated… and maybe even interested?
"Exactly as planned," he said, lying through his teeth.
Before he could sit down, Kasumi said, "Wait!" She put her hand face-down and skirted off to the tiny bathroom. She came back immediately with two towels. Handing one to Matt, she said, "Sit on this. It will be more comfortable."
"You're not wrong about that." The upholstery on the couch was scratchy. And even though the ship had a cleaning crew, Kasumi probably didn't want a naked ass sitting on her couch. Matt laid the towel out and sat on top of it. He considered folding it over his lap but felt like that was cheating.
Maybe she read his mind. "You can cover up, if you want to."
He shook his head. "It's not your fault I decided to take the handicap. Speaking of handicaps, is it my turn yet?"
She shook her head, still hiding the lower half of her face behind her cards. And still looking down at his lap every few seconds. She wasn't subtle—like, at all. Matt really hoped that he wasn't that obvious whenever he checked someone out.
Kasumi said, "Maybe you should have kept the Dark Magician."
With a sigh, he said, "You would have taken him away from me regardless. This way I lose control of my Rod prematurely. Oh, wait. That sounded weird. I mean my Rod stands firm until I'm done using it." He furrowed his brow. "Words are hard, just like my rod."
Whatever his intention, he succeeded in making Kasumi blush. He only intended word play, but with how often she checked him out, it was about to be true.
Trembling through suppressed laughter, Kasumi placed a card face-down.
Kasumi: 8000 LP, 2 cards
Matt: 300 LP, 3 cards
A shiver ran through. The stateroom was heated well enough, but it was plenty cold without clothing.
With a chuckle, Kasumi said, "I can tell you're not that cold."
Taking control, Matt said, "First is Eternal Soul. It summons Dark Magician (7: 2500|2100) again. And summoning a Dark Magician activates Dark Magical Circle, which destroys your face-down card. Now I'll finally summon a monster even more attack pointed than yours by playing The Eye of Timaeus." His card was a brilliant dragon with emerald scales, as if intentionally contrasting with Kasumi's monsters. "Fusing these two brings Dark Paladin (8: 2900|2400)." Technically a different card altogether, this one looked like a Dark Magician spellsword, like a warrior with a magical halberd.
He pointed to Kasumi's graveyard. "Would you make sure I counted your dragon cards correctly? For each dragon monster on your field and in your graveyard, Dark Paladin (+4900) gains 500 attack points. I'm pretty sure that's 4, counting everything destroyed and discounting everything banished."
Kasumi finished checking. "That's right."
"Good. Then Dark Paladin can obliterate that Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon (2800)." He grinned widely. "Oh, wait. You lost Life Points, right? So that means…"
She took his excitement with good humor. It probably helped that he already lost as far as strip dueling was concerned. But since she only had to lose two garments, she said, "I'll start with my shoes and socks, just like you did."
"Tease," he said. But at least the momentum was shifting, so maybe there would be more stripping to come. "I place one more card face-down to end my turn."
Kasumi: 5900 LP, 2 cards
Matt: 300 LP, 2 cards
When Kasumi finally pulled her attention away from Matt's lap, she furrowed her brow. "I wasn't expecting a play like that. I guess I should have, though. Dark Paladin is the best support card for a Dark Magician to beat a deck of dragons. Even though your monster is stronger than mine, I have such a lead on you that all I need to do is get rid of that one spellcaster to win."
"Sounds simple when you say it like that," Matt joked. "So let's do this: Eternal Soul lets me summon Dark Magician (7: 2500|2100) to my field again."
"I'll chain Hand Destruction," said Kasumi.
Matt made a face. "Ooo. Sounds like a tough hand. Too bad my Dark Paladin has a counter for that. By discarding a card from my hand, he negates your spell card's effect. Anything else?" She shook her head. "And as the chain resolves backwards, I still end up with an extra Dark Magician." Kasumi smirked, possibly thinking that Dark Magician was weaker than her dragon and could be an excellent target. "Sorry to burst your bubble." He pointed to his Dark Magical Circle card. "Black Comet goes away now."
Kasumi gasped. "Oh, no." She checked out her hand and realized what Matt already knew. She smiled softly at him and shook her head. "I'm not giving up. If you still want to win, you have to take it from me."
Matt quickly quipped, "I'd enjoy taking it from you." The innuendo was too obvious to miss, and they both blushed heavily.
"The Black Stone of Legend (1: 0|0)," she said, pushing for air. She sounded like breathing was suddenly difficult. "I send it as Tribute to summon Red-Eyes B. Dragon (7: 2400|2000). My turn is over."
Kasumi: 5900 LP, 1 card
Matt: 300 LP, 2 cards
With a grin, Matt said, "You play exceptionally. But like you said, I want to see the end of this duel." She sat up even straighter, almost looking proud of herself. "First thing is that you summoned an extra dragon, so Dark Paladin (+5400) grows another 500 points." Meteor had been banished and didn't count toward the bonus, but both the Black Stone and the Red-Eyes added value to Dark Paladin's power. "Instead of overdoing it with Eternal Soul again, I'll summon Magician's Rod (3: 1600|100).
"Dark Paladin (5400) destroys the Red-Eyes (2400)." And then Matt waited.
After a few seconds, Kasumi laughed. "Oh, I see. A few Life Points at a time?" Having just lost 3000 LP, she was due to drop three garments. She leaned forward and unzipped her jacket. After she peeled it off, she debated what to remove next.
"Want some help?" asked Matt.
She continued to blush, but she turned her hip toward him. "Would you get the skirt zipper? There's a button, too." She was letting him help her undress? Maybe she was into him after all. Unzipped and unbuttoned, she let the skirt fall to the floor, revealing her black leggings and long-sleeve shirt. "I guess it doesn't matter what's next, does it?" Before Matt could make a suggestion, she grabbed her shirt around the waist and pulled it off.
Matt was so taken by the sudden appearance of a bra and cleavage that he even forgot what humorous comment he had been about to make. And also that the duel wasn't technically over yet.
"Is that all?" asked Kasumi.
"Oh, right! Dark Magician (2500) attacks directly." Another 2000 points, so she pulled off her leggings and thong at the same time. She was quicker to sit down than Matt had been, so he only got a quick glance. "Left the bra for last, huh? Interesting."
"Why is that interesting?"
"Suggests what you think is the most embarrassing and secretive part of the body."
"You did the same thing."
He shrugged. "Kind of. Society tells me I only have one private area, though. You have two." He tapped his Magician's Rod (1600) card. "Actually, I guess neither of us have any private areas anymore, do we?"
Kasumi: 0 LP, 1 card
Matt: 300 LP, 2 cards
He enjoyed watching her remove the last of her clothing. But then they both sat on opposite ends of the couch, just looking at each other. Despite being on display, they spent an awful lot of time staring into each other's eyes.
"What's next?" asked Matt.
Holy cow. It took me a year to write this arc? I didn't realize how thoroughly time slipped away from me. This arc has 18 chapters in it, some of them a little too heavy on the duels, which might be a significant contributor to the delay here. I'm going to try to convince myself to back off on the duels a little bit in the next arc just so I can get more plot in a shorter amount of time.
Now that we're back at Duel Academy (almost), I'm reusing some of the OCs contributed by readers during my first arc. In no particular order, this chapter included the following contributions:
* Mitsuro Itachu...Titanic X
* Cee-Cee Silva...HardWrapping
* Jade Kincaid and Sydney King...TC-For-Short
This chapter is off to a spicy start because it was something I wanted to include somewhere in the story, but the spice level here won't be representative of the entire arc. (Whether that's good or bad depends on what you're looking for.)