Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc V: The Six Dimensions

by BlaiseCandell

Before the invasion of the Xyz Dimension, scans done by the Fusion Dimension reveal two more dimensions. The Ritual Dimension, and the Link Dimension. Within those two dimensions, Chiaki, Yuji, Miharu and Yuno have their lives turned upside down, and are tossed into a vicious war. Also, why are there five people with the same faces as them? (M for discussions of trauma.)

8. The Knights of Hanoi

Starting Notes:

Welcome back! We're finally back with Miharu and Yuno, and let me tell you, I cannot overstate how overjoyed I am for that! We're finally heading towards the first few episodes of Arc-V in terms of a timeline! *claps hands together* Hope you enjoy the chapter! There is a bit of a time jump at the start, so be aware of that. If I were to describe the time jump, it's from 'the invasion of the Xyz Dimension' to 'a while before Yuya Pendulum Summons'. Alright, let's go!

---

Chapter 8: The Knights of Hanoi

A few months later, in the Link Dimension:

At the top floor of the SOL Corporation, two men sat together, watching the announcement that the Grandmaster Council—the ruling government body of Den City—had put out two weeks ago.

There were five positions in the Grandmaster Council. The King, Queen, Bishop, Rook and Knight. While the names were based on chess pieces, all five roles actually carried equal weight—the name simply designated the role that the person with the title played. Each of them had their own group of 'Pawns' that carried out tasks that were delegated to them.

The 'Rook' handled internal security—that was, the police force, investigations into crime and potential issues within Den City that might blossom into larger problems. The 'Queen' handled manpower—the handling of employment agencies, and allocating of resources to schools and other places within the city.

The 'Bishop', meanwhile, handled the healthcare and pharmaceutical industry, issuing permits and deciding on the budgets provided to various government-affiliated healthcare agencies. The 'Knight' handled transport—within the city, the infrastructure and public transport was top-notch.

Finally, the 'King' handled overall communication between the sectors, and helped to bring everything together.

Technological needs were typically outsourced to SOL from the Grandmaster Council. For the last decades, the relationship between SOL and the Grandmaster Council had been rather amicable.

That had been shattered two weeks ago, when the announcement had been sent out to Den City, out of the blue. An announcement asking Den City citizens to turn in the duelists behind the avatars of Boundless Sea, the Number 2 Charisma Duelist, and Dazzling Spring, one of the Knights of Hanoi, if they spotted them anywhere. The announcement had simply stated that neither duelist was in trouble—they were simply witnesses for an investigation that the Grandmaster Council was conducting.

At the same time, from the 'Rook', a secure memo had been sent out to SOL Corporation, containing confidential information. The boy behind Boundless Sea was a sixteen year old boy, Yuno Sugisaki. And the girl behind Dazzling Spring was a sixteen year old girl, Miharu Kogami. If the two were spotted, they were to be discreetly taken in.

Of course, the 'Rook' unfortunately seemed to have forgotten that one of the SOL groups that helped with catching criminals were the Knights of Hanoi, who were headed by Ryoken Kogami, the best duelist in the SOL Corporation, and the brother of one of their targets. The Rook had assumed that SOL Corporation would not mind turning one of their own in.

Ryoken had sent back an email with no header and only one word within it—'no.'

Sitting in the office, Akira Zaizen turned to Ryoken. "Do you have any idea why the Grandmaster Council is searching for your sister so desperately? They've even gotten the entire city involved…"

"Not a clue," Ryoken said curtly. "Father is looking into a lead that both of us suspect." He didn't explain what the lead was, however. Akira might have been a respectable man, but he had never been the kind to defy authority. Until they confirmed it, he wouldn't mention it. "Thank you for agreeing to conduct the meeting with me, Akira."

"No problem." Akira patted Ryoken on the shoulder. "If Aoi was in that kind of trouble, I'd be a wreck. Have you heard from Miharu?"

"Not since she took off." The moment that the announcement had been sent out, Miharu had left a note and run away. The note had stated that if they were unable to find her VRAINS model, they would probably conduct a search for her with her real identity next. To avoid inconveniencing Ryoken and their father, she had decided that she would conduct an investigation by herself.

Which, in Ryoken's opinion, was completely wrong. Miharu had never been a burden to them, so why did she think that she shouldn't rely on them?

Apparently, Yuno Sugisaki had run from home as well. The two of them were likely together. That was an odd friendship—both Miharu and Yuno had always been so focused on their coding and Charisma Duelist job respectively, and they had only ever spent time together at school, simply observing each other's other hobbies from afar.

The door opened at that moment. Their receptionist stepped through first. "Zaizen-san, Kogami-san," she said respectfully. "Your guest is here."

"Thank you," Ryoken said. The man that walked through the door had long pink hair with purple accents. He was rather tall, around the same height as Ryoken and Akira—maybe even a little taller. His right arm was made out of metal, clearly being a prosthetic. This was the youngest member of the Grandmaster Council—Kengo Dojun. He was twenty-six—a year younger than Akira, and around seven years older than Ryoken. (And really, Ryoken thought, that just put into perspective how strong he was. He wasn't exactly humble about his own strength.) Kengo Dojun. 'Rook'.

"Hello, Ryoken, Akira," Kengo said. Ryoken nodded somewhat tensely.

"Kengo. Take a seat." The three of them were friends, but when work came into the mix, it often caused some problems.

Kengo did pull out the chair and sit down. He got to the point immediately. "I apologise for asking you to be the one to capture your sister, Ryoken," he said, tapping the table with his finger. "I suppose you've figured out the reason that the email was sent to you?"

Ryoken took a few seconds to think about it. "One," he said. "You wanted me to know that the Grandmaster Council knows my sister and her best friend's true identities. Two, you sent it to us specifically so that I would refuse, and so that you could come here without being suspicious. Therefore, three. You're on our side, aren't you?"

"Correct in all three ways." Kengo leaned back. "I don't agree with this. However, the other four have agreed unanimously, and therefore, I have been overruled." He hummed. "... let's start with this. The other day, a man showed up to meet the Grandmaster Council. He brought with him proof of other worlds."

… what a bombshell.

Kengo continued. "They offered a technology exchange with our dimension, and cooperation with us. The other four thought that it was a good idea, especially with the technology that they showed us. However, their condition was that we hand over your sister and Boundless Sea, because apparently, they're very important to the project that their dimension is currently creating."

"How could Miharu and Yuno be important to them?" Ryoken asked. "They've never interacted with another dimension…"

"Actually," Kengo said, "they didn't even know who they were." He took out his phone, opening a photo and passing the phone over. Ryoken reached out and took it—

He dropped the phone onto the table.

"Ryoken!" Akira turned to him, a shocked and worried look on his face. Ryoken stared at the photo in silent shock.

Because that was Miharu's face.

That was his sister's face, but with differently coloured eyes and hair. That was it.

"Yeah," Kengo said. "They tried to hide it from us, but I picked it out from the coding. They ran a facial recognition program on this photo and another photo." He reached out, scrolling to the next photo, revealing a boy with the same face as Yuno. "They found the two of them in the database. Then, they reached out and told us that they wanted them."

"Why does that girl look so much like Miharu?" Ryoken said. It hit an uncanny valley that he couldn't quite confront.

"I have no clue," Kengo said. "But the Fusion Dimension is hiding things from us, it seems. They won't even confirm for us how many dimensions exist, and they're very vague about the state of the others. But the fact that they have the technology to come here, and the first thing that they want is your sister and her best friend… and also, the fact that they were confident enough that the facial recognition program would find someone that looked similar to them. It may be that the dimensions all have a girl and a boy that share the same face as the two of them, and they're important for some reason."

"... my sister is not a tool to be used by another world," Ryoken said tensely.

Kengo glanced away. "If someone treated Emma like that," he said, "I would be angry too." Akira patted Ryoken's shoulder. They all sat there, three older brothers with absurdly independent younger sisters who they just wanted to protect. "I wanted you two to have information about this, Ryoken. I do not think that these people can be trusted."

"... Miharu can handle herself," Ryoken said. He glanced at the photo of the strange girl. "For now… this goes beyond my sister and her best friend. If these people are trying to infiltrate our world and trick our leaders… we will need a force to protect ourselves, just in case." He covered his face. "Tell the other Grandmaster Council members that the Knights of Hanoi will search for them. That way, they will not suspect us."

"And we'll build up defences," Akira said, getting the idea. "But… are you sure? We'll have to keep this between us, so if you tell the Knights to look for them…"

"Yes," Ryoken said. He rubbed his forehead. "... I will have to put the burden on her to protect herself. And I will apologise to her and to Father after all of this is done. But this is… for the best. And if she is actually captured, I will simply have to rescue her." He tapped the table for a moment. "In that case, my original assumption for why the Council was doing this is wrong. I apologise, Kengo. I doubted you."

"I understand," Kengo said. "... what was your original reason?"

"... ten years ago," Ryoken said. He didn't elaborate for a moment. He thought back to that incident, when his father had brought the blonde girl that would become his sister home. "... do you know about what led my father to fire several dozen SOL employees ten years ago, forcing them all to sign contracts that forced their silence?"

"... that was before our generation," Akira said. "So… no."

"It didn't feel that way to me," Ryoken said. "Because…"He gripped the table tightly. "That was the day that my father brought Miharu home."

Akira and Kengo both gasped.

"Horrific things were done to Miharu," Ryoken said. "By a group within SOL who had been bribed by an outside party. And to this day, I still believe that it was done by someone in power." He looked back at them. "My sister is strong. So I believe that she will protect herself, even if the people who were once her comrades become her enemies. And meanwhile, I will remain committed to my goal. To make sure that there is always somewhere safe for her to come back to, once the fighting is over."

---

"Oh?" A red-haired woman walked over, as Ryoken led a blonde girl into the room by the hand. "Is this that little sister that your father's been talking about?"

"Yes." Ryoken turned to the girl, who was practically hiding behind him. "Miharu, this is Doctor Kyoko Taki. She's one of father's most trusted colleagues."

"You flatter me, Ryoken," Kyoko said with a laugh. She leaned down, making eye contact with the little girl. "He said that you were three years younger than Ryoken, so you must be… seven, right?"

The girl nodded. "... Miharu Kogami," she said.

"Miharu-chan, huh?" Ryoken made eye contact with Kyoko for a moment—he was just ten, but he was pretty confident that his dad had handled everything, so Kyoko probably knew part of the situation. Kyoko reached over to the table, picking up a paper bag, before she took out a stuffed turtle. "Here you go! Your dad told me that you and Ryoken would be visiting today, so I thought that I would get you something!"

Miharu reached out one hand, taking the stuffed green turtle by the fin, her other hand still clinging onto Ryoken's. "... thank you, Kyoko-san," she said.

"Oh, oh, is she here? She's pretty small!"

"Gino!" Kyoko chided, as a man with spiky green hair walked over. He was wearing a green coat and a white shirt, and he looked somewhat unkempt—as though he hadn't slept in days. "You can't just have that be your introduction!"

"I see nothing wrong with that!" Gino Watanori, or Dr Genome, as he went by in SOL, waved to Miharu. "Hello!"

"... hello." Miharu tilted her head. "... Ryoken said that you were duelists?"

Kyoko and Gino both looked at Ryoken. Kyoko raised an eyebrow. "We all have degrees in medicine and programming," she said. "We've been working in cybersecurity and investigations since before you were in school, Ryoken. And the best introduction you could give for us was 'duelists'?"

"I think that dueling is the coolest," Miharu said, unprompted. While she said it in as bland of a tone as everything else before, it was at least a sign that she was willing to talk to them, which was… encouraging, considering how little she had talked to anyone before this.

Kyoko and Gino both smiled warmly. "The coolest, huh?" Gino patted her head. "Do you know how to duel?"

"... Ryoken has been teaching me."

"Oh, has your brother been mean to you?"

"Hey," Ryoken said mildly. "I'll have you know that Miharu is a prodigy." He wasn't even exaggerating—most people in SOL also called him a prodigy, after all, so his words carried some weight. "Someday, she might even be your boss."

"Hah! I'd like to see that." A purple-haired man walked out at that moment, dressed in a cleanly tailored suit.

"Aso," Gino greeted.

Aso turned to Miharu, who was peering at him with a small amount of curiosity in her eyes. "If you someday become strong enough to be our boss," he said with an earnest chuckle, "go easy on us, missy!" There was no condescension in his tone—just genuine earnestness.

Miharu nodded after a moment. Ryoken squeezed her hand reassuringly.

At the very least, she seemed like she would be alright around these few people for now.

---

"Psst—Miharu! I'm back!"

Miharu rolled over from the pile of sleeping bags on the ground as Yuno came in through the door, a bag filled with packets of instant noodles in his hands. He was smiling as brightly as ever, and he immediately moved to the power socket at the side of the room. He turned it on, and he began to boil water with a kettle, preparing for their dinner.

Currently, the two of them were in a SOL warehouse. Back when the announcement had first been made, Miharu had been planning to run away, and she had used her access to SOL's data to find out which warehouses would be unused for the next few weeks. Then, Yuno had texted her, and the two of them had vanished from their houses within the day, fleeing with practical possessions like… well, a kettle to boil seawater, considering that they would need to have a water supply while they were in this warehouse by the sea. And obviously, Miharu had also brought her laptop, because they lived in a digital age for a reason.

They would probably just move between warehouses for now, to avoid being spotted.

"Thanks."

"No problem!" Yuno settled down on the ground next to her, smiling and glancing over at her laptop. "Found anything yet?"

"... security clearance to go to Akira Zaizen's office was given to Kengo today, for some reason."

"Kengo?" Yuno echoed, sounding confused. Right, he didn't know about the working relationship between the Grandmaster Council and SOL—that wasn't common civilian knowledge.

"Kengo Dojun." Miharu cleared her throat. "Rook."

Yuno blinked rapidly. "Wait, that Rook?"

"I only know one Rook. And anyway, chess pieces are bad names." Yuno laughed. He didn't question anything that she had said, simply waiting for her to explain more. He was good at that—knowing when she wanted to talk but also knowing when she wanted to be quiet. Miharu glanced back at the screen. "It's not one of the regular meetings that SOL has with him. I suppose that after making the announcement, they wanted to enlist SOL's help to drag us in."

She opened up the screen showing all of Akira's emails, glancing through them.

"Wait, how did you do that?"

"I have a backdoor into SOL's systems," Miharu said. She glanced at Yuno, eyes slightly lidded. "... I do help with testing, after all."

"... you're scary," Yuno said honestly. Miharu shrugged, but she couldn't help but smile a little. It was a barely noticeable upward tilt of her lips, but Yuno beamed.

Akira's emails didn't contain anything interesting, so she moved over to Ryoken's.

"Why did you not check your brother's emails first?"

"Ryoken's emails are usually encrypted and protected so much that it takes me hours to break in," Miharu said absentmindedly. "And it's not worth it when I can just ask and look over his shoulder… oh." To her surprise, the moment that she used her email backdoor, she made it into Ryoken's email inbox.

"Now I'm no tech expert," Yuno said, "but that seemed a little too easy?"

… Ryoken must have disabled his email protections. Therefore, it was likely that her brother had expected that she would be checking through, and decided to help her. There was a single email that was marked with a star, and Miharu clicked on it.

The sender was Kengo Dojun. The subject was 'Copies of the Photos'. There was a reminder attached to the email by Ryoken that he would delete it in a day—clearly, that reminder was a message to them, rather than to himself.

The photos were of—

"Huh. That boy looks like you," Miharu said, sounding remarkably calm, even though she was completely surprised. She scrolled down to see the other photograph—of a girl that looked exactly like her.

"... is that a deepfake?" Yuno asked, and Miharu tilted her head at him, rather impressed that he even knew what a deepfake was.

"No," she said. "It's odd…"

The kettle went silent, indicating that the water was done. Yuno moved over to begin cooking the instant noodles.

"I notice that neither of us are too bothered by this?" Yuno said after a moment. Miharu shrugged. She saved the photos to her computer, before she moved onto the other emails. "I mean, with all of the VR and AR bullshit, seeing someone with a completely different face or a similar face is already pretty normal."

"Even so," Miharu said, reading through the email that asked the Knights of Hanoi to hunt them down, "... it must mean that they specifically wanted to find people who looked like those two. There must be some kind of significance to that, but I don't know what…"

"Well, don't worry about it too much. We'll work things out." Yuno held out a cup of instant noodles to her.

Miharu took it. Yuno picked up his own, and he settled down on the sleeping bags next to her again, sitting up and leaning back on the same wall as her.

"Itadakimasu," he said—the usual phrase for when people were beginning a meal together..

"Itadakimasu," Miharu responded quietly. She thought about her own house, about Ryoken and her father, about meals at a table that was never quiet. She put her laptop down as well. She leaned on his shoulder, beginning to eat.

When she had first seen the announcement, she had planned to run away alone. After all, the identity of Dazzling Spring was one that could easily be found out, considering that she was in the employment records of SOL. However, Boundless Sea had never given any clues about his identity. Thus, she had thought that Yuno could have gone on with his life normally.

"You're overthinking," Yuno said.

"... I just think that it was a good thing that you came with me after all, if they already knew your true identity." She didn't say what she had actually been thinking about—that she hadn't wanted to be a burden on Yuno's life. She hadn't wanted him to be dragged away from all his friends, his cheerful and sweet family, and the job that he loved so much.

"I mean," Yuno said, "I'd have come with you anyway."

Miharu glanced away, her cheeks going slightly red. "I wouldn't have let you."

"And I'd have insisted on it anyway." Yuno turned to her, smiling warmly. "Even if you're strong, I still want to be there to protect you. I mean, if I was alone and on the run, wouldn't you do the same?"

"... you'd be lost without me," Miharu said. "You didn't even think of bringing money or a kettle."

Yuno laughed sheepishly. "True. But it's us against the world, Miharu. I'd never let you be alone."

Miharu continued leaning against his shoulder. She didn't say anything, because there was no need for her to say anything.

They were in this together.

---

A few days later:

The two of them had been packing up and getting ready to move to another warehouse. Just as they were done putting their stuff in bags, two people had shown up at the door to the warehouse. Miharu recognised both of them immediately.

"Kyoko-san," she said, instinctively backing away. "Aso-san."

Kyoko Taki was a woman with short dark red hair, who was wearing a grey coat. Aso Watanori was a tall man with dark blue hair, along with some lighter blue and lilac hair near the front of his face. He also had a short beard.

Yuno stepped to her side. "Are they from SOL?"

"They're part of my brother's group," Miharu said. "Two of the strongest members of the Knights of Hanoi."

"That's great!" Yuno said enthusiastically. "Then we can go and talk to your brother."

"No." Miharu pulled him back as he was about to walk forward. "... Kyoko-san. Aso-san. You're not here to help us, are you?"

Kyoko pinched her nose. "... sorry, ojou-sama."

Aso looked rather guilty as well. "I don't understand why your brother agreed to the terms," he said. "But… the Knights of Hanoi have been asked to take you two in. They said that you were just needed as a witness for something—you shouldn't be in danger, Miharu-chan. If you simply—"

"I'm sorry. I refuse." Miharu stepped back. "Whatever purpose that they want us for, I don't believe that it is as simple as they claim."

Yuno leaned over, whispering in her ear. "We're going to have to escape first. Otherwise, even if we win, we can't get out past them."

"The warehouses are quite far out from any residential areas," Miharu responded quietly. She tapped his duel disk, and they exchanged a nod.

"I'm glad that you have such a close friend, Miharu-chan," Kyoko said, making the situation a little more light-hearted.

"Yuno is very important to me," Miharu said bluntly. "Even if I would turn myself in, I would never turn him in. So all we can do is resist."

Then, both she and Yuno activated the VRAINS AR in their duel disks, summoning up their Duel Boards and taking on the appearance of their VRAINS avatars. Yuno was in his Boundless Sea avatar, with the same messy dark blue hair and generic avatar face, as well as the same gold eyes as his real life self. (The only part of Yuno that looked the same in his avatar were those gold eyes.) He was wearing a black, blue and grey bodysuit, and there were some gold stripes across the bodysuit.

Meanwhile, Miharu's avatar, Dazzling Spring, took on a less conventional appearance—she had been quite paranoid about random cyber criminals in the virtual world identifying her, after all. Her avatar had long crimson hair. (It was the same colour as Ryoken's avatar's hair. She had thought that it was a nice touch, back when she had first created it.) There were some brighter red highlights in the hair. It was long and completely straight, not tied up in Miharu's usual hairstyle. Her eyes were light blue. Her avatar was wearing a veil over her face, with a crown of cherry blossom petals and vines on her head. She was wearing a white kimono, with pink flower patterns and green leaf and vine patterns around it. She had grey-pink ribbons tied around her wrists and ankles, and pale slippers.

They both zoomed out of the warehouse through the opening in the wall above them, ready to escape, heading back down to the ground and zooming between the warehouses.

Seconds later, in their own avatars of Baira and Faust, Kyoko and Aso pursued them.

"Kyoko's a bad opponent for you," Miharu murmured. "Take on Aso."

"Roger." Yuno held up a hand. "See you afterwards."

Miharu high-fived him, and then she flew back towards Kyoko, while Yuno faced Aso.

"Kyoko-san," she said."Like I said. I refuse to give up here."

"... alright then, Miharu-chan," Kyoko said. "I won't talk you out of this—you've always been a determined girl." She activated her duel disk. "Show me your conviction to fight for yourself!" The two of them raced through the air on Duel Boards, though Miharu kept an eye on where they were going—she didn't want to accidentally be led into a trap, after all.

[DUEL!]

Dazzling Spring: 4000LP

Baira: 4000LP

[Turn 1: Baira] [H:5]

"I'll start," Kyoko declared. "I will Normal Summon Dark Mummy Probe." A blue-skinned zombie with some bandages wrapped around its limbs appeared. The zombie was wearing a leathery hat. As it floated in the air in front of Kyoko, some of the bandages slowly unwrapped, floating in the air.

[Dark Mummy Probe (1*/700/0/DARK/Zombie/Effect)]

"I will then activate the Spell Card, Monster Restitch!" Kyoko gestured to Dark Mummy Probe, who let out a groan and then dissolved into grey dust. "By tributing a "Dark Mummy" monster, I can Special Summon three Dark Mummy Tokens to my field!" Three spirits of purple flame appeared, each of them seeming to writhe in place, even though they weren't solid creatures.

[Dark Mummy Token (x3) (1*/0/0/DARK/Zombie)]

Miharu bit her lip, slightly annoyed.

"I see that you already know what to expect, Miharu." Above Kyoko, the familiar black circuit appeared. "Appear, our future circuit! Arrowhead confirmed! The conditions are three "Dark Mummy" monsters! I'll set my three Dark Mummy Tokens into the Link Markers!" The three purple flames flew up, darkening the Link Arrows in the circuit above her. "Circuit Combine! Link Summon! Link 3! Dark subduer—Dark Mummy Surgical Forceps!"

A woman with green skin appeared—the green was dull, unsaturated, seeming almost sickly. The woman had long, tangled black hair. Her eyes were bright red. Half of her body was covered with bandages—the left half of her torso, along with both of her legs. She was wearing a tattered red skirt, with the fabric looking roughly cut around the edges. Her arms were instead replaced with gigantic, dark grey scissor-like blades.

[Dark Mummy Surgical Forceps (L3/2400/DARK/Zombie/Link/Effect/↙, ↑, →)

"I will then activate the Spell Card, Zombie Reborn," Kyoko said, revealing the card in her hand. "I can target a Zombie monster in either graveyard, banish a monster with the same name as that monster from my deck or Extra Deck, and revive it." She took out another copy of Dark Mummy Probe from her deck, revealing it. "I will remove this Dark Mummy Probe from my deck, and revive Dark Mummy Probe from my graveyard!" The blue-skinned zombie reappeared in Kyoko's leftmost Main Monster Zone, which Surgical Forceps was pointing to. "And for every monster she points to, she gains 600 attack points!"

[Dark Mummy Surgical Forceps: 2400 + 600 = 3000ATK]

"I will now set two cards facedown." Kyoko placed the only two cards remaining in her hand facedown with a flourish. "Over to you, Miharu."

Miharu looked at her field, and then she sighed and drew a card.

[Turn 2: Dazzling Spring] [H:6]

"Draw," she said. She placed a card down immediately. "Spell Card, Unexpected Dai. If I control no monsters, I can Special Summon a Level 4 or lower Normal Monster from my deck. Come—Sunseed Genius Loci." The chalice-like monster appeared, golden roots clinging to the seed above them.

[Sunseed Genius Loci (1*/0/600/EARTH/Plant)]

"I will now activate my set card!" Kyoko flipped over the set card on the left. "The Trap Card, Current Corruption Virus. I must tribute a monster with 0 attack points to activate this card." In front of her, Dark Mummy Probe dissolved into dust. "And now, monsters my opponent controls with 2000 or less defence points have their attack points changed to 0, their effects are negated, and you cannot activate the effect of monsters in your hand! This lasts until the end of your third turn after this card is activated!"

Sunseed Genius Loci seemed to tremble—even though it had no effects to negate and its attack points were already zero. It didn't exactly have a face, but Miharu could tell that it had still been affected by the virus. Current Corruption Virus was an absurd card—especially its last effect, which usually shut off most swarming strategies. However, Miharu had dueled alongside her, Faust and the third 'lieutenant' of the Knights of Hanoi enough times to know the effects of her Traps.

Of course, the same applied for them. They likely knew her deck quite well too.

Even so…

Kyoko hadn't activated her other Virus card yet. So Miharu could make use of this gap in her lockdown.

"Manifest, future circuit that sows the seeds for my path. Arrowhead confirmed. The conditions are one Level 4 or lower Plant monster. I will 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 tree with two green fruits appeared behind her. Kyoko nodded in acknowledgement.

[Sunavalon Dryas (L1/0/EARTH/Plant/Link/Effect/↓)]

"Since Link Monsters have no defense points, Dryas is unaffected by your virus," Miharu pointed out. "So her effect triggers with no issue. I'll add a "Sunvine" Spell or Trap from my deck to my hand." She took a card from her deck. "And I will activate it. Sunvine Shrine." She placed the Continuous Spell down, leaves floating around her. "I must send a card from my hand to my graveyard to activate it. Once per turn, during my Main Phase, I can revive a Level 4 or lower Plant Normal Monster."

In front of her, Sunseed Genius Loci reappeared.

"I will then activate the Spell Card, Sunvine Sowing. I can Special Summon a "Sunseed" monster from my deck. Come—Sunseed Shadow." The darker version of Sunseed Genius Loci appeared, with a sapling instead of a seed in its middle, glowing with an eerie light.

[Sunseed Shadow (1*/0/400/EARTH/Plant/Effect)]

"Then, I take 1000 damage!" An electric shock ran along her body. However, considering how often she used this Spell, Miharu was unbothered by it.

Dazzling Spring: 4000 - 1000 = 3000LP

"Since I took battle or effect damage, once per turn, Dryas lets me regain life points equal to the damage I took!" There was a soft glow around Miharu, as her life points shot back up.

Dazzling Spring: 3000 + 1000 = 4000LP

"Then, I can Special Summon a "Sunvine" monster from my Extra Deck." Miharu closed her eyes. "Come—Sunvine Healer!" A green-skinned woman appeared, resembling a fairy. She had brown hair, with a cowlick at the front of her hair. She was holding her arms out in what most gamers might call a 't-pose', and she was wearing a pink dress that transformed to a layered pink flower at the bottom. She looked like she was wearing a flower. Her legs were pressed tightly together, looking like a flower stem, with green vine-like structures around her legs, connecting to pink slippers.

[Sunvine Healer (L1/600/EARTH/Plant/Link/Effect/↑)]

"If Sunvine Healer is Special Summoned, I can target a "Sunavalon" monster I control and gain 300 life points times its Link Rating." A pink glow surrounded Miharu once again. "That's just 300 life points."

Dazzling Spring: 4000 + 300 = 4300LP

"I will activate the effect of Dark Mummy Surgical Forceps!" Kyoko declared. "Once per turn, I can destroy a monster that was Normal Summoned, Special Summoned or Set to a zone that a Link Monster points to!" Surgical Forceps glided forward, slashing straight through the pink girl.

Miharu didn't even bat an eye. "Now, I will manifest my future circuit again."

Kyoko chuckled. "Bringing out your ace now?"

Miharu nodded. "Arrowhead confirmed. The conditions are two or more Plant monsters. I will set Sunavalon Dryas, Sunseed Genius Loci and Sunseed Shadow in the Link Markers. Let the shadow beneath the tranquil tree begin to take its own form. Circuit Combine. Link 3. Sunavalon Dryanome!"

The large tree appeared behind her. Miharu found the appearance of it in the air rather amusing—since there was no ground for the tree to be rooted in, its roots were just exposed and dangling in the air.

[Sunavalon Dryanome (L3/0/EARTH/Plant/Link/Effect/↙, ↓, ↘)]

"Kyoko-san," Miharu said. "I understand my brother more than anyone else. And no matter whether we fight or not, I consider you and Aso-san and Gino-san my family." She narrowed her eyes. "But there's a reason why I'm your superior despite my age, and right here, right now, I will prove it to you through this duel. I'll set a card and end my turn."

---

"Yo!" Yuno arrived in front of the man that Miharu had called 'Aso'. "Nice to meet one of Miharu's colleagues! But sorry, I'm your opponent now."

To his surprise, despite the tense situation earlier, Aso managed a smile. "So you're our ojou-sama's Yuno Sugisaki," he said, even as he chased after Yuno. "We've heard a lot about you."

"Miharu talks about me?" Yuno said, slightly surprised.

"Of course she does." Aso sounded rather warm. "Well, she's family, so personally, I do hope that you prove yourself strong enough to defeat us. But if you aren't, better that you're in our custody and under our protection than all out on your own."

"Well," Yuno said, feeling slightly awkward but smiling anyway, "if you're family, then I suppose I have to prove myself as strong enough to be her best friend!"

"Well, the fact that you're Boundless Sea has made that somewhat apparent already." Aso glided over, moving at the same speed as Yuno. "But don't you think that you're far past asking for permission to be her best friend at this point?"

Yuno was confused for a moment—but then, he understood. He blushed for a moment, unsure of how to reply. Instead, he simply started the duel.

[DUEL!]

Boundless Sea: 4000LP

Faust: 4000LP

[Turn 1: Faust] [H:5]

"I am of course still interested in your strength," Aso said, drawing the five cards for his starting hand. "After all, our second-in-command speaks highly of you."

"Your second-in-command?" Yuno frowned—before his eyes widened. "Wait, you mean Miharu?"

"Yes?" Aso frowned. "Did you not know that? Codename Dazzling Spring, Miharu Kogami is the second-in-command of the Knights of Hanoi. She took that position at fifteen."

"... she really is out of my league," Yuno said with a chuckle. Every time he thought that he couldn't get more impressed with her, he was proven wrong. Second-in-command of a group of adults at sixteen?

"Kids these days," Aso said, shaking his head. "Get that goofy look off your face." He placed down a card. "I will activate the Continuous Spell, Wormhole Defense." A hologram of the card appeared, with the card image displaying a large swarm of insects all gathering together. "With its effect, when activated, I can Special Summon a Motor Worm Token to my field."

A mechanical yellow worm appeared. Its face was made of glowing blue metal, with iridescent lights dancing across the surface.

[Motor Worm Token (1*/0/0/LIGHT/Insect)]

"Oh, a… mechanical worm?"

"There's going to be a few more on the field in a moment," Aso said with a smirk. "I'll activate the Spell Card, Motor Worm Bait. Since I control an Insect monster, at the expense of not summoning Level 3 or 4 monsters this turn, I can Special Summon two Motor Worm Tokens to the field!" Two more of the yellow-green worms appeared on his field. "And now, appear, our future circuit! Arrowhead confirmed! The conditions are two or more Insect monsters! I will set my three Motor Worm Tokens in the Link Markers! Circuit Combine! Link Summon! Link 3! The powerful queen of insects! Motor Worm Spreader Queen!"

A large, dark pink insect monster appeared, with a gigantic abdomen. There was a bright pink glowing light in the middle of its translucent stomach. Its legs were extremely long, and pale red wings flapped through the air around its upper body.

[Motor Worm Spreader Queen (L3/1000/LIGHT/Insect/Link/Effect/←, ↙, ↓)]

"Once per turn, when Motor Worm Spreader Queen does not point to a monster, I can Special Summon a Motor Worm Token." At the Link Monster's bottom Link Marker, a Motor Worm Token appeared. "And while I control Motor Worm Spreader Queen, you cannot attack Motor Worm Tokens! I'll set two cards facedown. Motor Worm Spreader Queen gains 700 attack points for each Insect monster on the field." Motor Worm Spreader Queen glowed.

[Motor Worm Spreader Queen: 1000 + 700 x 2 = 2400ATK]

"I will end my turn," Aso said. "Over to you, kid."

[Turn 2: Boundless Sea] [H:6]

"Draw!" Yuno declared. He glanced at the cards in his hand. "I will Normal Summon Marincess Blue Tang!" A blue-haired girl appeared, her blue, black and gold dress seeming to ripple in the air as she appeared in front of him.

[Marincess Blue Tang (4*/1500/1200/WATER/Cyberse/Effect)]

"And when she's summoned, I can send a "Marincess" monster from my deck to the graveyard!" A card slipped out of his deck, and Yuno slid it into the slot for the graveyard. "And—"

"You're too famous, Boundless Sea," Aso said with a chuckle. "Who doesn't know what your next move is?" He flipped over his first set card. "Continuous Trap, Egg Clutch! I can tribute an Insect monster I control to Special Summon two "Motor Worm Tokens" to your field!"

Two more yellow worms appeared on Yuno's field, to his surprise.

"While I control Wormhole Defense, you cannot use Insect monsters you control for Link Summons, or tribute them," Aso continued. "And now, since Motor Worm Spreader Queen does not point to a monster, I can Special Summon another Motor Worm Token to a zone she points to." The same yellow worm appeared behind Motor Worm Spreader Queen. "And since an Insect monster was Special Summoned to my field, I can use the effect of Egg Clutch. I can change your Blue Tang to Defense Position, and she becomes an Insect monster. Her effects are also negated, if she has any other effects on the field. She cannot change her battle position either."

"And since you've treated her as an Insect monster," Yuno said, somewhat surprised, "I can't use her as Link Material either." So he couldn't use his usual strategy of Link climbing.

"Yes," Aso said. "And my Spreader Queen gains more attack points."

[Motor Worm Spreader Queen: 2400 + 700 x 3 = 4500ATK]

"Now what will you do?"

Yuno shrugged, still smiling. "Well," he said, shrugging, "I'm off duty right now, aren't I? I guess I can let loose a little more now." He revealed a card in his hand. "Field Spell, Marincess Battle Ocean!" Around them, waves stirred up, swirling around their Duel Boards.

"Huh? You have a Field Spell?" Aso called in surprise.

"Mm." Yuno sighed. "I love dueling. But I also know that the joy of watching a duel is to see the duel go back and forth, like waves on the shore." He chuckled. "Not that I'm not genuine in the way that I duel! I always want to see what my opponents can do. It's always so cool to see what people can do—I'm never, ever bored of people. Everyone is so interesting in their own way!" He pressed a hand to his chest. "I just put in as much strength as my opponent does. That way, the duel is fun for everyone involved. But if I'm not performing, I can just have fun dueling against a strong opponent. So prepare yourself, Aso-san!"

He raced forward, still smiling widely.

"I will activate the Spell Card, Marincess Dive!" Yuno called, revealing the card in his hand. "Usually, I can revive a "Marincess" monster from my graveyard. However, since I control "Marincess Battle Ocean", I can Special Summon a "Marincess" monster from my deck instead! However, for the rest of the turn, I cannot Special Summon monsters, except WATER monsters! Come—Marincess Mandarin!"

A short girl with coral pink hair appeared, wearing an orange dress with blue water-like patterns on it. She had another blue skirt beneath the dress, and she was wearing golden stockings and gloves.

[Marincess Mandarin (1*/100/100/WATER/Cyberse/Effect)]

"Interesting," Aso said. "So you're perfectly capable of adapting, even when shut off from your first route."

"Adapt and overcome," Yuno said with a wink. "Isn't that what makes human beings special? Because we can make those choices? Open, circuit of the limitless ocean! Arrowhead confirmed! The conditions are a Level 4 or lower "Marincess" monster! I will set Marincess Mandarin in the Link Markers! Shine, beautiful water creature that dwells in the depths! Circuit Combine! Link Summon! Link 1! Marincess Blue Slug!"

The blue-haired girl appeared, orange feelers on her head wiggling through the air. She spun around, cheerily winking at Yuno, who nodded back to her.

[Marincess Blue Slug (L1/1500/WATER/Cyberse/Link/Effect/↓)]

"Blue Slug's effect!" Yuno called. "I'll add a "Marincess" monster from my graveyard to my hand!" The card that he had sent to the graveyard with Blue Slug's effect was the card that he added to his hand. "And since I control two "Marincess" monsters, Mandarin can activate her effect. I can revive her to a zone that a Link Monster points to, but she is banished when she leaves the field!"

Mandarin reappeared in the zone that Blue Slug pointed to.

"So," Yuno continued, "let's keep going! You may have clogged up my field, but I am not done!" He wouldn't currently be able to bring out Magnetic Current, but that was fine. He had a full Extra Deck to work with, after all. "Open again, circuit! Arrowhead confirmed! The conditions are two WATER monsters! I will set Marincess Blue Slug and Marincess Mandarin in the Link Markers! Appear now, colourful idol of the reef! Circuit Combine! Link Summon! Link 2! Marincess Coral Anemone!" The young woman with citrus orange hair appeared in front of him, giving a bow.

[Marincess Coral Anemone (L2/2000/WATER/Cyberse/Link/Effect/←, ↓)]

"I will use Coral Anemone's effect. I am locked to only WATER monsters this turn—though that was already the case. Then, I can revive a WATER monster with 1500 or less attack points! I will revive Marincess Blue Slug!" The blue-haired girl reappeared with a laugh. "And I'll open the circuit for the third and final time this turn! Arrowhead confirmed! The conditions are two or more WATER monsters. I will set Marincess Coral Anemone and Marincess Blue Slug in the Link Markers! Circuit Combine! Link Summon! Link 3! Lovely sea idol arriving for the finale of the performance! Marincess Marbled Rock!"

A woman with dark blue hair appeared, her hair looking rather spiky, like a sea urchin. She had a rather calm and mature look on her face. She was wearing a red and black dress, with a skirt that looked like purple and yellow fins. The collar of her dress was spiky white and red, rather urchin-like.

[Marincess Marbled Rock (L3/2500/WATER/Cyberse/Link/←, ↓, →)]

"When Coral Anemone is sent to the graveyard, I can add a "Marincess" card from my graveyard to my hand. I will add Marincess Dive back to my hand!" Yuno grinned. "I will activate the effect of Marincess Battle Ocean! When a "Marincess" Link Monster is Link Summoned to the Extra Monster Zone, I can equip up to three "Marincess" Link Monsters from my graveyard to Marbled Rock!" He took out Coral Anemone and Blue Slug, placing them in the Spell and Trap Zone. Around Marbled Rock, two blue crystals appeared, and Marbled Rock took them from the air, a blue glow surrounding her.

"Equipping Link Monsters to each other?" Aso said, sounding rather surprised. "You've never done this before…"

"It's something that Battle Ocean takes advantage of," Yuno said cheerfully. "Because while I control Marincess Battle Ocean, all "Marincess" monsters I control gain 200 attack points, and they gain 600 more attack points for every "Marincess" card equipped to them!"

[Marincess Marbled Rock: 2500 + 200 + 600 x 2 = 3900ATK]

"... but it's a pity," Aso said after a moment. "You didn't manage to get a third Link Monster to equip to her."

Yuno nodded. "You really are powerful!" He said enthusiastically. "But this deck of mine comes alive the moment that I control a Link 3 or higher "Marincess" Link Monster! I'll show that to you right now!"

"It 'comes alive'?" Aso said, frowning. "What do you mean by that?"

"Well," Yuno said with a chuckle, "I love Magnetic Current. And I'd never give it up for anything. But it doesn't mean that I can't duel without him." He flipped over a card in his hand. "Trap Card, Marincess Wave! Since I control a Link 3 or higher "Marincess" Link Monster, I can activate this card from my hand! I can target a monster you control and negate its effects!"

"Huh?" Aso stared in surprise. "So, you…"

"I will target Motor Worm Spreader Queen!" Yuno called. Aso's ace was surrounded by waves, which caused it to flop to the ground. "And thus, your monster loses all the attack points that it has gained!"

[Motor Worm Spreader Queen: 4500 - 1000ATK]

"So you've weakened Spreader Queen enough to attack," Aso said.

"Yes!" Yuno pointed forward, and Marbled Rock flew forward. Water swirled around her, and she practically drowned Spreader Queen beneath the water. Aso was hit by some of the waves as well.

Faust: 4000 - 2900 = 1100LP

The water cleared, but Spreader Queen was still there.

"Wormhole Defense's effect." Aso said calmly. "I can tribute a Motor Worm Token I control to negate the destruction of an Insect monster I control." The yellow worm behind Spreader Queen faded away a moment later.

"Aww, man." Yuno sighed. "That's fair though. I'll end my turn."

---

Back with Kyoko and Miharu, Kyoko was drawing a card to take her next turn. Right now, on Miharu's field, Sunavalon Dryanome was sitting in the Extra Monster Zone, while Miharu also had a set card and Sunvine Shrine on her field. Meanwhile, Kyoko still had a set card on her field, along with Dark Mummy Surgical Forceps in the Extra Monster Zone.

[Turn 3: Baira] [H:1]

"Draw," Kyoko said, before chuckling. "I've gotten it, Miharu-chan. I'll Normal Summon Dark Mummy Infuser." A purple-skinned monster appeared, their entire face wrapped with indigo bandages that also looked like hair, streaming around their head.

[Dark Mummy Infuser (1*/0/500/DARK/Zombie/Effect)]

"When Infuser is summoned to a Zombie Link Monster's Link Marker," Kyoko said, "I can target a Zombie Link Monster, and then it is rendered immune to Trap effects while Infuser is face-up on the field." Infuser flew to Surgical Forceps, injecting her with a strange liquid. "I'll activate the effect of Zombie Reborn. I will return a banished Zombie monster, like Dark Mummy Probe, to the deck, and set Zombie Reborn to my field. However, I cannot activate it this turn, and it is banished when it next leaves the field." She smirked. "I'll end my turn."

… right. Kyoko understood Miharu's deck. Miharu had grown up training with them too, after all. Attacking Miharu would only have given her a free monster. So she was likely waiting for the next turn.

Meaning that Miharu had to take out Infuser before the next turn. Otherwise, Kyoko's most powerful card would be played.

[Turn 4: Dazzling Spring] [H:3]

"Draw." Miharu glanced at the card. "I will use the effect of Sunvine Shrine. I will revive Sunseed Genius Loci to Dryanome's bottom Link Marker." Kyoko didn't activate Surgical Forceps's effect, which was unfortunate. Miharu had been hoping to bait out that effect first. Still though…

She couldn't use the effect of any of the monsters she had in her hand. However, she could still try to bait Surgical Forceps's effect out again.

"I will manifest my future circuit," Miharu said. "Arrowhead confirmed. The conditions are one Plant Normal Monster. I will set Sunseed Genius Loci in the Link Markers. Circuit Combine. Link Summon. Link 1—Sunvine Healer!" She Link Summoned another version of Sunvine Healer to Dryanome's bottom Link Marker, the pink flower-like woman appearing on the field.

[Sunvine Healer (L1/600/EARTH/Plant/Link/Effect/↑)]

Kyoko smiled at her knowingly. Clearly, she hadn't taken the bait this time either.

"I will use Sunvine Healer's effect!" Miharu declared. "I will target Dryanome and gain 300 life points for each of her Link Markers!" A pink glow surrounded her seconds later.

Dazzling Spring: 4300 + 300 x 3 = 5200LP

Well, if Kyoko wouldn't use her monster's effect, Miharu had no choice but to end her turn. From her own memories, Miharu knew that Infuser, while linked, couldn't be targeted for an attack.

"... I end my turn," Miharu said.

[Turn 5: Baira] [H:1]

Kyoko chuckled, drawing a card. "You do know my deck very well, Miharu. However, it won't stop me. I will now Normal Summon Devouring Sarcoughagus!" A large, gold and blue sarcophagus appeared on her field, purple and red miasma oozing out around it.

[Devouring Sarcoughagus (4*/0/0/DARK/Zombie/Effect)]

"And of course, ojou-sama, you probably already knew what my other set card was." Kyoko flipped it over. "Root Ransom Virus! By tributing a DARK monster with 0 attack points—Devouring Sarcoughagus—I can change the attack points of all Link Monsters on the field to 0, and their effects are also negated!" A bunch of viruses flew across the field, hitting both Dryanome and Healer. Surgical Forceps, who was spared due to Infuser's effect, laughed triumphantly.

[Sunvine Healer: 600 - 0ATK]

"Your Dryanome usually cannot be attacked, and protects monsters that she points to from attacks once per turn," Kyoko listed. "But she cannot do so now, with her effects negated." She smiled slightly more widely. "Surgical Forceps points to a monster. Therefore, she'll gain 600 attack points."

[Dark Mummy Surgical Forceps: 2400 + 600 = 3000ATK]

"Attack her Dryanome!"

The blades on Surgical Forceps's arms grinded against each other, and then Kyoko's ace leapt towards Miharu's ace.

Root Ransom Virus was a permanent effect. Also, for two more of Miharu's End Phases, any Link Monsters she brought out would meet the same fate. Current Corruption Virus, however, would end on the next turn.

So Miharu would be locked out of Link Monsters for two more turns.

Surgical Forceps crashed down, and Miharu shielded herself, her ace being destroyed. Her life points fell rapidly.

Dazzling Spring: 5200 - 3000 = 2200LP

"Your monsters are very vulnerable to effect negation," Kyoko pointed out. "A person who is facing you for the first time might not have known that, Miharu, but I certainly do. How long have we known each other for?"

"... I know," Miharu said. "You know me very well, Kyoko-san."

Kyoko smiled, still just as kind as the day that Miharu had met her. "You're a kind girl, Miharu-chan, no matter what you try to portray about yourself," she said. "You would rather take all the damage yourself, instead of letting a single one of your monsters be hurt." She reached out, ending her turn. "You're in my lockdown now. What will you do?"

---

[Turn 3: Faust] [H:2]

"Draw," Aso said. He gestured to the field. "I will activate the effect of Motor Worm Spreader Queen. Your negation of her effect only lasted until the end of last turn, right?"

"Correct!" Yuno replied, beaming.

"You're a little too happy," Aso said a moment later. "It's almost creepy." Yuno just smiled again. "I'll Special Summon another "Motor Worm Token" to a zone she points to." Another one of the yellow worms appeared behind Motor Worm Spreader Queen. "And I will use Egg Clutch's effect once again—I will tribute that Motor Worm Token to Special Summon two to your field!" The worm dissolved into light, and two more worms appeared on Yuno's field. Now, his Main Monster Zones had all been taken up—by four Tokens, and his crippled Blue Tang. "And let's not forget that my monster gains more attack points!"

[Motor Worm Spreader Queen: 1000 + 700 x 6 = 5200ATK]

Yuno's eyes widened as he saw the ridiculous attack points.

"Of course, your monsters are all in Defense Position, so I would gain no advantage from attacking them," Aso continued. "I would rather have them continue to take up your Main Monster Zones anyway. And I can win without that. I will activate another copy of Motor Worm Bait." He revealed the Spell Card. "I will Special Summon two more Motor Worm Tokens to the field." The two yellow worms appeared in front of him. Motor Worm Spreader Queen's attack points skyrocketed.

[Motor Worm Spreader Queen: 5200 + 700 x 2 = 6600ATK]

"And now the attack points of Spreader Queen are high enough," Aso said. "Attack Marbled Rock!"

Spreader Queen moved forward, her legs striking out towards Marbled Rock. There was an explosion as the two collided, and Aso sighed.

"In the end," he said after a moment, "for all that you're the boy that saved her, you're still not strong enough."

Silence. Aso blinked, as the system didn't announce his victory.

"Hey," Yuno responded as the smoke cleared, floating forward, coming out of it completely unscathed. "What do you mean?"

Aso frowned, looking shocked. "You—you didn't lose?"

"I asked what you meant," Yuno said, his face far more serious than before. "Because I was never the one who saved Miharu. She was the one that saved me!"

"She… saved you?"

Yuno took a deep breath, calming himself. The very idea that he had saved Miharu was ludicrous. He didn't even know what she had gone through, but back then, he couldn't have been strong enough to make a difference. The one that had been saved back when they had first met was him.

Back then, he had been a cheery boy to everyone around him, especially his adoptive family, but he had always felt sick to his stomach around other people. He had felt fake—as though his smiles and his enthusiasm were all a front. He hadn't even known if that was true, but that was a thought that he could never escape. The fear that he was just a boy that wanted to be popular, and that everything about himself was just a front that he was putting up. He had worried that no one actually cared about anything that he had to say, any feelings that he had at all. He had suppressed some of the things he wanted to say, to be more 'normal'.

And then, he had met Miharu Kogami, who didn't adhere to any social conventions at all.

Miharu had sat there and listened to him talk. She hadn't really talked at all, but throughout that entire afternoon, she had never dismissed a single thing that he had said. Instead, she had nodded at the appropriate parts, and she had clearly listened to everything that he had been saying.

And then, the next day, just as Yuno had been worrying that she had only been pretending to tolerate him, she had turned up again. She had clearly come with her brother, but she had waved to him rather stoically when she had seen him, and she had greeted him by name. Her brother had sat there, and Ryoken Kogami had been just as good of a listener as his sister, with the addition of questions and acknowledgements at the appropriate times.

Miharu had walked off to the nearby ice cream stand, and Ryoken had turned to Yuno at that moment.

"She's not sure how to talk to most people," he had said. "She seems to like you though. She wanted to come back today to meet you again."

And at that moment, Yuno Sugisaki had been saved. Because he had spent a whole year wondering if people would like him just for being him—a problem with being a foster child that had been passed around four 'families' before finally finding a home. He had been worried that being genuine would make others dislike him. He couldn't even believe in the love that his newest foster family had shown him, because every foster family before that had pretended to love him and then given him up.

And yet, this girl who was clearly uncomfortable around others had seen him in his most genuine state—just bumbling through conversation, talking about things that interested him, slightly too rambly, smiling constantly about anything and everything—and she had decided that he was fun to be around.

In that moment, he was capable of embracing himself as a person who didn't have to hide anything.

In school, he allowed himself to just be himself, and no one had rejected him for it. But she was the one that had given him the confidence to try in the first place.

"She taught me that the person that I am is someone who is worth being," Yuno said simply, because trying to explain all of that was too much. "And it's because of that, that she's the most precious person to me! I won't leave her side!" He cleared his throat, deciding to continue with the duel before he talked too much, before he continued demanding answers to a question that he had no right of asking. "... I didn't lose because of Marbled Rock's effect. When your monster declares an attack, I can send a "Marincess" card from my hand to the graveyard, and negate any battle damage for that battle. Also, monsters I control cannot be destroyed in that battle."

"Then I'll end my turn," Aso said. "I didn't expect that protection effect… but soon enough, my Insects will grow too strong for you to stop."

---

"What will I do?" Miharu asked, raising her head, meeting Kyoko's gaze directly. "I said it from the start. I am strong. And I will win!"

She drew a card from her deck immediately. Despite the clear pain that she was in, Sunvine Healer turned to nod at her. On the other side of the field, Infuser and Surgical Forceps stared at her curiously.

[Turn 6: Dazzling Spring] [H:4]

Once this turn was over, she would be able to use the effects of monsters on the field and in her hand, other than Link Monsters.

Thus—she just needed to persevere. Last one more turn, and turn everything around!

She didn't have any cards that could just ignore her opponent's card effects. So she just had to play along for now.

"I will set a monster and a card facedown," Miharu declared. "I'll end my turn!" Current Corruption Virus's effect finally ended.

[Turn 7: Baira] [H:1]

"Draw," Baira said. "I'll Normal Summon Giant Germ." A large, purple blob of miasmic disease appeared on her field.

[Giant Germ (2*/1000/100/DARK/Fiend/Effect)]

"I will have Surgical Forceps attack your Sunvine Healer!" The blades slashed towards the pink flower woman.

If I take this attack, then this is it.

"I won't stop healing myself, Kyoko-san," Miharu said. "Trap Card, Draining Shield. I will negate your attack and gain life points equal to Surgical Forceps's attack points."

Dazzling Spring: 2200 + 3000 = 5200LP

Kyoko smiled. "Attack her Healer, Giant Germ." The large pink ball of germs shot forward, infecting Healer and causing her to succumb to it.

Dazzling Spring: 5200 - 1000 = 4200LP

"I'll end my turn."

[Turn 8: Dazzling Spring] [H:3]

"Draw." Miharu reached out to her Continuous Spell. "I will tribute my set monster for a Tribute Summon. Appear now—Aromage Marjoram!" A woman with long, dark hair appeared, wearing a dark dress and holding onto a scythe-like staff made out of twisted black wood branches. She had a rather pleasant smile on her face.

[Aromage Marjoram (5*/2000/1600/DARK/Plant/Effect)]

"Aromage…" Kyoko frowned. "Those monsters…"

The ones that Miharu had before she had any other cards.

"Since I tributed Aromage Laurel and sent it to the graveyard," Miharu declared, "I gain 500 life points."

Dazzling Spring: 4200 + 500 = 4700LP

"And since I gained life points, Marjoram's effect triggers." Miharu nodded to the dark-haired monster. "I can banish cards from your graveyard, up to the number of "Aroma" monsters I control, and banish them! I will banish Root Ransom Virus!"

Kyoko's eyes widened.

"The last time that I dueled you, Kyoko-san," Miharu said, "I hadn't properly figured out how to integrate these cards into my deck yet. I don't remember a past before the life I live now. However, these cards are proof that a different form of me existed. And I will carry her forward with me! When Root Ransom Virus leaves the graveyard, its effect no longer applies. So now, my Link Monsters will not be affected by your virus."

She gestured to Sunvine Shrine.

"I will use its effect to Special Summon a Level 4 or lower Plant monster from my graveyard. Come back—Sunseed Genius Loci!" She brought back the seed from her graveyard, and it floated next to Marjoram on her field. "I'll manifest the future circuit! Arrowhead confirmed! The conditions are a Plant Normal Monster! I will set Sunseed Genius Loci in the Link Markers! Guardian of the beautiful sunbathed tree! Circuit Combine! Link Summon! Link 1! Sunvine Gardna!" A golem made out of wood appeared. While the arms were made of bark-like wood, the hands, head and legs resembled shiny, polished wood, held up like shields.

[Sunvine Gardna (L1/600/EARTH/Plant/Link/Effect/↑)]

"And now, I will activate the Continuous Spell, Sunvine Cross-Breed," Miharu continued. "I will tribute a Link Monster and revive a Plant monster with its effects negated. I will tribute Gardna. Come back—Sunavalon Dryanome!" The large tree reappeared in her central Main Monster Zone. "And I will activate Sunvine Sowing again. I'll Special Summon another "Sunseed" monster from my deck, and take 1000 damage." She pressed down the card. "Come—Sunseed Genius Loci!" The goblet-like plant reappeared. Electricity hit her again.

Dazzling Spring: 4700 - 1000 = 3700LP

"Since Dryanome's effect is negated, I cannot heal myself," Miharu said. "But I'm fine with that. Manifest again, future circuit. Sow the seeds for my future. Arrowhead confirmed. The conditions are one Plant Normal Monster. I will set Sunseed Genius Loci. Circuit Combine. Protector of the sacred sunbathed tree. Link Summon. Link 1. Sunvine Thrasher."

[Sunvine Thrasher (L1/800/EARTH/Plant/Link/Effect/↓)]

She narrowed her eyes as the green-armoured warrior appeared on her field.

"You've managed to avoid triggering Surgical Forceps's effect, by not summoning a monster to a Link Monster's Link Marker," Kyoko said. "Now, what will you do?"

"I will activate Thrasher's effect. He gains 800 attack points for every Link Marker that a "Sunavalon" monster has. Dryanome has three." Thrasher glowed.

[Sunvine Thrasher: 800 + 800 x 3 = 3200ATK]

"And with all my determination," Miharu said, "strike forth, Sunvine Thrasher!"

Thrasher leapt forward, crushing Dark Mummy Surgical Forceps, slashing through the air with verdant green blades.

Baira: 4000 - 200 = 3800LP

"Since Sunvine Thrasher destroyed a monster you control by battle," Miharu continued, "I can Special Summon it to one of my Main Monster Zones that a Link Monster I control points to! I will choose the zone that Thrasher's bottom Link Arrow points to!"

"I will activate the effect of Devouring Sarcoughagus in my graveyard," Kyoko declared, shielding herself. "By banishing it, I will take control of the monster that destroyed a Zombie monster I control, but its attack and defense points become 0! I will take control of Sunvine Thrasher! And if this effect resolves, you will no longer have a Main Monster Zone that is applicable for Thrasher's effect!"

"I thought so," Miharu said. Thrasher was dragged over to Kyoko's side of the field. "In that case, Kyoko-san—you've lost!"

[Sunvine Thrasher: 3200 - 0ATK]

"Huh?"

"I heal and I defend myself over and over," Miharu said. "It's to wait for the correct moment to strike. I now know every card in your graveyard and their effects, and the effects of every card on your field. You no longer have anything that can stop me." She flipped up her set card. "Raging Mad Plants! All Plant monsters I control gain 300 attack points for every Plant monster in the graveyard." She held up a finger. "There's no need for you to try to count. I have the answer already. There are eight Plant monsters in my graveyard."

Both Dryanome and Marjoram glowed, getting powered up, an eerie look in Marjoram's eyes as she stared forward.

[Aromage Marjoram: 2000 + 300 x 8 = 4400ATK]

[Sunavalon Dryanome: 0 + 300 x 8 = 2400ATK]

"They are destroyed during the End Phase," Miharu pointed out. "But you don't have that long to wait. Marjoram! Attack Sunvine Thrasher!"

One of her faithful Aroma monsters swung out her staff. A strange fire-like light appeared, flying over and burning Thrasher—and through that, turning the rest of Kyoko's life points to ash.

Baira: 3800 - 4400 = 0LP

Winner: Dazzling Spring!

"I win," Miharu said. "So that's it. I appreciate your concern, Kyoko-san… but I will continue on just like before."

Kyoko sighed after a moment. "... since I lost," she said, "I will tell you the truth." She shook her head. "I don't feel right about capturing you, Miharu-chan. But your friend… if they take your friend, they may spare you."

Miharu froze in place.

"Please don't think too poorly of us," Kyoko pleaded, as a few seconds passed. "In the end, we just want to help you. You're family."

"... Kyoko-san," Miharu finally said, after a few more seconds of silence. "I've never been so disappointed in all of you in my life." She spun around on her Duel Board, taking off, not looking back at Kyoko for a single moment.

---

[Turn 4: Boundless Sea] [H:4]

"Draw!" Yuno glanced at the new card, before nodding. "I'll use Marbled Rock's effect to add a "Marincess" card from my graveyard to my hand."

"So you'll add that Trap." Aso mused. "Interesting…"

"There are a lot of cards that I never used as a Charisma Duelist," Yuno said, chuckling. "Like I said, I'm letting loose! And now, I'll tear apart this field that you've constructed! Quickplay Spell! Twin Twisters! I can discard a card and destroy two Spells and Traps you control! I choose Egg Clutch and Wormhole Defense!"

"If Wormhole Defense would be destroyed, I can tribute a Motor Worm Token instead!" One of the Motor Worm Tokens vanished, protecting the card. However, Egg Clutch was still destroyed, meaning that Aso could no longer fill up Yuno's field with the Tokens.

"I guess I can't go with my original plan then," Yuno said with a shrug. He had hoped to destroy Wormhole Defense and use the Tokens for his dragon. However, Aso's cards were stronger than he expected. So a different way of doing this… "I sound a little foolish now for saying that I'd tear apart your field, huh? But now, I guess I'll settle for your life points."

Aso narrowed his eyes. "My research on you has been rather inadequate," he acknowledged.

"Since I control a Link 3 or higher "Marincess" monster," Yuno said, "I'll activate Marincess Wave again! And until the End Phase, since I control a Link 2 or higher monster, all monsters I control are unaffected by your card effects until the End Phase."

Of course, Wormhole Defense affected Yuno personally—'the player', and thus, he still couldn't use his monsters for Link Summons.

However, it was a step forward.

"So Motor Worm Spreader Queen loses the attack points she gained again!"

[Motor Worm Spreader Queen: 6600 - 1000ATK]

"And that's the finale," Yuno said. "You can't stop my attack, since Marbled Rock is unaffected by your card effects! Attack!" Marbled Rock leapt towards Spreader Queen, ready for another fight.

Aso looked at him. "You are correct," he said. "I cannot counter that."

The attack landed, and his life points fell to zero. However, Yuno was left somewhat uneasy by the way that Aso had said those last few words—as though he felt guilty for something.

Faust: 1100 - 2900 = 0LP

Winner: Boundless Sea!

"I am sorry, Yuno Sugisaki," Aso said.

"Huh? Why—"

Then, Yuno flew face-first into a purple gale that showed up out of nowhere. His Duel Board immediately lost control, and he toppled to the ground. Luckily, there were anti-fall measures in place for the duel disk, which would slow down his fall and stop him from breaking any limbs. Seconds later, when he managed to pull himself back up, he was suddenly surrounded by people, most of them with the same avatar. Yuno recognised that avatar—it was the generic avatar of the lower-ranked members of the Knights of Hanoi. So Aso had been leading him here, specifically to trap him?

If it was Miharu, she would probably have paid attention to where she was going, but Yuno had just been having fun.

A green-haired man stepped forward. His unique avatar clearly signified that he was a higher-up in the Knights of Hanoi. "Boundless Sea, Yuno Sugisaki," he said. "While we are ultimately reluctant to do this… you are now in the custody of the Knights of Hanoi. For Miharu-chan's sake, please do not resist."

Yuno grimaced. Even if he wanted to move, he was still in pain from the fall. He couldn't exactly resist right now—

A blur shot across the warehouses, and all of the Knights of Hanoi looked up as a figure grabbed Yuno, hauling him into the air. On a Duel Board, that person zoomed away, pulling Yuno along with them.

Yuno heard a shout from behind them. "Aso! Shouldn't the Duel Gale have stopped any Duel Boards from working?" However, after a moment, they were already too far away to hear any replies.

"Their own program to capture you is working against them," a calm female voice said. "So their Duel Boards won't be working in that area. You've sure gotten yourself in trouble this time, Boundless Sea. Or would you prefer your name in real life?"

Yuno looked up, before he let out a surprised sound. "Soothsayer!"

The Number 4 Charisma Duelist was still wearing her AR veil, but Yuno could see her smiling underneath it. "Mm."

"Aren't you afraid to get in trouble?"

"I certainly think it's a bit too late for me to worry about that," Soothsayer said, in that oddly formal way of hers. Her eyes had seemed to be glowing earlier, but now they were perfectly normal. "After all, I did just pull you out of the 'custody of the Knights of Hanoi'. Where's your friend, Dazzling Spring?"

"Right here." At that exact moment, his favourite person spoke up.

"Miharu!" Yuno greeted, as his best friend showed up in her avatar, watching Soothsayer with a wary look on her face. "Uh, she can be trusted. She's one of my friends in the Charisma Duelists."

"And how did she find us out here?" Miharu asked. Yuno blinked—that was a rather valid point.

"That's entirely your best friend's idiocy, Dazzling Spring," Soothsayer said, and Yuno turned to her, pretending to be offended by the remark. "I've been trying to find you two and help for the last week. It seems that he didn't turn off friend tracking on his VRAINS avatar." She raised the screen of her duel disk, showing the 'friends screen' of VRAINS. When people were in their avatars, both in the virtual and real world, their 'friends' could find where they were and go to find them, if friend tracking was on. It was typically turned on for Charisma Duelists when they hosted events in real life. Therefore, the moment that Yuno had begun using his VRAINS avatar, he had been broadcasting their location to the entire world.

Miharu gave Yuno a deadpan look. She clearly had no words to express her current feelings.

Yuno smiled sheepishly, pressing a button and turning off his VRAINS avatar. "Oops?"

"You're lucky that we haven't used our avatars until today," Miharu said after a moment. "Anyway, you're… Soothsayer?"

"Yes." Soothsayer glanced at her. "How is your Duel Board working?"

"My brother and I were the ones that made the prototype of the Data Gale," Miharu said. "Obviously, I immediately made myself immune to it once others got access to it."

"This is why Miharu's the smartest," Yuno said, grinning at Soothsayer. "But yeah, so… you wanted to help us?"

"Yes."

"Even though there's nothing in it for you?" Miharu frowned.

"I understand if you do not trust me," Soothsayer said. She glanced behind her to see if there were any pursuers. "... how about this? I am not helping you out of selflessness, or friendship. I'm helping you because I'm searching for a purpose."

A purpose.

That was what Soothsayer had said, the first time that she had been asked why she was a Charisma Duelist.

Yuno glanced at Miharu, who was giving Soothsayer a searching glance.

"I know it sounds ridiculous," Soothsayer said, "but I—"

"It's not ridiculous at all," Miharu interrupted abruptly. She looked away from Soothsayer. "... a person who needs to find a purpose does it to find themselves." She hesitated. "... Miharu Kogami."

"Hitoda Makishima," Soothsayer returned, smiling through the veil. "Lovely to finally meet the best friend that Yuno never shuts up about. Now, shall we finally get to a safe area?"

---

The safe area, as it turned out, was a boathouse further along the coast. Soothsayer, or Hitoda, let them into the house, before locking the door behind them. She deactivated her avatar, showing that she was a rather tall girl with dark green hair tied up in a bun. She was wearing a dark blue skirt and a white button-up t-shirt. She had dark blue eyes, and she sat down on the nearby desk, raising an eyebrow as she looked at them. Yuno was lying in a pile of spare blankets and towels on the bed, and Miharu was sitting in a chair by his side.

"So, what happened to the two of you?" She asked.

What a loaded question. Miharu wasn't sure how to answer. Yuno, however, opened his mouth to talk immediately. He told Hitoda everything, without hesitating or distrusting her in the slightest. He told her about the Knights of Hanoi hunting them, about people with the same faces as them, about different worlds.

Miharu, once again, worried how Yuno could be so open about everything to someone who they had only just learned the identity of. Was this person a really close friend to him as a Charisma Duelist, in a part of his life that Miharu didn't know about?

"Alternate worlds," the girl murmured. "Interesting…" She leaned back. "Well, in that case, do we have the way to go to another world? I've never been quite happy in this one, anyway."

Go to another world?

"That would solve our problems!" Yuno agreed. "If there are multiple worlds out there, surely we can find one that's untouched by the ones hunting us, and hide there until your brother and the rest figure things out, right?"

"According to some further correspondence my brother had with Kengo," Miharu said, "the dimension that's trying to broker this deal is the Fusion Dimension." She shook her head. "But without knowing about what other worlds exist, how can we go there?"

As Miharu talked, without really knowing why, Yuno took out his dragon from his Extra Deck, looking at it.

"... the worlds are named after summoning methods then?" Hitoda shrugged. "Then, is there a world with no summoning methods at all? A 'Standard world', perhaps?"

"We would be stronger than anyone else in a standard world," Miharu said. Whatever she said next was lost on all of them, because at that moment, Magnetic Current started to glow. "... Yuno?"

The dragon glowed brighter and brighter—

And then, suddenly, they were in a different place altogether. They were in a park. There was a blue hourglass-like tower in front of them, and it was the evening there—the tower reflected the orange light of the sunset, as well as the pink clouds in the sky. The city around them looked somewhat different from Den City—the buildings were a lot shorter. Den City was filled with skyscrapers, but that wasn't the case here.

This… was this another world?

At that moment, Yuno seemed to topple to the ground—he wasn't unconscious, but he looked unwell and tired, as though whatever had just happened had taken a lot out of him. Miharu caught him, pressing a hand to his forehead. He was feverish.

Just then, emerging from the tower and running towards them was a young man with purple hair and green eyes. He looked somewhat suspicious of them. "The Leo Corporation detected extremely strong dimensional energy here," he said. "Who are you?" Then, he blinked. "Wait, are you… haven't I seen your face before?"

---

Duel 1 Summary: Baira vs Dazzling Spring

Duel Format: Normal Duel

Turn 1: Baira

Kyoko Normal Summons Dark Mummy Probe. (1*/700/0) She activates the Spell Card, Monster Restitch, and tributes Dark Mummy Probe to Special Summon 3 Dark Mummy Tokens (1*/0/0) to the field. Using them, she Link Summons Dark Mummy Surgical Forceps (L3/2400/↙, ↑, →) to her Extra Monster Zone. She activates the Spell Card, Zombie Reborn, banishing Dark Mummy Probe from the Deck to Special Summon Dark Mummy Probe from her GY to Dark Mummy Surgical Forceps's bottom-left Link Marker. Kyoko sets 2 cards facedown and ends her turn.

Turn 2: Dazzling Spring

Miharu draws. She activates Unexpected Dai, Special Summoning Sunseed Genius Loci (1*/0/600) from her Deck. Kyoko activates Current Corruption Virus, tributing Dark Mummy Probe. For her next three turns, all of Miharu's monsters with 2000 or less DEF have their effects negated and ATK reduced to 0, and she cannot activate the effects of monsters in her hand. Miharu uses Sunseed Genius Loci to Link Summon Sunavalon Dryas. (L1/0/↓) She adds the Continuous Spell, Sunvine Shrine to her hand and activates it by sending a card from her hand to the GY. With its effect, she revives Sunseed Genius Loci. She activates Sunvine Sowing and Special Summons Sunseed Shadow (1*/0/400) to her field. She takes 1000 damage. [DS: 4000 - 1000 = 3000LP] Dryas heals her by the damage she took and Special Summons Sunvine Healer (L1/600/↑) to its Link Marker. [DS: 3000 + 1000 = 4000LP] Healer increases her LP by 300. [DS: 4000 + 300 = 4300LP] With the effect of Dark Mummy Surgical Forceps, Kyoko destroys Sunvine Healer. Miharu uses Shadow, Loci and Dryas to Link Summon Sunavalon Dryanome. (L3/0/↙, ↓, ↘) Miharu sets 1 card and ends her turn.

Turn 3: Baira

Kyoko Normal Summons Dark Mummy Infuser. (1*/0/500) She makes Surgical Forceps immune to Trap effects while face-up on the field. By returning the banished Dark Mummy Probe to the deck, Kyoko sets Zombie Reborn to her field. She ends her turn.

Turn 4: Dazzling Spring

The effect of Current Corruption Virus is still active. Miharu draws. She revives Sunseed Genius Loci with the effect of Sunvine Shrine. With Sunseed Genius Loci, she Link Summons Sunvine Healer. Sunvine Healer increases her LP by 900. [DS: 4300 + 900 = 5200LP] Miharu ends her turn.

Turn 5: Baira

Kyoko draws. She Normal Summons Devouring Sarcoughagus (4*/0/0) to the field. She tributes it to activate Root Ransom Virus. While it is in the GY, Link Monsters have their effects negated and their ATK reduced to 0. Infuser protects Surgical Forceps from the effect. Surgical Forceps attacks Dryanome. She gains 600ATK since she points to a monster. (DMSF: 2400 + 600 = 3000ATK) Dryanome is destroyed. [DS: 5200 - 3000 = 2200LP]

Turn 6: Dazzling Spring

The effects of Current Corruption Virus and Root Ransom Virus are still active. Miharu draws. She sets a monster and a card facedown, ending her turn. Current Corruption Virus's effect ends.

Turn 7: Baira

Kyoko draws. She Normal Summons Giant Germ. (2*/1000/100) Surgical Forceps attacks Sunvine Healer. Miharu activates Draining Shield, gaining LP equal to Surgical Forceps's ATK. [DS: 2200 + 3000 = 5200LP] Giant Germ destroys Sunvine Healer, whose ATK has been reduced to 0, destroying it. [DS: 5200 - 1000 = 4200LP] She ends her turn.

Turn 8: Dazzling Spring

The effect of Root Ransom Virus is still active. Miharu draws. She tributes her set Aromage Laurel (1*/800/0) to Tribute Summon Aromage Marjoram. (5*/2000/1600) Since Aromage Laurel was sent to the GY, Miharu gains 500LP. [DS: 4200 + 500 = 4700LP] Since she gained life points, she uses Marjoram's effect to banish Root Ransom Virus from Kyoko's GY, removing its effect from the field. She uses Sunvine Shrine's effect to revive Sunseed Genius Loci. She uses Sunseed Genius Loci to Link Summon Sunvine Gardna. (L1/600/↑) She activates the Continuous Spell, Sunvine Cross-Breed, tributing a Link Monster, Sunvine Gardna, to revive a Plant monster with its effects negated, Sunavalon Dryanome. She activates Sunvine Sowing, Special Summoning another copy of Sunseed Genius Loci from the Deck and taking 1000 damage. [DS: 4700 - 1000 = 3700LP] Using Sunseed Genius Loci, she Link Summons Sunvine Thrasher. (L1/800/↓) Thrasher gains 2400ATK with its own effect. (ST: 800 + 2400 = 3200ATK) Thrasher attacks and destroys Dark Mummy Surgical Forceps. [B: 4000 - 200 = 3800LP] Baira uses Devouring Sarcoughagus's effect to take control of Thrasher and change its ATK to 0. (ST: 3200 - 0ATK) She activates her set Raging Mad Plants, increasing her Plant monsters' ATK. (AM: 2000 + 2400 = 4400ATK) (SD: 0 + 2400 = 2400ATK) Marjoram attacks Thrasher. [B: 3800 - 4400 = 0LP] Miharu wins.

---

Duel 2 Summary: Boundless Sea vs Faust

Turn 1: Faust

Aso activates the Continuous Spell, Wormhole Defense. He Special Summons a Motor Worm Token (1*/0/0) to his field. He activates the Spell Card, Motor Worm Bait, Special Summoning 2 more Motor Worm Tokens. Using all three Motor Worm Tokens, he Link Summons Motor Worm Spreader Queen. (L3/1000/←, ↙, ↓) With Motor Worm Spreader Queen's effect, Aso Special Summons a Motor Worm Token to its bottom Link Marker. Motor Worm Spreader Queen gains 700ATK for every Insect monster on the field. (MWSQ: 1000 + 700 x 2 = 2400ATK) He sets 2 cards facedown and ends his turn.

Turn 2: Boundless Sea

Yuno draws. He Normal Summons Marincess Blue Tang. With Blue Tang's effect, he sends a "Marincess" monster to his GY. Aso activates his set card, the Continuous Trap, Egg Clutch. He tributes the Motor Worm Token on his field to Special Summon 2 Motor Worm Tokens to Yuno's field. With the effect of Motor Worm Spreader Queen, he Special Summons a Motor Worm Token to her bottom Link Marker again. With the effect of Wormhole Defense, Yuno cannot use Insect monsters as Link Material, or tribute them. Then, he changes Blue Tang to Defense Position and negates its effects, also treating it as an Insect monster. (MWSQ: 2400 + 700 x 3 = 4500ATK)

Yuno activates the Field Spell, Marincess Battle Ocean. Yuno activates the Spell Card, Marincess Dive. He Special Summons Marincess Mandarin (1*/100/100) from his deck. Using Mandarin, he Link Summons Marincess Blue Slug. (L1/0/↓) With Blue Slug's effect, he adds a "Marincess" monster from his GY to his hand. He revives Mandarin to Blue Slug's Link Marker. He uses Mandarin and Blue Slug to Link Summon Marincess Coral Anemone (L2/2000/←, ↓). Using Coral Anemone's effect, he revives Blue Slug. Then, he uses Coral Anemone and Blue Slug to Link Summon Marincess Marbled Rock. (L3/2500/←, ↓, →) He adds Marincess Dive back to his hand. With Battle Ocean's effect, he equips Coral Anemone and Blue Slug to Marbled Rock, increasing its ATK by 600 for each, and by an additional 200. (MMR: 2500 + 200 + 600 x 2 = 3900ATK) Yuno activates Marincess Wave from his hand, negating the effect of Spreader Queen. (MWSQ: 4500 - 1000ATK) Marbled Rock attacks Spreader Queen. [F: 4000 - 2900 = 1100LP] Aso tributes a Motor Worm Token to negate Spreader Queen's destruction. Yuno ends his turn.

Turn 3: Faust

Aso draws. He Special Summons another Motor Worm Token to his field. He activates Motor Worm Bait's effect, Special Summoning two more Motor Worm Tokens to Yuno's field by tributing the Token on his field. He activates Motor Worm Bait, Special Summoning 2 more Motor Worm Tokens to his field. (MWSQ: 1000 + 5600 = 6600ATK) Spreader Queen attacks Marbled Rock. By sending a "Marincess" card from his hand to the GY, Yuno negates battle destruction and battle damage. Aso ends his turn.

Turn 4: Boundless Sea

Yuno draws. He adds Marincess Wave back to his hand with Marbled Rock's effect. He activates Twin Twisters, discarding a card to destroy Wormhole Defense and Egg Clutch. Aso tributes a Motor Worm Token to protect Wormhole Defense. He activates Marincess Wave from his hand again. (MWSQ: 6600 - 1000ATK) Marbled Rock attacks. [F: 1100 - 2900 = 0LP] Yuno wins!

---

Different Card Effects from TCG:

Dark Mummy Probe - Anime-only card.

Monster Restitch - Anime-only card. The Dark Mummy Tokens' stats aren't shown, so I just treated them as Level 1, since the other Dark Mummies are Level 1. I also treated them as having no attack or defense points.

Dark Mummy Surgical Forceps - Anime-only card.

Current Corruption Virus - Anime-only card. I learned this the hard way—I thought it looked so cool, and wanted to add it to a Lady of Lament deck, and when I realised this, I mentally perished.

Wormhole Defense - Anime-only card.

Motor Worm Bait - Anime-only card.

Motor Worm Spreader Queen - Anime-only card.

Dark Mummy Infuser - Anime-only card.

Root Ransom Virus - Anime-only card.

Egg Clutch - Anime-only card

---

End Notes:

Someone in a previous review said that the Link Dimension feels more interesting than the Ritual Dimension. And really, I agree with that sentiment. The Link Dimension is a lot more concrete in this story so far—there are details clearly shared about it, and the characters interact with it on a personal level. Meanwhile, in the Ritual Dimension, the characters mostly just hang out with other characters and we don't learn much about the world around them.

This is intentional by design. Chiaki and Yuji are both antisocial loners who reject society because of their own past issues—they grew up rejected by everyone except each other until they were adopted. As such, they don't care about their own society—just about each other, and their microscopic world that is just them, their friends, and the small places that they enjoy going to. The only concrete things we know about the Ritual Dimension are the only things that either of them care about. Meanwhile, the Link Dimension is far more concretised because Yuno and Miharu have very different lives and things that they enjoy, and thus, we get to see a lot more of that world. I'm not saying that either pair is better—they're meant to contrast each other. A pair that always orbit each other and a pair that are almost always apart until the plot starts.

Alright, moving on! Blood Shepherd makes a cameo here, but he's not a major character. The original heads of SOL Technologies are now instead the heads of the whole city, and since we know nothing about them, I just substituted in interesting characters under those roles. Before you ask, other than Ryoken, Akira and Aoi, the other legacy characters won't play major roles. They're just characters living in Den City. I did give Baira some Zombie support to fuel her deck, since she has like ten cards in canon VRAINS. If Dark Mummy cards were actually released in the TCG, I would quite frankly flip my shit. The concept is so cool! You all might not have liked the usage of non-archetypical cards, but well, if there is a card I need for the duel and I can just take it directly from the game, and it looks somewhat thematic—sarcophagus, mummies—then I mean… why not? Makes me have to worry less about making overpowered OC cards—I think we've all been there at some point, making cards that are far too strong for our fanfics. Anyway, I figured that if I was going to have them cameo in a duel, I might as well do it here, before other summoning methods are introduced—their cards are far less powerful when the opponent can Fusion, Synchro, Xyz or Ritual Summon.

Also, even though the duels take on the avatar names (since their duel disks are registered under the names), the duels are narrated with their actual names unless they're actually in the virtual world. In the real world, even if they're using AR, they use their normal names. And also, Speed Duels don't exist. I don't want too many types of duels in this story, and Action Duels are already enough of a headache.

Anyway, Soothsayer! She is the one major OC that the Link Dimension is getting besides the counterparts, like I mentioned earlier in the story. She doesn't get much screentime here that says anything about her, but I do want there to be more characters from the Link Dimension that go to a different dimension other than just Yuno or Miharu, because… like I said, it'd feel microscopic! And I can't have Aoi, Akira or Ryoken go, because of 'plot'.

Anyway, cliffhanger! Next chapter will be resolving this cliffhanger. But anyway, Yuno, Miharu and Hitoda are now in the Standard Dimension, which is fun. I'm sure nothing will go wrong here!