1

A ruffling of papers. Wood scraping against wood. Gentle footsteps across plush carpeting. Logan's senses slowly informed him that someone else was in the room with him. He felt torn between pulling the comforter over his head, like he did as a small child and was worried that a monster like Dark Necrofear or Gimmick Puppet Shadow Feeler was going to burst out of his closet and eat him, and making a dive for the lamp on the nightstand to confront the intruder directly. He took mental stock of how much of a coward he was and came up somewhat disappointed.

"Oh—hey, I didn't mean to wake you."

Logan, while grateful he no longer needed to come up with a workable plan on his own now, was absolutely terrified. Wait, should he answer or pretend he was still sleeping after all? Too many choices, this was too much to deal with right now. He took a deep breath, deciding to let the flow of whatever the hell was happening carry him along. This person couldn't be too dangerous with that high-pitched, whiny voice could they? And the guy did sound genuinely sorry for disturbing him. He leaned over and switched on the lamp, not so much a 'diving' motion as a deliberate and, he hoped, casual gesture.

Light filled his Ra Yellow dorm room, illuminating his mid-range furniture, mid-length nice carpet, mid-tier entertainment system, everything completely in the middle and average like a proper Ra should be. But standing in the corner next to his desk was something decidedly not mid-anything.

It was a Slifer Red.

The other boy had short shaggy brown hair and abnormally large brown eyes. Logan thought he looked like a puppy that got kicked one too many times and was turned into a human who looked vaguely like a puppy by some genie. He was holding some papers in his hand which Logan recognized as his schoolwork and the folder containing Ra dorm etiquette and rules. Settling his gaze on the folder, he tried to remember if there was anything in there about what to do if someone broke into your dorm. He certainly didn't want to mishandle the situation and end up in trouble or demoted or something.

"What are you doing in my room?" He asked, praying this question was middle-of-the-road enough to not offend his placement in the world.

Strangely, the Slifer's eyes lit up at the question. It was like he waited his entire life for someone to take an interest in him and now that moment had at long last come. "I'm Evan!" He nearly shouted at Logan, bowing awkwardly. "Evan Suzuki. I'm just looking through your stuff."

"Yes, I can see that," Logan now wondered if his assessment that this person wasn't dangerous was entirely accurate. This Evan guy was small enough that he could overpower him if things got physical, but, being a Ra, he was supposed to deescalate situations before they got that far. So deescalate he would do. "I'm Logan Nakajima—"

"I know!" Evan appeared quite pleased with himself. "I mean, I did break into your room, you'd think I have some idea of who you were. Oh, maybe you can tell me a secret instead. You know, something I wouldn't come across just by going through your most personal possessions."

Logan pulled the blanket up protectively, despite himself. "About that…" he started, unsure he wanted to know the answer. Had he even seen this student before? He certainly didn't look familiar, and anyone with those… doll-like eyes would surely stand out as someone to be wary of. "Why exactly are you in my room, Evan?" He read somewhere once that police would use the names of suspects holding hostages to achieve a more personal connection with them, so they felt more comfortable talking to them and would be distracted enough for the sniper team to take them out. He briefly entertained the idea that someone was outside his window waiting for an opportunity for Evan to be off-guard to crash through the glass and tackle him. He hoped so.

Evan waved the stack of papers in the air vaguely, allowing a few to fall to the floor. He didn't seem to notice or care. "Just looking around. I wanted to take a peek at your deck to see what cards you were using, and your homework. Not to cheat off you or anything," he quickly clarified, raising his hands innocently in front of him. "I just want to get into the minds of Ra students. You know, promotion preparation exams are coming up soon and I want to get out of Slifer."

"And you think this will help?"

"Sure!" Evan smiled widely. He let his backpack slide off his shoulder and placed it on top of Logan's desk chair before unzipping it and shoving a couple papers inside that Logan couldn't identify from this distance. "I firmly believe this with absolutely no proof. That's why I've spent the last several weeks systematically breaking into all the Ra dorm rooms. I think I've learned a lot but I guess we'll just have to see next week, right? I'm tired all the time from not sleeping at night but that should be fine. Hey, we still have a few hours before breakfast. Do you mind if I hang out and eat here with you?"

Logan's mind was struggling to keep up with the information dump he just received. This kid broke into how many other rooms? Why didn't he get caught yet? Should Logan report him? He was beginning to wish he could take a look at that etiquette and rules book but he was pretty certain that was one of the things Evan was currently zipping inside his book bag.

"Why can't you just eat at your own dorm?" He asked.

Evan sat down at the edge of the bed and leaned forward, getting a better look at Logan's DVD collection that was situated on a short bookcase underneath his wall-mounted television. "I have permanent food poisoning from the food there."

"Permanent—"

Evan snatched a box from the rows of DVDs. "You have Ponytail wa Furimukanai? That's my favorite TV drama, let's watch it until the cafeteria opens." Without waiting for a response, he popped open the box set and selected a disc at what seemed like random before putting it into the DVD player. He acted like he'd been in Logan's room dozens of times, like they were friends, which frightened Logan somewhat. Maybe this wasn't the first time he'd been in here while he was asleep? Then again, Logan was a light sleeper so he surely would have heard all the racket Evan was barely trying not to make.

Once Evan started the episode he wanted, somewhere in the middle of the season, Logan started feeling deeply uncomfortable again. He tried focusing on the show, for lack of knowing a better course of action, but Evan's tendency to mouth the words all the characters said was a little off-putting. Eventually, the strangeness of his situation dissipated and he found himself relaxing into Ponytail's plot line, he even found himself sitting on the edge of the bed as well, albeit a safe distance from his companion. After two episodes, the clock on his night table informed him that it was sufficiently late enough for breakfast.

Evan excitedly turned off the TV and returned the DVD to its proper place before coaxing Logan into leaving his dorm without showering or combing his hair first. The two made their way down the stairs and through a series of corridors, Evan talking animatedly about the episodes they just watched and how he should have been alive in the 80s so he could have enjoyed the series while it was still on the air, along with other nonsense Logan barely paid attention to. He was too preoccupied trying to figure out how fast someone suffering from "permanent food poisoning" could run if he booked it, and whether Evan's nightly adventures into the Ra dorm taught him where the cafeteria was located.

The latter question was answered when Evan enthusiastically began leading the way, walking a step ahead of Logan while still going on about whether the 80s smelled as bad as he thought they did.

"So… Evan." Logan started, suddenly realizing he didn't know how to finish. Really, he just didn't want to hear any more about what olfactory nightmare hairspray, cocaine, and dirty streets could combine to form. The two grabbed their garish yellow trays and moved up in line, allowing Logan to pick up his favorite breakfast foods of natto and ume boshi with a side of vegetables. Beside him, Evan loaded his tray with green tea, toast, and miso soup. "What… kind of deck do you use?"

He flinched a little at how inane of a question this ended up being. Granted, they were at Duel Academy, where a student's chosen archetype could tell a lot about them as a person, but he prided himself on being more intellectual and deep than this. Also, he was making casual conversation with the person who woke him from a very pleasant dream about Naturia monsters singing comforting show tunes, surely there were better topics to bring up. Like why he was chosen to be victimized by this potentially insane person.

To his surprise, Evan looked downcast. "Oh. Well, right now I'm using a combination Kuriboh and wormlike creatures." Logan guided him to his favorite place to eat, the only table situated perpendicular to the lunch line and pressed against the farthest wall. Only a few other people ever ate there, considering only one side was usable, so Logan usually had plenty of quiet to review notes before class at breakfast, or between classes during lunch, or after classes during dinner. He had a Ra's reputation to uphold after all.

"Kuriboh and… wormlike creatures?" He repeated, flabbergasted. "How does that even work?"

Evan picked at his toast forlornly. "The professors say that it doesn't. I haven't won a duel with it since the entrance exams."

"You actually brought that to entrance exams and passed?" Logan nearly dropped the chopsticks he was holding into his natto.

"Sure did!" Evan looked up proudly, changing emotions as rapidly as a puppy — only lending credence to Logan's evil genie theory. "It was one heck of a comeback victory too. The Proctor was winning by 3900 life points and had all these high level dragons on the field. This was the day the air conditioning went out at Kaiba Tower so it was really hot in there. Super hot! We were both really uncomfortable and when my next turn came, the Procter passed out from heat exhaustion. I guess his duel disk malfunctioned or something because when he hit the ground his life points went to zero. Doctor Crowler wasn't certain how to proceed since there was no precedent so he called Chancellor Shepherd, who called Seto Kaiba himself, to figure out whether I should retake the test with a Proctor who wasn't on his way to the hospital. Mr Kaiba apparently told Shepherd that KaibaCorp technology doesn't malfunction so they had to let the result stand."

"I… see…"

"Of course, I didn't even want to use that deck for my entrance exams but I wasn't allowed to bring my normal deck."

Logan knew he would regret this: "What would that be?"

"Twenty-five Unhappy Maidens and ten Zone Eaters." Yes, Logan regretted this immensely. "I won't tell you what the other five cards were, those are my little secret. Anyway, I contacted Industrial Illusions about my desire to run more than three copies but they said in legal games I wasn't allowed. So I had to throw this new deck together on short notice."

Logan finished as much of his meal that he would be able to stomach after the morning he had. According to his watch, there were only ten minutes left before his first class began which meant there was no time to wash away all the horrible memories this conversation was sure to give him. With luck, at least, this Evan kid would move onto some other hapless soul tonight, preferably someone who lived on a different floor from himself, and he'd absolutely never need to deal with him or his borderline psychotic ramblings again. As he stood to leave, giving Evan a polite bow, he thanked any god that existed that they didn't have any classes together and the chances of Evan ever advancing to Ra Yellow were less than that volcano erupting and killing everyone on the island.

"Leaving so soon?" Evan asked, evidently not in a hurry himself. He still had most of his food uneaten on his tray in front of him, having spent all this time talking.

"Yes, I have class and I'd be remiss if I were late the first time this semester." Logan gathered his backpack and turned to leave when Evan's voice behind him said something that ran his blood cold. If that were physically possible, which is very much wasn't without some kind of advanced alien technology and without killing the person.

"Alright see you later, best friend!"