Starting Notes:
Welcome back! This chapter was fun to write, but the sheer amount of content nearly killed me, so… enjoy! :) It's a pretty long chapter, and it's mostly character interactions, so I had fun with it!
Chapter 75: Aftershocks
"All your life you wait, and then it finally comes, and are you ready?"
- All The Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr
Day 0
[22 people have been added to the chatroom. To view individual members, click here.]
Miharu Kogami: :bump Reiji Akaba done.
Reiji Akaba: Thank you. everyone Once you're done cleaning up and patching up whatever wounds you need to sort out, come to the participants' dorms. What is the estimated time you will need to get here?
Yuto Kamisoka: We're all currently waiting for the showers by the bathhouse. There's a huge crowd.
Mion Myojin: there's two showers in the participants' dorms. use them if you want.
Shingo Sawatari: ! ! ! save one for me
Mion Myojin: no. first come first serve.
Shingo Sawatari: …
Yugo: That bathhouse is 10 minutes from our orphanage! :D :D :D
Rin: What Yugo wants to say is that you can come here. It's a bit messy from the giant laser that went through our living room, but miraculously, the shower is untouched.
Chiaki Katsuya: Miharu Kogami how did you install a chat function in our duel disks? You didn't even touch mine.
Miharu Kogami: That you know of.
Chiaki Katsuya: … I like you.
Yuno Sugisaki: Miharu's great! :)
Sora Shiun'in: *rolling eyes emoji*
Nue Kamisoka: *rolling eyes emoji*
Shun Kurosaki: *rolling eyes emoji*
Serena Akaba: What is that?
"An emoji," Yuzu said. She was currently drying her hair with a towel. The two of them had been lucky and managed to use the dorms' showers—as creepy as the silent building was, it was at least faster than most of the others, who had gone out to search for somewhere else. "You've never heard of it?"
Serena shook her head. Yuzu launched into an explanation. Serena did her best to listen, despite how tired she was.
… the last hour felt like a fever dream, after the tension and adrenaline of the previous day. Reiji had wanted to hold a meeting immediately, but Mion had insisted that everyone should at least get to cool down and clean off before they did anything. Reiji had relented for reasons that even someone as oblivious as Serena could understand. Serena had decided at that exact moment, touching her filthy hair from the rain and sweat, that she was going to buy Mion a meal or something nice.
Because they would be separating from each other, Reiji had asked Miharu to install a chat function on all of their duel disks, just so that they could all keep in contact. Miharu had mentioned that the function would probably break the moment that they travelled to a different dimension again—something about how the dimensional travel caused most of her programs to glitch out. Even so, she had obligingly installed it on all of their duel disks in absolutely no time.
While most of the rest had left, there were a few of them still here. Yuzu and Serena, obviously. Reiji and Mion were discussing something with Jack Atlas and Yugo's weird sensible pretty older sister, while Reira quietly clung to Mion's hand.
And nearby…
"How short?"
"Around here." Chiaki Katsuya gestured slightly above her shoulder. Miharu nodded. "You sure that you know how to cut hair?"
"I cut my own hair," Miharu said. Chiaki glanced at Miharu's hair, blinking.
"Really? And you choose to keep it that long?"
"I'm not comfortable with shorter hair." Miharu glanced at Chiaki's hair again. "I tend to do layering and stuff for my own hair… I'm assuming you don't want that?"
"Just chop it all off if it's longer than that," Chiaki said.
"Yes sir," Miharu said—so calmly that Chiaki couldn't even tell if she was joking. "Alright." She began her work—it was perhaps not the most practical use of time right now, but they were waiting on the rest anyway, so Chiaki figured that it was probably fine. They'd set up a spare tablecloth on the ground for this—just to stop Chiaki's hair from getting all over the ground. Miharu had offered when Chiaki had been talking to Yuji about it, and slightly curious about her doppelganger, Chiaki had agreed.
Meanwhile, Yuji and Yuno were taking their turn in the two showers—they had wisely decided not to argue for the showers against the girls. Yuya was asleep on the couch, looking exhausted.
"So," Chiaki said, as the sound of snipping scissors set a quiet rhythm in the background. "You're a programmer?"
"More hacker than programmer," Miharu said. "But when you break down programs enough, you learn how they work."
"Hacker, duelist, hairstylist," Chiaki snarked. "Pretty as all heck too." This girl was so conventionally pretty—long hair, braided up with hardly any effort, delicate features, a calmness to her appearance that was far more feminine than any part of Chiaki's personality. "You sure you're not some self-insert protagonist come to life?"
She heard Miharu let out a soft exhale—but the other girl didn't sound displeased. Was it… amusement? "That's the first time I've heard that."
"I mean, we have the same face, but it's not like…" Chiaki nearly shrugged, but she remembered not to at the last moment. Miharu carefully snipped at her hair. "Different competence in different things."
"I'd assume so."
From most other people, Chiaki would assume that they didn't care or that they were mocking her, but from this girl… it might just be genuine.
Hmm.
Come to think of it, this girl was a little like Yuji. Not completely the same, but they both had a level of frankness to them that would seem mocking to someone who wasn't used to it. Serious and honest, though Miharu seemed slightly more emotive than Yuji. However, her blonde lookalike also seemed to be less conversational than the average person.
Well, good thing that Chiaki was used to carrying a conversation.
"I also heard that you're one of the strongest ones here." Chiaki shot the girl a look. "Right?"
"I am."
… hah. No false modesty, huh?
Chiaki really liked her. It was really unfortunate—she didn't want to like someone so much, but it was really hard not to. It wasn't just the similarity to Yuji that was getting her—it was the light humour to the short responses, the way that Miharu seemed to actually be taking her seriously. A girl like this had every right to be arrogant, and yet she simply wasn't—she carried enough confidence to impress but not irritate.
"I'll have to take some pointers from you then," Chiaki said. "Yuji seems to have improved a bit just from dueling your boyfriend, so maybe that'll work for me with you too."
"Should I make a boyfriend joke about you two, if you're making one about us?" Miharu said. Chiaki laughed—one of surprise. "Careful. Your hair."
"Yeah, yeah." Chiaki kept still again. "Seriously, though. I am planning on joining the Lancers because Academia is my enemy. If we're going to be comrades, I'm going to learn from you."
"That's fine." Miharu shrugged. "If you give me a night of sleep… we can duel afterwards."
"I thought you Lancers were all 'let's be friends' and 'redemption arc'." Chiaki rolled her eyes. "Not going to comment on me wanting to trash Academia?"
"You and half of my comrades," Miharu said. "I'm not someone that cares about revenge, but I also don't have the right to tell someone not to pursue it. If you want it, go for it."
Chiaki felt a smile tugging at her lips.
"Hey, I'm done." Yuno Sugisaki walked back through the door. "Sawatari took the shower." He was currently running a towel through his hair, drying it—his hair had frizzed up slightly, into thick curls. "Oh, you've made quite a bit of progress!" He sat down on the couch opposite Yuya's, making sure not to disturb the sleeping boy. He grinned at Chiaki. "You must be Chiaki Katsuya. Yuji's said a lot about you."
"Has he?" Chiaki raised an eyebrow. "Do I live up to what he said?"
"Hah, I can't judge that." Yuno waved a hand through the air. His clothes were actually mostly soaked through—after all, it wasn't like most of them had access to a change of clothes here. There were a few extra clothes that had been offered to them, but Yuno had ceded them to the Commons that might need them. Clean water for a shower was good enough. Still, he seemed perfectly comfortable. "If you think you do, then you definitely do."
"What an absurdly political answer," Chiaki scoffed. Still, the annoying part was that it was the correct answer—neither asserting any right to perception of her or acting like they were more familiar than they actually were.
"Yuno's very sweet," Miharu said. Though Chiaki couldn't see her face, she could hear a smile in the other girl's voice.
… jeez. Sappy. Thank goodness she and Yuji were nothing like that.
Chiaki had no time for romance right now.
"Done," Miharu said. "Though if what Yuno just said is correct, Sawatari is in the shower, so you might not be able to see it for a while."
At that moment, Yuji walked through the door. His jacket was absent—he likely didn't want to get it wet. Still, by just wearing his dark undershirt, he and Yuno looked even more similar than before.
"Yo, Yuji," Chiaki called. "How's my hair?" She wouldn't need a mirror if she could just get confirmation from him, after all.
Yuji turned to look at her. He blinked two times. "It's shorter by two inches from your usual preference," he said.
"Yes. I want it shorter." It was definitely pettiness—if Academia didn't want to let her cut her hair, she would cut it short just to spite them.
"... I prefer you with your hair shorter anyway." Yuji sat down, tossing his jacket on the side of the couch. He pulled out a computer chip from within it—the one that he and Chiaki had extracted from the robot that they had dueled earlier. "Kogami-san."
Miharu turned to look at him.
"We got this from one of Roget's… robots." Yuji handed it to her. Miharu examined it. "I thought it might be better to give it to someone who would understand it."
Miharu nodded. "I'll analyse what's in it," she said. "Thank you—" She paused as Yuno cheerfully wrapped an arm around her shoulders, looking at her playfully.
"Nope," he teased. "I'm putting a stop to this. You need to take a nap after this. Staring at your laptop will tire your eyes."
"If my entire childhood didn't give me myopia, this much is fine," Miharu said, but she didn't push him away.
"Yes, but if you won't take care of your own health, it's up to me. This is an intervention." Yuno casually led Miharu away, the two of them exchanging more banter.
Yuji walked over next to Chiaki. He cocked his head slightly. "Are they… dating?"
Chiaki shot him a look of surprise, slightly amazed. "... I can't believe that you can actually recognise some social cues now." She jerked a finger towards Yuya. "Wake him up and let him go take a shower too."
Yuji nodded. He walked over next to Yuya—
And shoved him off the couch.
The red and green-haired boy woke up with a sputtering sound. Chiaki facepalmed.
That had clearly been Yuji doing the most efficient method of waking someone up, without considering that it would also frighten the crap out of the person involved.
Nope. She was not helping Yuji explain this. He could do it himself.
"They really destroyed our orphanage…" Yugo stared at the remains of the orphanage. He'd been here for a while, taken a shower—but he still hadn't gotten used to this. "This is… horrible."
This was where he'd grown up. This was where he'd spent most of his life.
It had only been a month or so ago when he'd returned here and Arisu'd had to bail him out again. A month, and then…
"They injured Martha pretty heavily too, but the doctor said that she will recover," Rin said. "We should go visit her later." She cast a look behind her. "You should go too. She's been asking after you for a while."
Kaname tilted her head away, but she nodded after a moment.
"Wait, wait, let me show you!" Yugo ran over to one of the cupboards—luckily, it hadn't been destroyed by all the monsters from before. He opened it, moving around some things, before he found the photo album. Photographic film had become less expensive in their time, considering the existence of digital storage—while people still used physical photographs, most of them were also backed up to a digital database, just in case.
Martha had always made sure to record down their growth in photographs. But more than that, she had also noted down small things about them in notes on lined paper. On Yugo's page, there were notes of his favourite colour and favourite foods, all of them carefully taken down. Not just recorded on the paper, but in Martha's mind as well. Rin had a page too, and then, Kaname's…
The photo album and its attached pages were a pretty well-known secret in the orphanage. Only Martha was unaware that they all knew about it.
He flipped to Kaname's page, showing it to her.
On it were all the things that Martha had taken down about Kaname—her fears, what to do to make her more comfortable. All those things. Martha always noticed them.
There were photographs of Kaname playing with the other children—teaching them how to read patiently. Most of the children at the orphanage had learned sign language fairly early on because they had grown up with Kaname, but the one who had taught all of them was Martha. The photographs were cute, but a note that had been attached to it…
Yugo would never admit it out loud, but it had broken his heart a little when he had first seen it.
'Kaname's favourite was always my chicken and fish congee. When she comes home, that should be dinner! Prices are going up, but I can afford it, if my child comes home.'
When she comes home…
If my child comes home.
Martha had hoped so much that Kaname would come home—the girl that she had raised since she was two. She had hoped, but she had known that she couldn't expect it to happen. So she had made a promise to herself, to preserve that hope—to preserve that dream. Wasn't that what all of the Commons did?
Kaname looked at the note. She raised a hand to her face and turned away.
Yugo knew that it meant she was far too overcome with emotion to try to express anything.
"You'll go, right?" Yugo said once Kaname turned back to look at him.
Kaname nodded. 'Want. See. Her.'
"Okay. Then we'll go together." Yugo grinned. "We'll even drag Arisu and Jack along!"
When they all gathered back in the dorms, it was a tight fit in the living room. Some people were on the couches, some people were on the carpet, and a few of them were even sitting on the tables.
"I just want everyone to be aware," Yuto had pointed out, "that we are ruining the longevity of every piece of furniture in this room."
"Yes, and so?" Serena had said, which had summed up everyone's opinion on the topic rather well. Yuto had nodded—he clearly hadn't cared that much about it either, but he was the responsible one.
Yuno was sitting on the ground, but he did not care about that much—Miharu was leaning her head on his shoulder, and at this moment, that was about as much as Yuno cared to think about.
Of course, eventually, they had to turn their attention to other things.
Reiji, Mion and Jack finally joined them. Arisu, on the other hand, escaped out of the door immediately.
Reira settled down next to Miharu. They were looking at Miharu with some puzzlement on their face, and Miharu reached out, gently squeezing their hand to reassure them.
"Thank you for coming back here so quickly," Reiji said. "We were discussing what to do after this."
He turned towards the four Xyz duelists, much to Yuno's surprise.
"Our next stop is Heartland," he said calmly. "After we're done here."
This caused a stir amongst everyone—Yuto looked pleasantly surprised, while Nue nodded, a neutral expression on her face. Shun and Ruri also seemed somewhat happy with that.
"However, it'll take… perhaps two weeks for us to head to the Xyz Dimension." Reiji held up a hand to halt any questions. "As much as it would be easier for us to say that defeating Academia is the end of our mission here, I do not like to leave things unfinished. Seeing the Synchro Dimension in its current state, it feels irresponsible to simply head to the Xyz Dimension now. If Academia comes back, the Synchro Dimension is not yet in a stable position to defend itself. I would like to request two weeks of your time. You are not required to help out, though I would appreciate it if you did. If you do so, do not tire yourself out—you will need your full strength for a completely different world."
He was looking directly at Shun and Nue, which… made sense. If anyone was going to violently object to the suggestion, it would be one of those two. They seemed to know that too—they looked at each other, seeming to exchange thoughts with their glances, before they turned back over.
"... loath as I am to leave my comrades in Heartland suffering for any longer," Shun said, "you're…" He stopped talking for a moment.
"Hard to say it, right?" Nue shook her head, scoffing. "... you're right. We'll wait, then. It's not like we weren't expecting something like this—leaving right now doesn't suit our style either."
Huh? They were a lot less impulsive…
Come to think about it, Ruri Kurosaki's presence might be the reason why. Yuno obviously hadn't exchanged much conversation with the dark-haired girl, but if her kidnapping had been the reason why the trio had been desperate enough to travel to a world that they knew nothing about, then it made sense that her return would calm them down.
"Thank you." Reiji turned to Jack. "You had something that you wanted to propose to them, right?"
"Yes." Jack took a step in front of all of them. "This next week will be, as Reiji Akaba has already said, a period of rebuilding. You have already done so much for this city that I will not demand more from you. Help when you can, but otherwise, rest. There are other worlds that need you as well." His tone was confident—Yuno found himself unconsciously sitting up straight. "However, the week after that… I would like to request something from you."
His gaze travelled across the room—looking first at Shun, then at Serena and Miharu, and then at Yuya and Yugo.
Miharu seemed to get it first. She sighed. "I can't," she said, though it was so quiet that only Yuno heard her.
Jack clearly hadn't heard her either, because he spoke up. "Yuya Sakaki. Yugo. Serena Akaba. Shun Kurosaki. You are technically still quarterfinalists in the Friendship Cup."
"... are you serious?" Shun said.
"Unfortunately, yes." Jack looked at them. "What I believe will motivate the people most of all is spirit. I want to rebuild this city from the ground up—it is not an easy task, and not one completed quickly either. The Tops will not be willing to cede many of the things that I want them to—but I am done with waiting. We write tragedies daily—it's far past time that we start writing something different. And I would like to return the Friendship Cup to its true purpose—not a false platitude of unity, but a celebration of the strength of everyone within this city."
"… I am not arguing with your philosophy or means," Miharu said. "But you seem to be forgetting that one of your semi-finalists is Sergey Volkov."
The name sent a sharp reaction through the room. Yuno could feel Miharu tense up even as she said it.
"Your tournament is already compromised, as a result."
"That is not a problem," Jack said. "I will replace Sergey Volkov in the tournament. It's only fitting that if we are reconstructing everything, I should fight my way back to the top again."
"... legitimacy," Miharu said.
"That is the plan, yes."
"... then, you don't really need me." Miharu turned over to look at Rin. "... will you replace me in the tournament?"
"H-huh?"
"I don't want to be a part of this tournament," Miharu explained. "It's served its purpose for the Lancers—we came here to look for allies." She cast a look at Reiji Akaba. "And to show our strength to the Synchro Dimension. There's something else that I want to work on to help us. And… Yugo spent a lot of time telling us how your dream was to face each other and show your strength to the entire city. It's only fair that you should get to do so before we go."
"... you're pretty sensitive to this stuff, huh?" Rin turned to Jack. "If it won't cause problems…"
"It's fine by me." Jack nodded. "So. Will you honour this request of mine?"
"... if I must," Shun said, but there was a certain spark of excitement in his eyes.
"Hell yeah! I get to face Rin and maybe you?" Yugo raised his fist in the air. "This is the best!"
"... I don't have a problem with that," Yuya said. "I need to see how far I can go…"
"Seconded," Serena said, nodding towards Yuya. "I'm always open to testing my skills."
"Alright then," Jack said. "In a week then. I will tell the city about it—to give them something to motivate themselves through this tough time."
Yuno blinked.
… ah.
To give these people hope, to convince them to keep building everything back up, Jack was promising them a show at the end of it. Not bad.
"That's not all," Reiji said. "Jack has agreed to allow you all medical checkups. I will be making these checkups mandatory, just in case there are any injuries that may affect you in the future." He glanced at Yuto, who was carefully gripping onto his wrist. "If it's severe enough, anyone who requires medical treatment will be returning to Standard with me in six days from today."
"We're going back?" Yuya exclaimed.
"Temporarily," Reiji clarified. "We have not yet fixed the glitch that caused us to be split up when we entered this dimension. I was considering asking you to take a look at it, Kogami-san, but it did not seem convenient before now."
"I'll do it," Miharu accepted easily. Yuno side-eyed her.
That settled it. When they headed home, he was going to drag a programmer along with them, just so that Miharu wouldn't be the only one who could do this kind of thing.
"Very well. I plan to return to Standard for a single day to settle certain affairs there, especially in the context of current plans." Reiji pushed up his glasses. "… our current plan is to set up a proper alliance between our five dimensions to combat Academia. Jack Atlas has already agreed to this alliance. As such, once we're done hashing out contingencies and plans, he will inform the city, and I will go home and tell LDS to prepare for them."
A proper alliance between dimensions, not just a single group…
"I would like one of you to be involved in our discussions," Reiji continued, turning back to the Xyz quartet. "If possible, we can hash out our priorities in context of what your city needs the most." He looked over at Yuji, Chiaki and Kyorin as well. "And while all three of you didn't experience the invasion of the Ritual Dimension, if you wish to negotiate on behalf of your home, your input is welcome. We will help both the Xyz and Ritual Dimensions—"
"It's just that Xyz is a higher priority," Chiaki said, cutting straight to the uncomfortable topic. "That's fine. If they live, they live. If they die, they die. That city of ours was never focused on dueling—their chances of helping are far lower than that of your world."
There it was—the taboo brought out immediately, and then shut down.
"… very well." Reiji turned to Kyorin. "Will you negotiate on behalf of your world?"
"I—I'm not sure I'm qualified…"
"From what you told me when you first came to Standard, I disagree," Reiji said. "I think you're uniquely positioned to negotiate."
Both Yuji and Chiaki cast confused looks at Kyorin, who was fidgeting.
"Okay," she said. "I can't promise that they'll listen to me, but I'll try."
Reiji nodded. He turned to look at them. "What about you three?"
"Well, Miharu's the most qualified!" Yuno said cheerfully, before he stopped. "Though I don't, uh, want to give her more work. So…"
"It's pointless," Miharu said. She wrestled with her next words for a moment. "… the Link Dimension has likely allied fully with the Fusion Dimension."
Yuno frowned. "What?"
"Didn't I tell you yet?" Miharu seemed surprised too. "That's why they hunted us down back then… I thought we'd established that."
"Kisara Tsutsuji suggested that an information exchange had taken place between the two dimensions." Reiji called their attention back to him. "However, you were not around when she said that."
"Yuri told me, back in Standard." Miharu shook her head. "I assumed that he was messing with my head, but the fact that most of Academia seems to have attained Link Monsters is… troubling."
"Does that affect your decision to side with us?"
"Reiji!" Mion chided.
"I mean it," Reiji said. "When you say that the Link Dimension has likely sided with the Fusion Dimension, you refer to the Grandmaster Council that you once mentioned to me—and to your father and brother, correct?"
"… I do."
"So it then becomes important to question this. If we go to the Link Dimension and it turns out that your family is hostile towards us, what will you do?"
Yuno found his breath caught in his throat.
Miharu glanced up, eyes lidded. "… I will ask Ryoken why," she said. "But it's pointless. The Knights of Hanoi fight for what's right. If they betray that, I'll fight them. You don't have to worry about my conviction."
"… very well." Reiji looked at her. "So you don't feel the need to negotiate for the sake of your world?"
"… I'll do so if it's necessary. But my word means very little."
"It's enough." Reiji turned to everyone else. "… you're dismissed. Get a good rest."
Everyone began to disperse. Jack headed out—after all, there was likely a lot of unrest going on, and he was the best suited to deal with it.
"Yo, Yuno." Hitoda approached him. "Can we talk privately?"
Yuno nodded.
"I'll wait for you upstairs," Miharu said, and she slipped off, leaving the two of them alone in the living room.
Hitoda smiled, and she gestured forward.
"Let's talk in the garden outside," she said. She walked out—Yuno followed her, slightly confused. They both sat down on the grass, under a tree—it was wet with the rain, but considering that Yuno was literally soaked by bath water right now, he was fine with it.
"So…"
Hitoda leaned back against the tree, fiddling with her hair bun. "Sorry. Thinking about how to breach the topic."
A soft exhale.
"It's not every day that you have to tell someone that you know about how their brother died."
Yuno jolted up straight. "How did you—"
"Relax." Hitoda shrugged. "I told myself that I'd tell you… eventually. Once I'd settled things. But I have a feeling that hiding things any longer won't be good for you." She reached over, putting a hand on his shoulder—stopping him from bolting. "The truth is, the first time we met in person wasn't on the day we left the Link Dimension. It was eight years ago—when you were eight, and I was nine. Do you not remember?"
"… I don't like thinking about that day," Yuno admitted. "You were… there?"
"Mmm." Hitoda winked. "Found the little boy asleep in the hospital corridor and asked the nurse to put a blanket on him." The levity was gone a moment later though. "I was there for my brother too. He was caught up in the same incident."
Yuno's head shot up—he looked at her, shocked.
"To be honest, that's why I agreed to mentor you when you started out!" Hitoda shrugged. "I saw your cards back then, and well, Boundless Sea using the same cards was a dead giveaway. You were a complete unknown back then—I vouched for them to give you a chance."
"Why?"
"Well…" Hitoda smirked. "You were just so pathetic. I felt bad for you."
Yuno snorted, recognising the joke.
"No, my actual reason was… well, I thought you might need an escape." Hitoda crossed her legs, glancing at him. "It's hard, isn't it? I think about Takeru all the time too."
… oh.
"It's not an escape," Yuno said. "Well, it might have been when I started out, but it's what I enjoy."
"Good for you!" Hitoda tilted her head to look upwards. Yuno watched her for a moment.
"So, being Soothsayer…"
"It's not an escape." Hitoda grinned. There was something unkind to it. "It was a means to an end, but I enjoyed it enough to keep going. Same as you." She raised a hand, looking at it. "… you don't know anything about what happened, do you?"
"No." Some bitterness wormed its way into Yuno's heart.
"Well, that's fine." Hitoda sounded very casual. "I'm going to be very honest with you, Yuno. My goal has always been to find out who did that to Takeru, and to take revenge on them. Whoever that person is, they ruined my life completely. I've spent a large part of my life doing what I could to survive—and to try and hunt them down."
Revenge…
Such an ugly word didn't feel like it suited Hitoda Makishima.
"But the thing is," Hitoda continued after a moment, "when I met you again after so many years, when you became Boundless Sea, I realised that I was… selfish. I was thinking that I was the only victim that really mattered—that my brother was the only one that had mattered, out of that group. There were people that were unfortunate enough—and just because I suffered so much doesn't mean that other people hadn't suffered too. Other people deserved to find out what happened—other people deserved to have some kind of justice, a chance to move on from everything." She shrugged. "You're the one person I've ever met, Yuno Sugisaki, who made me reflect on myself. That's why I looked out for you so much. That's why you're important to me."
A shrug.
"And, well, I've always felt like I'm not alone—that Takeru is watching over me somehow. And Takeru was always kind. I looked at you, and I felt like… he'd want me to look out for you."
So…
Yuno had woken up with that blanket over him, slightly confused. He had still been devastated, and he had still run from everything in the end, but…
He had never wondered about it, but someone had genuinely been there for him then—if only in the smallest of ways.
"I can help you," Yuno said. "If you need anything…"
"… hah. We're in the middle of a war right now! And I'd rather settle this before I go back to what I was doing before." Hitoda rubbed at her forehead. "So much to do, so little time… I'll make it work. And anyway, revenge is too ugly for someone as sweet as you, Yuno."
"I was thinking the same about you."
"Hmm…" Hitoda tapped her own knee. "This is why I always like being around you, Yuno. You always see me the way that I want to be seen. But I don't feel anything, Yuno. Or rather, if I do feel it, I don't process it at all." She dropped that bombshell far too easily. "Even so, I can like and dislike—even hate, sometimes. And I can definitely want. If I don't get revenge for Takeru, no one will—so it has to be me. It'll at the very least be satisfying for me."
"… you're scary," Yuno said. He meant it as a compliment, and she clearly took it as one. "I don't think I need revenge, but… really, if you need help for stuff, just ask. We're friends, aren't we?"
"Mmm, yeah." Hitoda smiled playfully. "We'd have to stop there though. You're not my type, and I'm not yours."
Yuno rolled his eyes.
"Still, you took it far better than the last time someone found out about this. Maybe there's something to this whole confession thing." Hitoda shrugged. "Well, that's all I wanted to say."
Yuno spoke up. "His name was Takeru Makishima?"
"Takeru Homura," Hitoda corrected. She smirked as she elaborated. "You're not the only one that changed your name after that incident. Takemi Homura, at your service, though I far prefer Hitoda Makishima nowadays."
Well…
She did have a point.
"It's all in the past," Hitoda said with a shrug. "Mine and yours."
"… yeah. It's all in the past." Yuno nodded.
But I'll remember him too, for your sake.
Hitoda smiled. "Are you feeling alright? You've had a long day. If you get headaches, tell me or tell Miharu."
"I'm… fine." Yuno found that he actually believed it. "Yeah. I'll be fine."
"'Kay. Go back to the room now—make sure Miharu's sleeping."
"Will do!"
For a moment, he lingered—but then, Hitoda waved him off. He finally walked upstairs, still digesting everything that he'd heard.
He pushed open the door.
(Somehow, he and Miharu had come to the same conclusion easily, without even saying it aloud—that they were going to be sharing a room that night, just for peace of mind.)
Miharu was sitting at the desk, staring at her laptop again. There were lines of code that ran across the screen, far too much for Yuno to comprehend.
Yuno leaned over her shoulder. "Alright. Time to sleep. What are you working on now?"
Miharu glanced back at him. "I was waiting for you," she said. "… I was trying to work on something." She shut down the laptop, closing it.
"Something?"
"… I made something back in Den City," Miharu said. "I have a copy of the program on my laptop, but… if Academia gets it, I don't think I'll forgive myself."
Yuno gently patted her hand. "Hey, it'll be fine. You know your brother—and he knows you. Nothing bad will happen."
"… I hope so."
Yuno glanced around the room. "There's no futon, huh? I can go and steal some bedding from another room—"
"It's fine. Don't disturb the rest when there's a simple solution." Miharu walked towards the door, pressing the light switch to turn it off. Now, the only light in the room was coming in from the street lights outside. It cast a strange shadow over her face.
Yuno didn't mind it. His face felt slightly hot at the implication—he didn't think that he'd read her intentions wrongly, at least.
"My clothes are soaked," he pointed out.
"Yugo dropped off a few of his older clothes." Miharu gestured to the bed, where a pair of pants and a shirt were. "I'm assuming you two are the same size."
"That would be a safe guess, yes." Yuno quickly changed, as Miharu glanced out of the window. The clothes were a bit loose, but Yuno understood the rationale behind it—buying clothes that were a size too large made it so that they could last longer. "'Kay, I'm decent."
Miharu nodded, turning back over. Yuno blinked—was there a faint blush on her face as well?—but it was still too dark for him to notice. She sat down on the bed, turning over to face the wall, keeping her back to him. Yuno laid down as well—their backs were almost touching, but they were turned away from each other. Still, he could feel her presence there, something steady.
"Good night, Miharu," he murmured.
Her response came a moment later. "Good night, Yuno."
… Yuno would really prefer to sleep facing towards her instead. But while they were still friends… it wouldn't be appropriate.
Well, that was one line he couldn't cross for now.
She fell asleep before him in the end—speaking volumes of how tired she was, considering that she was usually a night owl. He could hear her breathing, soft and withdrawn—and he could hear when it sped up slightly.
"Hey," he said quietly. There was no reply. "Are you okay?"
No response.
He reached out, a hand behind him, gently holding onto hers. He wanted to hold her in his arms, but he couldn't—he couldn't help but be frustrated at that final distance between them, that line between friend and something more. He squeezed her hand, reassuring her—she stirred slightly.
"Go back to sleep," he said.
"... too quiet," she said, clearly not quite fully awake yet.
"That's fine." Yuno squeezed her hand again. "Sleep. I'll be here. I'll sing something too, how about that?"
She nodded. She turned towards him, burying her face in his back, wrapping her arms around him. Even though it was breaking the boundary that they'd set between them, he couldn't bring himself to push her away.
"Mm, okay." He cleared his throat, singing the first song that came to mind. "It's hard to forget the first time that I met you. A pair of eyes that enchanted me. In my mind, the image of you never fades. Holding your hands and feeling your warmth leaves me a little breathless. I want to cherish your innocence. When you suffer from unfairness, my heart hurts for you."
He turned slightly—Miharu's eyes were shut. Her breathing was back to something more peaceful now.
"I'm just scared that I'll fall in love with you," he sang softly—if she was asleep, she wouldn't hear it. Maybe that was what gave him the freedom to sing it anyway. "I don't dare to get too close to you. I'm scared that there is nothing that I can give you. It takes a lot of courage to love you. I'm scared that I'll fall in love with you. That someday I won't be able to hold it in. Longing for you is painful to me…"
He squeezed her hand again, whispering out those intentions in his heart.
"But I can't help falling in love with you."
When he finally drifted off to sleep, it was far more comfortable than before.
"Mion Myojin-san. Your scan is ready." The nurse called. Mion stood up, and next to her, Reiji took off his jacket, folding it up. Mion gently lifted Reira's head, and Reiji moved out of the way—Reira had been sleeping on his leg earlier, so to avoid disturbing her, they placed the jacket under her head, acting as a pillow. They had both agreed that Reira should get a medical checkup first, and luckily, nothing seemed to have gone wrong. However, Reira had been tired out by all of it and fallen asleep soon after—and neither of them could quite bring themselves to wake her.
"If my sibling wakes up," Reiji said to the nurse, "please let them know that we're in the room, and let them come in."
The nurse nodded, and then the two of them headed into the doctor's room.
(Mion had suggested that Reiji should head back with Reira to carry on working, so that he could get things done more quickly. Reiji had lifted the tablet that he'd been given and commented that as a leader, he needed to be updated on the health of all of the Lancers, and that he could easily take his work on the go anyway.)
("And are you going to be sitting here like a worried mother for each of our medical checkups?" Mion had snarked.)
(Reiji had pushed up his glasses. "No, just yours and Reira's," he had replied shortly. "As family for Reira, and in your case, because you'd never tell me if you were actually injured. I'd rather hear it myself.")
("You know me well," Mion had said. The words had lingered in the air, until they were too unbearable to think about, and Reiji turned back to his work, while Mion turned to look up at the screen again—waiting for her turn to be called for the scan.)
The doctor was looking at a few printouts when they were inside. He looked harried—not surprising, considering that there were likely many people who were currently visiting the hospital. This hospital had been pretty much untouched, thanks to Makoto Toyama's violent defence of it, and it was one of the only facilities that could continue running without any repair.
"Sit down," he said. He pushed one of the pages towards them. Mion glanced at the scan. "Five of your ribs are fractured."
Reiji slowly turned his head to look at her. "… you said you were fine."
"I felt fine." And she had been too hyped up on adrenaline to think too much about it, until it had started aching halfway through the night, and then it had been too frantic of a situation for her to say anything.
"Regardless, none of them seem to have broken, merely cracked. Over six weeks, they should heal back, assuming that you rest well. There is no need for an operation. But your prosthetic is too different from the kind that we use here, and I'm not a mechanic, so we could not quite make a proper judgement on the state of your shoulder."
"Thank you," Mion said. "In that case, there's no problem."
"Prescribe her some painkillers," Reiji said.
"… Reiji," Mion chided. "There's no need. There's a shortage of medicine right now—wasting them on me when I can handle it isn't worth it." She turned to the doctor. "Thank you, sir. We'll be leaving now."
Reiji shot her a look that was like murky water—impenetrable and confusing—but he did not say anything else.
They had gotten back to the dorms quietly, putting Reira to bed first. There was an unspoken agreement between them to not say anything in front of Reira—it might make her feel guilty about Mion's injury when it really wasn't her fault. Then, they headed to the room that had become Reiji's unofficial office.
Reiji's fingers went tap tap tap on the tablet. Finally, he said: "I'm sending you back to Standard."
Mion had known that he would say that. "You can't do that," she said. "This isn't much. As long as I stay careful…"
"A lot of things can happen in war."
"I know," Mion said. "That's why I have to be there. If something happens to you, Reira or Shingo, and I'm not there…" The thought weighed down on her heart.
"And let you work yourself to the bone, until it develops into something worse?" Reiji shot her a look. "It's not an insult to your capabilities, Mion."
No, it was concern, and it was protectiveness, and that made it hard for Mion to argue with him, because it was rare that Reiji would show either of those two things.
Even so, she had to.
"You need me, Reiji," she said firmly. Reiji was still looking at his tablet, but his fingers tensed up for a brief moment.
"I have plenty of Lancers to work with," he replied. "You're hardly the only one."
… well, that hurt a little.
"Then, I won't duel unless necessary," Mion said. "I won't take any unnecessary risks. But you can't tell me to go when we've barely started. You let Yuto come along, and his wrist was only just starting to heal at the time."
"Yuto is here to save and protect his homeland. He has a reason beyond all else that he has to be here."
"And me?" Mion said quietly. "What about me?"
Reiji stopped. He slowly looked up at her.
"Why do you think I'm here?" Mion asked. "Do you remember why?" Her expression was stony—she didn't think she could smile right now if she tried. "Why did I come back to Maiami City in the first place? Why did I take part in the Maiami Championship? Why did I agree to join the Lancers? Why am I here now, in this city?"
Reiji looked… surprised.
"It's because I was working on an essay at three in the morning when I got an email from a friend," Mion said softly. "He said that he needed powerful duelists—that he would like me to be there. He told me to come back home. And I immediately bought the ticket to fly back to Maiami City, as soon as I could. When that friend said he needed me to take part in the tournament, I asked questions, but I didn't reject him. When that friend messed up, he apologised to me, and I agreed to come along anyway. I came all this way because I trusted you, and because my goals match with yours—I want to defeat Academia too, because that's what I think is right. And I am still here."
She took a step forward—halting for a moment, biting her lip. She wished that she could feel more confident about Reiji, but she never quite knew what to say around him—a part of her always wanted to get closer, and yet, a different part of her wanted to keep on distancing herself, pushing him away over and over.
She wasn't sure which side was winning. Maybe neither.
Maybe she was just saying all of this without thinking it through.
"I came all this way alongside you and our comrades," she said. It almost felt like a plea. "Can you really bear to send me away when I want to stay?"
Reiji slowly exhaled.
It was, Mion realised, much harder for Reiji to say no to her than to anyone else. And she didn't know why.
"A friend?" He asked.
"... well, we're obviously friends, right?" Mion said, taking the more delicate option to interpret his words. "Surely you don't think that you're going to be able to stay detached from everyone forever. You can't do that while I'm here."
"... you're right. I can't." Reiji finally said, seeming resigned and yet… accepting of her choice. "Stay, then. But don't overexert yourself. When we head back to Standard, you should get some painkillers and a check-up."
"Oh, I'm not going back."
"... Mion."
"I'm serious." Mion shrugged, and then winced. From the way that his eyes narrowed, the moment didn't escape Reiji's attention. "I have no one to visit back in Maiami City. It'll be awkward for the rest, it'll be awkward for me, and it'll be even more awkward for Shingo. Let them have their reunions."
Reiji sighed. "... I'll bring back the painkillers," he said. "Use them."
"Alright."
They lapsed into silence.
"I'm going to sleep," Mion said. She stood up. "I'll leave one of the lights in the kitchen on, in case you want to get water. Don't sleep too late."
It felt… oddly domestic?
Alright. No. Those were dangerous thoughts.
"Good night," she settled on saying. She heard his breath hitch, but his expression remained as unreadable as before.
"Good night," he returned, and Mion left him be.
"What's the hold-up?" Arisu asked. "According to our calculations, there should be enough temporary housing to shelter everyone for the night."
"Well, you see, some of the Tops don't want the Commons to be so close to them…"
"They're in tents," Arisu said, shaking her head. "Can't they tolerate it for a single night?" She dismissed the man in front of her—one of the few administrative members of the city that had survived Chino and Makoto's purge. It really wasn't his fault that the Tops were being obstinate, but even so, that was just another thing that they had to deal with right now.
And well, she had already agreed to help out.
She sent off a message to Jack, to tell him to give a motivational speech or something like that, just to get people to settle down properly. They had already compensated the owners of bathhouses in the Tops, asking them to allow everyone free usage for now. The money was coming out of the treasury of the City, because what else was that going to be spent on? The water supply had been opened up to everyone too—the city's water supply had always been in excess anyway. Arisu knew that much. The reservoirs and desalination plants had been working well for a long time.
Cleanliness, water… she had already helped to call up the construction companies within the city and checked on what they would need. The city imported most of its concrete and sand from other settlements (within this dimension, Arisu thought wryly, because it was apparently time to get existential). Construction materials were limited, so while they did have quite a lot of people who were willing to work, they simply didn't have enough materials right now.
It would have to be a long-term project.
"I see some white in your hair."
"Chino." Arisu raised her head, smiling at the woman that had just walked in. "I was wondering where you'd gotten off to."
"I took a walk." Chino walked to the desk, leaning against it. "But if you're throwing yourself into a black hole, I might as well make sure that you don't overexert yourself."
"I can't just leave things like this," Arisu said. Already, despite her best efforts to stay focused on the woman in front of her, she was already considering other things that she had to work on.
"I'm sure. Where do you want me?"
"I heard that some of the Commons are attempting to steal from the distributors that we sent out," Arisu said. "Mind heading out to enforce what's going on?"
"I can't enforce anything without using force," Chino pointed out. "Not the best look for you or Jack Atlas."
"You were never this opinionated when we worked for Roget."
"That's because I didn't care about his reputation. I care about yours."
"... thanks for the concern. But I'm not that concerned with myself right now." Arisu glanced up. "Can you do it?"
"You already know the answer to that."
"Alright." Arisu hesitated. "About my earlier words… I apologise."
"... which ones?"
"I will never forgive the two of you."
"It's all yours. Now stop looking down on us. There's an invasion going on. What's more important? Your need for justice, or to save lives?"
"In the end, I was no better than the two of you," Arisu admitted. "I didn't card anyone, but I… I acted like you were in the wrong for hiding things from me, and I was a hypocrite for calling you out when I was still doing what Roget asked. I'm sorry."
"But we did hide things from you," Chino said. "You were right to get angry about that."
"But you hid them to protect me. You thought that if I found out, I would go after Roget myself—"
"... seeing you ruin your life would have been too much, Arisu," Chino said, shaking her head. "Even stasis is better than dying—and people like to make a distinction, but carding is just killing others. That's a fact. And you of all people… shouldn't apologise to me."
Arisu frowned.
The thing was, Chino had always been oddly stiff—for the years that they'd worked together, while Chino could be stoic and cold, the other woman had always made sure to put a professional distance between the two of them. They were partners at work, and nothing more than that—that was the attitude that Chino tried to have. Of course, it had never worked—the other woman had always been more concerned for her than a work colleague should be.
Still, a statement like that…
"I'll be seeing you then." Arisu tried to lighten the mood with a smile. "Take care."
"... you too." Chino ducked out of the room. Arisu watched her go.
… she was really tired.
Arisu picked up the tablet, heading out of the room.
"Kirijo-san!"
Arisu turned around. Aki Izayoi approached her, smiling.
"We've finished moving the Arcadia Movement's emergency stock of food here," she said. "Jack told me that there was a shortage of food at present—what do you need?"
Arisu stopped, somewhat surprised. "I didn't know… thank you."
"Of course. It's for the people, not just for you."
"If you can delegate your people yourself, I'll give you a list of the spaces that have been designated temporary shelters, and you can bring the food there."
"Sure."
Arisu quickly scribbled down the addresses, passing it to Aki.
"Thank you for helping Jack out," Aki said. "The work you've done so far is… good."
"... naturally," Arisu demurred.
"It's a genuine compliment." Aki raised her hand. "You know Jack's plans, I assume? Has he pitched the idea to you yet?"
"I have no wish to be a part of a city council," Arisu said.
"And I assume that Jack would not be foolish enough to suggest that to you." Aki smiled. "You're a kind woman, Arisu Kirijo. If you were truly in charge of your own destiny… I would feel assured that you would not abuse your power. I would like to work with you."
"... I am considering it," Arisu admitted. She hesitated. "... on a personal level, before we go…"
"Yes?" Aki watched her patiently.
Arisu shook her head. "Never mind."
"Is it about that colleague of yours?"
Arisu's head snapped up.
"You're older than me, you know." Aki was smiling—but there was something amused and indulgent to it. "But I don't mind helping you—I suspect that your line of work isn't particularly conducive to figuring out things like this. We can talk after we're done with all of this stuff."
"... appreciated," Arisu said. She quickly reorganised her thoughts (and reasserted her priorities).
There was plenty of work to do to fix what was already broken.
But Arisu had always thought that the only way to change things was to break it all down.
Day 1
"Hey, Miharu." Yuzu knocked on the door, but when she got no response, she gently pushed it open.
… oh.
Cute.
Both Miharu and Yuno were snuggled up to each other in the same bed, both asleep.
Yuzu was about to tiptoe her way out of the room when Yuno stirred. His eyes opened, and he glanced at her.
"Hey, Yuzu." He yawned, beginning to detach himself from Miharu. "Something wrong?"
"Oh uh…" Yuzu felt like she'd walked in on something. Had these two just started dating without telling anyone, or were they always like this? "Girls' day out. Since we have some free time now, and Serena's not feeling well, I was thinking that we could gather in Serena's room and talk."
And the only reason that she'd said that it was specifically for them was to stop Yuno from joining them. Not that she had any objections to Yuno specifically, but Serena had been very specific that she wanted to talk to just them.
"Oh, that's fine." Yuno beamed at her. "I'll wake Miharu up and tell her."
"... okay." Yuzu left, wondering what to make of the situation.
Honestly, she could never tell exactly what status those two were in. Right. Now, time to look for Ruri and Rin…
Yuzu took a step into the room that Ruri had slept in, and immediately spun around, stepping out. Nope, nope, nope—
"Did you need something, Yuzu?"
Trying to scrub the sight of Ruri and Yuto kissing from her brain cells, Yuzu nodded. "We wanted to meet up in Serena's room," she said. "Girls' day out."
"Okay!" Ruri smiled at her. Yuzu nodded, and immediately booked it out of there.
"Why did you ask us to come here?" Chiaki asked, once they had settled down in Serena's room. It was like standing in a mirror maze—five other people with the same face as her.
"I wanted to talk about this." Serena gestured to her arm—there was nothing there, but Chiaki instinctively knew what she was talking about. She reached a hand up to her bracelet.
"Right," Miharu said. "Your bracelets…"
"We broke them," Yuzu said. "And they gave us these… strange cards. Natural Energy Spirits?"
"So you broke them?"
"Academia wants them," Serena said bluntly. "If we break them, I don't think there's a reason that they'll come after us specifically anymore—and if Academia needs them, we're stopping them."
If we break them…
"I don't think I can do that," Miharu said simply. She didn't elaborate—she just said it.
Chiaki nodded, feeling the exact same way. "I can't," she said. In her childhood, this was the only thing that she'd had—people would try to steal it from her, other kids would laugh at her and tug at her arm, and she could not lose her bracelet, this thing that she'd had for so long…
"... okay," Yuzu said. Serena looked like she might say something, but when Yuzu looked at her, she didn't continue. "And something else… have you guys noticed that sometimes… Yuya and the rest act strange?"
Silence. Chiaki blinked, confused—while Yuji was different from most people, she would never call him 'strange'. Ruri and Rin looked similarly confused.
"I guess not." Yuzu grimaced.
Serena was the one that spoke up. "During Academia's invasion, I was in a building with a few members of Academia. And… Yuri, Yuya, Yugo, Yuto, Yuno and Fujita were there. And their eyes all started… glowing. They were fighting each other, and… it felt like they wanted to kill each other."
"Yugo would never—"
"Yuji's too lazy for that—"
"Yuto wouldn't—"
"... you're right."
Rin, Ruri and Chiaki, who had all been gearing up to defend the person that they were closest to, turned to look at Miharu.
"You're right," Miharu said. "There's something… 'else' that exists within Yuno. It's not a split personality—it's something entirely separate. I dueled that 'other' spirit that lies within Yuno. It was… not him."
Chiaki imagined dueling Yuji, but with Yuji completely not recognising her. A part of her felt the irrational urge to comfort Miharu, despite the fact that the other girl was treating it like it was no big deal.
"And back in Standard, Yuzu and I bumped into Yuya, Yuno, Yuto and Yugo," Miharu continued. "It's undeniable that there's something in them that… possesses them. Something that's entirely malicious." She glanced down at the ground. "... whatever it is, it seems to happen when they duel each other, or when they're in pain. So as long as neither of those two things happen—as long as we make sure that those things don't happen, it should be fine."
"... hah. So just keep them out of trouble?" Rin shrugged. "I already do that for Yugo anyway."
"Why does it happen though?" Ruri said, concerned. "If it's something that will always happen, then should we do something to figure out why?"
"... it might be the reason that they all have the same face and similar dragons," Miharu said. "In which case…"
"Academia has the answer," Chiaki said, clenching her fists. "If Academia knows something about us, if there's something about us that's different because we share the same face… then they probably know about the guys too."
"Come to think of it," Serena said, "the Professor was always wary of Yuri. He used to tell me to stay away from him. Maybe he did know something…"
"... well," Yuzu said after a while when no one was talking. "We'll just have to be careful. Hopefully, nothing bad will happen…"
Was… the discussion over?
"So, what are your plans for today?" Yuzu was clearly trying her best to avoid the awkwardness of the situation.
"I wanted to ask something, if we're done." Rin held up a small bottle. "Aki gave me this a while back, and I got it from the orphanage, but I don't know how to use it…"
"Nail polish?" Yuzu smiled. "I can help you with that! Oh, that's a pretty shade of blue…"
"Thanks," Rin murmured. She put her hand on the table. That seemed to be the end of it—Ruri and Yuzu chatted with Rin about nail polish and explained to her that she absolutely could not bite her nails while she had nail polish on, because it would be toxic to her. Rin was protesting that nail-biting saved time because she didn't need to carefully cut each of her nails all the time.
Chiaki wasn't used to being surrounded by so many girls. After all, while Shizuka had done her best to be an older sister figure of sorts, she didn't exactly live with them. Chiaki's best friend (and only friend) had been a boy for most of her childhood. Kyorin and Asuka had helped her get used to it, but she was still more used to playing rough than anything like this.
"So you're really not taking part in the Friendship Cup?" Serena asked. Chiaki turned to look at her and Miharu. "That's a pity… I really wanted to have a proper rematch against you."
"We can still duel now," Miharu said. "But you're still not fully well, are you? You suffered from both Security's gas and from being hit by the rubble, and you still pushed yourself to duel one of the Elite Officers. It would feel unfair for me to duel you at this point."
"What about me?"
Serena and Miharu both turned their heads to look at Chiaki.
"I'll fully accept that I'm not as experienced in war as you two," Chiaki said. "But I want to get better. Maybe Serena shouldn't duel in her condition, but you did promise me a duel, Miharu Kogami."
Miharu looked at her. She stood up.
"Let's go outside," she said.
Outside the room, Nue watched the six girls silently.
"You know, you look creepy when you're just standing there, Nue-san."
Nue turned around. Hitoda smiled at her cheerfully.
"Your boyfriend's not with you?" Hitoda said, tilting her head.
"No," Nue said. "He's surprisingly invested in helping to rebuild and transport things around. I was planning to go and help once I got myself some breakfast."
Hitoda nodded. Nue abandoned all pretence.
"What did Serena actually see?" She asked.
"She saw what she said she saw," Hitoda said with a shrug. "We got pretty close to disaster there, but Serena actually held it off for a while initially—bought me enough time to get there."
Nue looked at her. "Are you alright?"
"... I'll be fine." Hitoda shook her head. "To be honest, it took a lot out of me to stop it. It's not like we're geared specifically to stop him, not like them. He had a particularly strong grip on Yuno too—if not for the fact that Miharu went with him, I'd have been worried about letting him go alone after that." She smiled, though it didn't quite reach her eyes. "... I should be fine by the time we go to Heartland, if that's what you're worrying about."
Nue shrugged. "I find myself fond of you," she said. "So no. I'm not just asking because of Heartland. I'm asking out of concern."
"... hah! You really give off the older sister vibe." Hitoda nodded. "Don't worry, I know my limits—I know when to risk it and when not to." She shrugged. "Let's go help out! You should be a bit less serious, Nue-san."
"Just call me Nue," Nue said, rolling her eyes.
"Okay, ane-san," Hitoda teased.
"No, that honorific doesn't work either. We're not in the mafia."
"But 'Nue-san' just sounds like 'nee-san' to my ears!" Hitoda grinned. "And nee-san sounds like ane-san. To be honest, your name pretty much marks you as someone born to be a big sister! Yuto's lucky."
"You're so flighty."
"And you're too serious."
Well, Nue couldn't argue with that. Still, there were worse people to spend time with.
"You're not going to take it easy, are you?" Serena asked.
Miharu and Chiaki shot her looks of confusion.
"This is for us to test each other's strength and learn each other's decks," Miharu said. "We can't do that if we hold back too much from engaging with each other."
"Seconded," Chiaki said, raising her duel disk. "Don't hold back now, Rapunzel! It wouldn't do if I dragged you down from your tower too early."
[DUEL!]
Chiaki Katsuya: 4000LP
Miharu Kogami: 4000LP
[Turn 1: Chiaki] [H:5]
"I'll activate the Spell Card, Pre-Preparation of Rites. I will add a Ritual Spell and a Ritual Monster specifically listed on that Ritual Spell from my deck to my hand. I will then activate the Ritual Spell, Dogmatikamacabre!" She revealed the card in her hand. "I will tribute the Level 8 Dogmatika Ashiyan in my hand! Holy knight shrouded in the light of dogma. Be swallowed up by the lunacy of the sacrilegious void, and let your empty shell strike out mercilessly! Ritual Summon! Level 8! White Knight of Dogmatika!" A strange set of white armour appeared, purple-pink highlights covering it. It pulled a dark sword out, swinging it through the air, holding a sword in its other hand.
[White Knight of Dogmatika (8*/500/2500/LIGHT/Spellcaster/Ritual/Effect)]
"I'll set a card facedown and end my turn."
[Turn 2: Miharu] [H:6]
"Draw," Miharu said. She glanced at her hand. "I'll Normal Summon Sunseed Genius Loci." The small chalice appeared on her field.
[Sunseed Genius Loci (1*/0/600/EARTH/Plant)]
"Manifest, future circuit that sows the seeds for my path." She declared. "Arrowhead confirmed. The conditions are one Level 4 or lower Plant monster. I'll set Sunseed Genius Loci in the Link Markers. Appear now, young tree beginning to bear fruit. Circuit Combine. Link Summon. Link 1—Sunavalon Dryas." The beautiful, lush tree appeared in front of her.
[Sunavalon Dryas (L1/0/EARTH/Plant/Link/Effect/↓)]
Chiaki blinked. So that was a proper Link Summon? Interesting…
"Sunavalon Dryas's effect," Miharu continued. "When Link Summoned, I can add a "Sunvine" Spell or Trap from my deck to my hand."
"Since you activated a card or effect, once per turn, I can activate the effect of White Knight of Dogmatika! I will send a monster from my Extra Deck to the graveyard, and then, I can look at your Extra Deck and send a card from it to the graveyard! Then, White Knight of Dogmatika gains attack points equal to half the total attack points of the monsters sent to the graveyard. Premature Execution of Dogma!"
She picked up a card from her Extra Deck.
"I'll send Flame Swordsman from my Extra Deck to the graveyard!" A display shot up, showing her Miharu's Extra Deck.
… why did a majority of her monsters have zero attack points?
Still, Chiaki had at least heard what this girl's strongest monster was.
"I'll send Topologic Penrose Aitvaras from your Extra Deck to the graveyard!"
Miharu nodded, dropping the card in her graveyard.
"Topologic Penrose Aitvaras has 3000 attack points, and Flame Swordsman has 1800 attack points! So my monster gains half that—2400 attack points!"
White Knight of Dogmatika's attack points shot up.
[White Knight of Dogmatika: 500 + 4800 / 2 = 2900ATK]
"... I see." Miharu didn't seem upset by that. "I'll activate the Spell Card, Sunvine Sowing. I will take 1000 damage and Special Summon a "Sunseed" monster from my deck. Come—Sunseed Twin." It seemed to be a common play for her—she did everything with no hesitation.
[Sunseed Twin (2*/0/800/EARTH/Plant/Effect)]
Miharu: 4000 - 1000 = 3000LP
"Since I took damage, Sunavalon Dryas lets me gain life points equal to the damage I took, and then, I can Special Summon a "Sunvine" monster from my Extra Deck. I will chain Sunseed Twin's effect. I can Special Summon a "Sunseed" monster from my graveyard. Come back to the field—Sunseed Genius Loci!" The small chalice reappeared. "And then, with Dryas's effect, I will gain 1000 life points and Special Summon Sunvine Healer from my Extra Deck." A pink woman that resembled a flower appeared, as Miharu's life points shot up.
[Sunvine Healer (L1/600/EARTH/Plant/Link/Effect/↑)]
Miharu: 3000 + 1000 = 4000LP
"Sunvine Healer's effect. I'll gain 300 life points times Dryas's Link Rating." Another glow surrounded her.
So… a defensive duelist? A healer?
Miharu: 4000 + 300 = 4300LP
"Since I control a Plant Normal Monster, I will Special Summon Sunseed Shadow from my hand." A darker version of Sunseed Genius Loci appeared on her field.
[Sunseed Shadow (1*/0/400/EARTH/Plant/Effect)]
"I will then manifest my circuit again. Arrowhead confirmed! The conditions are two or more Plant monsters. I will set Sunvine Healer, Sunseed Shadow, Sunseed Genius Loci and Sunseed Twin in the Link Markers!" All four monsters shot up in the air—a summon that used four monsters as material? Really? "Circuit Combine! Link Summon! The one who protects the ancient forest, with the lifeblood of nature in its veins! Link 4—Benghalancer the Resurgent!" An enormous wooden golem appeared right behind Dryas, bright red veins running through it.
[Benghalancer the Resurgent (L4/2500/LIGHT/Plant/Link/Effect/←, ↑, ↓, →)]
Well, whatever that was, it was bad news. "I'll activate the effect of Dogmatika Fleurdelis, the Knighted!" Chiaki countered. "During either player's Main Phase, if my opponent controls a monster Special Summoned from the Extra Deck, I can Special Summon her from my hand!" The knight in white armour appeared gracefully on the field—looking rather similar to White Knight.
[Dogmatika Fleurdelis, the Knighted (8*/2500/2500/LIGHT/Spellcaster/Effect)]
"Then, since I control another "Dogmatika" monster, I can negate the effects of one face-up monster on the field until the end of this turn! I'll choose Benghalancer the Resurgent!"
"... sadly for you, Benghalancer's effect is a Quick Effect," Miharu said. "It was a good attempt." She gestured forward. "During the Main Phase, I can activate the effect of Benghalancer the Resurgent. I can target an Effect Monster you control, return it to the hand and take damage equal to its attack points. I will target White Knight of Dogmatika. Wrath of Nature!"
What? She was willing to take 2900 points of damage right from the get go? That monster of hers only healed her once per turn, right?
How reckless…
White Knight shot back to her hand, and Miharu's life points fell.
Miharu: 4300 - 2900 = 1400LP
Benghalancer's effects were then negated, but it was too late.
"I will activate the Continuous Spell, Sunvine Shrine, by sending a card from my hand to the graveyard." This left her with two cards in hand. "While I control Sunvine Shrine, I cannot Special Summon monsters, except Plant monsters. However, once per turn, during my Main Phase, I can Special Summon a Level 4 or lower Plant Normal Monster from my graveyard. Return to the field—Sunseed Genius Loci." The same monster appeared on her field again. "I'll then activate the Continuous Spell—Aroma Gardening."
Aroma? That was a departure from the theme so far…
"I will open the circuit again. Arrowhead confirmed. The conditions are two Plant monsters! I will set Sunavalon Dryas and Sunseed Genius Loci in the Link Markers. Healer with the capacity for love, appear now as my blade! Circuit Combine! Link Summon! Link 2! Aromaseraphy Jasmine!" A white-haired girl appeared in her Extra Monster Zone, seeming rather cheerful.
[Aromaseraphy Jasmine (L2/1800/LIGHT/Plant/Link/Effect/↙,↘)]
"When I summon an "Aroma" monster, Aroma Gardening allows me to gain 1000 life points," Miharu continued.
Miharu: 1400 + 1000 = 2400LP
"Since I gained life points, Aromaseraphy Jasmine allows me to add a Plant monster from my deck to my hand." Miharu picked up the card. "... I'll send a Plant monster from my hand to the graveyard to Special Summon World Carrotweight Champion from my graveyard." A monster made entirely out of bright orange carrots appeared on her field, to Jasmine's bottom-right… Link Arrow? Link Marker. That was the term.
[World Carrotweight Champion (4*/1900/0/DARK/Plant/Effect)]
"Aromaseraphy Jasmine's effect," Miharu continued. "Once per turn, I can tribute a Plant monster she points to, and Special Summon a different Plant monster from my deck. I will tribute World Carrotweight Champion to Special Summon Evil Thorn from my deck." A small black sapling appeared in the place of World Carrotweight Champion, drooping slightly.
[Evil Thorn (1*/100/300/DARK/Plant/Effect)]
"I will tribute Evil Thorn to inflict 300 damage to you and Special Summon two copies of it from my deck." The sapling split in two, spitting out a dark seed that flew past Chiaki.
Chiaki: 4000 - 300 = 3700LP
"I'll overlay the two Level 1 Evil Thorns." The two monsters turned into dark streaks. "Strength struck still. A silvery white bud blooms. Petals unfurl. Sleeping maiden struck dead by the ugliness of conflict, rise again and sing a song of unfair death. Xyz Summon—Rank 1. Sunavalon Myrsine." A white-haired woman appeared, wearing a heavy headdress of flowers and gemstones.
[Sunavalon Myrsine (R1/0/0/EARTH/Plant/Xyz/Effect) (OU:2)]
"Since Myrsine was Xyz Summoned, I can add a "Sunvine" or "Sunseed" card from my graveyard or banished cards to my hand." Miharu picked up a card from her graveyard. "I will then detach one of her Overlay Units. I can send a Plant monster from my deck to my graveyard and gain 200 life points times its Level. I will choose my Level 6 Aromage Bergamot." Red and white flowers bloomed around her.
[Sunavalon Myrsine: OU:2 - 1 = OU:1]
Miharu: 2400 + 200 x 6 = 3600LP
"I'll set a card facedown. Over to you."
"... that's it?" Chiaki said.
Miharu nodded.
"You're not attacking?"
"I don't have enough attack points," Miharu said, managing to sound reasonable about something that was absolutely absurd. It wasn't that Chiaki didn't believe in winning through ways other than battling—she'd already met Rin, after all. But…
"You looked at my Extra Deck yourself," Miharu pointed out. "Other than Penrose Aitvaras, there is not a single monster there with higher attack points than Benghalancer."
True, but…
"Trust that I know what I'm doing, and I'm not holding back," Miharu said. "I know what I'm doing."
… well, Chiaki would do that, then.
[Turn 3: Chiaki] [H:3]
"Draw," Chiaki said. "I'll activate the Field Spell, Dogmatika Nation." A bright, holy light shone over the field. "Continuous Spell, Dogmatikamatrix. When I activate this card, I can add a "Dogmatika" Ritual Monster or Ritual Spell from my deck to my hand. And furthermore, since my opponent controls a monster, I can add another "Dogmatika" card from my deck to my hand!"
So it was two cards for the price of one—or perhaps even less than that. After all, she still got to use the effect of the Continuous Spell on her field.
"I will activate the effect of Dogmatika Ecclesia, the Virtuous in my hand," Chiaki continued. "Since you control a monster Special Summoned from the Extra Deck, I can Special Summon her from my hand!" A young, blonde girl in similar white armour to Fleurdelis appeared.
[Dogmatika Ecclesia, the Virtuous (4*/1500/1500/LIGHT/Spellcaster/Effect)]
"And since she was Normal or Special Summoned, I can add a "Dogmatika" card from my deck to my hand, but I can't Special Summon monsters from the Extra Deck this turn!" She picked up yet another card from her deck. "I will activate another copy of Dogmatikamacabre! I will tribute the Level 8 Fleurdelis. Let's skip the theatrics—you already know that I'm bringing out White Knight of Dogmatika again."
Fleurdelis dissolved into light, before forming the strange, corrupted-looking armour.
"I will activate my set card! The Trap Card, Dogmatikaturgy! I can Ritual Summon a "Dogmatika" monster from my hand or deck!"
"A Ritual Summon from the deck?" Serena said from nearby. "That's… interesting. It means that you don't actually have to draw that monster…"
"Probably why it's a Trap," Miharu pointed out. "And it's likely that the requirements for tributes are more stringent as a result."
"I can only tribute "Dogmatika" monsters I control, or Ritual, Fusion or Synchro Monsters, and their total Level has to be exactly correct." Chiaki gestured forward. "I will tribute the Level 4 Ecclesia! Holy corpse shrouded in the light of dogma. Let your relentless apathy cleanse this funereal plane, and bring forth the perfection that you seek! Advent! Level 4! White Relic of Dogmatika!" The blonde girl appeared, glowing slightly. She settled down in Defense Position.
[White Relic of Dogmatika (4*/500/2500/LIGHT/Spellcaster/Ritual/Effect)]
"Since White Relic of Dogmatika was Ritual Summoned, I can target two monsters on the field and have one permanently gain attack points equal to the other's. I'll target Benghalancer the Resurgent and White Knight of Dogmatika! Awakening Cleanse!"
"I will activate Benghalancer's effect and target your monster."
"Sorry, you can't do that." Chiaki gestured to her Field Spell. "While I control Dogmatika Nation, neither player can target "Dogmatika" monsters I control with the effects of monsters targeted from the Extra Deck!"
And because there was no viable target, Miharu's effect couldn't activate. White Relic's effect resolved.
[White Knight of Dogmatika: 500 + 2500 = 3000ATK]
"Once per turn, since I control a "Dogmatika" Ritual Monster, I can activate the effect of Dogmatikamatrix!" Chiaki declared. "I'll look at either player's Extra Deck and send a card from it to the graveyard. I'll send Sunavalon Dryatrentiay from your Extra Deck to the graveyard!"
Miharu dropped her final Link 4 monster in the graveyard.
"White Knight of Dogmatika attacks Aromaseraphy Jasmine! Stigma Lance!" She didn't need to worry about Benghalancer while she had her Field Spell—in fact, she would rather keep it on the field. If Miharu found a way to bring it back, then it would no longer be considered a monster Special Summoned from the Extra Deck, and it would be unaffected by her Field Spell.
"... while my life points are lower than yours, I can Special Summon an "Aroma" monster from my deck." Miharu said.
Chiaki's eyes widened. Then, that 100 point difference between their life points right now…
Was that calculated by Miharu? Had the decision on the previous turn been less of a reckless choice, and more careful calculation?
"I will Special Summon Aromage Rosemary from my deck," Miharu continued. A blue-haired girl with a genial smile appeared on the field, waving a staff through the air. She smoothed out her blue skirts.
[Aromage Rosemary (4*/1800/700/WATER/Plant/Effect)]
"When a "Aroma" monster is summoned to my field, I can gain 1000 life points with the effect of Aroma Gardening," Miharu continued. Another glow surrounded her field.
Miharu: 3600 + 1000 = 4600LP
"Since I gained life points, Aromaseraphy Jasmine and Aromage Rosemary's effects activate," Miharu continued. "I'll add a Plant monster to my hand with Jasmine's effect, and with Rosemary's effect, I will target a monster on the field and change its battle position. I will target White Knight of Dogmatika."
Chiaki blinked in surprise.
"Your monsters counter the Extra Deck," Miharu said. "But after seeing Rinsoka-san duel so much, I did consider that weakness of my deck—my reliance on the Extra Deck. You won't defeat me just by taking out my strongest monsters before I summon them." She gestured forward. "White Knight's effect?"
Chiaki nodded, quickly chaining her monster's effect. "With White Knight of Dogmatika's effect, I will send Empress Judge from my Extra Deck and…" She glanced through the display of Miharu's Extra Deck. "I will send Sunavalon Dryanome to the graveyard! Premature Execution of Dogma!"
[White Knight of Dogmatika: 3000 + 2100 / 2 = 4050ATK]
It didn't really matter, because her monster's battle position changed immediately afterwards, and White Knight's effect was temporary. However, taking out another card from Miharu's Extra Deck was nice.
"I'll end my turn," she said warily.
"Continuous Trap, Blessed Winds," Miharu said. Her set card flipped over. "I'll return a Plant monster from my graveyard to the deck to gain 500 life points."
"... oh, come on," Chiaki said, rolling her eyes—reluctantly impressed.
"I will shuffle Sunavalon Dryanome back into my Extra Deck and gain 500 life points."
Miharu: 4600 + 500 = 5100LP
So that meant that she could still bring that monster out again…
[Turn 4: Miharu] [H:3]
"Draw," Miharu said. "I will activate the effect of Aromaseraphy Jasmine. Will you activate any effect in response?"
"White Knight of Dogmatika's effect," Chiaki said. "I'll send Soul Hunter from my Extra Deck to the graveyard, along with your Aromaseraphy Sweet Marjoram!"
It was a shot in the dark, but judging from Miharu's nod, it was a good move.
[White Knight of Dogmatika: 3000 + 4400 / 2 = 5200ATK]
Still, her monster was now in Defense Position.
Hopefully Miharu would just attack.
"Jasmine's effect resolves. By tributing the Rosemary she points to, I will Special Summon Aromage Jasmine from my deck." A weaker form of Jasmine without the fairy wings appeared on her field.
[Aromage Jasmine (2*/100/1900/LIGHT/Plant/Effect)]
"When I summon an "Aroma" monster, Aroma Gardening's effect triggers. I'll gain 1000 life points."
Miharu: 5100 + 1000 = 6100LP
"Since I gained life points, Aromage Jasmine allows me to draw a card, and Aromaseraphy Jasmine lets me add a Plant monster from my deck to my hand." Miharu picked up the two cards.
So, while the attack points of Miharu's monsters weren't that high, if high at all, it was through healing that she gained card advantage?
"Since my life points are higher than yours, Jasmine allows me to Normal Summon an additional Plant monster each turn. Come—Aromage Cananga." A blond mage in green and brown robes appeared, adjusting his glasses.
[Aromage Cananga (3*/1400/1000/EARTH/Plant/Effect)]
"I will activate the effect of Sunavalon Myrsine again. I will detach an Overlay Unit and send the Level 5 Aromage Marjoram from the deck to the graveyard." Her life points shot up again.
Miharu: 6100 + 200 x 5 = 7100LP
"Since I gained life points while I control Aromage Cananga, his effect activates." Cananga raised a test tube, swinging it through the air. "I can target a Spell or Trap you control and return it to the hand. I will target your Field Spell."
This girl…
Her Dogmatika Nation returned to her hand. Since it wasn't destroyed, its effect didn't trigger.
"And because of that, your monsters are no longer immune to being targeted by my monsters' effects." Miharu gestured forward. "While my life points are higher than yours, Aromage Cananga lowers your monsters' attack and defense points by 500."
[White Knight of Dogmatika: 5200 - 500 = 4700ATK; 2500 - 500 = 2000DEF]
[White Relic of Dogmatika: 500 - 500 = 0ATK; 2500 - 500 = 2000DEF]
"I will activate the effect of Benghalancer the Resurgent and target your White Knight. I will take damage equal to your monster's attack points and return it to the hand. Wrath of Nature!"
Once again, Miharu took a massive hit to her life points, getting rid of Chiaki's monsters.
Miharu: 7100 - 4700 = 2400LP
"Your life points are lower than mine now though, so Cananga's effect doesn't apply anymore!"
"... let's see." Miharu gestured forward. "I will activate the effect of Blessed Winds. By shuffling Topologic Penrose Aitvaras into my Extra Deck, I will gain 500 life points!"
Miharu: 2400 + 500 = 2900LP
The reason that Miharu had waited until now to return her ace monster to the Extra Deck… was it to ensure that Chiaki couldn't send it to the graveyard with White Knight's effect?
"Thank you for the fuel," Miharu said. Her circuit appeared above her. "Manifest, my circuit. The conditions are two or more Effect Monsters. I will set Sunavalon Myrsine, Benghalancer the Resurgent, Aromage Jasmine and Aromage Cananga in the Link Markers!" The four monsters shot up, leaving just Aromaseraphy Jasmine on the field. "Sleeping flower drifting through the emptiness of the closed world. You who do not know what it means to live, die and be reborn over and over again. For all of eternity, refuse to ever despair and perish. Reject the starlight that illuminates the darkness. Steal that light from the world that has abandoned you... and bloom into judgement, arbiter, luck and justice, in a single, noble, self-sacrificial form. Circuit Combine. Link Summon. Link 4. Topologic Penrose Aitvaras." The contradictory, cybernetic and plantlike dragon appeared in Miharu's central Main Monster Zone.
[Topologic Penrose Aitvaras (L4/3000/DARK/Cyberse/Link/Effect/↖, ←, →, ↗)]
"Judgement, arbiter, luck and justice," Chiaki repeated. This was another of those Link 4 monsters, huh? She shook her head. "... since a Link Monster was sent to the graveyard, I can Special Summon Dogmatika Ashiyan from my hand!" Another one of the holy knights in white armour appeared, this one with claw-like blades connected to its gauntlets.
[Dogmatika Ashiyan (8*/2000/1500/LIGHT/Spellcaster/Effect)]
"When Dogmatika Ashiyan is Special Summoned from the hand, I can add a "Dogmatika" card from my graveyard to my hand." Chiaki picked up a card.
"... interesting." Miharu revealed a card in her hand. "I will send Aromaseraphy Angelica from my hand to the graveyard and target Aromage Bergamot in the graveyard. I'll gain life points equal to his attack points."
"I'll chain the effect of Dogmatika Fleurdelis, the Knighted! I'll Special Summon her from my hand and negate your monster's effects!" Fleurdelis reappeared on the field, clearly having been added back to the hand by Ashiyan. Light shone down on Penrose Aitvaras, which let out a quiet growl, gliding backwards and away from it.
Angelica's effect still resolved, but…
Miharu: 2900 + 2400 = 5300LP
"I'd call that bomb disposal," Chiaki snarked.
"It's a good decision," Miharu said. "You're not bad, Katsuya-san."
"Just Chiaki."
"... Chiaki, then." Miharu accepted her words readily. "Since my life points are higher than yours, I can Special Summon Aromaseraphy Angelica from the graveyard, but she is banished when she leaves the field." The small fairy reappeared on her field.
[Aromaseraphy Angelica (1*/0/0/LIGHT/Plant/Tuner/Effect)]
"I'll send a Plant monster from my hand to the graveyard to Special Summon World Carrotweight Champion." The monster made of carrots reappeared. "I'll tune the Level 1 Aromaseraphy Angelica to the Level 4 World Carrotweight Champion."
Link, Synchro, Xyz… what, this girl wasn't going to pull out Pendulums and a Fusion next, was she?
Chiaki glanced at her own deck.
It was true that with this deck, she had pretty much locked off all paths for retreat—half of her cards threw some arbitrary restriction about the Extra Deck in the mix just by summoning themselves. This was the deck that Shino Gitsune had given her—a deck intended to kill the Extra Deck, to sap away her opponents' strength before they had the chance to show it. In exchange, she had sacrificed 'growth' for a powerful deck in the short term—even if she ever learned how to use the other summoning methods, she would never be able to include them in this deck in a meaningful manner.
… she missed her Heralds.
She really, really missed her Heralds.
Miharu continued with her turn, clearly unaware of Chiaki's thoughts. "Waves, calming scent! Crash against the immovable force of my will and with your eternal might, bloom into a peaceful, angelic beauty! Synchro Summon! Level 5! Aromaseraphy Rosemary!" The blue-haired girl from earlier reappeared on the field, wings of colourful light flitting out behind her.
[Aromaseraphy Rosemary (5*/2000/900/LIGHT/Plant/Synchro/Effect)]
"While my life points are higher than yours, Aromaseraphy Rosemary grants all of my Plant monsters 500 attack and defense points!"
[Aromaseraphy Rosemary: 2000 + 500 = 2500ATK; 900 + 500 = 1400DEF]
[Topologic Penrose Aitvaras: 3000 + 500 = 3500ATK]
[Aromaseraphy Jasmine: 1800 + 500 = 2300ATK]
Still, the only monster that could actually defeat Chiaki's field right now was Penrose Aitvaras, and it could only attack once—
"I am very patient," Miharu said. "... I can wait a long time to win." She gestured forward. "Topologic Penrose Aitvaras attacks White Relic of Dogmatika. Antimatter Spring Annihilation!" The dragon fired off its attack at her Ritual Monster.
"When an opponent's monster declares an attack while I control Ashiyan, all "Dogmatika" monsters I currently control permanently gain 500 attack points!"
It didn't matter in terms of White Relic, since she was in Defense Position, but it mattered for the other two—it meant that Rosemary wouldn't be able to destroy either of them.
[Dogmatika Fleurdelis, the Knighted: 2500 + 500 = 3000ATK]
[Dogmatika Ashiyan: 2000 + 500 = 2500ATK]
"Really?" Miharu nodded. "Interesting…" White Relic was still destroyed, though Chiaki took no damage. "Is Ashiyan's effect once per turn?"
"It is," Chiaki said. But why did that matter?
"Aromaseraphy Rosemary attacks Dogmatika Ashiyan."
Huh?
"While my life points are higher than yours, Aromaseraphy Jasmine and all monsters it points to cannot be destroyed by battle," Miharu explained. "So even though our attack points tie, you lose your monster." Ashiyan was destroyed. "... Main Phase 2. I will use the effect of Sunvine Shrine. Return to my field, Sunseed Genius Loci." The small sapling reappeared on her field. "I'll cut the summoning chant as well—with Sunseed Genius Loci as material, I will Link Summon Sunavalon Dryas to the left Link Marker of Topologic Penrose Aitvaras." She gestured forward. "... I end my turn."
[Turn 5: Chiaki] [H:3]
"Draw," Chiaki said. "I'll activate the Field Spell, Dogmatika Nation again." She glanced through the cards in her hand. "I will banish Dogmatikaturgy and target two "Dogmatika" monsters in my graveyard with different Levels. I can add one to my hand and shuffle the other into the deck. I will add Ecclesia to my hand and shuffle Ashiyan into the deck." She picked up the card. "Since there is a monster on the field that was Special Summoned from the Extra Deck, I can Special Summon Dogmatika Ecclesia, the Virtuous from my hand!"
Ecclesia reappeared on her field, nodding reassuringly.
Chiaki did not feel reassured in the slightest. "With Ecclesia's effect, I will add a "Dogmatika" card from my deck to my hand. Then, by banishing a Fusion Monster from my graveyard, I will Special Summon Dogmatika Maximus from my hand!" A man in the same hood as the rest appeared—dressed in holy white, but with some dark blue and gold accents that added to the regality of his appearance. At the same time, there was something… offputting to his appearance.
[Dogmatika Maximus (8*/1500/3000/LIGHT/Spellcaster/Effect)]
"With Maximus's effect, by sending two monsters with different names from my Extra Deck to the graveyard, I can force you to send two monsters from your Extra Deck to the graveyard!" Chiaki cast two of her fodder Fusion Monsters into the graveyard.
"Do I get to choose?" Miharu asked. When Chiaki nodded, she took out two cards and showed them to her. "I'll send Sunvine Gardna and Sunavalon Dryades to the graveyard."
Chiaki glanced at her hand. Right now, the big problem was Miharu's life points being higher than hers. If she could just get them down…
Then Aroma Gardening would bring them back up.
Hmm.
But Dogmatika Nation was on the field, so maybe…
"I'll have Dogmatika Ecclesia, the Virtuous attack your Aromaseraphy Jasmine! And when a "Dogmatika" monster I control attacks, once per turn, Fleurdelis gives all my "Dogmatika" monsters 500 attack points."
[Dogmatika Maximus: 1500 + 500 = 2000ATK]
[Dogmatika Ecclesia, the Virtuous: 1500 + 500 = 2000ATK]
[Dogmatika Fleurdelis, the Knighted: 3000 + 500 = 3500ATK]
Miharu arched an eyebrow. The attack went through—Chiaki took the damage, but it was worth it.
Chiaki: 3700 - 300 = 3400LP
"Once per turn, while I control Dogmatika Nation, if a "Dogmatika" monster I control battles an opponent's monster, after damage calculation, I can destroy that monster!" Light shot down, hitting Jasmine and destroying her. "So now, the rest of your monsters aren't immune to battle! Dogmatika Fleurdelis, the Knighted attacks Aromaseraphy Rosemary!"
"... so that was your plan. I was wondering." Miharu shrugged. "Go ahead."
She seemed a little too blase…
Miharu: 5300 - 1000 = 4300LP
"Since I took damage," Miharu said, "Sunavalon Dryas's effect triggers."
… shit. Chiaki had forgotten about that, though she'd argue that she could be excused for it. There was too much to keep track of.
"I will Special Summon a "Sunvine" monster from my Extra Deck. Come—Sunvine Healer." Another copy of the pink flower woman reappeared on the field. "I will gain 300 life points times Dryas's Link Rating."
Miharu: 4300 + 300 = 4600LP
"Maximus attacks your Sunvine Healer!"
"Blessed Winds' effect," Miharu said. "I will send a Plant monster I control to the graveyard to gain 500 life points." Sunvine Healer vanished from her field—preventing Chiaki from dealing easy damage to her.
Miharu: 4600 + 500 = 5100LP
"... I'll end my turn," Chiaki said, slightly wary.
[Turn 6: Miharu] [H:3]
"Draw," Miharu said. Her eyes scanned across the field. "... that's fine. Sunvine Shrine's effect. Return to the field, Sunseed Genius Loci." The monster that seemed to be her most commonly used one appeared on the field. "I will also activate the effect of Blessed Winds. By paying 1000 life points, I will Special Summon Aromaseraphy Jasmine from the graveyard."
The white-haired monster reappeared on the field.
Miharu: 5100 - 1000 = 4100LP
"Since I Special Summoned a "Aroma" monster, I can gain 1000 life points with Aroma Gardening's effect."
So it was a wash, in the end—maintaining her current level of life points.
Miharu: 4100 + 1000 = 5100LP
"Since I gained life points, Jasmine lets me add a Plant monster from my deck to my hand." Miharu gestured forward. "Arrowhead confirmed. The conditions are two or more Plant monsters. I will set Sunseed Genius Loci, Sunseed Twin and Sunavalon Dryas in the Link Markers. Let the shadow beneath the tranquil tree begin to take its own form. Circuit Combine. Link 3. Sunavalon Dryanome!" The tree reappeared on her field, in her left Extra Monster Zone.
[Sunavalon Dryanome (L3/0/EARTH/Plant/Link/Effect/↙, ↓, ↘)]
"You don't use the Extra Deck, right?" Miharu said. "So you don't use the Extra Monster Zone either."
"I don't need it," Chiaki said. "As for you, Link Summoning needs the Extra Monster Zone, right?"
"... well, we gain power from it." Miharu nodded. "That's fine. Topologic Penrose Aitvaras's effect. When a monster is Special Summoned to a zone that a Link Monster points to, Penrose Aitvaras will negate the effect of all other monsters on the field that were Special Summoned from the Extra Deck until the next End Phase, and then, it will gain 300 attack points for each Link Monster on the field and in the graveyard. Stardust Extermination Sacrifice!"
"... did I fuel your graveyard for that effect?"
"You did," Miharu said calmly, and wow, Chiaki really liked her. "Eleven."
[Topologic Penrose Aitvaras: 3000 + 300 x 11 = 6300ATK]
… wow, way to eviscerate her.
"Topologic Penrose Aitvaras attacks Dogmatika Maximus!"
"Fuck," Chiaki muttered. Penrose Aitvaras destroyed her monster, and demolished her life points.
Chiaki: 3400 - 4300 = 0LP
Winner: Miharu Kogami!
"... nice," Chiaki admitted. "... I don't know how I would have beaten you there. Beatdown tactics and Extra Deck manipulation seem to only power you up."
"... I thought of something," Miharu said. "If you want to consider it…" She hesitated. "... I could make you a Link Monster, if you wanted. It would take me time, but… there's a way to work it in, maybe."
"I would need to figure out Link Summoning first," Chiaki said.
Miharu stared at her, her expression somewhat deadpan.
"Oh," Chiaki said. "That was an offer."
Miharu nodded.
"I'd like that too," Serena said. "If you're offering." She and Chiaki exchanged a look. Chiaki relented, not complaining. Even if she still didn't like Serena, she wouldn't let a grudge get in the way of someone who was genuinely trying to get stronger.
Miharu looked at both of them. It struck Chiaki just how… tired the other girl looked.
Even so, before Chiaki could say anything, Miharu nodded.
"I have something in mind," she said. "But I can teach you both. It's not a big deal. If we have two weeks here…" She seemed to be considering several things, before she walked over. "I've mainly been making cards for others based on what I think they would need. If you two want to tell me your opinions… we can try."
Making cards was not an easy process. Chiaki felt almost guilty, taking advantage of a clearly tired girl's desire to help.
They were in war, she told herself. It wasn't like she was forcing Miharu to do anything. Miharu was the one who had volunteered. It wasn't her fault.
In the end, her morals still got the better of her. "You don't have to," she said. "If it's too much…"
"If it was too much for me, I would say so," Miharu said, which was one of the most blatant lies that Chiaki had ever heard. "Helping a comrade isn't trouble." She smiled then—a small smile, but a smile nonetheless. "And having everyone become stronger… that's one of the best possible outcomes."
Serena and Chiaki exchanged a look, surprisingly united in their thoughts for once.
What an incomprehensible girl.
If she was offering though, they really couldn't afford to refuse.
"So Chiaki went off to hang out with the other girls?" Kyorin smiled. "I'm glad! If she's making more friends, that's good…"
Yuji settled down next to her.
"Are you upset?" Kyorin didn't think he would be—and the way that he shook his head confirmed it.
"No." Yuji glanced out. "... not feeling well. I'll help tomorrow." He hesitated. "... Sugisaki's not here. I don't know anyone else."
So he had been searching for somewhere comfortable to him, and he had ended up choosing her, huh? Once one actually understood what Yuji Fujita was trying to say, he was surprisingly sweet.
"Well, I feel the same way!" Kyorin smiled shyly. "Reiji said that we would reconvene to talk about this interdimensional alliance tomorrow, and… I'm stressed. So I thought I would draw a bit."
She didn't exactly have her tablet with her right now, but she had managed to get a pencil and some scrap paper, and she was currently sketching some ideas down.
Yuji nodded. He sat down awkwardly.
"Did you come up with a story you wanted to tell yet?" Kyorin asked.
"... not yet."
"Well, we can always exchange once you're done." It was a promise that they'd made back home—Kyorin with her sketches and the comic that she had been drawing, Yuji with his hopes of being able to tell a story the way that he wanted someday. "I'm probably not very interesting today."
"That's… okay." Yuji looked at her. "... how have you been?"
Kyorin mentally translated it as him enquiring after what she had done in the Synchro Dimension, so she quickly gave him a summary of her experiences. "I honestly haven't grown much," she admitted. "Not like the rest."
"You've been through a lot." Yuji said. He cut himself off awkwardly. "... I made it worse for you, didn't I?"
"... you did," Kyorin admitted. "Knowing that you were fighting on their side, knowing that I might have to duel you again… it scared me."
"I scared you?"
"... mmm." Kyorin averted her gaze. "I know I'm really weak. But I wanted to be strong enough to make up for not being able to protect you back then. I also didn't want to be the one to hurt you again. If you lost… even if I won, what if it made Academia mistreat you? I was so scared, Yuji. But it's not your fault, Yuji. I'm glad you're back."
"... me too." Yuji glanced at his hands. "... glad, I mean."
She had gotten that, yes, but she would never look down on Yuji's attempts to clarify himself. And well, if he was here…
"I can teach you more of how to draw," Kyorin said. "If you want?"
Yuji nodded. He looked over her shoulder.
"Okay. I think that the last time we were here, I was showing you how we work with anatomy?" It was several months ago, so it took Kyorin a while, but thankfully, Yuji nodded. "So, let's try basic poses? Here, have a pencil…"
"I didn't expect to see anyone here so early, Kurosaki-dono."
Shun looked over at Gongenzaka—they were currently helping with the movement and clean up of the streets in the border between the Commons and the Tops. It was difficult, but it was necessary—by getting rid of the rubble and gathering things to return them to their owners, things could be rebuilt here. Gongenzaka was certainly contributing significantly with his physical strength, and Shun was doing his best too.
It gave him some peace of mind.
He could do this for Heartland too. Move, remove, rebuild.
Just a little more.
"I felt like helping out," Shun said. "I don't like sitting still."
"I admire that about you," Gongenzaka said. "You're always resolute about what you're doing, Kurosaki-dono."
"… thanks. It led me down the wrong path back in Standard though."
He'd carded people that had nothing to do with Academia, blinded by his rage. It was an unforgivable sin—one that he would have to make up for.
"To protect others is a dangerous impulse," Gongenzaka said, even as the two of them stepped back to let the machines collect the rubble. "But we are all guilty of being reckless with regards to the people we know, are we not? I cannot say that I approve of the man that you were back in Maiami City." His tone, however, was not condemning. "But I admire the man that you are now. A man that has regained his principles."
Neither forgiveness nor approval of his past, but acceptance of his presence…
Wasn't that the best that Shun could ask for right now?
"There's still a lot to do," Shun said, choosing not to address the topic for now. "It seems that the two of us will be working together for most of today."
"Indeed. It's hard work, but every bit counts, does it not?"
Shun nodded. As they walked back towards the rubble, he spoke up again. "I do not look… fondly on my past self either." He rubbed his forehead. "But I will work to be worthy of your respect. All of you."
A moment passed.
Gongenzaka, completely ruining the mood, burst loudly into tears. "What a manly proclamation!" He declared. "Then, the man, Gongenzaka, will do his best to help you too!"
Shun rolled his eyes at the overly emotional response. Still, if he ended up smiling a little, that was a secret only for him.
"My arms are tired," Sawatari complained, but he didn't stop pushing the trolley. On it were some boxes of clothes that had been taken from Tops' boutiques after compensating the owners, because Jack and Arisu seemed determined to run through all the coffers of the City in just a single week. Impractical clothes had not been bought, but things like jackets, shirts, pants, were distributed to those who needed them.
"You should work out more when you get home, if you don't want it to hurt so much," Mion teased, easily holding onto several boxes in her arms. Sawatari stuck out his tongue at her.
"Excuse you, I don't want to hear that from the one with the mechanical arm. Careful not to knock anything loose again, you'll need to get it repaired if that's the case, and it'll only slow us down."
Next to them, Yuya choked on his own breath. Mion shot both of them a smile. She didn't rise to Sawatari's bait, simply continuing to walk. "Fair. Let's go hand them out." She walked towards a group of children—after all, the boxes that she was holding onto were all marked as children-sized clothes. Sawatari carried on pushing the trolley, and Yuya caught up to him.
"You shouldn't be so mean to her about her arm," he commented.
"It's just a joke," Sawatari said, dismissing Yuya's concern. "Plus, it's literally the best prosthetic money can buy—Reiji Akaba splurged on it for her, though I still don't know why. Probably better than that original arm."
"Still," Yuya said, pulling on Sawatari's arm to get him to stop walking. "There are some things money can't fix."
Of course Sawatari knew that. Otherwise, would he still be unable to catch up to them?
"Do you not like her?"
"Of course I—" Sawatari baulked at the question. "Of course I do!" His face immediately went red in embarrassment—he hadn't wanted to be quite so enthusiastic about saying it. To save face, he shook his head. "What, can't I be mean to her sometimes?"
"… you know that she is actually injured, right?"
"What?" Sawatari exclaimed. He immediately glanced after Mion's figure in the distance, as his sister knelt down next to a bunch of kids who crowded around her, lifting up a shirt to judge the size of it against a short girl, maybe four or five.
"Yeah, Sergey Volkov hit her with a motorcycle. I think that Reiji Akaba made her do a medical checkup first last night, along with Reira. I overheard them talking about it last night." Yuya grimaced, seeming somewhat awkward. "Well, I kind of wish I didn't…"
Come to think of it, Mion had been balancing all the boxes with her prosthetic arm. Was that so that she didn't strain herself too much?
Why did she never say anything to him about things like this? If he'd known…!
"As for why Reiji Akaba went out of his way to help her…" Yuya looked like he wanted to dig a hole and bury himself in it. "You… really don't know?"
"Huh?" Sawatari frowned. "Am I supposed to? Reiji Akaba's completely unreadable, you know—never know why he does anything."
"You really don't know," Yuya said, sounding genuinely surprised. "I thought it was a pretty open secret."
"Just tell me already." Had Sawatari missed something important?
"Well…"
Mion returned before the two of them could carry on talking. "You haven't distributed those clothes yet?" She said, folding her arms. "Come on." She glanced at both of them. "Or… it's our fourth time travelling back and forth. Are you tired? Do you need water?"
Sawatari stared at her, but he genuinely couldn't tell where she was injured. Still, Yuya wouldn't lie…
"Ok, you're very out of it, Shingo." Mion opened the bag she was carrying, handing a bottle over to him. "Let's rest for a bit then."
There was no use asking her, and Yuya didn't seem willing to talk about it while Mion was there.
So there was only one person left to ask…
"Do you have a plan for the Friendship Cup?" Mion asked, and Yuya smiled to himself.
"I just want to do my best," he admitted. "But I don't have as much at stake. So I'll just take it as a chance to grow."
"I mean, you've already grown, right?" Sawatari blurted out. "That Supreme King Dragon of yours—that was super omega powerful! Even the great Sawatari was intimidated by it."
"True, but I didn't actually…" Yuya trailed off. "Anyway, I don't think that counts. Without Yuno's dragon, it becomes impractical to summon anyway."
Mion blinked. "... Supreme King Dragon?"
"Yeah." Yuya turned to her. "Yuno and I summoned this really strong monster when we were dueling side by side earlier… The Supreme King Cobalt Dragon, Odd-Eyes Current Dragon. Is there… something wrong?"
Mion shook her head. "I don't know why," she said. "I just got a strange sense of deja vu… it's nothing." She tilted her head. "Why is it impractical to summon? It's a member of your archetype, isn't it?"
"It needs a Dragon Link Monster and a "Odd-Eyes" monster," Yuya explained. "I only have two Link Monsters—my Performapal Odd-Eyes Silver Selkie and my Odd-Eyes Dispersion Dragon… and technically, I could use the two of them as materials, but in general, it just doesn't feel right."
"Well, if you don't want to use it, that's fine." Mion leaned back on the wall—and there, her body language betrayed her, as she went still for a brief moment, before relaxing again. "Yugo, Kurosaki and Serena are all tough opponents though. Kurosaki, especially." She offered a light smile. "I'm rooting for you, if that helps. I like an underdog."
Sawatari found his voice again, launching into his usual blustering speech. "If you aren't the biggest underdog ever, I don't know what you are!"
"... was that a compliment?" Mion smirked. "You're getting better at those."
"If not for me," Sawatari sniffed, "you never would've gotten this far."
Yuya looked between the two of them. "Um…"
"Shingo got me a few of the first cards I had," Mion explained. "Endymion the Master Magician was one of them, because the way that it fit with my name made him laugh his head off. He's pretty sweet, though he doesn't like to show it."
"M-mion!"
Yuya laughed then—a genuine laugh that made the two half-siblings turn to look at him.
"I'm a little envious," he admitted. "I always wanted a sibling. My parents weren't interested in more kids though."
"What kind of sibling would you have liked?" Sawatari asked, genuinely curious.
"If it was a younger sister, I'd want someone… well, fierce." Yuya rubbed the back of his head. "Clever, but fierce… hah, I'm just projecting now, aren't I? Someone with the courage to face others. Maybe then, with someone like that, I could face the world more easily. But I mostly just wanted more company when I was a kid."
Sawatari was suddenly, uncomfortably reminded that Yuya had been close to alone for three years. Yes, there were those people at You Show, but…
He had always been surrounded by people. He couldn't imagine being alone, being looked down on.
"Well, family's not always by blood," Mion said. "Your friends at You Show, aren't they family to you too?" She smiled dryly. "Nothing wrong with asking for more."
Sawatari looked at her. He found himself speechless.
Yuya looked a little embarrassed. "... actually, I kind of see Yuno as…" He mumbled out, before stopping. He didn't finish the sentence, in the end, but it was enough for even someone as oblivious as Sawatari to guess what he had meant.
"... you should tell him." Mion patted Yuya's shoulder. "I think he'd be happy to know."
"That'd be too embarrassing!" Yuya shook his head. "Just going up to someone and telling them that you want them to be your sibling of sorts… that's too embarrassing, really."
"Really?" Mion raised an eyebrow. "I'll give it a try then. Want to be my 'sibling of sorts' too? Shingo already fills that role, but I can always make room for another. Maybe you'll be less rebellious."
"H-hey!" Sawatari scowled. "You can't replace me with him, Mion!"
Mion shot him a smile—it was then that Sawatari realised she was joking.
Still, Yuya looked a little surprised—and a little touched.
Internally, Sawatari groaned.
Fine. Just… fine.
He couldn't say no to such a joyful face.
Still, Mion clearly didn't notice. She just turned back to the boxes, clapping her hands together. "Alright," she said. "Break's over. Move the boxes."
"I actually can't tell who is from the Commons and who is from the Tops," Yugo said, grinning.
"… well, they all look equally out of place," Yuno joked.
With the people wearing any additional clothes that the city could get their hands on, they were a mix of colours and clothing styles that appeared eclectic in nature. There was a man wearing a black suit-like shirt and denim trousers that were a size too large for him; next to him, there was a girl wearing a fancy cardigan over an old shirt to keep herself warm—everything felt geared towards practicality and survival, all of a sudden. So no one seemed to care about their appearance—just about distributing things and helping each other.
"Still, I thought you were going to go and visit your mum today."
"My mum?" Yugo frowned, before he realised what Yuno meant and grinned instead. "Oh, you mean Martha! Well, we're trying to get a day when Jack and Arisu are free to do it. Bringing everyone along would make her so happy, don't you think?"
"It'd be a nice surprise," Yuno agreed. "I can't wait to see my dad too, honestly—he's probably been worried sick."
"Martha was worried sick about us too." For a moment, Yugo's grin faltered, but it came back immediately after. "Comes from having such impulsive children, huh?"
"Well, you all came back in the end, didn't you?" Yuno picked up some more food, ready to help to distribute it. "I'm sure she understands." However, unable to stop himself, he did tease Yugo slightly. "Though you've probably given her a few white hairs."
"Mm, yeah. What's your mum like, Yuno?"
Yuno stopped for a moment. "I… don't have a mum," he said, recovering seconds later.
"Oh…"
"I do have a dad though!" Yuno immediately brought the conversation back to cheerfulness. "He's the best dad ever… uh, maybe Miharu's dad is also pretty great. He tolerated me jumping in through his office window a few times to visit her. But my dad's the best."
"I guess Martha really was kind of my mum, huh?" Yugo smiled. "And I grew up with so many of the other kids too! So I was pretty much never alone."
Alone…
"It's hard to be alone in my house," Yuno said cheerfully. "Miyu's pretty antisocial—I think she has a close group of friends, but most of the time, they hang out in my house, so there's always someone else there!"
"Miyu's your… older sister, right?"
"Yup! We hit it off pretty well when I ended up fostered in that family—with my dad too, of course. That's why I stayed. Miyu's also a pretty good duelist back at home, actually!"
"Oh, is she an, uh, idol like you?"
"Nah." Yuno winked. "Miyu's great, but she's very normal!… that I know of. I don't enquire into her social life. I'm pretty sure she's dating someone—" Because Miyu and Aoi were not subtle in the slightest, thank you. "But that's it."
"Whoa, cool." Yugo sighed. "I really have to set up my sisters with people. They're both such workaholics that unless something has to do with work, they'll never give it even a second glance."
"Worry about your relationship with Rin first," Yuno said, shooting an arrow into Yugo's heart with his words.
"Hey, you can't just—it's not like you're actually dating Miharu yet either!"
"I want to," Yuno said boldly.
Yugo looked at him, and then let out a sound that was like a pterodactyl's screech. Several people looked over, but apparently, it wasn't even the weirdest thing that they'd seen that day, because they looked away after a while, continuing their conversations.
"Oh, jeez—"
Yugo finally stopped, grinning sheepishly. "Sorry. I just… got excited. You and Miharu… I'd consider both of you my good friends, you know? You both helped me at a tough time… and well, I think you're good for each other." He rubbed the back of his neck. "So yeah! I totally support you."
Yuno looked at Yugo. He smiled warmly.
"Yeah," he said. "Thanks. I feel the same way too—I'm very glad I met you. And Miharu feels the same, I'm sure."
"Really?"
"... Miharu doesn't let just anyone talk her down or change her mind." Yuno winked. "So yeah. And I mean, we're going to be hanging out more! You're a Lancer now, after all."
"That's true!" Yugo held up a hand for a fistbump. Yuno glanced pointedly at the two bags that he was holding, but he was grinning too. Yugo sheepishly lowered his fist. "I'm so looking forward to it. War's bad, but you guys sure aren't."
Yuno reflected that he'd never heard quite such a casual response in his life to war.
Still, the sentiment was very much returned.
"Excuse me! Excuse me!" There was a woman frantically running around the streets. Both Sora and Yuto exchanged a look, before they walked up to the woman.
"Is everything okay?" Yuto, who had a more calming voice, gently spoke up.
"I can't find my son," the anxious woman said. She was clearly one of the Tops, from all the jewellery she was wearing. "I don't know where he went!"
"What does your son look like?" Sora asked. The woman gave them a description, but she was clearly still in hysterics. People around them were staring, but Yuto was more concerned about the woman herself.
"Okay," Yuto said. "Where did you last see him?"
"He was peeking over towards the tents!" The woman said, gesturing to the area where many of the Commons had settled down for now. "Come to think of it… one of them might have kidnapped him!" She began to walk towards the tents. Both Yuto and Sora exchanged uncertain looks, but before they could stop the woman from doing something that she might regret, a voice called out.
"Is that your mother, kid?"
"Mama!" A boy ran towards them, and the mother let out a loud sound of relief, moving forward and embracing her son.
"Where were you?" She fussed. "I thought you'd been kidnapped! Oh, thank you—" She looked up towards the person who had brought her son over and froze. "... oh. You're…"
"No problem," Makoto Toyama said brusquely. "Your son snuck out to play with his friends and got lost. I found him, guessed where he'd come from and brought him back." His gaze then fell on Yuto and Sora. "... oh. Hello. You're volunteering, huh?"
"... thought that we should," Yuto said, slightly awkward. The woman and her son were tearfully reuniting nearby. "And you?"
"Momoi got tired of me sticking by her side the entire time and told me to go and get some air," Makoto said with a shrug. "I wasn't planning on helping, but… well, I thought I might as well."
Yuto was pretty sure that was a lie. Makoto was dressed lightly—but he wasn't carrying anything on him. He had likely been helping to deliver supplies around the city too. Still, he nodded—and then, he froze as something licked his leg.
"Ah, Kemuri—" Makoto sighed. He knelt down, plucking the cat that had been licking Yuto's leg from the ground. Sora let out a sound of delight. Makoto glanced at him. "You like cats?"
"It was absolutely not the right time to ask last time," Sora said, "but I do! Can I pet him?"
Makoto adjusted the cat in his arms. "Sure. He's a scratcher, so be careful."
Sora tiptoed, petting the black cat on the head. It let out a yowl, but it didn't try to scratch Sora, which was a good sign.
"Its name is Kemuri?" Yuto asked. "That's a good name for a black cat…"
"Wait until you find out that he was named after cigarette smoke," Makoto said dryly. "Anyway, I've been wandering around all day, and my legs are tired. Take a break. I'll cook you guys something if you come back to my place. There's a ghost wandering around the place, but she's friendly."
"You live in a haunted apartment?" Sora said, gasping. For some reason, Makoto found that amusing, judging by his smirk.
In the end, they took up the offer. The apartment that Makoto brought them to was completely spotless—every item was placed in a straight line, shoes were arranged right next to each other properly, and even as they walked in, Makoto picked up the broom and swept the area by the door for a moment.
"I have guests!" He called out as he walked in, leaving his shoes at the door. Sora and Yuto followed his example. "Sit down on the couch, or anywhere, I guess." The cat, Kemuri, launched itself into the house too. Yuto followed it in—
Just in time to see it jump on the couch.
"Do you want anything?" Makoto called out. For a moment, Yuto thought that he was talking to them, but then, the figure on the couch moved, and Yuto finally noticed her. Yugo's quiet sister glanced up from the book that she was reading, nodding slightly. "Kay. I'll make some eggs for you then—I'm assuming you don't want to eat a full meal right now."
Another nod.
"Um. Hi." Sora peeked around Yuto. "Can I play with the cat?"
"Feel free," Makoto said. "If you can get him away from Mizuchi—sometimes, I swear he likes her more than he likes me. Which means he has good taste."
Kaname lifted up the cat, gently putting it on the ground. She gestured towards Sora, and it slowly walked towards him.
"Hey!" Sora immediately started playing with the cat. "You're so cute! How long have you had this guy?"
"Five years ago, give or take," Makoto answered. He was currently digging through the fridge. "He's never quite grown up, as you can see—just as cuddly as he was back then. Only difference is that he's in his teenager phase, apparently—likes to get in fights with others who get in his 'territory'. One time, I tried to sit down next to Kaname and he hissed at me. As though I haven't been feeding this ungrateful punk for the last five years."
Kaname shook in a way that might have been a laugh. The cat, as though understanding the words, let out another hiss.
"Yes, you, you ungrateful creature."
Meanwhile, Yuto found himself feeling even more awkward than before. He made eye contact with Kaname, and the two of them exchanged an equally awkward pair of nods. Still, considering that Sora was more likely to try and learn how to talk to the cat than he was to try to engage in human conversation, the task fell to Yuto.
"Do you stay over at his place often?" He asked.
Kaname nodded, before glancing at Makoto and shrugging.
"It's an undefined relationship," Makoto said with a shrug of his own, as though having understood what she was trying to communicate. "Technically, her registered address was the boss's place, but she pretty much moved in a month after she joined Security."
"Oh," Yuto said. "You two are…"
Makoto shrugged. "We've done a lot of things out of order," he quipped. "Haven't actually done a DTR yet, so I have no clue what's going on either."
"... well," Yuto said, leaning back. "I'm not judging. Just resigning myself to the fact that my sister's also probably going to move out with her boyfriend once they both graduate." Well, assuming Heartland was rebuilt by then. No, he had to be optimistic about things.
"Right, your sister, the scary girl with the braid." Makoto snorted. "Mizuchi likes her a lot. If I didn't know better, I'd say she has a crush."
Kaname shot him a look that seemed almost affronted. Yuto swallowed a laugh. "Nue respects you quite a bit too," he said. "Told me that you were one of the toughest opponents she's ever dealt with and to avoid dueling you at all costs."
"Wise choice," Makoto said. "Especially because she's on your side now." The smell of frying eggs drifted through the air. The rice cooker had already been turned on too. "Alright, I'll focus on cooking now. You three can bond or… whatever."
Yuto and Kaname glanced at each other again. Kaname then, surprisingly, actually initiated conversation—she reached over to her duel disk, using the text-to-speech. "Tell me about the Xyz Dimension."
… well, that was as good of a starting point as any. Yuto spied Sora looking over as well—clearly also curious about the same topic.
When it came to Heartland, he could talk about it for hours and hours.
"Thank you for the donation!" Hitoda smiled sweetly, and the woman in front of her let out a flustered sound, praising her for being a kind girl, before walking away.
"I hope you know," Nue said, "that it's getting harder and harder to keep a straight face every time you do this."
Hitoda winked. "But that's more money for our allies to spend, no?"
"... how are you doing this." Hitoda had already cajoled around twenty people into donating to 'support the city in its greatest time of need' at this point, through literally just smiling, and Nue was both impressed and concerned for the state of the world.
"Should I do it to you too?" Hitoda teased. "Oh, Nue-san, won't you donate just a bit of money?" She batted her eyelashes.
"Flirt," Nue said, rolling her eyes. "Seriously, how are you convincing people so well?"
"Well, they don't know me!" Hitoda reached up, unconsciously messing with her hair bun. "So they're not as wary of me as you are, Nue-san."
"It also probably helps that I'm straight," Nue said dryly. "Considering that your main method of persuasion is flirting them into submission."
"I'd call it less flirting and more sweet-talking."
"Those are synonyms."
"Nah! One has an actual romantic context, one doesn't." Hitoda lifted a bottle of water to her lips, drinking from it.
"You do flirt though," Nue pointed out. "Honestly, with how much you flirt and how good you are at it, I'm surprised that you're still single."
A moment passed. Hitoda capped the bottle.
"... are you still single?" Nue raised her head, blinking.
"I am!" Hitoda confirmed. "Had a pretty casual relationship with someone for a bit, but we broke up a while before I came here. Kind of. I'm not sure. I'm pretty sure. Uh. Yeah."
This was the first time that Nue had ever heard Hitoda sound anything but completely assured of herself, and it prompted her to actually try to give advice. "What was the break-up like?"
"Well, we made out, I threatened his life, he threatened my life, and there was kind of the implication that there was a conflict of interest between us, so emotional investment was probably going to be a bad thing to have for both of us."
"... that was both too much detail and too little detail at the same time," Nue said dryly. "Why is your life so complicated?"
"If it's not complicated, it's not fun," Hitoda joked. "Really, it was a shame… he was nice to have around. That's that though, and I'm not really interested in romance anyway. I'd have thought that you'd be the same, but you and Kurosaki fit well together."
Nue shrugged. "Shun's liked me longer than I've liked him," she admitted. "I had an ex too. Things didn't go too well with him, and honestly, I was a bit too young and rebellious then to figure out how to actually be in a good relationship. He… wasn't a particularly good person either, so we broke up."
"... well." Hitoda winked. "I'm not sorry for that guy. Because I do like both you and Kurosaki, y'know. I'm glad you ended up together, if that other guy really wasn't nice to you. Is he still around in Heartland?"
Nue pinched her nose. "My upperclassman," she admitted. "But yeah. Let's hope that we can keep things civil once we go back there… maybe a few months away will have helped that guy finally move on."
"Or, if you want, I can punch him," Hitoda offered.
Nue let out a huff—slightly amused. "Spare your delicate hands. I'm very capable of punching him myself."
The door opened. Shinji looked up.
"I put the kids to sleep," Naoya said, peeking in through the door. "You should probably pop in to see them once or twice. They'd be more reassured to see you there. Kiryu's also heated up leftovers for you, if you want to eat them later."
"I failed them," Shinji said with some anguish. "I failed Crow." That feeling of failure still stung so much—as much as the sight of Crow's card on his table. He was terrified. He was angry. Both of those things.
Naoya sighed. "Look," he said quietly. "I feel terrible too. He was trying so hard to be better, to protect everyone. It wasn't right—it wasn't fair. But you still need to take care of yourself."
"He was my best friend," Shinji said, covering his face with his hands. "He was my partner. He was my…"
Naoya looked at him. "... Kiryu would understand," he said. "It was the same way for him." With those words, he slipped out of the room again.
Shinji just sat there.
He had been despondent, but not enough that he'd forgotten about the kids. He'd rushed home, and Amanda had run crying into his arms, saying that they had seen Crow fall, that they were frightened. Tanner and Frank had clung to him too.
Shinji had been in so much pain at the time, but he had done all that he could to comfort the kids. However, he was close to falling apart himself.
And then, Naoya and Kiryu had showed up at the house.
"It's not like they've tried to rearrest us yet," Naoya had pointed out. "We'll go when they ask, but…"
Kiryu had been more straightforward. "You need us right now," he'd said. He and Naoya had gotten to work—giving Shinji room to breathe by taking care of the kids too, cooking, making sure that things could go smoothly.
In the present, Shinji stood up. He walked downstairs.
Kiryu was there.
Shinji sat down at the dinner table.
"Was this," he said, "what it was like for you? When you lost him?"
"... I think it's very obvious by now," Kiryu said, "that I loved Yusei Fudo." He shot Shinji a look. "And you loved Crow, didn't you?"
"... I don't want to answer that right now."
"That's fine. It took me a while to admit it, after the fact." Kiryu folded his arms. "It was like this, yes. But you're at the very least less destructive than me. I channelled all my grief through rage, and look where it got me. I even dragged Sherry and Naoya down with me—it was their choice to help me, but it was still my decision to plan out what we did."
"That doesn't make me feel better."
"I didn't think it would. But the truth is, we have very few friends in this world. You, especially, Shinji—you give your loyalty to so few people, but when you give it to them, you would go to the ends of the world for them." Kiryu looked him in the eyes. "We will be here for you, until you feel like you can face the world again. You won't be alone to take care of the three of them. And… we can hope that carding can somehow be reversed. There is still a chance for you to meet Crow again, someday."
Maybe that was false hope—but it was still hope.
Shinji took a bite of the leftovers.
Yeah.
Maybe that was all that they could hope for, right now.
Once Yuto and Sora left, Makoto turned to Kaname.
"You should go to their building tomorrow," he said. "If they're negotiating an alliance… I'm sure Arisu would appreciate having you there."
A shrug.
"Are you feeling better than you were this morning? About your… father."
Kaname twitched for a brief moment. She nodded after a moment. He watched her, and he seemed a little more relieved.
(No wonder he was relieved. She'd been a wreck that morning.)
"I guess that's good enough." Makoto leaned on the counter. "Now that I'm thinking about it, we really did this out of order, huh? I'm pretty sure moving in is supposed to come after dating."
Very true.
"I guess that we should address the elephant in the room," Makoto mused. "You're going with the Lancers, aren't you?"
Kaname looked at him—and tilted her head forward in a quick nod. No hesitation—her choice was already made.
"I'm not going with you, you know." Makoto glanced away. "Chino and I still have a lot of work to make up for what we did—and Momoi's here. Now that this city is in the midst of change, I want to protect its right to change."
That was fine. She signed out that message, and Makoto sighed. He looked at her, seeming resigned.
"If I ask you to stay, will you stay?" He said. "You know I'm not someone who cares that much about the big picture. The city is finally changing, after so long… don't you want to experience what it's like to breathe fresh air again? Why throw yourself into a warzone?"
'Won't.' I won't stay. 'Win. Protect.' Hesitation. 'See.'
I want to win against those who invaded our city. I want to protect this place from anything like that happening again.
I want to see what lies beyond this city.
"Geez. Well, I can't really argue with that."
The kettle let out a whistling sound, the water coming to a boil. Makoto poured out two cups, though he left them on the table—it was always necessary to boil water when drinking it here, after all.
"You know," Makoto continued, "we haven't actually done a DTR talk yet. If we're going to be doing this long-distance, I think it's a good time."
Well, it was a good time to finally define the relationship between them, yes…
"I prefer partner," he said. "But I don't think I'd mind being called your boyfriend, you know. So I guess that leaves it up to you."
'Prefer. Partner.'
"Good. We're on the same page with that then." Makoto turned towards her, tilting his head. "But you didn't talk about the other part. What am I to you, Kaname Mizuchi?"
Wasn't that a simple answer? 'Partner.'
"... geez." Makoto rubbed the back of his neck. "Occupational or romantic?"
'Both?' Why not both?
"... well. That's fine."
But it still didn't seem to be the answer that he wanted to hear.
She signed Makoto's name, and then, she paused for a moment.
She focused, and she carefully breathed out the syllables.
"Makoto."
He turned to look at her, slightly surprised.
"... like," she said, somewhat shy. And it was ridiculous to be shy about this of all things after the person in question had already seen her yelling at her unconscious father, but…
"... oh," he said. His eyes softened slightly. "... me too. Yeah."
Was he shy too?
… cute.
"I really wanted to hear that," he said, "but now it's even harder to let you go."
'Difficult. Me. Too.'
"I know it's difficult for you too." He sighed. "You have to go, and I have to stay. What a mess."
He walked up to her. He sat down next to her on the couch—leaving some distance between them, but still near enough to express his desire to be close to her.
"I'll wait for you to come back," he said. "You're the Ghost, yeah? People might have given you that name out of terror, because they don't see you—but to me, that's not what that name means at all. I always do my best to see you—you know that. To me, it means that you've survived all that this city can throw at you—and you're still fucking standing."
He reached out, lifted her hand and pressed his lips to the back of her hand—through the dark fabric of the glove, but no less intimate.
"Survive," he said softly. "I'll keep this place safe while you're gone—so survive, no matter what, and when it's all done, come back to me. You're the Ghost, and what's dead cannot die again—isn't that how it goes?"
… mm.
She had hope now. And while she had hope, while she could stand up and fight for herself…
She would never drown.
She reached up, stripping off her mask, and took the initiative this time—leaning forward to kiss him. It was something that she would only ever dare to do in private—there were still too many layers that she had to hide behind in the eyes of others. Their bodies pressed against the couch, sharing each other's warmth.
She wanted to make the most of these moments, before she had to leave him behind, to walk on a different path.
But those paths would converge in the end.
It would just be a long wait.
Sawatari stuck his head into Reiji's office.
"Yes?" Reiji said. Sitting nearby, Reira was quietly sorting through their cards.
"Sakaki—uh, Yuya implied that there was a reason why you paid for Mion's prosthetic and went out of your way to help her," Sawatari said bluntly. "He also said that it was a really obvious reason that all the Lancers knew, but I don't know what it is."
Reira dropped their cards. They looked over at Sawatari with a look of slack-jawed confusion.
Reiji sighed. He turned back to his paperwork. "You'll figure it out eventually," he said. "Though I do wish that you hadn't informed me that all the Lancers knew about it."
"… yes, all the Lancers know about it, nii-san," Reira said pointedly. "Except the one Lancer who should."
Sawatari blinked—he wasn't aware that Reira had learned backtalk. Honestly, very fair—with the sheer amount of bullshit that Academia was throwing at them, he would be getting ruder too.
The one Lancer who should… that was Mion, right?
What would Reiji Akaba's reason be…
Aha!
"It's because she knows all summoning methods and you respect her for it!" Sawatari declared.
Crickets chirped.
"No," Reiji said calmly.
"Well, the only other thing that I can think of is that you like her, but that's absolutely ridiculous—"
Sawatari stopped. His head slowly turned.
"Oh my god," he said, like a man who had just discovered fire for the first time.
"I think it's about time that you get out of my office," Reiji said.
"No, wait—how does Mion not know?" Now that he was thinking about it, considering how smart Mion was, there was no way that she wouldn't have figured it out by now.
"As it turns out, obliviousness is hereditary," Reiji said calmly—yes, Reiji Akaba had just burned him, this was getting weirder and weirder.
"Oh my god," Sawatari said. "If this ends up going well, Reiji Akaba will be my brother-in-law." His worldview was currently collapsing around him.
"Technically, Mion is illegitimate, so no," Reiji said.
"You're not denying it." Sawatari pressed a hand to his forehead. "I—okay. We're going to pretend that I don't know about this. Bye." And he quickly reversed direction, heading out of the room.
He really wished that he hadn't asked.
Day 2
In the end, when they met up to discuss an alliance between their dimensions, the room felt pretty crowded. Reiji was there, naturally, and so was Mion. And since the two of them were there and Reira was sticking to their side like glue, she was there too. Nue had ended up there with Shun, Ruri and Yuto as well, to speak for Heartland. Kyorin was sitting there, and that meant that Yuji and Chiaki were there as well—and that exact logic was pretty much why the meeting had ended up involving so many people. Serena was also there, just in case they needed to check what the Fusion Dimension's structure was like. Miharu, despite her objection the other day, had also shown up, Yuno cheerfully whispering in her ear as they waited. Finally, Jack and Arisu were there. Apparently, Aki was currently managing things while they were talking.
"As of now, communication between dimensions without physically going to a different dimension is still impossible," Reiji clarified. "So we will need to establish regular travel between dimensions to pass news. I feel that we can do a trial run between our dimensions first, and extend it to the other three dimensions once Academia's influence is removed from them. Establish regular communications, so that we can come to each other's aid if necessary."
"That is a good idea," Jack agreed. "Dimensional travel technology is not something that we currently have, however."
"I have not yet given it to you," Reiji agreed. "Currently, most of the engineers in this city have been associated with Roget at some point or another. I worry about the technology being misused. Thus, I was going to wait to speak with you and establish some regulations for how you use it."
"Makes sense." Jack raised an eyebrow. "What's the plan then?"
"We will have the duel disks that allow dimensional travel be regulated directly by you and those that you trust," Reiji said. "I trust you to distribute it as needed, and there will be a program on your duel disk specifically that will allow you to unlock the program installed in the rest of the duel disks, so that you can regulate it."
"I do not think that I should be the only one with that power, in case I am otherwise occupied."
"Give me a list of people that you trust later then," Reiji said. Jack nodded. "Next. Kurosakis, Kamisokas. Can you brief us on the current state of Heartland? What resources are available, how many members of the Resistance are there, and how many enemies are there to face?"
Nue glanced around, before she spoke up. She didn't exactly want to burden Ruri, Shun and Yuto with having to explain all of this, after all. "Our information is two or three months out of date—that's when we travelled to Standard."
"That's fine. No one here would know better than you."
Nue nodded. "Heartland's Resistance mainly consists of duelists from Heartland Duel School itself—the best duel school in our world. It's similar to what LDS was in Standard. Most of our duelists are thus around the same age as us. There are three branches to Heartland Duel School—three different locations. Spade Branch, Clover Branch and Diamond Branch." She rubbed the back of her neck, thinking about that terrible day, but she didn't allow herself to delve into it. "Overall, Diamond Branch was seen as the strongest of the main three branches, and that was widely accepted… which is probably why Academia targeted it first. I believe that as of the time we left, the Resistance had roughly seventy or so duelists, actually. A majority were from Heartland's Clover Branch, which suffered the least from the attacks. There were quite a few from Spade as well, and from Diamond…"
She would be more familiar with duelists from her branch, after all. Yuto and Shun had confessed back then that they had thought that she was the only survivor, which hadn't been true. But there was a reason that she had been alone in the rubble before Yuto had come to help her, and it wasn't one that needed to be aired out right now.
"Eight people, not including myself," she said.
"You said 'main three branches'," Yuno pointed out. "Were there any other branches?"
Nue blinked, before she nodded. "That might be a misnomer. Technically, there was a Hearts Branch, but that wasn't actually a physical location. It was how we referred to the students that were in Heartland on scholarship programs—in other words, they came from other parts of the world, but they were so good that Heartland scouted them for its own pro league—in exchange for coming to Heartland on subsidised school fees, they would agree to compete primarily in our tournaments and pro league. It was a special program, and it was pretty competitive—a lot of people wanted to come to Heartland. I think there were only four students who succeeded on getting into the program at the point that the invasion happened, three third-years and a second-year. They were scouting out a few more second-years and first-years, but… yeah. Invasion. They didn't have a ranking system since it was just four of them, though there was generally one of them who everyone considered the strongest. And they were allowed to attend classes in any of the three branches"
"Four of them, you say." Reiji was actually taking notes. Nue felt mildly gratified. "How good is the average level of a duelist in the Resistance?"
"Nue will be biased about that," Yuto said, because her brother knew her very well.
"I'll do my best to be impartial." Nue leaned her head on her arm. "The average level is likely higher than most of your LDS. Heartland really was rather competitive, all things considered—we didn't have the whole performance aspect like you. We all aimed to win. Shun and I were the top of our respective branches, Diamond and Spade, if that helps you to get a general idea. All four members of Hearts were around the same level as us—our closest rivals, other than each other and Kaito." She remembered that the rest probably had no clue who Kaito was. "Kaito was the top of Clover Branch—he was one of the toughest opponents I've ever faced. If I'm not wrong, Shun…"
"We never established who was the strongest between the three of us," Shun agreed.
"And you thought that it was a good idea to leave your homeland when you were two of the strongest people there?" Jack said, arching an eyebrow.
"Three," Nue said. "Yuto was with us too." She did not hesitate, because she was not ashamed of her decision. "And yes. I don't regret it, because we were at a stalemate back then. We found a lead and we took it. And I trusted my comrades to protect everyone until we returned."
She had apologised to her friends at Diamond Branch before she had left, after all—in the end, she loved both Yuto and Shun too much to let them go off alone and be reckless. And obviously, she had taken on the role of telling the rest about what they were going to do—Shun had been too impulsive and ready to charge into it, and Yuto had been much the same, albeit with a bit of caution.
Kaito had nodded in acceptance and told them that he would be ready for them to come back, and advised them to not just look for Ruri, but look for actual allies. Sayaka had nervously told her to be safe.
And, Tsubaki…
"That's fine."
"You're not worried that without us here…"
"It's dangerous anyway." The red-haired girl turned to look at her. "I'm not an optimistic person. But you are aware that Academia seems to have sent more people here recently, correct? Edo Phoenix is a lot of things, but he's surprisingly competent at tactics and delegation, compared to everyone else. With a commander like him in charge, it's likely that he won't let this stalemate continue much longer."
Tsubaki turned to her.
"I will do my best. But are you prepared for the chance that when you come back, none of us will be here anymore?"
"... but the thing is, if we stay here any longer, I think I'll lose Shun and Yuto," Nue admitted. She and Tsubaki were friends, but they were hardly the closest to each other—the other girl had only been in Heartland for about a year at this point, after all, and Nue was rather cautious around new people. "I think we have to go, or Shun really will lose his mind…"
Tsubaki nodded. "I understand," she said. She stepped forward. "We will wait then. But know that Heartland cannot really do without you three. They're all too nice to tell you that—so unfortunately, it falls to me. We need you. So once you get Ruri, once you settle everything, come back."
"... I promise. So you better do your best too."
"Resources-wise, we set up two areas to be defended—at Clover Branch and Spade Branch. The two branches were a lot closer to each other, so it was easy to defend them together. Plus, we always guarded the area too. Kaito's father set up water, and we had just finished setting up an area to grow food by the time we left. Still, that might be useful—it's hard to start farms and stuff like that from nothing."
"We're currently setting up more agricultural areas within the city," Jack said. "We can help you set it up when we liberate your people—and you can bring some food to the city to help your comrades."
Nue looked at him in surprise. "Thank you," she said—not bothering to be kind or selfless, because they really needed it. "But yes, I think we were pretty good at scavenging. Food and water is really all that we'd need."
And maybe cards. Other summoning methods? They had become limited in their ability to make cards, after all. Maybe she could talk to Reiji Akaba about it, though it likely wouldn't be ready before they went home.
"I'll keep that in mind." Reiji put his tablet back down. "So, let's settle on the exchange of information and resources between our dimensions. While I want this city to be up and running as soon as possible, for the sake of the economic balance of our worlds, it's best that most resources come from within your cities themselves—that at most, what we provide to you is manpower and renewable resources."
… alright. And this was the part where Nue would let them discuss all the nitty gritty parts of how to rebuilt a city that'd been half-reduced to rubble.
Of course she was listening though.
She'd need to know this much.
As they were leaving, Miharu found herself walking in the same direction as Ruri. The two of them looked at each other for a moment.
Ruri smiled at her. "Um… hi! I don't think we've actually hung out properly yet? That meeting yesterday… didn't really count, huh?"
"... we haven't, but Yuto's talked a lot about you," Miharu admitted. "I feel like I know you already."
"Well, where were you going?"
"... I was going to find a quiet place to work on all the stuff that Reiji Akaba has me working on," Miharu said. She hesitated. "... you can come along, if you like. I was just going to find somewhere that serves tea, but I don't mind talking to you."
"That'd be great!" Ruri fell in step next to her. "You're… pretty busy, huh."
"It can't be helped. If my skills can help… well, I should do my best." Miharu shrugged. "I just hope that I have enough time to finish the other project I was working on."
"What is it?"
Miharu hesitated. "... I've been working on it since I was ten," she admitted. "I only managed to finish the basic framework for it before I left Den City. It's quite complicated. What I want to do is…"
Her cheeks coloured slightly in embarrassment.
"Develop better AI—uh, artificial intelligence. My father told me a lot of stories when I was a child about potential ideas that he'd had for the development of AI. He never actually carried any of them out—he had far too many priorities, and SOL's focus was on other things. Still, it's always been a field I was interested in. If I could make an AI that could code in the way that I do, hack in the way that I do… it would help. I wouldn't have to be worried about my comrades if I wasn't with them, because skillwise, there would be a being who could do what I do, that could always be with them."
"That sounds cool. What makes the AI you're making different from the usual then? I'm not really a… technical person, sorry."
"There's no need to apologise." Miharu said. "It's not something that most people would know unless they choose to study it. I'm trying to make AI that can do things without direct commands—AI with free will, essentially, which can think and act like humans do. I know it has to be possible…"
Ruri looked at her. "... you're surprisingly intense," she said.
"Only about these things." Miharu shrugged. "I've been working on it on and off, but in light of recent events, in case I get separated from everyone again…"
"How did that happen initially?"
"Yuzu's bracelet did something. I was dueling Yuri, and then…"
"You… dueled Yuri too?" Ruri's eyes widened. "Did you win?"
"It was inconclusive." Miharu shrugged. "I know he's good. I'm not quite sure how good yet."
"He's very good. He defeated me." Ruri bit her lip. "... I don't want it to be the same, if I meet him again."
Miharu looked at her.
What, she wondered, made all of these girls with the same face so determined? So oddly fiery, so willing to stand up for what they believed in, with such strong fire and life to them…
Miharu could believe in her morals so strongly that she would fight for them… but she was not as fiery as any of them.
If she was the only one that wasn't like that, was there something wrong with her?
She dismissed the thoughts.
"Let's go find somewhere to sit down," she said.
"Oh, you could totally wear this!"
Sora briefly wondered how his life had gotten to this point, as Yuzu measured a shirt against him. He'd made one comment about wanting to ditch the Academia jacket, and Yuya and Yuzu had suggested that since there were a lot of additional clothes—and in fact, it had been estimated that they had enough clothing for one and a half populations of the city—to get Sora an entirely new set of clothing.
"I don't want red, yellow or blue," Sora had said.
And to be fair, the clothes that Yuya and Yuzu had found were good… it was more the sheer awkwardness and mortification of being dressed up by his friends.
Sora took the pieces of clothing and went to change in the makeshift changing room that had been set up. He quickly got dressed and looked at himself in the mirror.
… huh.
How long had it been since he'd seen himself in anything but blue? How long had he been looking up to those who wore blue and wanted to be like them?
The shirt was laurel green with a few lighter yellow stripes—but not enough to overwhelmingly remind him of a Ra Yellow. He had a long sleeved white jacket—he was more used to long-sleeved clothing now, so he had grabbed the jacket himself. It would probably be easily stained, but… there was something comforting about the lighter colour. Finally, there was the pair of long, light grey pants—a shade off from the previous pants he'd been wearing, longer, slightly more sleek.
He stared at himself, and he did not see a member of Academia.
He reached up, taking out his hair tie, letting his spiky hair fall. It was slightly long—it went down slightly below his shoulders.
… hmm. He didn't like it.
The mid-length hair made him look a bit like Shino.
He needed a haircut soon. He tied it back up, keeping it more neatly in a bun, and then he stepped out.
Yuzu clapped her hands together. "That works! It looks good, Sora!"
"It does," Yuya said reassuringly. "If you don't like it though…"
"I like it," Sora said. "I really do." He grinned. "And I can ditch that jacket now, too!"
"I have been asked to inform you that we're visiting Martha tomorrow," Arisu said, popping her head into the room where Jack was wolfing down instant noodles. The King had pretty much been rushing his meals between running all around the city.
"Alright," Jack said.
"Really?"
"I'm sure the people will understand. I haven't seen Martha in person in a long time. She did raise me, after all—I'll always feel obligated to her." Jack finished off the cup noodles. "Tell me. What do you think of Reiji Akaba?"
"... he's an ally, isn't he?" Arisu shrugged. "I'm not sure what you're asking."
"Don't you think that Reiji Akaba…" Jack narrowed his eyes. "That the way he acts feels remarkably like Roget?"
"... I understand your concern," Arisu said. "You worry that the Lancers will end up manipulated by a leader that does not care for them."
"They deserve better than that," Jack said. "And I do not trust a leader like that to… fulfil his promises."
"I don't think you need to worry," Arisu said easily. "As someone who was working for Roget, I can assure you that Reiji Akaba is nothing like him. I saw his genuine care for his sister, for his friend. For all that he seems stoic and logical… there are parts of his heart that do care. And the Lancers are not so easily manipulated."
"... I'll choose to trust that." Jack walked towards the door. "I hope it's well-earned trust. A leader who cannot bring himself to be on the same level as his subordinates is one that will not last."
Reiji ended up skipping dinner, for the sake of finishing off some work. It was eleven when someone knocked on the door.
"Come in," he said.
Kyorin pushed open the door. She placed a bowl of soup and some rice in a bowl on the table.
"Mion told us at dinner that you were still working, but I felt like it wouldn't be good for you to not eat at all…" She smiled awkwardly. "So yeah! See you!" She practically fled though the door.
Reiji looked at it. He ended up picking up the spoon, taking some bites of the rice—it was still hot, meaning that Kyorin had heated up the leftovers for him. That did seem like the kind of considerate thing that she would do.
It didn't take too long for the next knock. When Reiji called for them to come in, Yuto came in through the door, holding onto a flask of cold water. He glanced at the leftovers.
"Mion said that… uh, you'd be working late today. I thought… yeah." He left the flask on the table with a cup, and he headed out.
Reiji furrowed his brow. He turned back to his work.
About fifteen minutes later, another knock came from the door.
… what was going on today?
Yuzu came in, looking at his table. "... I guess everyone had the same idea," she said. "Uh, here's some salad."
Reiji stared speechlessly at the salad. He really didn't know what to think about any of this.
He certainly didn't know how to react to the several other Lancers who showed up, bowls and cups filling up his table. There was no way that he was going to be able to finish any of this.
By the time that Yuno came in, Reiji had resigned himself to asking. "Why is everyone bringing me food?"
Yuno blinked, and then chuckled. "Uh." He shook his head. "We didn't coordinate or anything. I guess we all had the same feeling though."
"Same feeling?"
"That you're a surprisingly good guy to work for," Yuno said. "I mean, I can only speak for myself, but I think they all do feel something similar. You're, what… only two years older than me? And you're already this organised, and a CEO—and you don't tell us to put in more work than what you put in, you know?" He smiled. "So yeah. Mion told us all about the fact that you were skipping dinner, and it just didn't feel right to just go and rest after that without doing… something."
"So you brought me food?" Reiji said, slightly baffled.
"Well, it was probably the best thing we could think of." Yuno put down the cup of tea that he had clearly just made. "I guess this is…" He flippantly waved a hand through the air. "Our way of saying thank you."
Reiji stared at him.
"Hah, don't be so shocked, Reiji." Yuno tugged at his own scarf, which he had hung loosely around his neck. "At this point, it's a bit hard to dislike you. Rest well tonight, okay?"
The orange-haired boy left the room, as though he hadn't dropped an absolute bombshell on Reiji.
Reiji looked at all the food.
… what a strange sentiment.
"I guess this is our way of saying thank you."
Well, if he was going to have a long night, he might as well eat one or two things. Or the whole lot.
Day 3
In the end, even though they had agreed to meet up outside the hospital room at ten, Kaname got there an hour and a half early, standing outside the door. Doctors and nurses walked by, but none of them noticed her.
Kaname touched the door handle again. She braced herself—
The door opened before she could push it open. A doctor stepped out, looking at her and blinking. He didn't seem to recognise her, which was good…
"Are you Miss Martha Reikari's foster daughter as well?" He smiled to himself. "She's always getting visitors from all those children. They aren't here yet today, but you can certainly visit, if you came here yourself."
Kaname hesitated. She didn't know if this man knew sign language, but trying to use her text-to-speech would most definitely out her as the Security Overseer, which wouldn't be good for Martha. So she had no choice but to walk in.
Martha was sitting there in the bed, reading a book. She looked up as Kaname came in.
The book fell from her hands.
Kaname awkwardly stood there, not sure what to do.
Martha's eyes softened. "It's been a long time, dear," she said. "Come over."
Kaname walked over. It felt like she was five and stumbling into the kitchen to see what Martha was cooking that morning; it felt like she was ten and cowering in a corner from the sound of splashing oil on the frying pan, and Martha was quietly singing to her to soothe her worries and coaxing her out of the corner; it felt like she was twelve and Martha was tentatively asking if she had anything on her mind, if her eye was feeling alright that morning, and patting her on the top of her head to reassure her.
She felt like a child. But it wasn't that terrible feeling that he gave her, not that helpless feeling of being a child. This was something that felt more like… security. Like a blanket that she could hide under, so that she didn't have to look at anything.
She put down the container next to Martha's bed. Martha looked at it. Kaname carefully opened the container. The scent of sesame oil and congee floated through the air. Pieces of chicken and fish floated through the congee. She poured it out into two small containers, before pushing one over to Martha.
"This is… my recipe, isn't it?"
Kaname nodded. She had followed Martha around enough as a child to remember it. She was only barely capable of cooking, so she had gotten Makoto's help. She didn't think that it would taste as good as Martha's, but she had been thinking about it the entire time, because…
Well, she would have to tell Martha about that later.
"Thank you so much." Martha reached out with a hand. After a brief moment of hesitation, Kaname put her hand in Martha's. Martha gently squeezed her hand. "I am so glad to see you again, my child. I cannot tell you how much I've missed you."
'Missed. You.'
"I'm glad." Martha looked at her. "Roget. That horrible man. I never should have let you go with him."
'Not. Bad. Everything.' Not everything was bad. There had been no love, yes, but he had been the kind of aloof father that one could see in books—giving her the resources to do things. An expectation of obedience without affection. She had become so powerful because of him, and no matter how horrible of a man he was, she couldn't deny that.
"I'm sure." Martha didn't look at her with pity, which was… good. Kaname had been afraid of that. "He was a rotten, rotten man, and he likely never treated you with affection. But if it was really so miserable, you would have run like you did back then, from the ones who hurt you."
Yes.
And there was the most terrifying thing of all.
Because Martha looked at her with such affection, without knowing what kind of creature had slipped into her home.
Kaname lifted her hand from Martha, and slowly told her the truth about her past, about her reasons. When she was done, her hands hung limply in the air.
"… oh, dear. Then I've really failed you, by letting you feel that way again." Martha reached out, gently cradling Kaname's wrist. "What did you ever do that was so wrong back then, my child? You were failed so greatly… and I could only try to soothe you, without healing you."
'Me. Not. Good.' I'm not a good person.
"Oh, of course you have good in you. Every person has good in them, it's just a choice of whether they choose to nurture the good parts of them, or let them rot. When you chose to go with Roget that day, that was the best part of you making a choice to defend someone you cared for. When you chose to hide everything from Yugo to shield his heart, that was the brightest part of you too." Martha smiled. There were tears in the corners of her eyes. "And then, these last three years only worked to smother it, didn't it? But there is so much good in you, my child. I believe in it. I believe in you."
'Foolish.'
"I suppose it would be. But part of being a good parent is to believe in your child, isn't it? To discipline, yes, but to always believe that there is still good left to find. I'd like to think that I've been able to give you at least one good figure to look to in your life, haven't I?"
Kaname looked at her. She reached out, picking up a container of porridge and offering it to her.
"Want to eat porridge with you," she said. Martha's eyes widened—Kaname still didn't know why people seemed so happy to hear her speak. She had never heard an uglier voice. Even so, she braced herself when she said the next word. "Mama."
… it really was childish of her.
Martha took the container from her hands. She wasn't even bothering to hide her tears now—but they seemed to be happier ones. "Okay," she said. "I'll cook some for you then—when we finally go home."
Arisu peered through the door silently.
"Do you miss it?" Jack asked her.
"… a little," Arisu said. "I guess there's a part of me that still hasn't grown up." She shrugged. "I'm going to go and get some coffee—it seems like we should wait a bit." She turned to the other figure there with them. "Sorry, Carly-san. It looks like you have to wait a while to introduce yourself to her."
Carly blushed.
"It is long past time that Martha got to meet her," Jack agreed. "I always intended to introduce my future partner to her, anyway."
"Okay, you two are giving me a cavity."
"Do you not feel the same?" Jack asked. "If you ever have a partner…"
"Most certainly." Arisu waved a hand. "Let's get some coffee and wait."
In the end, at the correct time, the three of them entered the room, along with Yugo and Rin. Kaname and Martha were chatting—Kaname's hands were signing swiftly, and Martha was smiling widely. When she saw the four of them, she was smiling even more widely. "Rin! Jack! Arisu!"
"Yugo!" Yugo piped up as well, grinning.
"Oh, I see you everyday," Martha said fondly. "You're the most obedient one."
Rin baulked. Meanwhile, Arisu, Kaname and Jack all had varying levels of 'yeah, that's probably right' on their face.
"Yes!" Yugo sat down. "I knew I was your favourite…"
"You are not!" Rin and Yugo launched into a spirited argument. Jack approached the bed as well.
"I haven't come back to see you in a while, Martha," he greeted. "This is my girlfriend, Carly Nagisa. I've been waiting for a time to introduce her to you."
"… now, this does feel like a proper meeting, huh?" Martha smiled at Carly. "Hello."
"Hello!" Carly sounded a little nervous.
"I'm glad that Jack has found someone that can curb his impulsiveness a little," Martha said.
"Um—"
"She's just as impulsive as me," Jack said bluntly.
Carly turned to look at him. "Jack!"
"It's the truth."
"But not how I want to be introduced to the woman who raised you!"
Martha laughed. "I appreciate that you can keep up with him," she said. "And honestly, I'm just happy that you found someone. I was beginning to think that none of you would find partners…" Her gaze shot to Yugo and Rin, who had transitioned to playful banter by now. "For a while. I do want to meet anyone that you start dating though!"
Arisu saw Kaname glance to the side briefly and sighed.
Considering what Yugo and Rin were like, it would take a while for that, yes. And well, Kaname hadn't actually said anything about whether anything had happened with her and Makoto yet, so…
Jack and Carly talked to Martha for quite a while, with Yugo and Rin also engaging in conversation, but Arisu purposely kept out of the conversation. Once the other two had to leave, though…
"So, Arisu," Martha said. There was something gentle and caring to her eyes—Arisu remembered that day, years ago, when Martha had asked her if there was anything she could do for her. "I heard that you were helping Jack around the city? That's kind of you, but are you taking time for yourself?"
Arisu heard something different in the question. Are you alright with doing this?
"Jack cleared up my family's debt," she said.
Yugo let out a whoop. "Whoa! So that means you're free, right?"
Yes. Jack had done it unconditionally. He hadn't hung the opportunity over her head to get her to do anything. And he hadn't publicised it either—hadn't tried to make the city think that she was beholden to him.
"Yeah," Arisu said. "I'm free to do whatever I want." She hesitated.
She had been so hopeless when it came to the idea of change, once upon a time. She was sure that Kaname was the same.
"I'm going to accept the role of being the next Director of Security," Arisu said.
All of the people there reacted with varying levels of shock—three of them with rather great levels of it, and Kaname with barely any at all.
"I won't be a dictator," Arisu promised—still searching for their approval, in a way, despite the fact that she'd already made her decision. "I want to remodel Security from the bottom up. I want to flush out those that abuse their power, and I want to redo some of our protocols. Things like that. And I don't trust anyone to do it better than me. And Jack and I were discussing how to increase the dueling ability of people in the city so that we can defend ourselves better if Academia comes again. I know that not everyone has equal resources—so I was going to set up an academy of sorts for people that want to become members of Security, which will give them opportunities at getting better cards, teach them some basic principles of dueling, things like that."
"It seems that you have a lot of ideas," Martha said. She didn't seem judgemental at all. "Do take care of yourself though."
And if that wasn't a blessing, what was?
"Do you have any other plans?"
"I'm in the process of adding Yugo to my family register," Arisu said.
"What?" Yugo exclaimed.
"I'm sorry it took so long," Arisu said. She couldn't look at him right now—embarrassed and guilty. "I didn't want to tell you until the last step, just in case it fell through—the city is in disorder right now, after all—but since Martha asked, I…" She shrugged. "If you still want to…"
"I do!" Yugo launched himself at her like a cannonball, wrapping his arms around her. "I really do!"
Rin was watching them, seeming happy for Yugo.
"I'd do the same for you," Arisu addressed her, "but I have a feeling that it would cause greater complications for you in the future. You'll probably get a last name then anyway." Rin blinked, clearly not understanding the implication. "But yeah. You can use my last name now, Yugo. And since we're in the midst of dissolving all the laws that specify the difference between Tops and Commons, you don't have to worry about it."
"Hmm. Yugo Kirijo…" Yugo broke into a smile. "That's great!"
Kaname stood up, walking over and gently patting him on the shoulder, clearly expressing her congratulations too.
"Take good care of him when you leave," Arisu said.
Kaname nodded.
"... leave?" Martha spoke up. "Where will you be going to?"
… in the last few hours, had no one mentioned anything about the Lancers and the interdimensional war to Martha at all?
Uh oh.
"... I see." Martha raised her head. "I won't be leaving the hospital for the next few weeks… I won't be able to cook that meal that I promised you then." She hesitated. "Must you go? Must you put yourselves in danger?"
"The Lancers came and helped us to overturn all of this," Yugo said enthusiastically—clearly not understanding Martha's worry. "Of course we have to help other worlds too!"
Rin spoke up. "I'll keep him safe, Martha," she said. "We'll keep each other safe… all three of us. But it's not about safety—it's about right and wrong and repaying favours."
"... then," Martha said, "promise me that you'll do your best to come home, alright?" She smiled. "I'll wait for you."
Waiting for her…
Recognising her existence…
How long had Martha been waiting for Rin to come home, when she was kidnapped?
"I promise," Rin said. "I won't keep you waiting so long again."
She wouldn't lose. She wouldn't be carded.
She would survive and come home, for the sake of not just herself, but the people who had always cared about her.
"You treat me… oddly."
Miharu shrugged. "To be honest, your appearance is a bit odd for me. You look like Yuno, obviously… but your hair is similar to my brother's. A bit messier, but… similar."
Yuji raised his head. Nearby, Yuno was trying to teach Chiaki how to cook—she had asked, after Yuno had volunteered to cook lunch for them. Yuji didn't think he'd succeed—Yuji himself had been trying to teach her for years. "I see." He found himself lacking in words to say.
"I just felt a little homesick," Miharu admitted. "It won't get in the way."
"... okay." Yuji looked at her. This girl was stronger than Chiaki, right? Stronger than most people here? And yet, she'd chosen to sit out of the Friendship Cup…
Yuji could respect that. He didn't like dueling for no reason either.
In the end, he just looked at her screen. He didn't really understand any of it, but… it was nice to not have to talk.
"If you want to ask about anything, you can," she said. "Just point to it."
… sure.
It meant that he wouldn't have to be the one talking, after all.
"… you two spent the entire day moving stuff around, and now, you're working out?" Sawatari said incredulously. Gongenzaka and Tsukikage, who had been doing pushups next to each other, both turned to look at him. "Do you two ever rest?"
"The man, Gongenzaka, must ensure that he is fit to face his father and his dojo," Gongenzaka said solemnly. "Is that not the same for you, Tsukikage?"
"Indeed." Tsukikage nodded, just as serious as Gongenzaka, much to Sawatari's despair. "We must keep up the traditions of our schools even as we travel. You're rather wise, Gongenzaka."
"Thank you, Tsukikage." Sawatari watched, slack-jawed, as the two of them stood up and bowed to each other, ninety degrees, at the same time.
There was normal, there was weird, and then there were these guys. Both the most serious of the Lancers and the most ridiculous.
But…
Well, it was who they were. If they found this kind of stuff important, then fine. It wasn't like Sawatari was going to drop down and do push-ups, no, he had a delicate stature, thank you very much. He would obviously go running and stuff like that—training for Action Duels had taught him that much—but not to this extent. He could not understand people who actually thought exercising this much was a good thing.
But who was he to judge?
"Do you two want to compete?" He asked. "See who gives up first? I'll count for you."
He would grow to regret that decision later, because the two of them would do push-ups well into the night, past dinner, and well, at that point, Sawatari couldn't exactly leave halfway.
(Tsukikage won. The two of them praised each other for fifteen minutes, eyes shimmering with respect.)
(Sawatari walked forward, pushed both of them away from each other, and dragged them in to just eat already.)
"Tsukikage!"
Tsukikage turned around. Sora ran up to him, huffing. (Tsukikage would admit to some private relief that Sora had stopped wearing Academia's uniform.)
"I…" Sora sounded out of breath. "I asked Reiji Akaba for a favour… he said he would make the cards…"
"What cards?"
"Tsukikage." Sora raised his head, a serious expression on his face for once. "Let me teach you how to Fusion Summon."
Tsukikage looked at him. He opened his mouth, and shut it—a wide-eyed look on his face.
"Can I do that?" Sora asked.
When Tsukikage responded, it was barely audible above the wind.
Day 4
"Thanks for coming to find me."
"You did ask." Rin shrugged, looking around the Arcadia Movement. It was pretty crowded—Aki had opened it up for the stranded to stay there for now, and many of the Psychic Duelists, as rare and tired as they were, were helping with emergency healing. "What did you need to talk to me about?"
Aki folded her arms. "Education is being opened up to the Commons, and there are several other programs that Jack and Kirijo-san want to open up," she explained.
"Um." Rin blinked. "Do you want me to help run something? I'm not really qualified…"
"No. I was just thinking that it would be a big financial strain on your orphanage, even with the subsidies that they're planning on setting up." Aki smiled at her. "We've known each other for six years now, Rin. It's been a while, huh?"
"Maybe?" Rin still had no clue what Aki was saying.
"I was just thinking. And well, I got the idea from something I heard the other day." Aki turned to her. "We're delaying it for now, since things are getting pretty bad around here, but… once everything settles down, since Sherry has been pardoned and allowed to leave the Facility, we're planning on properly getting married."
"Congratulations!"
"Thanks." Aki turned to her. "Firstly, I want you to be one of my bridesmaids."
Rin smiled widely. "That'd be great."
"Secondly, and this isn't meant to pressure you in any way, but…" Aki held out a hand. "I'd like to add you to my family registry. I know you're older now and you don't need someone to take care of you, but… I was worried when you vanished. I was even a little sad when I saw someone with your face and it wasn't you. I would like to be able to… look out for you."
… that was all very fancy wording for 'let me adopt you as a member of my family'.
Rin did not do the emotional thing like Yugo. She did not hug Aki.
But she did think about it.
She thought about Aki, who had been separated from her parents and not talked to them for so long, who had once seen someone as a brother and realised later on that he was a villain.
For Aki to trust her and offer this to her…
"Sure," Rin said. She cracked a wider smile. "I don't mind at all, nee-san."
She had a family already. Everyone at the orphanage was her family.
But the nice thing about comfort, companionship and love was that there was always space for more.
"... good!" Aki smiled in relief. "Rin Izayoi. I think that suits you pretty well, don't you think?"
Rin nodded, her voice slightly caught in her throat.
Having a last name… it was a sign of belonging, wasn't it? Rin did not know who her parents had been. She did not know where she had come from—as though she had just appeared one day.
Having family meant that feeling that she had somewhere to return to.
She thought about Aki's parents again, and with a bit of anger, she internally flung a few insults at them.
Look at how good Aki became without you.
I'll make sure that I give her everything that 'family' can ever give her…
Because she trusted me enough to love me.
The security camera stared down at both of them. Kaname was sure that someone was monitoring this conversation right now, which was certainly the right choice.
Still, it made it harder for her to say anything.
"You got the result you wanted," Roget spat out. "Are you happy?"
Kaname looked at him. She slowly nodded.
"Don't think that you can have this happiness forever, then." He sneered. "Do you think that any prison cell can keep Sergey Volkov in? I was the only thing stopping him from continuing with his rampage, I was the only thing redirecting his madness to something productive. And he knows who you are now."
Kaname's eyes widened.
"He knows," Roget said, seizing on her moment of weakness. "He heard you when you spoke to him. He wants to destroy you. Without me there, no one has the mercilessness to kill him. To stop him." He slammed a fist against the glass wall separating them. "You'll suffer. He will cut you apart more and make you suffer. And you will never be able to go anywhere without that mask of yours—anyone that looks at you will think that you're hideous. A monster. You cannot belong!"
Kaname buried her head in her hands.
He didn't know.
This man didn't know.
He didn't know it at all…
"Are you…" Roget frowned. "Are you crying?"
She was not. She was close to it, but she was barely holding it in.
She put her duel disk on the table and resignedly typed the words in.
"Dead. Buried."
"Dead?..." Roget's eyes widened. "How? His physical body shouldn't be capable of breaking down—even if his mental code breaks down, he can be fixed—"
Kaname didn't know. But apparently, while the medics and engineers were trying to figure out how to even start working on him, there was an error, and… a section of Sergey's code seemed to have glitched during a preliminary check, destroying itself. So much of his brain was replaced with wiring, and the whole system was interconnected. The failure of one part was the failure of it all, and—they couldn't save any of it. They couldn't save him. His body failed moments after—the parts of it that were cybernetic, helping his blood to flow, keeping him breathing—
He had been shrieking the whole time. Single words—his vocabulary breaking down.
"Die. Die! Die! Ugly!" Other noises, thrashing. Kaname watched from outside as the doctors and engineers were struggling with what was going on. The thrashing caught one of the doctors' glasses, knocking it off. He shrieked, no longer able to make words. Kaname covered her ears.
Eventually, the noises stopped, and he went still.
All of it was gone.
He'd been buried anonymously. Graves were being dug for the people who had died in the rubble—not those who were carded yet. There was still some level of hope there. He'd been buried in the middle of the night—Kaname had arranged for it with her authority as a member of Security. She could have acknowledged him as her father in those last moments, but… she had not.
She had not forgiven him. She could not acknowledge him.
But she never had to face him again.
Could he have gotten better? No. Would he have continued doing terrible things? Yes. She knew both of those things to be unequivocally true. He was a terrible, terrible person—
And she would never have gotten an apology from him, even if he was alive.
She had gone home. She had collapsed onto Makoto's couch and hidden her face behind a cushion, and the cat had cuddled up to her, seemingly sensing her distress.
She hated him.
But she might be the only person in the entire world who would mourn Sergey Volkov's death.
She had explained it to Makoto once she felt ready, and later, she'd even been capable of communicating with the two guests that he'd brought home—maybe as a way to distract her.
She had been so afraid that he would find her again. But she was also so devastated over the fact that he had died without ever acknowledging what he'd done to her.
As it turned out, he'd known. He'd known, he'd known. He'd been biding his time, and if not for the Lancers…
"So he's gone. A shame. I put a lot of resources into him."
Kaname slammed her fist against the table. Roget stopped talking—surprised at her anger. She raised her hands a few seconds later.
'Leaving. Defeat. Academia.'
"... I see. The Lancers were actually foolish enough to accept you." Roget shook his head. "But you were born to be a monster. You can never change."
"Wrong."
His eyes widened.
"There is good in me," Kaname said haltingly, thinking about Martha's gentle voice, about Nue and Kyorin and Mion. "I want to be good."
"... I thought that naivete of yours would have died." Roget raised his head. "... go ahead and try. But your silly thoughts will never work. You will never redeem yourself—or me, or the rest of them. Your souls are all too stained."
Yes. This was a man that only saw the cruel parts of her.
Kaname looked at him.
"I will make my final decision," Roget said. "And it will have nothing to do with you."
… if Kaname deluded herself enough, she could almost believe that was a blessing for her to do what she wanted.
But she couldn't. And she wouldn't.
It was time to go.
"I want to talk."
Nue turned her head. "In private?" She said. "Sure. Sorry, Shun."
"That's fine. I was planning to go and look for Ruri soon anyway." Shun nodded at Sora, and Sora didn't even see any hostility there. They had come a long way from that terrible duel in Standard, huh? He left, and Sora sat down in front of Nue in the living room.
"Sure," Nue said after a moment. "What's this about?"
"... you said that I should blame Shino instead of Yuri," Sora said. "I was thinking about it the whole time. And I wanted to talk to someone about it. And, well… I guess… you give me older sister vibes. Is that weird to say?"
"Believe me," Nue said dryly. "You're not even the first person to say that to me this week. So I guess I'm your very unqualified therapist today. I don't mind."
"I was thinking that the reason why I can't get mad at Shino, or dislike her now…" Sora shook his head. "It's because I'm guilty. Sometimes, I think that I might be the reason that Shino is the way that she is right now."
"She seems to be doing well."
"I mean—she's happy in her own way, and I'm glad, but…" Sora bit his lip, before he finally admitted it. "I was guilty about it, because when we were kids, I really hated her."
Nue raised an eyebrow, clearly surprised.
"She was just so…" Sora shook his head. "Apathetic, when we were kids. I wanted to play with her, but she would always just turn to our aunt and ask for permission before she did anything. She would never say anything to me directly—it was as though to her, everyone other than her mother wasn't a real person."
"... you are talking about Gitsune, right?"
"I know it's shocking. But that's what Shino was always like when we grew up."
Nue shot him a sceptical look, but she eventually sighed. "Then, what changed? Why's she so… happy and nice nowadays?"
"The war," Sora said. "When they bombed our hometown and set fire to everything… our parents must have died in our homes." He shook his head. "I barely remember it. I was too scared. I just remember that Shino grabbed my hand and ran… we ran and we ran, and I think people fought with both weapons and cards back then? There were monsters all around us, and things were constantly exploding. I was crying the whole time—I must have only been dragging her down. But Shino put headphones over my ears and told me to close my eyes at certain points…"
He paused.
"Now that I think about it… she was probably dueling people then. There's no way we could have escaped that place without fighting."
Shino must have fought her way out of there, while telling him not to look.
Shino had been eight. He had been six.
… his poor cousin. She had barely been any older than him.
"And the thing was, she never complained," Sora continued after a moment. "She was just still so… quiet. We wandered around—she found shelter and food and water, and she hugged me at night so that I wouldn't be cold, but other than telling me to eat, drink or close my eyes, she never said anything to me. She was so smart—I wouldn't have survived without her. It was as though she was trained for war. But then, when we got to safety—a place where they were taking care of refugees from the war, a place that was set up by the Professor and his allies—something… weird happened. I still don't know why, but one day, I saw her sitting at the window. She was just staring at the sky. There was something in her eyes that I didn't recognise then—I still don't recognise it now.
"I called out her name. She turned to look at me, and then she… smiled. It was the first time I saw her smile.
"I thought I was asleep or something. But she carried on smiling, and then, she spoke directly to me for the first time, not counting when she told me how to survive. She said—"
Nine years ago:
"Your name is written 'pure excellence', right?"
"H-huh?" Sora blinked. "Um, yes!"
Shino nodded. Her smile had not left her face. "I was thinking about making a joke if it was written 'sky', but that doesn't work anymore." She kicked her legs up in the air, crossing them and glancing out of the window again. "Do you like jokes?"
"You're acting weird," Sora blurted out. He couldn't reconcile his image of his cold, apathetic cousin who barely talked at all with this girl, smiling and joking.
"Mm. Guess I am." Shino shook her head. "I was just thinking that there's no use letting myself be locked up in the past anymore." She leapt to her feet. "It'll take a bit of practice, but I don't want to care about any of that anymore. I want to be myself! Not just do what someone's telling me to do." There was a certain bright energy to her voice. "So. It might take me a while to stop asking for permission for things, but I want to!"
Sora blinked. He thought about Shino, following quietly in her mother's footsteps, never complaining about anything.
Was that… not something that she herself had wanted to do?
"So, I'll start now." Shino turned to him. "I'll be taking care of you from now on, okay? Might be different, but I promise I'll keep you safe, no matter what!"
And it was such a silly promise to make when war was still waging on, but…
"If you say 'okay', doesn't that mean you're still asking for permission?" He said.
Shino blinked, and then she giggled. It was a strange sound. "Guess so! But I'll get better at that, yeah. So, let's get going! We should get you a deck!"
She grabbed his hand and pulled him along.
Sora let her.
It felt like she was overflowing with warmth right now.
Back in the present, Sora sighed. "That's the Shino that everyone knows now," he said. "Sweet, kind, sensitive. I think that only our family ever met the old Shino—and since they're all dead, unless any of them have somehow been alive this entire time… I'm the only one alive that remembers what she was like when we were kids."
"So that's Gitsune," Nue murmured to herself.
"Huh?"
"Nothing." Nue tilted her head. "So you feel guilty towards her because she saved your life back then?"
"It's just…" When Sora looked up again, he looked extremely determined. "I'm thinking about it. And I think I actually have to thank Yuri for deciding to stay with her, when I chose to leave. I kept thinking of her as a protector, as someone wiser than me, as someone who should be able to make the best decision all the time… but I think deep down, that girl from so long ago still exists. So, like how she convinced me to leave, I want to get her to leave too."
"But what if she doesn't want to leave?" Nue said, arching an eyebrow. "After all, you need to remember—your cousin is terrifying precisely because she knows that everything she's doing is wrong and chooses to do it anyway. What will you do, if it comes down to that?"
"... I already lost to her once," Sora said. "But I can't lose to her again. I want to be able to defend the people I care about, you know?"
Nue tilted her head.
… if you could turn Gitsune to our side…
"Good luck," she said, and she almost meant it.
Day 5
"To clarify, the ones that are going back to Standard tomorrow are Reira and I, along with Yuya Sakaki, Yuzu Hiiragi, Shingo Sawatari, Noboru Gongenzaka and Tsukikage Fuuma." There was one obvious omission from the list—one person from the Standard Dimension who had not directly been included. "Thankfully, no one seems to require immediate medical attention from a hospital."
Sawatari shot Mion an incredulous look, but Mion didn't react—she had simply adopted a calm look on her face.
"We will be leaving at eight tomorrow after meeting up here," Reiji concluded. "You may go now."
"You should go back," Sawatari protested once he caught up with her. "There's no way you're unscathed from that madman and his motorcycle, right?"
Mion cast a look at him. "Were you eavesdropping?"
"N-no! I just thought… well, our father's name has a lot of influence back in Maiami City. If you use it…"
"Won't work," Mion said. "Relax, Shingo. I'm doing this so that I don't end up making things awkward for you, too."
Awkward for… him?
What did that mean?
"He really mistook you for me?" Rin laughed. "That idiot."
"To be fair, he stopped doing it after a while! We do have the same face, after all—it's not that surprising." Yuzu smiled. "He was very respectful once he realised that we weren't you, Miharu and I."
"I would say that it's weird to see people with the same face as me, but Ruri and Chiaki were pretty much my only company over the last few months." Rin was going to carry on talking, but then Shun walked in with an envelope in his hands.
"Friendship Cup matchups are out for the rest of the quarterfinals," he said at Yuzu and Rin's questioning looks. "It doesn't matter for you, right?"
"Right. I'm taking Kogami-san's place, and she's already through to the semifinals…" Rin blinked. "But I want to know what the matchups are. Who's Yugo facing?"
"... it's not Yuya, is it?" Yuzu said, her eyes wide. Rin quickly remembered the conversation they'd had a few days ago, and yup, that would be really bad, come to think of it.
"Yugo's facing Serena."
"Oh, phew." Then, Yuzu blinked. "Wait, then that means…"
"Yes." Shun almost smirked—a brief quirk of his lips for a brief moment. "Well, I did teach Yuya how to Xyz Summon back then. It's pretty improbable that we haven't dueled since then, and I'd like to see his strength before we go to Xyz. So this isn't a result I'll complain about." He turned around, heading upstairs.
Yuzu looked slightly nervous.
"You're worried for Yuya?" Rin asked. "How good is that Kurosaki guy—he's Ruri's older brother, right?"
"He's one of our best." Yuzu sighed. "I hope Yuya will win—no, I believe in him to do his best. But it's going to be really tough."
"In that case…" Rin couldn't help but smile. "It's good that Yugo's not the one facing him. It means that I have a higher chance of dueling him."
"... opportunistic."
"Well, I did grow up here." Rin joked.
"You want… a guitar?"
Yuno nodded. "Just to borrow it," he said. "But I don't know how to get one in this city."
Hitoda raised an eyebrow. "What, are you planning on playing a song?"
"Just for one person," Yuno said.
Nue and Hitoda looked at each other—the two of them seemed to be hanging out more nowadays, though Yuno had no clue why. Hitoda turned back to him, smirking wryly, and that was when Yuno knew that he had been seen through.
"Sure, sure," Hitoda said playfully. "I'm sure that through a combination of my charm and her intimidation, we can work something out. Would you like someone to check over the melodies for the song you wrote?"
"... that'd be helpful," Yuno admitted.
Nue sighed. "Pass it to me," she said. "I'll look it over for you." Yuno handed over a piece of paper, and Nue glanced through it. "... these are the sappiest fucking lyrics I've ever seen."
"Well, remember who you're talking to!" Hitoda teased, peering over Nue's shoulder through tiptoeing.
"This one was originally written with drums in mind too, wasn't it?" Nue said, glancing at Yuno.
"Yeah," Yuno admitted. "My original version was with drums and a keyboard too. But I decided to be a bit more realistic, so I scaled it down and changed some stuff…"
"Just do the original version." Nue glanced at him. "Don't water down your feelings like this."
"But I can't play three instruments at once…"
"You don't have to." Nue rubbed her forehead. "I can play the keyboard. If you record it down, you can just play the guitar live over it."
"And I'll have you know I play the drums, so you came to the right two people!" Hitoda grinned. "Let's go hunt down some instruments!"
"Here's some tea."
The moon was shining through the window. Most of the other Lancers had already gone to sleep, and yet, Reiji was still hard at work. He had purposely chosen to stop skipping dinner, if only to avoid situations like the one from a few days before.
"Appreciated," he said, taking the cup of tea from her. Mion nodded, turning towards the door. There was something unreadable to her expression.
Before she stepped out, she turned around.
"Can I stay here?" She said, after the barest moment of hesitation.
Reiji looked at her—at how she was fidgeting very slightly, at the look on her face.
"The nights have been too quiet," he said, betraying no sign of affection. "A voice in the background is not… unwelcome."
Mion nodded. She sat down on the couch, seeming lost in thought.
Reiji waited.
"I was thinking about fathers lately," Mion finally said. She raised a hand, mussing up her auburn curls. Reiji couldn't help but follow the movement with his gaze, before he quickly became aware of his own reaction. He turned to look back at his screen. "Because of all the different stories we've come across lately. But mostly, I was thinking about mine and yours."
"I have no special attachment to my father," Reiji replied. "If you're worried about me, it's unnecessary."
"Is it?" Mion shot him a look. "I hold no attachment to mine either, but… I would still hesitate if I had to strike him down."
"I do not know fully what your relationship with him is like," Reiji said. He did not truly know what this girl had been through—he only knew that she was illegitimate, that she had nearly died in a car crash, that her mother did die… that she and her father never talked. "But I have spent years preparing to defeat my father. At this point, there is no longer room left for hesitation—only for action."
"That's always been one of your most admirable traits," Mion said. "That capacity to act instantly, even to do things that others might shy away from." She crossed her arms, looking at him. "… I think I despise your father, Reiji."
That admission of hatred from someone so kind…
"I never liked your mother," Mion admitted. "Once I got to know Reira, I… couldn't respect your mother any longer. But that's nothing to do with why I don't like your father. I just think that… it must have hurt you a lot back then. To have your father leave, and then to be alone to assume all those responsibilities."
It had been lonely. But Reiji had adapted to it—had learned to hold his head high and detach himself from others on purpose.
"I never liked your father either," he said. "Though I suspect you already know that."
"It's pretty clear to me, yes." Mion looked away from him. "... I wish things were better for you, Reiji. You're talented and intelligent and probably the exact kind of leader that we need, and probably the person that I'm the closest to in the world. But sometimes, I wonder what you were like before all of this… what kind of person would you have become, if your father didn't betray your hopes like this? If your mother was kinder? If you hadn't put all that responsibility on your shoulders?"
"... it's pointless to think about it," Reiji said, and he really meant it's pointless to worry about what can't be changed. "I don't regret it."
The person he had been back then would not be able to make the decisions that he had made. The person that could get them through this, get them out alive, carry the weight of all the responsibilities so that his Lancers could continue on fighting, who would be able to lead them to victory—that was him, Reiji Akaba, the CEO of the Leo Corporation and leader of the Lancers.
It was not Reiji Akaba, the boy, the son of Leo Akaba, clinging to his father's lab coat.
But…
He was not such a twisted man, he thought, that he could not pull together some decency for her—this girl, who could always care for others more than herself. He could give a practical response, he could be someone that could free her from her burdens.
(This girl, who he had to constantly hold himself back from, for fear of falling into the trap of caring too much for one person over others—a bad trait in a leader, his father had said once. Turning a person into his weakness.)
"If you want, when this war is over," he said, "I can ruin your father."
Mion's head snapped up. She stared at him.
"The Leo Corporation has a lot of influence in Maiami City," Reiji continued steadily. "I could ruin his reputation. Turn him into a laughing stock. He would have to step down from being the mayor, and he could never lift his head in public again. He would be forced to work odd jobs. He would be completely ruined, and he would have to face that shameful existence of rotting away slowly, unable to do anything with his life."
He would have to live the life that you lived.
Mion watched him. There was something strange in her eyes—wistfulness.
"... it's pointless to do that," she said, a direct reflection of his words from earlier. "Because I'm not in pain anymore."
Reiji looked at her, and he knew without a shadow of a doubt that it was a lie.
This girl had been living in the shadow of someone that would never look at her, for most of her life.
How could that not be pain?
"But thank you," Mion continued, "for the thought." She smiled to herself. "I don't hate him. I know that the way he treated me was for the sake of his own good… I can't begrudge him that. However, you shouldn't waste your time taking revenge for others. When we get to the end of this war… I'd much rather see you find happiness for yourself, and for Reira too. That's what would make me the happiest." Her voice was soft.
After that, they didn't say anything more to each other. Reiji continued working into the night, and eventually, Mion dozed off on the couch.
Reiji stood up. He picked up a blanket and placed it over her.
He looked at her.
"I'd much rather see you find happiness for yourself, and for Reira too. That's what would make me the happiest."
"Every time you say something like that," he said, "you complicate this for me even more." He reached out for a moment—their fingers did not touch, but they came close. "You keep me up wondering if… this is possible, after all."
It was an admission that he could never say to her while she was looking at him.
"The entire world knows except you. I wonder if it's pointless to hide it from you any longer, knowing that."
In her sleep, Mion shifted slightly. Her fingers bumped against his—Reiji pulled his hand away, as though her touch was lava. He glanced at his hand for a brief moment—tensed up, before he slipped into the room next door, not looking back at her.
… he was going to sleep it off.
Day 6
"Yuya!"
Yuya was unable to get any words out before his mother hugged him—and at that moment, he just hugged her in return. How long had it been since he'd seen his mother? How long had it been since he was here?
"Welcome home," his mother said. "I didn't expect you back for a while…" She looked overjoyed at his presence though, and she pulled him into the house. His cats and dogs swarmed him.
"We just finished a pretty large battle, so Reiji Akaba let us come back to visit before we went to the next city," Yuya explained. En and Core leapt up, licking his face.
"I see." Yoko shot him a soft smile. "So you'll be going away again, huh?" She seemed a little melancholic. "Things have been… fine here. Nothing big has happened. What's happened? Did you find Yuzu?"
"I did." Yuya couldn't help but smile. "She's currently at home too."
"Yuzuuuu—"
"Okay, I'm going to choke to death, dad!" Yuzu exclaimed as her father squeezed the life out of her with a hug. Still, tears emerged at the edges of her eyes—she had been so scared, and she hadn't gotten to say goodbye to her father, and…
Thank goodness she was here now.
"I'm going to have to go back," she explained once her father finally let go of her. "I decided to join the Lancers properly."
"I knew you would." Shuzo nodded, seeming… surprisingly calm. "You've always been so brave, Yuzu. And wherever Yuya went, I knew you would follow… my brave, brave daughter." He reached out, squeezing her hands. "But please, please, stay safe."
Yuzu had expected to have to argue. To have to convince her overprotective father that this was best.
And here he was, giving her his blessing.
She did start crying, then.
Her father exclaimed her name loudly, before grabbing a wad of tissues and handing it to her. Yuzu dabbed at her eyes quickly, as though it would make her any less emotional.
"I don't want to do anything important today," she said. "Can we—dad, can we just sit down and watch a few of those romantic dramas you like today?"
Shuzo looked at her, and then he started crying again. He nodded, reaching out for the TV remote.
"That sounds amazing," he said, sounding choked up.
"Anyway, mum, I've decided. I'm going to find dad. He's definitely in one of those other dimensions right now. I'll find him and bring him home, no matter what."
Yoko's eyes softened. "I hope you can," she said. "But… you won't mind if I don't forgive your father so easily, right?"
Yuya stared at her in shock.
"To be honest, I resented your father a little." Yoko folded her arms. "If it was an accident that he left, then I'll forgive him. But if it was on purpose, then he left me alone to raise you all these years. He caused you to be looked down upon by others."
"But you love dad," Yuya said.
Yoko nodded. "I do," she said. "I really do. That's why I'm so disappointed in him."
And Yuya felt the exact same way.
Love, and thus disappointment.
"But I still want to find him to talk to him about it," Yuya said. "Otherwise, we'll never know."
"I know." Yoko smiled at him. "You have that right. Bring him home then—I want to talk to him too. We'll do it as a family." She patted the sofa. "Come on. Tell me about what you've been doing this past month."
"Absolutely not."
Reira winced. "I want…" It took her a lot of courage, but she finished the sentence. "I want to be a girl from now on."
She wanted…
She wanted to be braver. To stand up against her fears like Miharu. She wanted to be herself. She wanted… she wanted.
"You're not allowed to." Her mother stood up. "You're a Duel Soldier, Reira. You're supposed to listen to me. To do everything the way that I—"
"That's enough, mother."
Himika turned to the door. Reira felt relief wash over her.
"Reiji-san…"
"Reira is not a puppet. She is her own person." Reiji stepped forward. "There are enough emotionless duel soldiers in the war, mother. If Reira no longer wants to be one, then let her be herself now." He looked at Reira, ever the reassuring, calm figure. "It does not make her any less capable."
Himika's mouth opened and closed like a goldfish.
"I was not brave enough to say it back then. But we cannot repeat my father's mistakes." Reiji adjusted his glasses. "We cannot use people and force them to a mold, mother. There are far better means than that. Reira is not just a soldier, she is my sister and your daughter. We assumed those roles, but in doing so, there is not just authority, there is responsibility."
Himika slowly looked at Reira. Reira put her arms around herself, steadying herself against the gaze.
Please. Please.
I want to be brave now.
"Fine," her mother finally said. "Clearly, I cannot change your mind. This conversation is over then."
She walked out of the room.
Reira closed her eyes.
Clearly, her mother was disappointed in her. Clearly, her mother would not acknowledge her choice any longer. But—
"Reira."
—Reira's brother was still here.
Reira opened her eyes. Reiji looked at her.
"I've already informed Nakajima and the others of the arrangements we've made with the Synchro Dimension," Reiji said. "It seems that the conversation I was going to have with our mother was cut short. Shall we go to a shop and get you some other clothes? You don't have to wear them now, but they'll be there when you're ready."
Reira nodded.
"About my deck," she said.
Did she still want to steal the light from others?
Or did she want to nurture something of her own—a light that could give back to the others that had helped her?
"I've had a different deck in development for you for a while, just in case," Reiji said, ever prepared. "I'll show you when we get back later."
… yes.
Even if Reira's mother wouldn't accept her…
She at least had a wonderful brother.
Maybe it was because he had lived in the Commons for a while, and experienced what life was like for the less fortunate, but…
Sawatari couldn't help but feel uneasy about his father's over the top response to his return. The call for a party, for several courses of food, the nonchalant way that he treated his employees…
Had Sawatari been like this before he'd left Standard?
Sawatari sat through small talk that became more and more awkward, wondering if it would be fine to leave—
And then, his father said something that caught his attention again.
"What about that girl? I suppose that she knew well enough not to come back, for all that she's unwise in several other ways. Or—she's a weakling, isn't she? Did she end up… what did he call it? Ah, carded? Is that what happened to her?"
… there was no worry in his father's voice at all, when saying something so terrible.
"Mion wasn't carded. Why do you sound like you would be happy if she was?" Sawatari asked.
"Well, I was simply thinking that it would be easier for you." His father shrugged. "It must be terribly awkward to be in the same group as riffraff like her, or like Yuya Sakaki."
Sawatari stared at him.
Was his father… really delusional enough to believe that Mion was somehow inferior to him?
"She's your daughter by blood too," he said, seething internally. "She's my sister."
His father shushed him, glancing around, as though paparazzi might pop out of nowhere and record it down. "I've told you before. She's the girl with the potential to ruin your life. If anything about her gets out to the public…"
"But what if I want to call her my sister?" Sawatari said, narrowing his eyes. He thought about Mion offering to be Yuya's sister as a joke, and how jealous he'd felt for a brief moment. The idea that someone else might be able to call Mion their sister when he would never be able to say it in public here had eaten away at him.
"Absolutely not. You can't do that."
Sawatari clenched his fists under the table.
He'd… never quite been a sibling, and never quite been an only child either. The curse of being half-and-half with someone else, not quite able to acknowledge them but not quite able to denounce them too.
"I don't care what you say," he said. "I don't think it's as bad as you say it is. But I'm done with keeping my distance. You raised me to get anything I wanted. And I want an older sister."
Not just an older sister. His older sister.
"You're saying that…" His father shook his head. "She's corrupted you. She has no manners—she is no one. Listen to your father. If you associate with her, you'll be cut off from everyone else, the same way that she is."
Are you blind? Everyone loves Mion. You're the only one that looks down on her.
"The only reason that she's amounted to anything is because she had the luck to meet that CEO boy—Reiji Akaba." His father spoke casually—as though he wasn't currently looking down on his own daughter. Sawatari suddenly understood with crystal clear certainty what Mion had been hiding about her relationship with their father—he had just assumed that the two of them didn't get along, but not this level of disrespect. "Paying for her prosthetic, helping her stay in LDS, calling her back after I finally sent her away again—ridiculous. It made it almost impossible for me to try and get rid of her. I wonder what kind of hold she has over him to get him to go to such an extent—I've always speculated that she took after her mother in that regard. Her mother must have influenced how she deals with men."
Was—was he implying that Mion had—with Reiji Akaba—for money?
"So you see, there's really nothing respectable to a woman who acts like that—"
"And what about the man who makes use of a woman like that?" Sawatari snapped. "That's not what any man should do!" As he stood up, he knocked over a cup of water, which soaked the tablecloth. "Mion's nothing like that!"
In fact, Mion was always trying so hard to live independently. She knew nothing about Reiji Akaba's feelings—she clearly hadn't tried to influence them in any way.
Sawatari hated the fact that his father was just looking down on her.
No more, he told himself. He wasn't going to look down on others like this anymore. No matter what.
"Shingo…"
"Listen up." Sawatari slammed his hands on the table. "I don't care if you're mad, papa. I don't care if you disown me, but I'm going to tell everyone the truth when I come back again!"
"Shingo—" His father sounded even more frantic now.
"Well, family's not always by blood," Mion said. "Your friends at You Show, aren't they family to you too?" She smiled dryly. "Nothing wrong with asking for more."
Sawatari stormed towards the door to the room. He shot his father one more look. "Remember," he said. "Mion's my family—even if you're not!"
With that, despite how nervous he was, his anger carried him out of the room.
He was ready to go back.
Day 7
The morning dawned on the city in the Synchro Dimension.
Crowds gathered in the stadium—everything stopped for this brief moment.
The conclusion to the Friendship Cup—all in a single day. People already knew about the substitutions.
Just five more duels—and the champion would be crowned.
"Nervous, Jack?"
Jack turned his head, looking at Aki. "Hardly," he said. "... anticipatory. This is just the last thing from the old city that we must conclude before we can move forward." He looked outwards. "... I look forward to it."
"Me too." Aki chuckled. "... it's just a brand new start."
OC Cards:
Topologic Penrose Aitvaras
(L4/3000/DARK/Cyberse/Link/Effect/↖, ←, →, ↗)
2+ Effect Monsters
(This card is always treated as a Plant monster.)
If another monster is Special Summoned to a zone a Link Monster points to, while this monster is on the field: You can negate the effects of all other monsters on the field that were Special Summoned from the Extra Deck until your next End Phase, and if you do, this card gains 300 ATK for every Link Monster on the field and in the GY. During the Main Phase, if this card is Extra Linked and your opponent controls more cards than you do: You can make your opponent send as many cards as possible from their field to the GY, up to the number of co-linked monsters on the field during the activation of this effect, then, if they have no more cards on their field, inflict 3000 damage to them. You can only use each effect of "Topologic Penrose Aitvaras" once per turn.
Sunavalon Myrsine
(R1/0/0/EARTH/Plant/Xyz/Effect)
2 Level 1 Plant monsters
This card cannot be targeted for attacks, but does not prevent your opponent from attacking you directly. If this card is Xyz Summoned: You can add 1 "Sunvine" or "Sunseed" card from your GY or banished cards to your hand. While this card is face-up on the field, it can be treated as a "Sunavalon" Link Monster for the activation requirements of cards and/or effects, and it is treated as having a Link Rating equal to its Rank. Once per turn: You can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card; send 1 Plant monster from your Deck to the GY, and if you do, gain LP equal to its Level x 200.
End Notes:
(Notes were written in real time as I wrote the chapter. Yes, they're even more disorganised than usual.)
Happy 1 million words (for real!)
I told myself to give every character at least two scenes in this chapter. So anyway, this chapter is where Six Dimensions transforms to a slice of life anime very briefly. I can't believe that I thought this chapter was going to be short.
You cannot tell me that Reiji, Mion and Yuto would not type with good punctuation. And I hope that I tricked someone into actually clicking 'here' because they thought that I actually linked something there.
'Yugo's weird sensible pretty older sister' was used by a friend of mine to describe Arisu and it has stuck in my brain since.
I remember reading something about how Yugo/Yuto/Yuri were the opposite in terms of personality from the protagonists of the series their dimension was based on. *clears throat* That definitely played a role in Yuji and Yuno's personalities in early development, though only slightly—it was more that I made the characters' personalities and went "wow, they actually fit the theme". Yuno is the most unlike Yusaku of the Link Dimension OCs.
I will confirm that it's not a coincidence that 3/6 of the Fragments have been confirmed to change their names at some point in their past. You don't have to remember any other names except the names that were presented to you when they were first introduced though. Like Hitoda says, it's all in the past.
I swear that I was like "okay, you can't write this much Yuno-Miharu fluff constantly, I know they're like the main protagonists and the main pairing, but you can't do this—" And then I finalised the outline for this chapter and both of them just insisted on clinging to each other constantly, so we got way more ship tease than I intended. I swear I don't mean to write the ship tease this much, it just happens.
Did I just use the 'there was only one bed' trope for Yuno and Miharu? Yes.
The song lyrics that Yuno sings are my own translations of Harlem Yu's Chinese song, 情非得已. The official translation of the name is "Can't Help Falling in Love with You".
Chiaki and Miharu's duel was originally going to be off-screen, for certain reasons, but I figured that I might as well commit to it, since people might be disappointed if I mentioned it and left them hanging. For those wondering about the new "Aroma" cards, Miharu's deck is already really good in terms of the power curve right now, and she hasn't actually learned Fusion Summoning yet. Plus, since I'll have to use them in the long term, I'd prefer to wait for official translations. (Watch me go back on this in half a year when the cards are still not translated yet.)
I know for a fact that I mentioned Kyorin's ability to draw in the Shorts fic, but I can't remember if I already mentioned it here, so I just decided to treat it as though I never mentioned it. Plus, Yuji already knows it, regardless.
I wrote down "Yugo & Yuno interaction" and didn't bother outlining it at all, because when those two talk, it's just two excitable cinnamon rolls playing off each other. As it turns out, that is the entire content of their interaction.
This entire chapter whiplashes so hard between angst, humour and fluff, and honestly, it's kind of great. I'm keeping it like this.
Also appreciate that this chapter gave a surprising amount of Sawatari development. Like, I planned it, but I'm still surprised at how much Sawatari I stuffed in here, both as genuine character moments and comic relief.
I want everyone to assume that most of the characters already know about Heartland's basic structure (branches, school system, etc), even if they weren't in the scene where the readers learned about it. Just assume that they either learned off-screen or it was mentioned to them once or twice :)
Sora gets a new character design. :)
One of the first things I ever wrote in this universe was a oneshot of childhood Yugo, Rin, Kaname, Arisu and Jack giving Martha white hairs and being just general chaos. It's not canon to this universe because in the end, I decided on making Jack less close to the rest of the kids in the orphanage, but yeah, I always had their dynamic in mind as this.
My friend also called the five of them "Martha's three prodigal children, the most obedient one and Rin, who is the most normal one".
The original plan for this chapter was actually way longer than this, but I write scenes out of order, and by the time that I got to 30k and had like barely 20% of the scenes done, I decided that it was time to cull scenes, or this chapter was never getting done.
I also don't know why there's so much Reiji/Mion content. I think it's because their specific relationship arc works well in this kind of chapter. A lot of the chapter is intended to 'eat itself', aka have more context once you get to later parts of the chapter.
I should have known that covering a 'one week' timeframe in a single chapter was a tall order, lmao.
Synchro and Standard definitely get the lion's share of the chapter, though the other characters do get their own chances to do things too.
I ended up cutting Gongenzaka and Tsukikage's going home scenes in the mass cutting down of this chapter. You didn't really miss much, other than a lot of crying and proclamations of honour and manliness.
Sora's scene with Tsukikage is intentionally cut off. Don't worry about it.
I'm not a fan of the trope where the mother patiently waits for the disappeared dad with no feelings of her own about it. Also, Yoko is too awesome for that.
I don't think this is a spoiler—I'm not doing the 'Ray possesses Reira' plot point. And Reira's gender is not a plot twist. So she gets to live as a girl from now onwards! *confetti* And yes, I decided a long time ago to change Reira's deck at the end of this arc, purely because C/C/Cs are really hard to write and because since she was going to get to change as a character anyway, I thought changing her deck (which represents her inability to move on from her trauma, frozen in place) was a good way to do it. Reira gets a new character design later, since we already gave Sora one here.
This chapter is just 90% foils, haha. Similar interactions that don't quite turn out the same way, different characters that mirror each other's interactions.
Oh my god I'm done, set me free. I'm out. See you next time. *realises review responses exist* Okay, fine. :) Thanks for the support, everyone, genuinely. Review responses!
To Kuroto, interesting note on the voice Yugo heard! :D As for that connection, it'll take a while before we elaborate on it. Glad that you like her! And things will get better for Kaname from here! I'd never lie :D
To phantomdragons, I've resigned myself to the fact that despite my best efforts, the characters in this fic insist on falling in love :) Shino's role in the plot is… interesting. You'll see her, but not in as antagonistic of a role towards the Lancers compared to this arc.
To naminexriku2468, don't judge things so quickly! :)
To cardfan135, haha, I'm glad that I won you over with him. That was the intention, but I didn't know if I would succeed with it. Glad you enjoyed!
To TheRealD3lph0xL0v3r, glad you enjoyed it! :) Yeah, we're pretty much coming to the end of the arc at this point—just tidying up loose plot threads.
To Bryz0n, I like to space out power-ups, so just keep that in mind :) But yeah, that connection between Shino and Roget is pretty important, though… perhaps not for this arc :)
To T.V. 2000, interesting theory! I will confirm that Yuya does get one monster for each of his counterparts, yes :) Your theory about Mion and Sawatari was actually correct! Mion herself doesn't like her father, but she doesn't hate him enough to ruin his relationship with Sawatari. However, Sawatari himself has that level of teenage anger that makes him make irrational decisions—it's not like he hates his father now, but he's throwing a tantrum for the sake of someone other than himself for once. The alert system is something that can't be helped! The current theory is that ffnet's own people messed up something in the code, so the emails can't actually send. Because of that, even if you fix everything, unless ffnet fixes the code, nothing will happen.
To kikuruhime, glad you liked it :D Yes, Yugo and Rin rights.
To PhilJS89, honestly, I don't think there's an unwritten rule or anything like that. Or at least, I'm not writing with that in mind, haha. The only reason that I use the cards less is because they're kind of generic and yet overpowered enough that they tank the atmosphere of the whole duel unless they're negated. We love Accel Synchro in this house though :)
To Unlucky-Fausto, welcome back! Wow, that's a lot of reviews, haha. Sorry if I miss out on responding to anything :) We'll go one review at a time! Anyway, so the Landoise's Luminous Moss part was definitely playing dirty. In general, the need to disclose effects seems to be inconsistent in the anime itself. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. In general, saying the effect is probably something that most duelists are used to doing. As such, yes, Chino was intentionally choosing not to disclose it. Most people who do performances and stuff like that would probably say it. I tend to follow the policy that effects are only required to be disclosed when they become relevant. :D That's why Continuous Spells and stuff like that aren't always disclosed immediately. I'll keep that in mind though. As for on-screen interactions, you're right that the two of them haven't interacted that much on screen :) But they have been established to at least be pretty close.
Next, yes, you're absolutely right about Miharu's duels in that case! :) And you were correct about the vocabulary issue too. It was a sign of… something. :) I'll keep what you said in mind about explaining that move a little better, maybe. I will say that my addition of legacy characters is half practicality and half how much I like the character :D
As for Yuno/Miharu ship tease, well… I think you might be able to guess why there's so much of it right now, haha. And yes, Hexa Spirit is adorable. :D As for Miharu's bracelet… hmm, I do think you might have figured it out! Honestly, I'm surprised that no one has directly called me out on it yet, because what her bracelet does feels like it's really obvious at this point. Leafking Seadragon is… interesting ;) As for the theme of family having large effects on your life… that's always been planned to be a large theme! It wasn't as obvious in Standard because we weren't diving as deeply into character dynamics yet, but once we started doing it, you get to see a lot of parallels, etc. I mean, I don't mind hearing about your opinion about Yuya's usage in fics in general! Just don't give any specific examples, haha. I always say that I don't like mindlessly bashing characters, so that's why I do try to treat Yusho in a bit more of a level-headed manner. There's enough parental issues in Six Dimensions already, I don't need to twist Yusho's character that much, haha. Pendulum-Link hybrids work identically to the other hybrids, except that they can only be Pendulum Summoned to the Extra Monster Zone or zones that a Link Monster points to. We'll definitely learn more about that later.
Tbh, people were wondering when the Standard characters would get proper character moments, and I was always like "eh, whenever I want them to". But the counterparts do have their own unique interactions with each other, and Mion-Kaname was also extremely important to me as a pair.
And yes, Yugo and Rin vs Roget wasn't as big and climactic of a finale as you might expect… because Roget was never the final, big duel of the Synchro Arc. That role belongs to someone else, don't you think? :D As for the relation between Roget and Shino, it's honestly fair that you feel that way! The reveal was always going to come in this arc, but it doesn't quite reap dividends for a while… well, it's linked to something else, I can say that much :) I'll let the story demonstrate that itself though, and it's totally valid that you feel that way! And of course, look at how completely normal and happy this chapter is! Nothing sad to be seen! When have I ever lied in an author's note? *whistles*
To AccurateGap1, you reviewed just as I was about to post! Honestly, very fair on the Makoto point :)
Alright! Now, we're going into the fun part. *clears throat* We don't have a QOTC this chapter, because we're opening up the Q&A for the break between Synchro and Xyz now! *confetti* The rules are down below, so have a look! Some of them are identical to last time, some of them are not.
Q&A for Synchro-? Interlude:
Rules: Reviewers may submit as many questions as they want, to any character that has currently showed up in the story after Chapter 5, whether they are canon or an OC. So characters like Ryoken, Shinji, the Lancers, etc, fit the requirements, while characters like Allen, Jounouchi and Zarc are not. If the reviewer has a general question, they can address it to more than one character as well, or just toss the question directly at me. Questions are accepted through reviews on Chapters 75, 76, 77, 78 and 79, and they will be accepted starting from the posting of this chapter to three days after I post Chapter 79. (Whenever that is.) (Yes, I'm confirming this now. There is a 99% chance that Chapter 79 is the last chapter of the Synchro Arc.) If you submit any questions after then, they might squeak in, but don't count on it. :) I'll work on it after that. Uh, Blaise reserves the right not to answer questions that they're not comfortable answering without explaining why, since it may involve spoilers. Any questions that violate the T-rating of this story will not be answered, and I will be very mad at you :D
There you go! See you next time! I'm going to go update the character profiles now, because a lot of shit has happened since I made them :)
