Continuation of last chapter, Deck Swap AU. Spoils up to Chapter 81.

Hitoda Makishima had always liked firepower. And a lot of it. And more importantly—she liked risk. She liked learning more about things, she liked toying with her opponents, and she liked being in control.

And what said control more than determining the fate of everything on the field?

Fire. Firepower.

Fun .

Her VRAINS avatar was built around that too—a sharpshooter in a veil that hid her face. Both the mystery of her appearance and her swift quips had been carefully calculated to attract fans—as it stood, there was a good reason that Roulette stood near the top of all the Charisma Duelists in Den City. Every part of it was carefully practised—her persona exactly made to attract attention.

She liked it!

… still…

"I find your online face insufferable," Ryoken Kogami said as they sat together outside the hospital. "I didn't think it would be this close to the kind of person you actually are."

Hitoda pretended to hide her smirk behind the cup in her hands, knowing that he could still see it. "It's still slippery, don't you think? They don't know what kind of person I am until I show it myself." A person doesn't know they're in danger until I put a gun to their head. "Not all of us can be as fancy and mysterious as you, noble leader," she said. While she didn't directly call him by the title that she wanted to use, she knew he heard it anyway.

Noble leader of the Knights of Hanoi.

"Don't be ridiculous," Ryoken said.

"Just saying. You behave barely any differently from Alaunus either."

Ryoken glanced around them—Hitoda had made sure that no one was around when she said his username. "The Charmers can manipulate events in their favour easily," he said. "Some things cannot be solved quite so simply."

"... heh." He didn't have to tell her twice. Still, Hitoda didn't voice that thought. Instead, she smirked at him flirtily. "Don't talk about another woman around me, or I'll get jealous! Aren't I the best charmer you know?"

"... you're a woman who's associated with bullets," Ryoken said.

"So's your sister, you know!"

"... regardless. Perhaps because of that… I know you're dangerous."

Hitoda grinned.

That's a little foolish, to think that a deck like that determines how dangerous I am…

I'd be dangerous even if I used cards like those pretty, innocent girls in your deck.

"You really don't hold back, do you?"

Winds swirled around them. Kaname's hair whipped through the air around her, wispy white that floated around like mist. There was something wild to the image of her, even though her expression said nothing. A force in the wind—a force of wind, perhaps. Above her, an enormous blue dragon flew through the air—her ace, Areadbhair, silent and deadly just like her, its scales gleaming with the colours of dusk.

In front of her, three criminals had been thrown into the wall.

Makoto hadn't even had to do anything—his partner had finished all the work herself. That was the kind of person that she was, after all. She never held back.

And like the wind, she's everywhere, all the time, listening when no one knows she's there. Silent, deadly.

"Let's keep going."

Kaname nodded, walking forward. As the two of them headed through the streets together, Makoto felt the need to speak up again.

"Your deck is surprisingly flashy for someone like you, you know."

Flashy?

"Yeah." Makoto smirked at her. "Look at all those flashy dragons riding on each other. You'd think you'd have something way more low profile than dragons—that's chivalric shit, no?"

Kaname glanced at him—her fingers briefly twitched, before she signed a few words, enough for Makoto to get the gist of what she meant.

"My deck? Well, don't say it doesn't fit me, come on. Some people will get insulted by that."

It's not like you made that deck yourself.

"Well no, the boss gave it to me." The quiet fish weren't exactly what Makoto would have wanted as his first choice, but he'd kind of gotten used to it. There was something cool to them, anyway. "Still, it's not like you dislike it, right?"

No.

"See? And I don't dislike your stuff, Mizuchi. Just think you should probably lean into it a bit more."

… I'll ask for your opinion on my summoning chants when you learn to stop saying 'water water everywhere' unironically.

"But it's true," Makoto said. "There is water everywhere."

… tsk.

Kaname strode off. Makoto followed, still amused.

Was she actually annoyed there?

Kind of cute.

In the end, after the Maiami Championship and the initial blowup that had come from it, Mion had come back to the building. Now, the two of them were sitting in the office, figuring out what other card they should prepare for the Lancers. Mion had suggested new cards for most of the other Lancers, including Yuya, who she'd only just met properly that day.

"And what about you?" Reiji asked.

Mion glanced up. "What do you mean?"

"The D/D/Ds." Reiji had been considering this for a while. The cards that Mion used formed a very basic resource loop—unlike Reiji, who could design Extra Deck monsters for his own use and as such, had a fully formed Extra Deck of Spellcasters by now. Meanwhile, Mion preferred simplicity.

"There's no need. I have one of every summoning method already."

True. She had one monster for every summoning method—exactly one. Still, all of them were more on the resource-gathering side rather than the aggressive side. He might as well give her stronger aggressive monsters, since…

(... he did not want to continue that thought.)

There was something about Mion Myojin that had always been very organised. It seemed fitting that a girl who used an entire deck of monsters that made puns about businessmen would be excellent with her financials (and handling other financials too.) Responsible enough, at least.

Still…

He always thought that the D/D/Ds could be so much stronger. (Though he had no clue how strong they could become.)

"... are you sure?"

"We both have our own plans and our own strategies." Mion glanced at him. "... don't dishonour me by saying that I should play in some kind of better way from what I already do. I'll manage—worry abotu the rest."

… it's not worry…

… is it?

Nue would say that she was generally a fan of the sky. And well, as someone who birds gravitated to, it was only natural that her deck had ended up being something to do with those birds.

Swift, fast attackers that rained down terror from the sky—those were her Raid Raptors. She was rather proud of just how strong they were too. And they matched well with her younger brother's cards, of course.

Still…

"Rain down your explosions, Ultimate Falcon!"

Just another day in Heartland.

As the smoke cleared, Nue was already moving with it as a smokescreen—unlike Chris, she was uninterested in having her boss monster attract new opponents every time she summoned it in a duel. She peered over the neaby rooftop—

Ah.

Looks like he's already set his trap, and the prey walked right in.

She stood by the side, watching. In front of her, Shun Kurosaki dispatched of another enemy with lashing vines and fangs, before grabbing the boy by the collar of his shirt and slamming him against the wall.

Still questioning them about Ruri, huh…

"Are you done?" She spoke up, once it became clear that Shun was just taking out his anger on the boy. Shun turned his head to look at her. "Card him and let's move on."

"Nue…"

"You're wasting time."

"... you're always so direct about things." He relented, carding the boy in front of him, before heading back to her. "What are you doing out here?"

"Looking for you, obviously." They were both on the hunt, just for different reasons. Their decks reflected that too, two different decks intending to find someone—and then, simply crush anyone and everyone who dared to come near them. "Come back to the base."

"Is it necessary?"

"Are you kidding me?"

… after a moment, Shun relented. "Fine," he said.

She knew he wouldn't stay for long. For a deck based on such slow-working plants and traps, he was still far too rash—ready to strike out, fangs and violence.

Still not as direct as she was though, for all that he was reckless.

She watched as Shun stormed off, back in the direction of the base.

… this man.

Ryo had always assumed that Shino liked machinery—it made sense, when her deck was filled entirely with those Cyber Dragons, which were all shining, bright metal. It was the kind of deck that Ryo thought he might enjoy, if he hadn't already started playing with the Albaz Style.

That was why it surprised him when Shino revealed her stash of cards.

"You have a lot of Machine monsters here that you're not putting in your deck," Ryo noted, looking through them. Eltanin, Altairis… "Why do you only use the dragons?"

"Huh?" Shino shrugged. "... choice, I guess. I like dragons the most." She lifted up two cards, twisting them between her fingers—her Cyber Dragon Core and Cyber Dragon Nachster, the smaller, cuter dragons. "Aren't they nice to look at? I mean, they call me the Empress of Dragons, right? If I use other monsters, my aesthetic won't be that good, you know."

"... aesthetic, huh." If she used anything other than her Cyber Dragons, it would feel weird…

"I mean, yeah." Shino sighed. She shifted on the bed, lifting up some of the other cards. "I do like my dragons a lil too much…" She winked at him. "And I like yours too! And all of the rest. But it has to be dragons, you know."

"… you play Pharos."

"Well, it's not like he ever stays on the field…"

"Clearly, if the beacon isn't an attack on your aesthetic, then a bird or two won't do much for it either."

Instead of acknowledging his words, Shino just smiled wistfully. "In another life, I'd have liked to play a deck like yours," she said. "But I guess this is just a reminder of what I am."

… there was a certain edge to her voice. As though she was mimicking someone else's words—and the idea of someone else having said that to her made Ryo narrow his eyes in anger. "What do you mean by that?"

"... nothing!" Shino tapped his nose. "Maybe when this is all over, I'll get myself a proper dragon or two. But I guess I should earn it first." She turned towards him, beaming. "Want to go for lunch?"

"... sure."