Chapter 31: Competitions Galore
Among the memories Bryan would keep from Spirit Day was the sheer diversity of families that visited Duel Academy that weekend. Jack's brother had so many ideas for pranks to be played. He would have done twin-based pranks if only he and Jack were completely identical. Mitsuro's mother was surprisingly feminine and effervescent, contrasting Mitsuro's tough aloofness. Tamah's grandmother was every bit as kind as described; she reminded Bryan of what his own grandmother would be like if she actually knew anything about dueling, let alone everything about dueling. Cee-Cee walked around with her parents and her grandfather; he had offered to sup up Bryan's Duel Disk for a nominal fee, which Bryan didn't have, only to take a look for free and let Bryan know that it looked to be in good condition. There were rumors he had messed with the settings on the hologram projectors where the Boss duel took place, but no one could tell for sure since everything worked just fine.
Emily had briefly caught Bryan's attention. He always thought she was Chinese, but her cohort looked to be Russian: Even if Bryan was off about his nationality, there was no dispute that the guy was pale-white against Emily's slightly darker skin tone. He didn't feel close enough to her to ask whether they were related by blood or if she was adopted or what.
Even as the festival drew near to its close, the festival grounds remained alive with energy and excitement when students and alumni alike gathered for the highly anticipated costume contest. The air crackled with anticipation as everyone found seats in the arena, eager to see the holograms come to life. At the center of it all stood a small stage, draped in crimson fabric adorned with the Eye of Wedjat: iconic symbol of the Yu-Gi-Oh! Gaming franchise.
Bryan and Matt found seats in the farthest row from the stage next to Mikey and Sydney, whose street clothes meant they were definitely not contestants. It would be hardest to see the costume details from back here, but large projection screens on the sides of the stage and the camera crew front-and-center would ensure everyone could see what to focus on as each contestant traversed the catwalk.
"Hey, guys. You ditch your families?" asked Mikey.
Matt didn't mince words. "No one to ditch."
"Weren't you with Kasumi and her parents?" asked Syd.
Mikey laughed. "Oh, damn. I thought they were Matt's parents."
Syd made a face. "They're Japanese, and he's clearly not."
"Could be adopted. I wouldn't know."
"I am adopted," said Matt. Now it was Bryan's turn to make a face. "No, that joke doesn't work. I wish I were adopted."
Mike said, "Me, too, sometimes. Family can be a drag, especially when you're the black sheep of the family, no pun intended." Not that Mikey was a sheep or anything, and his whole family was black, so no pun really delivered, either. "Would be nice to let my little sister see this, though."
Bryan asked, "How many siblings do you have?"
"Three older brothers, but Baby Brittle is the only one I really miss." He pulled out his wallet and removed a picture of a little girl who looked like a younger, cuter, female version of him. "Isn't she the cutest ever?"
"She's young," said Bryan. "I'd guess she's ten?"
"And a half, yeah. A bit of an oops baby, unfortunately. That's why my brothers don't care much about her—they mostly see her as a drain on our parents' finances until she graduates college."
Matt said, "My little sister is my shame, too." Before Mikey could ask what he meant, he added, "I feel bad being here without her when she's definitely not better off at home without me."
Syd said, "You guys are allowed to be a little selfish. You are not your sisters' parents. Besides, getting a good education will put you in the best position to help." She tipped her head sideways as she added, "Of course, you didn't have to go to a private school on a secluded island to get a good education."
Mikey laughed and gave her a big side hug. Bryan was pretty sure he copped a feel while he was at it. He definitely turned her just enough as he squeezed so her other boob pressed against his chest… lucky bastard. "You were doing so good up at cheering us up until the last part."
Matt was silent for a moment. Bryan knew he felt guilty about leaving Lindsay behind. When they were home for winter break, they found out Matt's foster parents had brought home another set of twins. Since Matt was gone most of the year, Lindsay was forced to share her room with the twin boys, so she had lost all her privacy and half her stuff. The whole time he was home, Matt took Lindsay wherever she wanted to go around town—usually the library because anything she got from the bookstore would just end up being household property. At the same time, Matt couldn't wait to get away from that place and also wanted to stay there as Lindsay's safe space.
To cut him off, Bryan asked, "How did you guys decide who would be in the Boss Duel?"
"Boss Duel?" Mikey laughed. "I just let whoever wants it take it."
"You might have been able to finish off Dr. West where Andy failed," said Syd.
"Nah, if Andy couldn't do it, no one could, even if Erica complained about it for a while. Boss Decks are legit. No one's ever been lucky enough to win against it."
Syd shrugged. "You get pretty lucky with your cards sometimes. Even if Andy is more skilled as a duelist, maybe you would have been lucky enough to pull off a win."
Matt said, "The real kick in the teeth is realizing that Justin would have won if he had been by himself."
"But Dave summoned Exodia," said Bryan. "Wouldn't he have won by himself, too?"
"No, he'd still lose because Bosses only take 8000 damage from instant win effects. He would have to remove or not use all those Upstart Goblins to avoid giving Dr. West any extra points. But Justin's strategy negated the effect of Upstart Goblin by forcing both players down to 3000 LP. Then Blasting the Ruins would end the game."
Mikey leaned back. "See, we didn't know all those rules during prep time, else they might have tried dueling him alone."
"Assuming he didn't use Comic Hand to disrupt their combos," said Syd.
Bryan jumped on her point. "Exactly! He was being cautious because he had three opponents. Just one, he could afford to be more aggressive with his cards."
Syd nodded. "Yes, that. So you still can't be certain that any of the Guardians would be able to defeat Dr. West on skill. So when skill isn't a factor, you have to rely on luck."
Mikey nodded. "Okay, I get your point. Maybe I'll duel him next year."
A loud voice cut straight through the conversation, and a hush fell over the crowd. Bryan turned his attention to the stage, where Pr. Radican had taken the microphone. His voice was like a riot suppressant. "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the annual Duel Academy Yu-Gi-Oh! Gaming Masquerade! We have an incredible lineup of students and visitors dressed in some incredible costumes. Let's give them a round of applause!"
Pr. Radican went on to explain that the contest was different from usual. This was not a comic convention where the participants spent months or years putting together their own costumes. These were mostly students who spent their time studying and dueling—anyone with the time to make a homemade costume worthy of true scrutiny should spend that time on school extracurriculars instead. So everyone here was being judged mostly on their stage presence with small portions of their score based on accuracy or creativity. Graduates and family members were, however, eligible to sign up for real costume judging. Those who had done so had been visiting the judges throughout the day to give the judges an opportunity to see their costumes up close to examine the craftsmanship, see the designs and the seams, and hear about the crafting process.
"If someone up here looks amazing: Clap, cheer, scream, show your love. If someone up here looks less amazing: Clap, cheer, scream, share the love. Everyone with the guts to participate and provide you with entertainment here deserves recognition. Let the judges decide who has the best costume. You just enjoy the show!"
Bryan couldn't identify everyone who walked onstage—not when more than half of them were family members and not actual students at Duel Academy—but he understood why there were separate contests going on. Students and visitors alike were energetic and confident as they walked, strutted, pranced, cartwheeled, and twerked on stage. The difference in costume quality was insane, though: One lady had a Magician of Black Chaos outfit that looked like real leather and a wig with every strand perfectly styled to defy gravity; a guy had taken creative liberty to make the Blue-Eyes White Dragon into dragoon armor complete with iridescent wings; one lady even put together a costume for Yugi Mutou complete with all the Millennium Items he obtained in the legends. These people knew about the costume contest in advance and came ready to compete. Even Kasumi in her Black Rose Dragon dress and Jack in his corrugated Gearfried the Iron Knight were worlds apart from the students who raided the drama club, like Bryan had.
That's not to say the drama costumes weren't worthwhile. Miyu and Haruki were dressed as Gagaga Magician and Gagaga Girl. The costumes weren't fantastic, but the two of them looked great together, and Miyu even gave Haruki a peck on the cheek to stoke the crowd's excitement. Joel Chakkal was introduced as Thousand-Eyes Idol, even though his costume just looked like a giant potato—Bryan was willing to bet money that it was, in fact, just a potato costume being paraded as a Yu-Gi-Oh! card.
The winner of the fan portion ended up being Jim Martel, who had dressed in a gorilla suit as Berserk Gorilla just so he could walk across the stage and kick over the decorations with a shit-eating grin on his face. The laughter and defiance really resonated with the crowd. The craftsmanship award went to an alumna named Ilka Minos who hand-sewed her own Duel Academy professor's uniform and bedazzled the hell out of it with sparkly crystals that looked like constellations of legendary monsters such as Dark Magician, Blue-Eyes, Red-Eyes, and Relinquished. Apparently she even made her Duel Disk by hand.
"What the hell?" uttered Mikey, utterly aghast at the level of detail involved. "How does anyone have the time to do that kind of stuff?"
"Helps when you have money and no responsibilities," said Syd. A bit of a cynical perspective. Bryan was sure they had jobs, but even jobs come with personal time, so there would be some time to spend on crafting.
Matt asked, "Have any of you seen spirits walking around the campus?"
Bryan couldn't believe he just asked that so abruptly. Both Mikey and Syd looked baffled by it. "Like people with booze?" he asked.
Before Matt could say anything stupid, Bryan explained. "What Captain Segue here means is that some of these costumes are so real that you could easily mistake them for being cards come to life."
"That's not what I'm saying at all. I mean that someone of the… people… walking around look so much like cards that they might be the cards, or maybe they served as inspiration. Like a card designer who attended Duel Academy might have seen these spirits wandering around at some point and then drew pictures based on what they saw."
Mikey laughed and shook his head. "Sounds like maybe you already been drinking. You're underage, so make sure none of the professors catches you."
Syd said, "Talk to Gima or Jade. They both tend to believe there's a mystical aspect to the cards. Although Gima struggles a lot with English, so you might be better off talking to Jade."
Giving her a bewildered look, Mikey asked, "Why do you sound like you also believe the cards are magic?"
She shrugged. "No one said they're magical. Just special." As she spoke, she typed away on her phone.
"Matt said they were magic during History class."
"Actually, I said the god cards were conduits," said Matt. "Not technically magical because there's a scientific explanation attached to that. It just feels like magic because it's not science that we can readily replicate."
Bryan made a face. "Which discipline is it where spirits inhabit playing cards?"
"It's really not that different in concept from charging batteries. In this case, there's some kind of quantum physics, probably, involved in attaching the card to an entity in another dimension."
"Obviously," said Mikey, grinning as a sign of sarcasm.
Jade approached the group, wearing a short skirt, a white tunic, and a small cape over one shoulder. Her hair was colored green, which was why Bryan was sure he had seen her walking around the festival, maybe even working at one of the souvenir booths. Overall, she looked like Wynn the Wind Channeler.
Syd was pleased to see her, but Jade looked hesitant. "Hey. You… wanted to talk to me?"
Bryan smiled. "Yeah. We just got on the topic of whether or not the god cards were actually batteries full of—what was it?—mystical energy. Mikey's sitting there looking guilty, like he knows something he doesn't want to tell us, so Syd suggested we talk to you instead."
Jade looked much more relaxed. "Oh. So you're looking for opinions that, what?"
Matt said, "I got the impression in class that you might believe the god cards have a spiritual connection."
She shrugged, suddenly coy again. "Maybe. I'm not sure."
"Well, I'm pretty sure, regardless of how much proof exists or doesn't exist. You seem at least open to the idea, even if you're pretending not to believe in it for the sake of not being embarrassed around us."
Mikey asked Jade, "Why are you so nervous?"
"I thought Matt hated me," she answered. That answer was so unexpected and yet so on-brand for someone talking about Matt that Bryan busted out laughing. A deep, hearty laugh that took all the air out of him and made it hard to keep breathing. "What? He's always scowling at me."
Even when Matt tried to look confused, it still resembled a scowl, kinda proving her point. "It's not intentional. I don't think there's anybody on campus I actually hate. Just resting bitch face, I guess."
"That's hilarious," said Bryan. To Jade, he said, "If you ever have the patience to spend time getting to know him, you'll learn to recognize the subtle differences. Right now, he's confused." Matt's brow tightened just slightly. "Now he's annoyed, mostly at me." With no other changes, Matt's lips curled inward. "Now he's mocking me, but he's doing so internally."
"Lucy asked me to stop mocking you externally, at least when other people are within earshot."
Bryan stopped. "What? Really?" Matt's grin remained just as tight, but his brow relaxed. "Ah, okay. Now it's a combination of mockery and pity."
Jade said, "That's impressive. You know each other even better than a lot of couples do." She glanced at Mikey and Syd but tried to be subtle about it.
Before either could respond, Matt said, "I never realized you had heterochromia."
Suddenly Jade's expression beamed. "You know the term?"
"He's read the dictionary cover to cover, twice," said Bryan. He wasn't sure that it was true, but it was a fun joke to make.
"And what is heterochromia?" asked Matt. He made it clear with his body language that he wanted Bryan to answer, or try to. Jade started to explain, but Matt cut her off. "Let him try."
Bryan hadn't heard the word, so he tried to break it down. "Hetero, which means she's straight." Matt remained stone-faced, but he could tell from Jade's smile that he might be a bit off with that guess. "And Chromia, like the Transformer. So something along the lines of 'straight metal'."
"Got it in one," said Matt, using the usual sarcasm for whenever Bryan said something stupid. And that realization made him pay more attention to what was unique about Jade, why Matt chose to use that word for the first time while talking to her, specifically.
That's when he remembered that her eyes were each a different color, something he had noticed the first time he ever saw her. "But did you also notice that she has two different color eyes?"
"That's what heterochromia means," said Jade. "Hetero for 'different'; chromia for 'color'."
Mikey had a wry grin as she shook his head. "Sounded like he already knew that and was just trying to be funny." Bryan pointed at him in a knowing way, wondering whether he fooled anyone else with that cover-up attempt.
Bryan hurried the conversation along. "Matt was curious whether you could see spirits because you have a god card."
"Spirits?" asked Jade.
"Kinda like ghosts, but some of them look like duel cards."
Jade shook her head. "Not often. Maybe not at all. If I did, I didn't realize that's what they were."
"What do you know about the origin of the Wicked Gods?" asked Matt. He was seriously not concerned about the logical flow of conversation.
But the question lit Jade up. "Ooo. I've heard four different origin stories. The first is that Pegasus J. Crawford himself created them so there would be something to balance out the Egyptian God Cards."
Mikey laughed. "Pegasus. He's as fictional as Yugi Mutou."
"I agree," said Matt.
Confused, Bryan said, "But you believe Yugi actually did exist."
Matt didn't argue. "What's the next story?"
"They're the id versions of some higher beings. The Egyptian God Cards are the ego and the Sacred Beasts are the superego."
"How Freudian," said Matt as he considered it. "I like it. Makes it sound like they could combine to create some whole entity. What else?"
"You're not going to explain what an id is?" asked Bryan. Even Mikey and Syd looked confused.
Jade said, "The ego is your base personality, the superego is your conscience, and the id is your uninhibited instincts. Right?"
"Close enough," said Matt. "Any stories where the Wicked Gods were born in the Shadow Realm? Like they were creatures without physical form?"
"All the gods are supposedly from the Shadow Realm," said Jade.
Syd agreed. "That's what I've heard. But I'm curious why you think only the Wicked Gods would be from the Shadow Realm."
Bryan tried to remember the descriptions that Leona Moxley gave about the Shadow Realm and the Spirit Realm. "The Wicked Gods are like imaginary forms, kind of like the corrupted version of a spirit that rejected the Collective Consciousness." Matt's expression showed pleasant surprise. "And then, what? The Egyptian Gods are the physical forms and the Sacred Beasts are the spiritual forms from the Spirit Realm?"
"Swap those two, I think," said Matt. The fact that he wasn't mean about showed that he was totally guessing. "But that theory assumes they could all be parts of another complete entity. Has anyone ever tried combining Ra, Avatar, and Hamon before?"
"That wouldn't work," said Jade. With no immediate reaction to her, she added, "I don't know why I'm so sure of that. But I can… tell."
"Because you feel a connection to whatever god your card is attached to," said Matt.
She looked uncomfortable. "I don't believe in god, as it were. But there's probably some kind of higher power that runs the universe and the afterlife."
Bryan said, "The afterlife would be the Spirit Realm I was talking about."
Mikey asked, "Isn't the Shadow Realm supposed to be the afterlife?"
"That's what happens when you reject the afterlife," said Bryan. "Your spirit just wanders around with nowhere to go. Like Purgatory. You can't stay in the real world because you don't have a physical body anymore, but you refuse to join the afterlife, so you're stuck in the space between realms." He looked to Matt. "Did I remember that correctly?"
"Shockingly so. Three months ago, you were so incredulous that I would believe in any of that."
"I didn't say I believe it yet. Just that I remember it."
Syd said, "I heard a rumor once. It's said that there were originally only three gods that walked the earth, although they were fusions based on category, not shape—so the Egyptian Gods were all one creature, the Wicked Gods were one, and the Sacred Beasts. But they were so powerful that they had to be split up into three pieces each so that they could be defeated and sealed away."
Jade said, "That was the fourth story. I didn't hear it from you, actually, but it's basically the same thing."
"That's not an origin story," said Matt. "What, they were just primordial creatures wandering the earth? They just existed ever since the Earth first formed?"
Shrugging, she said, "I guess so."
Mikey said, "I like the Pegasus theory but make it some rich dueling executive who wanted to spin up some in-universe lore to make people spend more money on the game." Personally, Bryan assumed that was the most likely answer.
But Jade didn't agree. "Personally, I lean toward the id, ego, and superego theory. Like, there's definitely some mystical power in all the god cards. I felt a surge of power twice this week. Didn't you feel anything?"
Shaking his head, Mikey said, "Nothing out the ordinary." The way he didn't look at anyone while he said those words gave Bryan pause. He didn't know Mikey super well, but he would bet that Mikey was lying right then.
"How long ago?" asked Matt. When Jade wasn't sure, he added, "Just before lunch? Maybe eleven-thirty?"
"Today, yeah, sometime around then," said Jade. "The other one was yesterday. How did you know that?"
He paused. "Yesterday, when?"
She shrugged. "Sometime around lunch? Oh! It was right before the Boss Duel. I remember because Erica and I wondered if it had anything to do with Dave, Justin, and Andy dueling together."
"What exactly happened when you felt the surge?"
"Just, like, a tingling sensation. And a lot of extra energy that I didn't have before. Some excitement, too." Based on Mikey's attempt at a Poker face, her description aligned with his experience. "What does it mean?"
After a moment of wrestling with how much to tell, Matt said, "It means the professors here are holding back the power of the god cards. And their ability to do so weakens when they lose a duel."
"Cary! Wake up, soldier." Laura's voice was grating even when she wasn't pretending to be the model of military order. Like the military would even accept someone who kept complaining to the captain every time she was annoyed by something the lieutenant said.
But more annoying was that Cary hadn't been sleeping. Zoning out was an entirely different order of inattention. Team OTK meetings didn't have the same emphasis ever since the Guardian Duelers won the rights to the Boss Duel at the Spirit Day Festival, and then even they lost that duel.
"Is Haruki back yet?" asked Cary, implying that she would be ready to pay attention again when the team captain finally showed up.
Laura folded her arms across her chest. "Haruki is busy discussing our next match against the Guardian Duelers."
"Wait, really?" asked Chika. "I thought we don't duel them for three more weeks."
Rikuto said, "He's over there because Gima's sick."
"That whole house is sick," said Cary. She knew that for sure because her cousin Dave had been asking her to play gopher whenever he needed something from another building and Dr. Aseel wasn't around. Somehow they all picked up something at the Spirit Day Festival that grounded them all for a full week. Dr. Nagell had spent more time at the Guardhouse lately than she did at the rec center.
Fats made a face. "That's weird. I saw Justin in the faculty office yesterday right before dinnertime."
"Probably picking up some homework assignments," said Rikuto. "Is Miyu coming, or do we cancel this meeting?"
"We don't cancel the meeting," said Laura. "Haruki and Miyu don't need to be here for us to be thinking about next year. The six of us are close to graduating, so we need to decide who the leader will be for next year from the remaining three members."
Cary, Fats, and Cee-Cee all exchanged glances. The others looked nervous while Cary tried to remain neutral, but inside she was frustrated. She wanted to be in charge, but she didn't want to force it on others like Laura did. She wanted everyone else to want her to be in charge. Being team leader in her junior year would look great on her CV, and she believed she could train up a team that could dethrone the Guardians next year, after they also lost half of their team to graduation.
Fats was the first to speak. "I don't think I'd be a good team leader. Both of them are better duelists." Cary appreciated the sentiment.
Laura said, "It's not just about who's the best duelist. As team leader, you'll need to be able to recruit, train, and manage a full team. You'll need to be able to assess everyone else's ability levels, including the other teams. It'll be your job to identify your team's strengths and weaknesses so you can assign duels that use your team's strengths to exploit the other team's weaknesses. That will mean teaching your teammates how to do the same so you can all work together to win."
Perhaps the most annoying thing about Laura's spiel was that it made sense, and she was usually such a blowhard.
"So how do we decide?" asked Cee-Cee.
"We're going to exercise your ability to size up your opponent and match your teammates against them."
They spent ten minutes on a game in which Laura, Rikuto, and Chika randomly called out the names of Duel Academy students, then Cary, Fats, and Cee-Cee had to identify which members of OTK could beat the named student in a duel. Then they spent another twenty minutes having the seniors randomly call out nine students and having the first years pick three OTK teammates who stood the best chance of winning when they couldn't know which three would actually duel. Cary had to be the one to point out that they should be practicing against only six names, given that no one could duel two matches in a row, so they'd always know who among the nine would be excluded. According to Laura, the point of this exercise had been to stretch their abilities beyond what they'd need in real life—Cary believed that was just her last-second justification for forgetting what real life was actually like.
Laura was still on her high horse when practice ended. "Your homework to improve yourselves is simple: First, find the student who has the most to teach you and duel them. Duel them until you learn the lesson you need to know."
Cary was confused, but Fats was the only one to admit it out loud. "Will you tell us which lesson we need to learn?"
"You'll know it when you figure it out," said Rikuto. "It sounds cryptic, but really, you'll suddenly see it and wonder how you ever missed it before."
"Right," said Laura. "Your second assignment is to find the student with the most potential and help them build a consistent OTK that can defeat someone they've never beaten. This is how you'll prove that you can recruit and teach."
Right off the bat, Cary knew who she could teach: Bryan. Even though he was slightly more confident since building his Masked Hero deck, he was still hovering around a fifteen percent win rate. She could help him bolster his deck enough to bring about more consistent OTK strategies and maybe boost his overall win rate.
But more importantly, the Slifer dorm was a one-stop shop: The only person on campus she couldn't figure out yet was Matt. She knew that he had traded all of his social prowess for book knowledge, but she didn't understand his motivation. Maybe he spent so much time analyzing other people's motivations because he lacked his own. If there was anyone who had something to teach her, it had to be him.
"We have to do this by our next practice?" asked Cee-Cee.
Chika said, "That might be too soon. Maybe next week?"
Rikuto agreed. "You'll need time to actually see a change in whoever you decide to work with."
"Haruki plans to make his selection in three weeks," said Laura. "That will give him enough time to mentor you before the end of the term, so three weeks should be plenty of time for you to complete this assignment."
The three first years exchanged worried glances. Whispering softly, Cee-Cee asked, "Three weeks is plenty of time for us to learn some unknown lesson that makes us better leaders?"
Cary furrowed her brow and nodded. That was how she interpreted it, too.
"And make someone change their deck so they can join OTK," said Fats. "I don't know anyone who's not already part of a duel team who would want to join one."
She almost blurted out her strategy—find someone on a crappy duel team and encourage them to join a better one—but Cary kept it to herself. Fats lived in the Slifer dorm, so he would have easier proximity to all of the school's lowest-ranked duelists and might interfere with her strategy… if he even decided to participate. He said he didn't want to be team leader, so maybe he would just skip the assignment.
"Is there a problem?" asked Laura.
"No problem," said Cee-Cee. "Nothing new, anyway." Just Laura's overzealous and unrealistic views of how perfectly everything should fall into place for her team.
Just because of proximity, Cary didn't even wait to talk to Matt and Bryan. After practice ended, she hurried over to the Slifer dorm. The Longshots were just coming out of the common room as she got there. Leon waved and Joel checked his watch, but Jack saw her coming and changed his course to intercept.
"Cary! How great to see you. I need a woman's opinion."
Oh, boy. This would make her regret coming over in person.
"I think it's time I ask out Lucy. How do you think I should do it?"
"Blindfold her so she doesn't know who's asking," said Cary.
Jack pressed both hands to his heart. "Ouch. What a marksman. A lethal shot without even hearing my options."
Actually, Cary didn't think she was making a joke. It was pretty clear Lucy was already into someone else.
"As a woman, what advice would you give me?"
Cary made a face. "I don't have advice for asking people out. I just need to talk to Tweedledee and Tweedledum about something real quick." It was getting close to curfew, so she'd have to keep the conversation short and hurry back to the Girls' dorm.
"Which one am I?" asked Bryan.
Matt said, "If you have to ask…"
"No time for banter. I need your help to become the leader of Team OTK next year."
"Which one of us?" asked Bryan, because Cary had been shifting her gaze to look at both of them.
And there was a reason for that: "Both of you." To Bryan, she said, "I want to give you some training on building your deck. You've got an OTK strategy at your fingertips. I want to make you consistent at it." To Matt, she hesitated. "You're… difficult to beat."
He smiled. Wider than Cary had ever seen from him. Even an orgasm wouldn't make him as happy as watching her awkwardly admit that he might be a better duelist than she is. "Difficult to beat?"
"You win a lot," she snapped. After another scoff, she reminded herself that there wasn't time for this. "You're probably better than I am… for now. I want to figure out why so I can level up and beat you."
Bryan was aghast. "I can't believe those words came out of you. Are you okay? Should we get you to Dr. Nagell?"
"Shut up. Just don't agree to be Fats' pet project or anything." Bryan held up his hands as if surrendering whatever battle Cary was about to wage.
With that out of the way, Cary leaned in for a whisper. "Have you figured out what's going on with the professors yet?"
"No." Just as Cary's frustration levels bubbled up again, he added, "But I learned that Dr. West has a bookcase in his office in which the contents are locked away."
Cary made a face, and Bryan gave voice to her question: "He has bookcases in that room? You mean those walls of periodicals are in addition to whatever he actually stacked like normal shelves?"
"Yes. Almost the perfect place to hide secret information about the god cards: Anyone who tried to raid that place would just give up. Especially because there's no telling what we're looking for: could be a periodical, a journal, or a loose scrap of paper. Even just a mosaic made from his mustache hair."
"That makes this even harder," said Cary. She turned to walk away, knowing that she needed to move quickly to avoid being caught by the curfew. Getting caught and reprimanded by the professors was the last thing that would help them to figure out what Duel Academy was hiding.
Likewise, her workload didn't lighten just because she had multiple side projects going. She still needed to stay up late in the night reading her textbooks, completing worksheets, and writing papers. But the whole time, she kept her laptop open in the background, letting the video play at ten-times speed. She had become a master at focusing on her schoolwork while keeping one eye alert to anything unusual in the video.
It had taken a week of Cary watching the video feed in secret, but Kasumi finally caught a glimpse of the screen as she walked around the room. "What are you watching?"
Cary pressed the pause button on her ear buds and removed one for the conversation. "That depends. Who else would hear about this if I tell you?"
Kasumi frowned. "I won't tell anyone if you don't want me to."
"Not even Matt?"
"Of course not. He doesn't need to know what you're doing just because he and I are…" She trailed off and blushed. Cary figured she'd wait and see if Kasumi lost interest. Technically, security footage wasn't available to students. It probably went against a few rules about privacy. But Justin seemed to have a thing for Cary, and he was a talented hacker, so he set her up with what she needed.
Kasumi straightened herself up and ignored the embarrassment. "Fine. It doesn't matter. I've just never seen you watch TV while you work before. I figured it has to be something good if you're willing to split your attention like that."
Cary shrugged. "It's mindless office humor. My dad mentioned it while he was here. Doesn't require much focus, so I thought I'd learn a bit about it—give us something to talk about." Bingo. Kasumi fell for it, changing her annoyance into pity. Cary felt bad lying to her roommate, but secrets were easier to keep when fewer people knew them.
Good timing, too. After a week of speeding through the footage, she finally noticed something interesting outside the faculty offices. Dr. West called seven other faculty members together in the lounge. Cary shifted her ear buds to sync with her laptop instead of her phone and turned the video to regular speed.
"Another successful graduation ceremony," he said. He raised a thin box that he had carried. His back was to the camera as he held it out and opened it. "Everyone is recharged and ready for another year."
He turned so fast that the box disappeared behind Pr. Radican's shoulders. Cary stopped the video and moved it back a few seconds, then she slowed the playback until she managed to stop on a useful frame. Inside the box was a rectangular puzzle made of some shiny substance—maybe gold. She resumed the playback at normal speed to hear Dr. West say, "Remember: You take a key and you support the seal. Now's the time if you've changed your mind."
"Nothing has changed since we came here," said Dr. Lankford. Cary watched the professors reach out in turn, each taking a piece out of the box. There were six pieces, all necklaces, which immediately went around the necks of Pr. Radican, Dr. Kerr, Dr. Apple, Dr. Lankford, Dr. Houtz, and Dr. Aseel. She couldn't identify the seventh person: The long hair implied a woman, but she didn't wear a faculty uniform. It wasn't proof, Matt had mused that Desiree might be a key holder—something about the timing of a duel she lost during the festival.
It would be nice if even one of the eight people present said anything specific about what they were doing. What was the seal that Dr. West mentioned? What did he mean by having the faculty support it? She even wondered why, if the necklace-keys could only be lost in a duel, Dr. West didn't just defend them himself. His Boss Deck was unbeaten, or close to it. Certainly closer than the professors were.
They were only together for minutes when everyone split up. Dr. West took the box away. So much for finding answers… last year. He had said they were ready for another year, which meant this little ceremony happened every year. Cary stopped the video and loaded up the footage from two years ago. She spent a long time zooming through the same time period, right around the last day of classes. Finally, she found all the same faces together again in the same room with the same vague notions about protecting "the seal".
Now that she knew the time of year to look for, she was obsessed. She went back years and watched the same scene happen again and again. Nothing changed until six years ago, when Pr. Radican was finally promoted from sergeant of the campus police to being a professor. It was his first year being inducted into this little group, which meant the conversation had slightly more explanation.
"You're sure you understand the risks?" asked Dr. West.
Radican said, "I believe so. I can't lose a duel."
"Or decline an official challenge," said Dr. Lankford.
Dr. Aseel said, "It goes beyond the pride of losing a duel. We're all at risk if the seal breaks."
Dr. West said, "As long as we respond quickly, the world doesn't end just because the seal is broken." Strange choice of words, but Cary assumed it was a figure out speech. "The door won't open immediately. We'd just need to be ready to defend it before it does."
"I won't let that happen," said Pr. Radican as he accepted the necklace-key.
The seventh key holder spoke up. "You'll be a great addition to the team. Just come by the shop if you need any help bolstering your deck." The voice confirmed it: Desiree was the seventh duelist! As the card shop proprietor, she was sure to be a skilled and knowledgeable duelist.
So… what was behind the sealed door?
Matt said, "No, we eat here. The whole point is to be close to the faculty offices when Dr. West's office hours start." With the outside temperature rising, a lot of students had taken to eating outside or one of the window alcoves on the second floor—someplace with sunlight. Logic dictated that Matt, Bryan, and Cary needed to be right outside Dr. West's office because office hours were first come, first served, which meant taking their lunch from the dining hall up to the TA office. TAs had the same schedule for student lunch, so the office was empty while they were off in one of the sunlit areas.
Bryan added, "Besides, you wanted a chance to train me to join OTK. Schedules are getting tighter as we get closer to finals, so training during lunch is the most efficient way." Luckily the food tended away from the greasy side, so Bryan's cards wouldn't be ruined by this exercise.
His comment seemed to pull Cary's attention back to something other than her phone. Bryan had just played Pot of Cupidity and was about to play another card when Cary said, "No."
"No what?" asked Bryan.
"Don't play that. Just leave your field empty."
Bryan pointed to the field. "But then I have nothing to defend me."
"It'll be fine. That's only a problem if your opponent is able to pull off a one-turn kill on their first turn."
Again, Bryan seemed incredulous. "Look who I'm dueling against!"
Matt smirked. "You're dueling yourself. This is a Hero Beat deck, remember? No Dark Magician swarms coming at you today. Right now, we're testing whether Cary's strategies will make you strong enough to defeat yourself from last semester."
But maybe the idea of dueling himself was slightly exaggerated. In reality, Matt was behind the cards. He set one card, played E - Emergency Call to put Necroshade into his hand, then played Polymerization to fuse Necroshade with Lady Heat and summon Elemental Hero Nova Master (8: 2600|2100). He still had a Normal Summon left over to play Elemental Hero Heat (4: +2000|1200), who gained 200 points per Hero on the field.
He pushed both cards forward slightly and then pulled them back, indicating two direct attacks. "See?" said Cary. "You're still fine, and now you still have your monster to use in your combo during a turn when you'll be allowed to attack."
Bryan: 3400 LP, 6 cards
Past Bryan: 8000 LP, 1 card
Bryan grumbled, "That still seems like a Matt move just with different cards."
"Don't be silly. Even you could make a play like that. But notice how I'm almost out of cards now?"
As he drew his next card, Cary said, "Now get started with that combo you were going to play."
Bryan played Goblindbergh (4: 1400|0), which also let him summon Elemental Hero Shadow Mist (4: 1000|1500) from his hand. By summoning Shadow Mist, he was allowed to take Mask Change from the deck to his hand. He let his fingers hover over his cards for a second, then he asked, "Which one do I play?"
"Mask Change."
She had just spoiled what cards were in his hand, which worried him. Matt made a face. "Like I didn't just watch you take that card with Shadow Mist's effect."
"Fine. I'll use Mask Change on…" He let his eyes drift toward Cary's direction.
"Just try something. Look through your Extra Deck if you forgot what you have."
While Bryan did that, she took a bite of her sandwich and then looked over to Matt. "Have you learned anything yet?"
Matt glanced at the door to the TA office, which was wide open because it was uncommon and even frowned upon for the door to be closed, except when research or sensitive discussions were underway. But no noise came in from the hallway, so he might be fine. He leaned in to whisper, "I think it's a loose sheet hidden inside one of his periodicals."
"Really? Yesterday you weren't even sure whether it was something written down or a video or just something he had memorized."
"Thanks to your date and time suggestions, I was able to find footage of Dr. West in his office completing some kind of sealing ritual."
Bryan looked up. "How do you know it was a sealing ritual?"
"Aside from Cary's story about Dr. West handing out keys that support a seal?" Matt's sarcasm faded quickly, replaced by his true feelings: uncertainty mixed with doubt. "I don't know. But I'm sure."
"Did Justin give you access, too?" asked Cary. She almost looked upset to realize she wasn't the only person with secret access to the surveillance cameras.
Grinning, Matt said, "No. He might have if I had boobs, too." There was an image for which Bryan need bleach in his brain. "But remember that time you let me see your laptop between classes? I didn't just watch the video—I figured out the credentials Justin used to give you access so I could log in on my laptop, too."
"Is that why I get kicked out sometimes, or why I can't log in?"
"Yes. Credentials only work from one machine at a time. More importantly, thank you for staying up late so I can get my sleep. Helps me get up earlier and get my morning workout done before classes start."
Bryan said, "I'm ready to make my play."
"Let's have it," said Matt.
"Mask Change turns Shadow Mist into Masked Hero Anki (8: 2800|1200). Then Instant Fusion lets me summon Elder Entity Norden (4: 2000|2200), and his effect summons Elemental Hero Shadow Mist (4: 1000|1500) back from the Graveyard. Now I overlay them for Diamond Dire Wolf (4: 2000|1200). When I detach a card, Diamond Dire Wolf destroys itself and your face-down card." Matt accepted the play and removed his Trap card from the table.
"Now Anki (2800) can attack Nova Master (2600)." He waited long enough for Matt to remove the monster from the field. "I activate Mask Change II to switch Goblindbergh for Masked Hero Dian (8: 2800|3000), who attacks Heat (-1800)." Matt removed his last monster from the field. "Destroying a monster means Dian can summon a Hero from my deck, like Elemental Hero Wildheart (4: 1500|1600), who gets another attack." He paused, even though he didn't have to because Matt had nothing on the field to use as a defense.
"Now I play Form Change so Dian becomes Masked Hero Acid (8: 2600|2100), who also attacks. Then I use another Mask Change to turn Wildheart into another Masked Hero Dian (8: 2800|3000), who I think attacks hard enough to end the duel?"
"Correct," said Matt.
Bryan: 2400 LP, 1 card
Past Bryan: 0 LP, 1 card
Cary nodded at him. "Well done. That was a legitimate OTK."
Bryan was beaming. "That was crazy. It felt so easy when I actually had all the cards I needed in my hand at the same time."
"That's because all the cards in your deck support that combo. You should always prepared to do the OTK combo and nothing else. Keep practicing until you memorize all the ways you can use your cards to get that same combo done."
He dropped his cards and pushed them aside. "Practice later. I've barely eaten anything."
"You're just wasting away," teased Matt. Bryan didn't care, though. He stuffed his face with all the grilled cheese, chicken nuggets, and Brussells sprouts he could fit. It was actually impressive how quickly he worked, too: If there was one helpful behavior that was learned during their middle school years, it was learning to eat so fast that no one else could steal their food.
No sooner had Bryan wiped his mouth with a napkin when Matt said, "Grab your stuff. Time to boogie."
Bryan made a face. "Why did they decide to do office hours during lunch?"
"Most likely just a sneaky way to reduce the number of people who try to see him without an appointment," said Cary.
"Why didn't we just make an appointment?"
"Because headmaster is a busy role. The only way to make an appointment with him and not get delegated to someone else is to be in one of his classes. Plus, showing up unannounced means he won't have time to guess what we want and prepare himself."
Matt smirked. "I'm not sure how off-balance he'll actually be when his office door is wide open for whoever shows up, but let's go find out."
Bryan had never been inside Dr. West's office before. He had seen the door open once or twice, so he knew a little it about the mess that inspired Matt and Cary's comments, but seeing it in person was a whole other phenomenon. Books and periodicals were stacked from the floor to the ceiling, shrinking the office nearly in half from its actual footprint. It looked so organized and yet so chaotic at the same time. Claustrophobia crept in that Bryan had never experienced before. Was there even enough room for Dr. West and three students at the same time?
"Hi," said Dr. West. "Three first-year students in my office. To what do I owe the honor?"
"We were hoping to learn a little bit about capstone research," said Matt.
Dr. West said, "Capstone is usually reserved for seniors—the cap of your educational pyramid, as it were, after you've learned most of your foundational knowledge. That's not to say you couldn't look for classes that would help you get started on future research. What topic are you thinking of?"
"A mathematical formula that predicts the winner of any given duel," said Matt.
"Certainly a lofty goal, and attempted before. How would you go about it?"
"Linear regression, mostly," said Matt. "Based on what I've read so far. I already have a few critical variables in mind. Presumably the purpose of the research course is to help me learn how to dig deeper and figure out which variables are worthwhile."
"Absolutely, that's part of it," said Dr. West. "I have a few journals that touched on variables that would be of interest." He stood from his desk and walked over to the corner of the office, looking through an unshielded pile of journals. "Maybe you could give it a read to see whether it provides inspiration." He lipped one of the journals out without knocking over the stack and handed it to Matt. "Rundlett did an interesting study on probability of drawing the five Exodia cards in your opening hand. In essence, that research is the same as drawing any five cards right away." He grabbed another one from the same stack. "Roche and Marsh published an interesting study on the use of Yu-Gi-Oh! Gaming as a test bed for artificial intelligence through the lens of game theory. The fact that dueling is an imperfect information game makes it especially complex. The article might be a bit accelerated for you, but Dr. Houtz would love to discuss it further if you ask for help."
Matt thumbed through the first few pages of the journal booklet. As he did, he walked around Dr. West to put the headmaster between himself and the locked cabinet. "A perfect information game is one where both players know everything that has already happened, including the opening hands. Not to be confused with complete information, which is when players know everything about the other player." He smiled. "I've been paying attention in class."
"I'm sure Dr. Houtz would sponsor that research project."
Looking past Dr. West to the locked cabinet, Matt acted like it was the first time he noticed it. "Hang on." He walked over to the cabinet and peeked in the side, recognizing that he would never even notice it if he didn't already know it was there. But he pretended anyway that he caught sight of the contents from the outside. "Is that where you published your research paper on dual process theory as it applies to dueling?"
Dr. West was beaming. "You're familiar with it?"
Pretending to basically choke on his own excitement, Matt said, "I've only read the free blurbs online about two hundred times. System 1 processing explains the quick, intuitive decisions like the decision to set every Trap Card as soon as you draw it, whereas System 2 processing is how you stop that initial plan, think deeper, and work out the big combos." He looked over to Bryan. "We were just talking about how sometimes it's worth spending a turn taking direct attacks just so you keep what you need to deliver a combo play."
"That's right," said Bryan.
Matt continued, "Any chance I could read the full article?"
"I can get you a copy," said Dr. West. "Believe it or not, we don't get paid for research publications, so there's nothing stopping me from sending you my text files."
"That would be spectacular. But is there any chance I can read the printed version? I'll do it right here and won't leave the office. There's just something more… real… about holding it in your hands."
Dr. West considered for a moment. "I can understand that sensation. If you're careful with it, I suppose you can read through it right here, but only until office hours are done. I'll still send the pdf for you to read on your own time."
"Sweet," said Matt, continuing the facade until the cabinet was unlocked and the book was in his hands. He immediately flipped open the pages to find the article he wanted and started reading.
Before Dr. West could lock the cabinet, Cary said, "Do you have additional ideas for research we could do?"
Dr. West smiled coyly. "I had no idea you would be interested in duel research, Ms. Strickland. You, too, Mr. Knight?"
"Definitely. But why do you look so surprised for us and not for Matt?"
"Mr. Luther has done nothing but ask questions and challenge assumptions ever since he arrived. It would be more surprising to find that he was disinterested in doing his own research." He looked over at Matt, who had his nose buried in Dr. West's journal.
Intentionally. He made a face at the journal, shifted his gaze to the top of the next page, and then looked up as if finally noticing Dr. West in his peripheral vision. "What's going on?"
Dr. West smiled. "We were just discussing how you have the mindset for research. Keep reading. I know I didn't offer you much time." And just as Matt hoped, the headmaster turned away from the cabinet. That gave Matt the opportunity to glance around out of view. If only he could find a quiet way to rifle through the papers…
Cary said, "I thought research projects would give us a chance to work directly with you."
"Oh, sure, I might accept one student's research proposal every semester or two, but my schedule is much more occupied than you might imagine. I oversee the entire faculty and staff, manage the school's budget and resource allocation, and coordinate with the board of trustees at Kaiba Corp. Fortunately I spend little time attending to disciplinary matters, but those fall under my purview, where applicable. I even travel off-campus often to meet with prospective students and their families. Most of my days are spent in meetings or tending to administrative tasks and crises that demand my immediate attention."
Matt could feel Cary's defeat, and only part of it was because she was failing as a distraction. More significant was that she had high aspirations, and face time with the headmaster would be a good way to get her CV started. What a kiss-ass.
Thankfully Bryan came through in the clutch moment. "If not research, are there other ways to work with you?"
"As much as I would love to devote time to scholarly pursuits with students, I simply can't given the realities of my role. I must remain focused on ensuring the overall operation of this institution runs smoothly. But believe me that the other faculty members are more than capable of filling in for me."
"What if we wanted a new duel team?" asked Bryan.
Ooo, intriguing segue, Matt thought. He wondered where Bryan came up with that idea.
He continued, "Each team needs a separate faculty advisor behind them, and we're running out of duel professors."
"No, that's not true. Oscar advises the Duel Dragonists, and Sebastian advises Team OTK. You know that already."
He nodded to Cary, who shrugged. "I didn't know he would ask that question. Any of the professors can be faculty advisors, right? Doesn't have to be someone with a professional dueling background."
"Correct. In most cases, the advisors do little other than track the academic records of the team members. I think the girls' dorm does ask Gabby for advice fairly frequently, but Nashida hardly does anything with the Guardian Duelers outside of administrative duties. If you come up with a proposal and a roster for a new team, I'd wager that Patty would make a great advisor for you."
Suddenly Cary found a way to participate. "What about Desiree?"
Dr. West paused. "Sure. I suppose she would be eligible, if she's willing. Sergeant Stilson and the rest of the campus police would be ineligible, however. They're encouraged to build a rapport with the students, but they can't be put in a position to play favorites in the case of legal disputes. But you'll need a strong theme to create a new team. What do you have in mind?"
Matt felt his phone buzz from his pocket, but he ignored it so he could focus on the contents of the cabinet. The window to look around without breaking in was limited.
Bryan hemmed for a moment, with a look on his face plain as day that he was hesitating only as a way to draw out the conversation. The best wingman there ever was! "I'm not yet decided, but maybe something like Lockdown strategies?"
"That's an idea. You use Elemental Heroes, don't you?"
"Yes. And I know what you're thinking: They can sometimes swarm the field but they don't really lock down the opponent's moves. But there are some combos such as Twilight Rose Knight plus Elemental Hero Poison Rose: Poison Rose draws all attacks while on the field, and Rose Knight prevents plant monsters from being targeted, so the opponent can't actually attack anything while they're together."
Dr. West nodded. "It fits, though I recommend testing the quality of the deck before you commit to it."
"Oh, for sure. Poison Rose is a tough summon just because she has big restrictions and isn't very strong. But the idea is a possibility, right?"
"Any proposal you can support is a possibility. I think if you do just a bit of research, you'll even find an international chapter of Team Lockdown already exists. Any team that already has international backing is much easier to support on campus because they provide you with most of your charter and membership requirements. Team OTK is one such program."
At that moment, Dr. Houtz popped through the office door. "Hey Corbin. Oh! Sorry. Didn't see that you had students in here."
"Do you need something, Gabby?"
She pursed her lips. "Just a quick chat about the faculty addendums. No rush."
Dr. West's demeanor changed. "I'm sorry to kick you all out, but would you please give me and Dr. Houtz some space to discuss administrative business?"
"Is it something to do with the students?" asked Bryan.
Dr. Houtz said, "No, it's nothing like that. Just some work that the faculty does to keep the school running."
"Tuition's not going up, is it?"
God damn, Bryan was good at this! He managed to sound curious and sincere while clearly just asking questions to draw attention away from Matt, who was still snooping through the cabinet. All he had managed to find so far was more ancient academic journals in pristine condition and a handful of note pads. Unfortunately, none of the notepads had anything obviously incriminating such as a map of Duel Academy pointing out the location of buried treasure. The most interesting items were background checks on all the faculty and staff, but Matt didn't waste time reading them or wondering why Dr. West could keep hard copies printed out and stored in his office. Some kind of notes about how to use his Boss Deck effectively and notes about countering its power. A requisition form for fixing the damage to the fallen obelisk outside the building. Maybe even Dr. West's last will and testament and a life insurance policy.
Just not enough time or freedom to find details about what the Duel Academy professors might be sealing away. He placed the borrowed journal gingerly back into the cabinet to make it look like that's what he had been doing there—certainly not snooping…
"Productive?" asked Cary as the three of them left Dr. West's office. Good, subtle question that could be interpreted a thousand ways, just in case they were overheard. Nothing to hint that they were up to mischief.
"The bare minimum," said Matt. He was curious how long they spent in there, which reminded him to check the message he had received. It was a single text message from Jade: It happened again.
When they reached the stairwell, Matt said, "I'm starting to doubt that we'd find anything at all."
"Why?" asked Cary.
"Because if I had a secret so big that no one ever said it out loud, then I'd have it memorized. The best way to keep nosy students from finding it is to make sure there's nothing to find."
"Should we go back and press our ears to the door and try to listen to their conversation?" asked Bryan.
"You think Skyrim crouching will get us there unnoticed at this point?" When the sarcasm subsided, Matt added, "I already know what they're talking about."
"Really? How?"
"Jade just texted it to me. I bet Dr. Houtz just lost her spirit key."
Sorry I'm a day late this week. I legitimately forgot what day it was. I've been preparing for a week of vacation—which shouldn't mess with next week's schedule, but if I forget and post a day late again, that's why.
Fun fact: Originally, Jade was going to be the one with loose lips who divulged the secret lore for the god cards, but I really wanted to do that flashback so we could see Andy beat Ra. So Jade's role was shifted slightly into more of a philosopher than a historian. Also, that part about thinking Matt hated her because of his sarcastic nature was based on one of my experiences (again). A guy from work, who is still one of my best friends, thought I hated him because he interpreted my attitude as being against him. (Really, it was a combination of his low self-esteem and my hating being at work at all.)
I enjoyed throwing out a bunch of theories about origins for these three sets of god cards. Anyone have any other headcanon that you put together?
I'm going to start drafting the next arc pretty soon (after my vacation). If you want to contribute an OC who can join the story early on, now's the time to contribute. Those who already contributed still have my thanks for making some of my NPCs a little less throwaway.
* Mitsuro Itachu...Titanic X
* Emily Li...Amourenvie
* Iracema "Cee-Cee" Silva...HardWrapping
* Tamah "Fats" Fatu and Mikey Brittle...Vstriker
* Jade Kincaid and Sydney King...TC-For-Short