Starting Notes:

Welcome back! This is a non-dueling chapter, technically… well, there were going to be duels, but they felt so extraneous and I was just struggling so much with them that I cut them :) I'd rather progress the plot now, anyway, instead of running through filler duels, or we'll be here for a long time. Next chapter will definitely have duels though! ;) Note that this chapter contains some discussions of the last chapter's material, which… yeah, was pretty heavy.

Chapter 98: Abrasive

"... and so, that is why the Heartland Occupation Force is requesting the expertise of someone who has experience dealing with the Lancers, rather than just the Resistance," Saki Garam said with a quick bow. She was clearly hoping that her nervousness wasn't showing, but it was clear that she was intimidated by him. "I was sent back here by Commander Edo Phoenix to communicate this to you… Professor."

Leo Akaba stared at her.

… interesting. For Edo Phoenix of all people to ask for more assistance…

At this point, the Occupation Force had likely gotten used to dueling against specifically Xyz duelists, or duelists of the Resistance. The Lancers, on the other hand, had proven themselves a painfully reckless and diverse group, far too split in their ways and attitudes, never quite united by anything except for their enmity towards Academia—but they had proven themselves to be adaptable, to always be changing, hard to predict because they were always evolving as they continued onwards.

… some other expertise was likely needed.

"Very well," Leo said. "Go to Eve's office and ask her who she thinks should be sent on this mission."

After all, he had already deferred to her in this specific case. If he hastily deployed the one that he thought was the best option… he might end up interfering with something already in place.

In the end, Eve's response had been surprising—not for its content, but for its simplicity.

"It's obvious, isn't it?" The blonde woman had strode over to her desk. She was not smiling—in fact, she was nothing but composed. "Take Dennis Mackfield, but not Yuri Kaiba. That is all."

"... yes, ma'am."

So Saki approached the strange duo sitting in the garden. She never would have expected to see the famously antisocial Yuri sharing his garden with someone other than that girl, the only person that had ever been seen with him. Dennis Mackfield was hanging out by the trellis, clearly telling a joke—however, as Saki approached, both of them turned to look at her, a suffocating atmosphere filling the air.

"The Professor needs you to go to Heartland and help us with the operation there," Saki said, looking directly at Dennis—whose bright smile wavered briefly.

"Oh, really?"

"Figures," Yuri muttered. There was something stormy to his expression as he abruptly stood up. He tossed the shears in his hands into the basket next to him. Briefly, he glanced at the short, thick shrub of pinkish purple flowers—magnolia with magenta-coloured petals. He scoffed and turned his head, walking away.

Dennis glanced after him, shaking his head and sighing, before he turned back to Saki—

And he smiled.

"So, uh, long time no see, huh?"

"... that's your fault," Saki said with a scoff. "You're the one that went on two long infiltration missions without telling me." She folded her arms—she was definitely not being petulant, this was completely deserved. This idiot. Her idiot of a childhood friend. "And then you came back and didn't even ask about me!"

"Weren't you back in Domino when I came back…?"

"Letters. Emails." Saki lifted her head, nose stuck up in the air. "Have you ever heard of communication, you dumb—"

Dennis laughed. He awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck, in that stupidly endearing way. He'd done that the first time that they'd met, and again right after he'd messed up something important, and then every time she got mad at him afterwards. "Missed you?"

Saki glared at him again, and then let out a huff. "You can make it up to me by telling me all about the Lancers. I need to put up a better showing against them."

"Alright." He followed after her. "Really sorry that I didn't get in contact with you, I just… had a lot to think about. And you've had a lot to deal with too, right?"

"… just the usual stuff with the family business." Saki turned to look at him. "I heard that the Lancers gave you a tough time."

Dennis's laugh was a little too high-pitched to be genuine. "Y-yeah, maybe. It's fine though."

… hmm.

"If anything bothers you, it's my business," Saki said, somewhat stiff and yet still protective. "If you're Saki Garam's friend, then any business involving you is the business of the Garam family too. Come on. I need more information."

And more hands on deck was… probably a good idea.

The magnolia liliiflora tree was one of the oldest plants in the garden. It had been there even before Yuri had first come to Academia, its pink petals casting shadows over each other, both bright and dark at the same time. Once the two people had left, he headed back into the garden and sat under it. The colour of the petals was at least somewhat comforting—he twirled a fallen flower between his fingers.

It was her favourite tree. That much he knew. That was why he always took special care of it.

… it figured.

She'd given him one mission before she'd left. Yuri had tried to distract himself from her absence by fulfilling it and sticking to Dennis like glue.

But what now?

What now, when he was alone?

He didn't realise that he'd crushed the flower until he looked down. Droplets of water were on his fingers.

He dropped the flower.

There's no way that—

She's strong. One of the strongest.

I just have to believe that she's coming back. She is.

Or I'll wipe out the islands myself.

He breathed out slowly.

Fine. For now, he just had to make himself useful. Whatever.

… if he couldn't complete the mission, he'd just get even stronger. He just had to keep getting stronger.

He wouldn't lose to anyone. That way… that way, he'd…

When Vector walked over to the other side of Diamond Branch, he found Tatsuya sitting on the top of the collapsed fountain, fingers toying with a piece of cracked marble. His voice was low and deep—and he was singing a tune to himself from atop the rubble, as though he didn't already appear strange enough—like an image superimposed over another, as though he didn't fit right in the world around him.

"Sing a song of sixpence, a pocket full of rye," he sang under his breath, turning the rock around in his hands, before flinging it outwards, casting dust in the air. "Four and twenty blackbirds, baked in a pie."

They both knew that Vector was there—but Tatsuya just carried on with that insufferable song anyway.

"When the pie was opened, the birds began to sing." Vector caught the sight of the green-haired man's smirk. "Wasn't that a dainty dish to set before the king?"

"Careful, princey," Vector said, folding his arms. "Don't want to get a cut from all that edge."

"Fuck you too, Vector," Tatsuya said with a smirk. "I thought it was a cute nursery rhyme—sang it all the time for Sachi when we were kids and all."

"Oh, please don't try to fool me into thinking that you have any good in you—that's just insulting. I know you."

Tatsuya's eyes almost seemed to twinkle in that amused way, yet, still with a cold edge. "So you do. What do you want, Vector?"

I hate you, Vector thought. For a brief moment, he fantasised about saying those words with the brightest smile possible—baring his teeth, wishing they were sharp enough to rip out the throat of the bastard in front of him. Still, he kept his clenched fists behind him. "Do I have to do all the work around here?" He said. "Yuto Kamisoka's little motley group has nothing to do with me. You were in the area—why didn't you deal with him yourself?"

Tatsuya rolled his eyes. "Come on. I have no interest in Nue's kid brother."

Vector stared at him, cracking a smile. His eyes were unnaturally wide—it lent a ghastly appearance to his smile. "Don't you?"

A brief moment of silence. Tatsuya slowly narrowed his eyes, staring at Vector. Vector's grin didn't fall—nor did it become any less wide.

"He's so much less interesting," Tatsuya finally said. "What's the point?"

"... hah. You can keep your obsession to yourself." Vector shook his head. "So, where were you?"

"I was meeting up with Eri-san today," Tatsuya said.

Better you than me, Vector thought. Someone like Eri Phoenix, who spoke of appropriateness and efficiency, who had split the Resistance in two without fighting them head-on in the first place… that was someone who played on the exact same level as him (and Tatsuya.) But the way that she carried herself…

It was like she still deluded herself into believing that she was doing something honourable. It disgusted him to the core.

If someone was going to be a dishonourable bastard and trick everyone that Vector knew, couldn't they at least have the pride to revel in it? Any other way was just so… boring, and thus, infuriating.

Still… now that they were done talking about the more important details and Tatsuya was done giving his 'reasons' for not helping out in the slightest, Vector had time to reflect on the song from earlier. The fact that Tatsuya had continued singing that song to himself even when he'd known that Vector was there was certainly… a message. Vector had never heard any nursery rhymes like that though, considering that he'd been well into his teenage years when he actually had a guardian that gave a shit, so he certainly didn't know what it meant. If it came to blackbirds, he only remembered one thing that it might refer to.

"Why would they bake blackbirds in a pie?" He said, keeping his tone casual. "Seems like a stupid kind of song."

"Hah. Sachi said the same thing." Another smirk. "Not a good thing to be acting like my kid sister." He picked up another rock, turning it over in his hands. "You know that rhyme started out as "boys cooked in a pie"? They only changed it to blackbirds later on because they used to place live birds inside pies as meals for the wealthy, and they thought it would be good commentary—the birds would be stuck inside the pie until it was cut open, and then they would fly out. Small appetisers for both the tongue and eyes between courses."

"… then, what happens to the blackbird?" Vector asked, narrowing his eyes.

"… well, the bird's still alive. It's there to entertain, after all. It has to be able to fly." Tatsuya shrugged. "So it goes free afterwards. It's not like they cook it alive or something. It's just there to dance for the guests—who cares about it after it leaves?"

"So they let it leave, just like that?" So you're letting her leave just like that, after all the effort that you put into doing… I still don't know exactly what you did, or why you did it, but really? That's all you want?

"... I should complete the song for you sometime," Tatsuya said, folding his legs over each other with a smirk. "They let it leave, that's true. But who's to say that the blackbird ever really escapes? Who's to say what the blackbird chooses to do, in the end?"

In the end, she didn't cry out.

In the end, she didn't shed a single tear. She wasn't sure that she would be able to.

There were a lot of reactions that a person could have to going blind. Personally, Nue thought that she was handling it far better than she should be, once she got past the first moment. And by that, she meant that she'd politely asked Shun to leave so that she could have a moment to break down by herself. He hadn't wanted to—she knew that even without seeing him, this protective, protective man—

She hoped that the news didn't spread too fast—it was unavoidable that the Lancers would know, but if it got to strangers too… it would be insufferable, to have people asking her questions about how she felt when she had no clue. She was still figuring out how to cope with it herself.

So anyway, she was now alone in that quiet room, save for the rustling of what she guessed was a nearby tarp. She didn't even know where she was, but the easy answer was probably 'the Resistance', wherever they'd set up now.

… damn it.

Damn it!

Her heart was tied up in knots right now—it had been almost two months since she'd managed to escape this feeling of helplessness. And yet, mixed in with it was fury. Fury, because…

She just kept on losing.

Maybe not losing duels. But losing things. Losing people. And the thing was, she was not weak, and she had never been! Even in her darkest moments, consumed by everything, she had never been weak. And yet, despite her best efforts, no matter how tightly she held on to everything, it always ended up slipping out of her grasp—

Or torn straight from her hands.

Things like happiness. Family. Once upon a time, maybe even love.

Things like…

Not for the first time since waking up, she brought her hand to her eyes—touching the edge of them, as though she might be able to heal them with a touch.

No. She just kept losing things, over and over again.

… she'd as good as carded Ryoma herself. And now… what? Would she have to explain that to everyone? Explain to everyone that her impulsiveness had cost them nothing but cost her something—as though a part of her soul had died when she'd seen that card flutter to the ground?

(Cost them nothing. The Resistance had already lost Diamond Branch a long time ago—it wouldn't hurt them to have one less enemy. On 'this side', there would be no mourning—not from anyone except her.)

And, these eyes…

She was so tired.

Tired of everything, tired of being here…

… and yet, of course, she was not more tired than she was angry.

… she would figure it out. But right now, she was hurt, and she didn't want to be.

The fingers of her less injured hand creased the edge of a card. A card that she did not and could not know.

They were going to ask her for explanations, weren't they?

… how could she ever hope to give any?

Nue was awake. Nue had lost her sight.

When Shun had delivered the news, there had been something fraught to his expression. He'd muttered that she wanted to be left alone, and he'd walked off before the rest of them could say anything. Naturally, any conversation in the room beforehand had died a quick death, and they'd all quickly splintered off into groups again.

The day's events had been… rough. And ending by coming back to something that was a confusing mix of good news and bad news was just… yeah. It just added to everything.

… not that she would know. Kaname was just assuming the feelings of others, after all. She'd spent most of the time scouting out the entrances and exits of the base, just to make sure that she was ready for anything.

(Academia had already taken down three bases of the Resistance. While they certainly seemed competent, it suggested a pattern—that it was hard to defend a specific base against Academia. Kaname had seen it herself, when Ryo Marufuji had charged straight into the Security building and it had been very hard to stop him.)

And…

The thing was, Kaname had spent most of the last night lingering outside the infirmary—unable to really bring herself to go to sleep in unfamiliar territory. Scouting the place out and getting to know Rio had helped a bit, but she had still been restless. So, as Shun Kurosaki had sat in the room silently, she'd kept up her own silent vigil outside the room, though she had occasionally gone to check up on the others, most obviously Yugo and Rin.

Was there something more useful she could be doing? … yes. But she'd been striving to be 'useful' for long enough. She'd rather just… do what she wanted.

(It was still uncomfortable to think that way. To be free to make decisions like this…)

So she made her way to the infirmary. As usual, she went unnoticed by most people. She got to the infirmary, and…

… the first thing that Kaname felt was relief. Because seeing Nue that still back then, when Kurosaki had first brought her back, was… she didn't know how to put it, but it had been uncomfortable. (The same kind of uncomfortable that she had felt on the day that she'd fled the house, leaving it all behind, her mad father laughing behind her and her equally mad mother on the ground.) She hadn't been able to sit at ease.

Now, at least Nue was sitting up.

Still, the expression on her face…

Kaname, naturally, did not announce her presence. She carefully looked at Nue—it seemed that the injuries had appeared worse than they actually were? She'd assumed the worst, but…

Those eyes.

Oh, those eyes…

Kaname clutched onto the sleeve of her dress. For a brief moment, that thick feeling of loss overwhelmed her—the fingers of her other hand traced her eyepatch.

Someone who hadn't met Nue before might not be able to tell. But there had always been something sharp to Nue Kamisoka's eyes—dark, deep black. However, now…

There was something paler to the shade of her eyes—and that sharp edge was gone.

Kaname stood there and observed.

… the fact that Nue was sitting in a corner on her own and not doing anything… that was probably not a good thing, right? It reminded her of Chino's moods, when the older girl would sometimes just leave the room and sit by herself for a while—and snap at anyone that came near her.

There was a sudden shift as Nue jerked to the side—reaching out towards the supplies scattered on the ground next to her. Her fingers tapped the ground, before she drew back sharply, cringing and shaking. She was searching, but couldn't seem to find what she wanted.

Kaname carefully inched forward and pushed the cup of water slightly closer to her. However, before she could move back to the wall, Nue's fingers happened to brush against hers. The dark-haired girl jolted back, a look of absolute surprise and fear on her face.

"Who's that?"

Kaname stared at her. Her fingers touched her duel disk—before, with startling precision, Nue lunged forward again, hand grabbing around Kaname's ankle and pulling it forward. Only her long time in self defence training stopped Kaname from falling over—but she didn't fight back either—just caught herself on the wall. (If she fought back, she would have to kick Nue off, which she did not want to do under any circumstances.)

Still…

She couldn't speak aloud, but her fingers moved over the keyboard. "Me."

"… Mizuchi," Nue muttered, before she let go of her. "… sorry. That was… I shouldn't have done that."

You were frightened, Kaname wanted to say. I haven't seen you frightened before. I don't think a lot of people have. Instead of saying anything reassuring like that, she drew back into herself and reminded herself to breathe.

She reached out, picking up the cup and carefully guiding it to Nue's hand. However, Nue didn't take it.

"Broke all the fingers in my right hand," she said—offering up that explanation so nonchalantly that Kaname glanced away sharply, not that she would notice. "Guess Yuto and I match now. Guess that was bound to happen eventually."

That kind of black humour…

Kaname briefly pressed her lips together thinly. She put down the cup.

… she disliked it.

"I thought I told Shun that I wanted to be left alone," Nue said.

But…

Kaname understood what it felt like to want to be alone—in fact, she'd felt that way for much of her life. But she was beginning to understand that it was a 'want' that had come from fear of judgement. The fear that if she got too close to people, they would find out about her past.

… and she'd seen it in others too. The way that Makoto would sometimes leave the apartment for no reason at all, standing outside by the drain, just staring at the slums below, at nothing in particular.

And…

She knew very well that she couldn't fix these things. She didn't know where to start—hadn't she been helpless to change anything all that time, anyway? Sometimes, people just needed to be alone.

Even so…

"... what a pair we make," Nue muttered. "The girl who doesn't speak and the girl who can't see. If you're signing something, Mizuchi, I can't see. Alright?"

Kaname's fingers drifted to the keyboard. "Sorry."

Nue went still for a brief moment. When she spoke again, some of the tension had left her posture—though she still seemed on high alert. "... no. Don't say that. I'm the one being rude to you for no reason."

It was so wrong that Kaname briefly managed to break through her own struggles with speaking. "... don't say that."

… Kaname couldn't imagine not knowing what was around her. How terribly paranoid it might make her.

Nue blinked, reacting with surprise. "Is that your voice?"

And now Kaname just wanted to shrivel into a corner.

"... hah. It has a pretty unique sound." Nue shook her head. "… I don't mean to… it's not you that I'm angry at."

Keyboard time, then. "You are hurt. Not your fault."

"Hurt or not, it doesn't give me the right to hurt other people," Nue muttered. She raised her hand, before lowering it again. Kaname could see the way that she tensed up in pain at the motion. "... forget it."

Kaname reached out, carefully tapping Nue's shoulder. Then, she lifted up the cup, slowly touching it against the side of the dark-haired girl's left hand. Nue took it after a moment, drinking from it—that was quick. She must have been struggling with it for a while…

"How did you do it?" Nue said as she put down the cup. "Forgive your father for what he did to you?"

Kaname tensed up.

"I came here today because there are words that I need to say to you. I have spent the last fourteen years of my life saving up the strength to say them. I never had the strength back then. And this is… the last chance I have. I don't know a love that is without fear. In the end, even those who don't mean to… still hurt me. But… even though it was so painful. Even though I wanted to end it all so many times… I still kept pushing on. I still wanted to live."

"I hate you. I can't think straight when I'm around you. You killed me in that house, and I'll… never change. A person never forgets the moment that they die. You doomed me to become just like you. Even now… I just want to live well. And I… I wanted to be a good p-person, too. I wanted to see what it would feel like to forgive you. Because that—that's what g-good people do, r-right?... After I saw what father… what Director Roget did to you, I gave you back your name. I wanted to try to be better. I wanted to see if you'd be… better."

"But you're the same. You're still the same. You just keep making me… miserable. And I'm so scared of you. I want to live… so I hope you die. I hope you die! I'm too scared to kill you… In front of you… any s-step that I've taken towards recovering… falls apart. I become the same scared child that I was back then. And I do not like that version of me—I hate the 'me' that I become when I'm in front of you. Even so, I want you to vanish. So I'll be free to become someone different—someone that can be good, without feeling like I'm drowning."

Those were the last words that she had ever spoken to him.

… it had taken all her strength to step forward and profess her hatred, so how could she ever muster up any other strength for the sake of forgiving?

She typed out the words as carefully as she could.

"I didn't. And I don't have to."

Nue turned away. "... me too," she said. She cleared her throat. "... I do actually want to be alone though."

Kaname backed away into the nearby corridor.

"... you didn't leave, did you?" Nue sighed. "... fine." She turned the cup in her hands. "Just let me know if someone else comes here."

Kaname lightly tapped her fingers against the wall in answer.

… it had been a very uneventful day for Yuno, all things considered. Most of the day had been them helping out the Resistance and figuring out how things worked in the base—typical stuff, while Reiji had been discussing with Chris Arclight about logistics and what this dimension would likely need to recover after they defeated Academia. Yuno had glanced over at his tablet once, and the first draft of a proposal on what to do with Heartland had already been completed. (No one would ever say that Reiji Akaba was the kind to waste time.)

Still, while they had settled in and learned more about the environment around them, they hadn't really taken any proper steps towards defeating Academia. It was unsurprising. Reiji probably didn't want to overstep—after all, the one with the greatest right to fight Academia here was still a member of the Resistance.

And well, honestly, Yuno didn't mind playing a support role. It would be nice to take the backseat for once.

Even so…

He and Miharu finally caught up to Yuto after passing through several of the winding corridors. However… to their surprise, someone else was already there. A certain boy with bright blue and yellow hair. They'd clearly already started talking before Yuno and Miharu had shown up, but it was easy enough to catch what they were talking about.

"Yuto, come on, I'm not trying to—"

"I just want to be alone!" Yuto said—not quite lashing out, but something close to it. "You're the one that's being nosy about everything right now. I'm not—"

"I just want to know…" Yugo grimaced, and then there was something more cautious to his tone, his expression turning into a scowl—not one of anger, but frustration. "… how to help you. Like how you helped me, man."

Yuto stopped. He turned his head slowly.

"Back in Synchro, you helped me when I was struggling with… not knowing what my sisters were doing. And just in general. You're… ugh, this is way too mushy for me, but you're a good guy! And I'm not as good with emotions as Rin or like, Yuno—"

Nearby, both Yuno and Miharu exchanged a brief glance..

"But like, I know debts and stuff might be weird for you to think about, and you probably think it's a small thing or something, but like… I can't help but feel that way, y'know?" Yugo stuffed his hands in his pockets. "I want to help you. That's it. Don't care if it's selfish, don't care if you don't want it—it's how it is."

"He's always like that, huh?" Miharu murmured, though the two that they were eavesdropping on didn't hear it.

"… if you want to know what's wrong," Yuto finally spat out, rough self-loathing in every word, "it's that I'm still just as weak as I was before."

"… huh?" Yugo's eyes widened. "No, Yuto, that's not—"

"Don't tell me that's not true!" Yuto snapped. "Not when I—"

"… when you what?" Yugo asked, when Yuto cut himself off abruptly.

"Keep losing," Yuto finally admitted. "This entire time, I just keep losing. It's fuck-up after fuck-up—" His voice cracked briefly. He slammed his fist into the wall. "And yes, sometimes I win, and yes, I have gotten stronger, I know I have, but why don't I feel that way? I say that my fighting is for the people that we've already lost, but what does it matter if I mourn them if I can't avenge them?"

Oh. That just wasn't…

Yuno took a step back. Yugo looked just as appalled, though it was probably for a different reason.

"I—"

"You don't understand," Yuto said, and now his rage seemed to be flowing free—despite his best efforts, it had found a willing target. "You… you're so strong." He spat out the words like venom. "Yugo, you won. You saved everything that matters to you. Your city is safe, it's not in ruins like mine, so you can't understand how this feels—to want so badly to make it stop, to make it so that we all stop hurting more and more for no reason other than someone else, but to not be able to!"

Yugo stood there. His expression was filled with clear, honest hurt—but he didn't argue back. Someone else, however, did.

"What gives you the right to say that he doesn't understand?"

Yuto whipped his head around.

"It's not fair to compare how much you're hurting with others," Miharu said, having stepped into the corridor while Yuno was still reeling at Yuto's words. Her voice sounded calm, but carried an edge of steel to it. "Why are we competing with our misery?"

"Miharu…" Yuto glanced away from her—as though he was ashamed.

"You're taking out your anger on someone who's trying to help you. I may not have the right to say that you're reacting wrongly, but hurting others isn't the way."

"… isn't that the same as saying that?" Yuto muttered, but he drew himself back anyway. "… sorry, Yugo."

Yugo shifted on the spot. His fists were clenched at his sides, Yuno noticed. "You know," he said, "I talked a big game and went to Security during the invasion. To rescue Miharu."

When he looked up, he looked just as bitter as Yuto had earlier.

"I went there," he said, "and I lost to Kaname. And then I watched my sister lose and nearly get carded in front of me—and I'm not strong enough yet either! Not strong enough for myself! So don't say… that's just…"

He turned around, storming off. Yuno and Miharu exchanged a quick look again, both aware that the emotional disaster was quickly spiralling out of control. Miharu nodded—and Yuno turned to head after Yugo.

One step at a time.

(He wanted to take his mind off the words that Yuto had said, too.)

"... I know I messed up," Yuto said, covering his face and looking away—he'd felt so vindicated when he'd shouted those words at Yugo, only to immediately be confronted with shame when he'd been called out for it. All of it was just a confusing mix of emotions that he couldn't really figure out. "I'm sorry—"

"... you don't need to apologise to me." Miharu glanced towards where Yugo had run off. "... Yugo was the one that was upset by it." She paused. "... and also… Yun—" She cut herself off. "… but anyway, you didn't upset me."

"... I'm just tired of losing," Yuto admitted. "I thought that winning against Otobashi-san meant that I had conquered the part of me that was afraid to step forward. But… I improved, but it still feels like I'm at the starting line. And the thing is, we're in Heartland right now. I don't have time to… think, before the next bad thing happens. And it keeps happening. I'm just… tired of it all. How long does it take to beat Academia?"

There is no ending in sight. Not at all.

Miharu quietly sighed. Yuto looked at her. She… looked tired too.

"I trust Reiji Akaba," she said. It was such a strange thing to say at that moment that Yuto just stared at her. "I trust you. And we haven't been in this dimension long, but… maybe you see it differently because this is your homeland. Maybe you're struggling because of that. But I don't really see a difference."

She folded her arms, fidgeting with her jacket—no, with the bracelet under her jacket.

"Back when we went to Synchro," she said, still completely calm, "it took us time. You remember that. We got in so much trouble at the start, and then, we got caught up in so many other things. Realistically, if we only wanted to defeat Academia as quickly as possible… why would we be here?"

What?

"If we only wanted to defeat Academia, we would already be in the Fusion Dimension," Miharu pointed out. "That would be the fastest way to solve this—we would either win or lose, but we'd be done with it."

She breathed in slowly.

"… to be honest. A part of me would prefer that too."

"To leave Heartland like this?" Yuto shot back.

Miharu glanced away—but Yuto didn't think that what he saw in her eyes was shame. To be honest, they had known each other for around two months now, but there were still some parts of her that felt unreadable to him. He suspected that it was the same for her—for all that Miharu Kogami was logical and kind, there was still sometimes that sense of distance between them.

When she spoke again, it was with the same calmness as before—a lake, undisturbed. "No," she said. "The suffering you all have gone through, it truly is…" She shook her head. "If this was Den City, I would never stop. I would rip apart everything that Academia built. I would make it so that every disgusting thing that they've made for this war burned out—and that would not even be an inch of the justice that the people they destroyed would deserve."

Perhaps it was because she was so calm that the words reached Yuto, in a way that anger might not have.

"But…" Miharu met his gaze. "When I say that going to Academia would be more direct… that's only if our primary goal was to destroy Academia… and nothing else."

"Nothing else?"

"… your dragon's evolution was from mindless rebellion to a requiem," Miharu said. "Don't you see what that means? Not just about you—but about us?"

"… just say it," Yuto said.

"… I'm not good with words," Miharu finally said. "I'm sorry."

"... don't apologise."

"... you're bitter about the fact that you lost, despite the strength that you gained," Miharu said, cutting to the heart of the issue. "But… are you also bitter that…"

She stopped.

"What is it?" Yuto asked, tense.

"Bitter that you lost and there were no consequences?" Miharu didn't look away from him—her gaze was piercing, for all that there was no harshness to it. "Are you upset that… you were spared because of someone else?"

And the thing was—

She was right.

Yuto had not survived by any merit of his own. He had survived because Edo Phoenix had, impossibly, been moved by the actions of someone else. (Why couldn't he have felt moved earlier?) He had survived because Rui Shingetsu had won and taken a step back, rather than forward, and said—

"You're not fit to stand in the shoes of anyone else."

"Yes," he admitted after a moment. "I am."

"Is it that shameful…" Miharu paused. She drew up a hand, pushing her fringe behind her ear. "... to be alive?"

"Because of someone else?" Yuto hesitated—there was something painfully vulnerable to the situation. "... yeah. It… feels shameful to me. I think Vector only spared me because he has a soft spot for Nue." And that was just a can of worms in itself. The fact that his sister had clearly made an impact in so many people's lives, while all Yuto had done was rage at his own losses… "And the thing is, here… the Resistance sticks together, but we also do learn early on that we're responsible for our own lives, you know? I put myself and our comrades in danger so many times… if not for those specific circumstances, I would already be a card. So I do feel ashamed. Why am I the one alive, and not anyone else? Why am I the one given so many chances, when all I do is screw up?"

It was just… so heavy.

"… no one can tell you why except yourself. But anger isn't the answer."

"… I'm not sure if you're the best one to say that. I don't think you've been angry a day in your life—sometimes, it does solve things."

Miharu looked at him. "Living doesn't mean that you're taking away someone's chance to live," she said. "... when I was a lot younger, I met one of the leaders of Den City through my brother. He went by Rook, and he said… 'there's enough air in the world for all of us to breathe'. It stuck with me. Your life is yours. It doesn't belong to anyone else. And if someone else falls in your place, it's the fault of those who hurt others. Not you. Never you."

Yuto really wanted to believe that.

… he really did.

But…

"... you teaching me Link Summoning helped me a lot," Yuto said. "... I feel like a lot of us have grown because of you. And you keep helping me, and I… I don't think I've helped you much in return at all."

"... I only do what I can." Miharu turned away. "... I think you're fine now. I'm going to track down Yuno and Yugo."

Yuno and Yugo… Yuno was with Yugo? What? How did she know that?

"Wait."

Miharu blinked as she turned back.

"... I'm not expecting to win," Yuto said. "But I'm expecting to try to grow a bit." He gestured forward. "Miharu. Sorry to ask this of you when you try so much already… it's pretty selfish of me, huh? But… I'm guessing that you already know all my weaknesses. Can you help me figure them out, so I can fix them?"

"... to be strong in something means being weak in something else," Miharu said—logical, as usual. "Your playstyle is fine."

"... then, just to improve."

"... you just finished telling me that dueling and losing wrecked your mental state. I'm not sure that I want to contribute to that. I've been told that I'm not a good opponent to have."

"You're right. But what I want isn't to duel you. I want you to tell me what you think my weaknesses are. You're someone who can be more objective than other people... I think that's exactly what I need right now."

"That's fair," Miharu said. "... I guess I can help you. But there's something else I want to do too."

"I'm fine."

Yuno put a hand on Yugo's shoulder. "It never feels good to be brushed off like that," he said. "... sorry."

"You're not Yuto—you don't need to apologise. It's fine." Yugo shot him a friendly smile. "It's really fine. I should apologise to him later too, I knew he was upset and still told him off."

"We all know you try to help."

"Yeah. You too, right?" They shared a fistbump. "I mean, he's right. To be honest, my problems were all solved because of everyone's help. But isn't that exactly why I want to help everyone? I don't think there's anything wrong with that."

Yuno nodded.

"Still, if you're here, Miharu's there, right? I guess she'd understand better than I do…."

"It's fine! She can handle it."

Yugo snorted, grinning. "Just ask her out already! Come on. You already told me that you wanted to date her!"

Yuno turned to him, blinking. "... oh," he said. "We haven't told anyone yet, huh."

Yugo stared at him. "Don't tell me that—"

"Okay then, I won't."

"Yuno—"

Ruri had expected a lot of things. She had expected her brother to be acting out, to be so angry that he couldn't think straight, to be running off to get into a fight, but…

"Is that possible?" Shun asked. Kaede, who had been tinkering with something that he'd immediately put away once Shun came in, shrugged.

"It definitely is," he said. "But it's not my expertise—messing with the code of duel disks is difficult, and we only managed to replicate Academia's carding program with the help of Kaito's father. You should ask that prodigy from the Link Dimension to do it instead."

"… alright," Shun said. He turned to leave.

"Shun." Ruri saw Kaede turn back to the table, though she couldn't see his face. "… to be honest, I'm surprised that you haven't run off yet."

"… aren't you the one that told me not to be reckless?"

"… let's not pretend that you would do things for the sake of listening to me. Your solution has always been to act, instead of comforting others."

"... it was." Shun glanced away. "But… I'm fortunate. I haven't lost most of them. Not like the people that lost everything."

His fists were clenched.

"I hurt that person because I was blinded by my own rage. But she still followed me—and then, look at what she lost because she left. Look at everything that she lost because she chose me, she chose to help me over everyone else, when… to be honest, when I didn't treat her with any kind of kindness or sympathy, because I was too self-absorbed for it."

… oh.

Ruri covered her mouth.

Was her brother… still blaming himself for all of this? Was he… no…

(How could he blame himself when so much of this was still Ruri's fault?)

"If I go off in a rage to do things again, it'll be like I never learned anything at all," Shun said—and now there was a steely determination to his voice. "I won't be the same kind of person that hurts the people that care about me. I've been irresponsible for too long. I'm going to do what I should have done for the start. I'll take responsibility for my decisions—and for the people that I should have protected. Not just Ruri, but everyone else."

Kaede brushed back his dark fringe. "You know," he said, "I used to dislike you."

Shun snorted. "Tell me something I don't know."

"You were—are strong-minded. And when we were all forced to work together and I saw you and Yuto disregarding everyone else…" Kaede shook his head—he let out a sound that might have been a snort too. "I hated you both. I told Tsubaki over and over again that you were loose cannons, that you desperately needed a wake-up call."

"Is there a point to this? I know I was an… asshole."

"… the point is that you're a better person than I thought," Kaede said. "I was wrong. Nue is good for you—and you're probably good for her too."

The tension in the room was thick enough to cut it with a knife. Finally, Shun nodded jerkily and stepped out—

Ruri stared at him. He stared back.

"Ruri…"

"Big brother."

There were a lot of things that Ruri could say. In the end, she settled on one thing.

"… I'm really proud of you, big brother," she said. She swallowed her own fear and guilt—and offered him a smile. "I really am."

You really are the strongest man that I know.

"... you've grown a lot too, Ruri."

… Ruri didn't feel that way. Not after her loss against Sachi and how helpless she'd felt, unable to even draw a card.

"... you look troubled."

Ruri grimaced.

"What's wrong? Did someone say something to you—"

"... big brother," Ruri said. "You know that a lot of my dueling style… is what I learned from you, right?"

"Well, with some more defensive potential, but yes. Why?"

"... I need to get better," Ruri decided. "But… getting better always takes so much time. So I can't rely just on that." She looked at him determinedly. "The next time I face Izumi-san, I want to be able to change her mind about who I am."

"… pathetic. If crushing Cobalt Sparrow was enough to crush the spine of your dueling, then you never truly had the power to do anything to me."

"I want to learn from you, big brother," Ruri said. "Again. Now that you've become stronger, help me figure out how to catch up to you!"

"... I see." Shun looked at her. "... alright then." He smiled then—something warm. "... we can talk about it after I give my request to Kogami-san. Alright?"

"... alright," Ruri said. She smiled, but she still felt anxious—about everything. "... for Nue-san?"

"... yeah." Shun looked away. For a moment, she was caught in nostalgia—the feeling of seeing her brother standing in the middle of a crowd, confident and reliable, the kind of person that anyone would look up to.

Someone that she now had to learn from again, just like she always had.

Hitoda put her hands in the pockets of her skirt, making eye contact without flinching. She didn't seem surprised to have been stopped before making it to the infirmary. "Can I have a moment to talk with her alone?" She said with a smile.

Kaname looked back. To be honest, she hadn't really gotten to know Hitoda Makishima at all, compared to the Lancers that she'd actually talked to. She knew very little about this girl, other than the basics—that she was a Link user and that she was apparently generally well-liked by the rest of the Lancers. Still… she typed on her duel disk, letting it speak for her. "She doesn't want to be disturbed."

Hitoda's smile briefly shifted, though Kaname couldn't read the change in expression. She winked. "I know. But it's actually pretty important. Sorry, could you just let me through?"

For a brief moment, Kaname was about to step aside—after all, she had never been particularly assertive, and Hitoda had a really friendly smile. However, she managed to catch herself.

It wasn't her call to make. It was Nue's.

… she'd almost forgotten that. This girl…

"... ask her."

"Thanks~!" Hitoda strode past Kaname, straight into the infirmary.

Kaname hung back. A moment later, Hitoda glanced out of the room.

"I know your thing is that you linger and listen to things," she said. "But she said it's okay if we talk, and this is something I'd rather keep private. Give us… like, fifteen minutes?"

Kaname stared at her. Finally, she nodded and stepped away.

If she walked around for a bit and came back… it should be enough time.

… why did she feel so uneasy? It didn't make sense. Hitoda was a comrade, correct? As was Nue. If they were all comrades… nothing bad should be happening.

… she'd walk a bit faster.

When Hitoda came back in, Nue had already leaned back on the wall. She couldn't see anything, but she could hear the footsteps, before Hitoda settled down next to her.

It was uncomfortable to feel so vulnerable.

"You said that you had something important to say," Nue finally said, when the silence was too much—she couldn't deal with it, on top of her own blindness. "What is it?"

"Just figuring out how to say it." Hitoda hummed briefly. Nue imagined that she probably had the same smile on her face that she usually had. It only killed her slightly to recognise the fact that she would never see that smile again. She'd never see Yuto's smile either, or Shun's—she wouldn't get to ever see Heartland rebuild itself and its people.

(Her last memories of Heartland and its people would only be destruction and misery. That was something that hurt her more than anything to think about.)

"You fell from a building," Hitoda finally said. "... there's no easy way to say it, huh?... no one should be able to survive that fall, you know. Even if you're blind now… that's far less than what should have happened."

"I do know." Nue crossed her arms. She had been trying very hard not to think about it. "What's your point?"

"... we only get chances like that once, Nue-san." There was the sound of someone shuffling about. "Miracles don't happen twice."

Nue frowned. What was she implying? The way that she was talking about it… implied that she knew something more about Nue's survival. That she knew more…

Well. It was Hitoda Makishima. Nue wouldn't deny the fact that between the two of them, the green-haired girl most certainly knew more. The question was… what exactly she knew.

And…

"We," Nue repeated. "'We'. As in, both of us. Have you…"

When Hitoda spoke, it was with that familiar tone—of someone smiling through their words. "Unfortunately, that would be crazy to admit, wouldn't it? I'm just speaking hypothetically!"

"... you're a pain to figure out, you know."

"I do try my best." Some more shuffling. "Can I pass you something? Uh, just raise your hand, I don't want to startle you."

Nue stared at her—or rather, in the direction that she thought Hitoda was in. She carefully raised her hand—

"And you can deal with monsters, but Spells and Traps are a bigger problem for you."

"I guess so. Dark Requiem and Fog Blade cover monster effects, but against Edo Phoenix, his backrow helped him to overwhelm me too."

Ruri and Shun stared. Eventually, Yuto looked up and blinked with surprise. "Oh, hi—" He stopped. "Has Nue said if she's alright to talk to people now?" Nearby, Miharu glanced away, clearly having been theorising with Yuto beforehand.

"No," Shun said.

"... oh. We were just talking about…" Yuto waved a hand.

Ruri looked at him.

So… he was also trying to get stronger…

That was good. They would all get stronger together.

"Kaede said that it would be better to go to you for this," Shun said, directing the words at Miharu. "Could you figure out a way to help Nue duel without being able to read her cards or see the stats of opposing monsters?"

"I was already thinking about how I would go about doing that," Miharu said, which was… to be honest, rather ludicrous, but Ruri had been around her and Yuno Sugisaki long enough to accept that they did just say extremely ludicrous-sounding things sometimes. And they did somehow manage to do those things too. "Not just for dueling, but to help her navigate in general… it'll take me some time, but I'll work it out."

"... thanks. I guess I should have expected that from you."

Miharu inclined her head. "... I'm not close to Nue-san, like the rest of you. But… if I could say one thing, it's that I hope that she doesn't feel like she needs to get up and fight again immediately."

For a brief moment, Ruri's heart warmed at the compassion that the other girl was showing, despite the fact that she… really wasn't that close to Nue.

"If anyone asks," Miharu continued, "my ability to develop the program isn't an excuse to pressure her into fighting immediately. She doesn't deserve to deal with that." She paused. "... I'm not even sure the program is necessary, specifically for dueling…"

"Huh?"

"There are simpler solutions… and I think that there are plenty of people that want to help."

Nue felt the thin plastic between her fingers. It felt like a strange piece of plastic—but then, she found a part where her finger managed to slip between its layers like a pocket.

"So you know how cards are ridiculously resistant to wear and tear?" Hitoda said cheerfully. "So we can just take them anywhere we want… it's hard to ruin cards unless you actively try to. It's more convenient to just use your cards as they are, you know? But there was a company back in Den City that produced these—they're called sleeves." There was the sound of plastic flicking through the air—Hitoda must have taken out another one. "Some people use them just for aesthetics—since the duel disk can still read the cards through the sleeves! I know that Yuno doesn't, just because he was worried that using a unique sleeve as Boundless Sea and forgetting to remove it as Yuno Sugisaki would end up causing him to get doxxed on accident. Still, it's useful—people used to worry that it would allow people to cheat, but with duel disks doing all the shuffling and things like that automatically nowadays, it's pretty much impossible to manipulate things that way without being really obvious about it."

"... so this is plastic?"

"It's my limited-edition set of Blue Angel sleeves, thank you very much," Hitoda said, before pausing. "Huh. You can't see me making faces at you. My bad."

… it should have been offensive, but the fact that she sounded so contrite about Nue not seeing her… what, wink? Stick her tongue out? It was… kind of funny in its own way.

"Anyway, I'd like to think that I know you a bit by now. You're probably… mad over not being able to fight like this, huh." Hitoda's voice went lower in pitch for a moment, but she sounded a little smug when she next spoke. "So this is how I think I can help! See, if you sleeve all your cards and use these…" She paused again, clearly having done something and realised once again that Nue couldn't see it. Still, Nue was impressed by how level Hitoda managed to keep her voice—a less perceptive person might not have noticed her screwing up. "Stickers, then each shape can tell you what the card you're holding onto is."

"... why do you have stickers in the middle of a warzone?"

"... I went shopping in the Tops for a bit during the break. They had some really cute stickers."

Silence.

"Anyway," Hitoda said, "we can work that out! It'll take some getting used to for you too, but… you know. Stickers. Sleeves. I assume you have your cards and their stats memorised already? And once you play with it like that—"

"Why are you…" Nue interrupted, cutting her off. "Acting like this is something that can be fixed that easily? Like…"

Everyone is going to look at me and tell me that they're sorry that I'm broken. Meanwhile, you're looking at me, telling me that it could have been worse, acting like I haven't been irreversibly broken—

"… don't you think any less of me, for being so helpless?" Nue muttered under her breath.

A slow inhale and exhale. When Hitoda spoke again, her voice didn't sound any different. "Nope," she said simply. "I don't."

… and maybe it was the simple answer that struck the hardest.

Nope. I don't.

Nue lowered her head. She took a deep breath.

Hitoda took that as her cue to continue, clearly. "You'll just have to get used to it! I didn't know how many different cards you run, but I'm sure that we can work that out. For stuff like your opponents' cards, I'm sure that Miharu can work that side of things out for you—maybe a program that gives you the basic details or something like that. So, uh… I mean, if you trust me to look at your deck?"

"Feel free," Nue said, and she was surprised to find that she meant it. She carefully handed it over.

"Okay! I'm going to sleeve them now, and we can go through what the symbols and stuff like that mean later. Geez, you run a lot of one-offs, don't you?"

"Do you expect me to run three of Treacherous Trap Hole?" Nue said dryly.

"Hah. I guess not. Okay, so the first sticker means card type, yeah? And…"

"What do you think?" Reiji asked once he saw her again—because it was obvious that there had been a reason that she'd accompanied Yuya and Yuzu on their trip out of the base, even if he did not understand it himself.

"... I think that the Resistance needs Kaito Tenjo," Mion said. "There was a non-zero chance that I would've lost there."

She said it far too casually, for a confrontation with someone that was known for carding everyone that he thought was an enemy. Still, Reiji did not betray that thought—he simply nodded. "Did you learn anything new about Yusho Sakaki?" Yuya had been surprisingly subdued earlier, and… Reiji would be lying if he said that he did not want to know about what had happened to a man that he respected that much.

"He…" Mion did not seem to share the sentiment—there was something furious to her expression as she glanced away. "Yuya deserves better than that."

"Hmm?"

"A father that spent three years in a different world, just trying to spread his philosophy instead of trying to go home," Mion said. "He may not be abusive or anything like that, but he's most certainly neglectful. And Yuya still respects him."

… maybe it was a bad idea to let her go out there after all. It might have ripped open wounds that she had initially managed to stitch up.

She settled down on the ground next to him, glancing at his tablet. "Still working on things?"

"They're oddly vague about what their actual plans for the future are," Reiji said. "It makes me think that while they do have something planned…"

"They don't want us to know about it?"

"That's what I was thinking." Reiji rubbed the back of his neck. "It may be because they still distrust us… or it may be because they think we'll disagree with what they're doing. Either way, it's not a good look. Still, if they won't tell us, I'll figure it out. We may have to investigate on our own though, if they won't give us anything."

If only Tsukikage was still here—

No. He wasn't going to get stuck in those thoughts again.

"... let's consolidate," Mion said. Reiji glanced at her. "You're a CEO, so I'm sure you're used to handling a lot of things at once. But it does help to summarise them out loud."

"... I suppose." Reiji leaned back. "In reality… if we count a 'faction' as a group with a united goal that they are working towards… in reality, there are six factions in Heartland, aren't there?" He raised a finger as he listed each one. "First is us, the Lancers. The Resistance is technically two different factions."

"... I see what you mean. The ones that are 'higher-up' keep their information to themselves and have plans that they don't really communicate to the others." Mion frowned thoughtfully. "Whereas the rest of the Resistance does work together, but not for any kind of complicated plans. They're just trying to use their resources and keep the civilians alive. So you're counting them as two?"

"... I think that what Hearts Branch cares about is not necessarily what the citizens of Heartland care about," Reiji said. "Fourth is that rogue group of Xyz residents—Diamond Branch, correct? Fifth is just a single person."

"... Kaito Tenjo, huh."

"He acts apart from the rest, she should be considered his own entity," Reiji said. "And naturally, there is Academia." He tapped his fingers on the ground next to him. "We came here. Several of our members have ended up in conflicts for Academia and the other groups."

Yuto with Edo Phoenix, Sora, Sawatari and Tsukikage with Eri Phoenix, Chiaki and Kyorin with the new lieutenants, Yuto's group again with Diamond Branch, obviously Nue with the leader of Diamond Branch…

Skirmishes like that.

"To recap, Academia and the Resistance have been locked in a stalemate, and Academia is using the group of defectors in order to exert some pressure on the Resistance—but for some reason, these groups have all not been truly getting in a serious fight. I would have expected them to be in full-on battles, but for some reason, despite the hostility between the groups, something is stopping them from fully fighting each other—and as a result, nothing has changed. I can understand the Resistance being on the defensive, but there is no reason that Academia would not be pushing further right now."

Mion looked at him, before she tilted her head back. "... if your conclusion is that Academia has been holding back on the Resistance for nefarious reasons," she said, "... that's troubling."

"... it's the only possibility, isn't it? That Academia, for some reason, does not want to crush the Resistance yet. That there's something else that they want, something that is easier if there are no big moves made by either side."

Someone spoke up then.

"If you need someone to investigate…" Sora Shiun'in stepped forward. "I'll do it. What do you need?"

Mion and Reiji exchanged a look.

… huh.

"Hey! You're back." Hisako smiled, putting down another crate by the kitchen area. "How did it go?"

"Set fire to a building," Yuji said after a pause.

"Sounds fun!" Hisako didn't even do a double-take—she just kept on smiling. "So? Are you hungry or something?"

"… duel me again," Yuji said.

Chiaki and Kyorin… are both moving towards their goals.

I don't really have a goal.

… but I should just get stronger while I can.

"Hmm." Hisako shrugged. "Sure, why not."

Once they all split up, Sawatari headed towards the room that he'd been shown the previous day. As he'd expected, Mariko was there, fiddling with something strange and circular.

"Be careful," Mariko called out before he got close. "This will explode if I pull the wrong wire."

"What?" Sawatari immediately backed away into the wall. "And you're… just handling it? What even is that?"

"… oh, right. You weren't one of those who ended up at the docks, were you?" Mariko waved a hand. "Academia broke all the boats at the harbour and used the debris to block off any chance for boats from other parts of the world to enter Heartland—and so that the Resistance couldn't leave, either."

"What does that have to do with you handling a bomb?"

Mariko waved a hand. "They dumped a ton of mines in the water too. According to the small amount of information that we managed to get from the people we interrogated, Academia's higher-ups have a way to guarantee that they don't explode—for us though, Kaede and I busted it down through pure luck."

"Aren't you the medic…?"

"Can people only have one skill or something?" Mariko waved a hand. "I'll have you know that my father was a weapons manufacturer. I was staring at the blueprints of explosives and weapons as I grew up—I guess that's why I'm not nervous, even when there's a bomb in my lap." She finished tinkering with it, putting it on the table. "It's safe now, yeah. But yeah, I also learned to take care of basic wounds—you have to know things like that in warzones."

"... warzones?" Sawatari took a step closer. "Uh… Heartland, you mean?"

"... ah, right. Not a resident of this world." Mariko tapped her fingers on the table. "Brief geography lesson then. There are five continents in this world. Heartland's in the southern hemisphere. Most maps draw it as the 'east side', it's a part of the continent of Aegeya." She winked. "I'm sure Kurosaki or Kamisoka mentioned it at some point, but you know we're foreigners to Heartland, right?"

"… you don't sound it," Sawatari admitted.

"Wow. Racist of you."

"What—"

"Continent closest to the northwest of here is Colossia," Mariko said with a shrug. "That place is always at war—there's almost no 'unoccupied land' in the world anymore, so they're trying to fight to take each other's land now. The city I was living in when I was scouted was Sparta City—it's one of Colossia's most contested territories, since it's right at the border of two countries. Living in a warzone does get you pretty used to things like that." She rubbed at her forehead for a moment.

Confident that the bomb was not going to explode, Sawatari finally got within comfortable distance to actually talk. "... oh. Sorry."

"Don't be." Mariko shot him a smile. "It's been a while, and Academia's done more here than those warmongering countries were ever able to achieve."

"Still, it must have been…" Sawatari thought about Sora collapsing in a corner again. "Hard."

"I mean, I got out."

"... huh. So how does the scouting process work, anyway?"

Mariko shrugged. "Heartland tries to keep it all hush. I got scouted because I ended up taking a bit of a leadership position in Sparta on accident, after two of the strongest duelists vanished out of nowhere." She stopped for a moment. "... huh. Anyway, with Gauche-san and Droite-san disappearing, a lot of the people that depended on them for protection were struggling, so I helped out here and there—and then one day, who should show up but a scout from the Dueling Expatriate Initiative."

"Wait, so you just agreed and came here? What about the people back there?"

"... I was sixteen," Mariko said. "You know, Sparta City as a territory has been contested for over one hundred years." She shook her head. "I did what I could. Obviously I was going to escape if I was offered the chance. I'm not from some fancy city like the rest."

… this was one of those things that he wasn't going to understand, huh.

"Alright," Sawatari said. "Uh, I actually didn't come here just to talk…"

Mariko was still smiling when she glanced up. "No, you came here to get your ass kicked by me, didn't you?" She yawned. "Well, I guess I can spare you some time. Defusing stuff gets boring."

… that seemed like the exact opposite of what he'd consider boring.

But he wanted to get stronger, and he couldn't keep relying on the same tricks…

He'd try to learn from this person, then.

"There we go."

Yeah. Hitoda had been sleeving all the cards while Nue was sitting there. Hitoda had gone through all the different symbols and what they'd meant.

"Here! Try to guess what card this is."

Nue raised her hand. A card was pushed between her hands—

"Nue-senpai—Nue, Nue, help me—"

The card dropped from her hand.

"... Nue-san?"

"... out," Nue muttered.

"What—"

"Just… get out."

A moment passed. Then, loud footsteps left the room.

… I need to apologise later. But right now, I just want to scream, I just want to snap. Even at people that don't deserve it.

… maybe he's right about me, in that way.

Maybe growing up in Heartland, where everyone was consistently expected to keep growing and growing, to rise to the best that they could be and not let anything stop them…

Maybe that was why her pride had felt like it had been crushed by him.

But the way that Hitoda acted—as though it could all be worked through, as though her first reaction was not 'poor Nue', but 'how do I help Nue help herself'…

Why couldn't Nue think that way herself?

Why did it hurt so much?

She was so tired of hurting in ways that she couldn't control.

Silence. Proper silence now—Kaname hadn't come back. Maybe Hitoda had told her to go.

That was for the best.

She didn't know what she could say. This irrational anger…

This silence, that she could not bear. No music, no laughter, just the blackness—

It was like she couldn't wake up. It was like she—

"Nue-senpai, why did you let me die?"

She covered her own ears again.

Just take away everything. I don't care if I never play the piano again, I don't care if I never sing again. I was never able to trust my eyes—what I saw, what I thought I knew—and what about now?

Just make it all go away—

"I'm sorry."

(There was sound again.)

A hand gently looped through hers—warm.

"I'm sorry," Shun repeated. "I didn't think again."

"... what do you mean?"

"If I had just—thought—" Shun exhaled. "I'd have realised that leaving you alone is the last thing that I should have done, no matter how much you said it. Because… all this time, when you were alone… this was the look that was on your face, right?"

Nue went still.

"This," he said. His fingers gently traced her face—and a part of her wanted to run, to escape that tenderness. "This look. And I never stopped to wonder—were you suffering where I couldn't see you? I just kept… I understand now why you told me not to say it. It was because my actions made my words empty. Because saying that I loved you when all I did was hurt you without understanding what you were feeling, when I didn't see all of this, all of the suffering that you hid from the eyes of others… that's the truth, isn't it, Nue? It would have been more than you could bear!"

Nue tilted her head up at him.

… what kind of face was she even making right now?

"But I don't think, I look at things on the surface, I assume things, and I—I keep making the same mistakes. And I keep making it about me, about what I can do, instead of thinking about the fact that you're hurting, that I don't understand and I never have—"

He stopped.

He squeezed her hand.

"You're not alone," he said. It sounded like a vow. "I know that I'm brash and I don't think. I should never have left your side in a situation like this. But I won't let you be alone. I swear that. I'm always here, even if you can't see me."

Nue…

Nue turned her head towards him. Or at least, where she thought he was.

"... hah." It was a bitter sound. "I'm broken, aren't I."

"... Nue—"

"Don't say that I'm not. We both know I am." Nue covered her eyes, hiding herself. "I can never see you again. You'll have to look into eyes that don't see as much as you do. You'll have to know that no matter what shows on your face, I can never see it. I can't even go to a new place alone. I—"

She felt a shift in the air—Shun took her hand, pulling it away from her face. He then pressed it to his own face.

"So that's how you've lived?" He asked.

"H-huh?"

"Before," Shun said. "You always saw more than other people saw. But even now, I see and I hear you. And you can hear me." He pressed her hand against his face. "You can still feel me here. We're still connected."

"... but I…"

"It's a part of you. You're fierce, you're angry, and our enemies know that. That's why they tried to break you first—we all know there's nothing that Nue Kamisoka can't do if she puts her mind to it." Shun squeezed her hand gently—and then he leaned forward. His lips brushed against her cheek. Nue had not cried, but that soft pressure felt like some kind of silent release—in a way, as though he was acknowledging the tears that she hadn't allowed to fall. "I'm here for you. This time, I won't let you go through it alone. No one will."

"... sweet words don't suit you," Nue muttered. She lowered her other hand—she reached out, searching for where she thought he would be—

Her fingers hooked through his.

… I found him.

Even though I couldn't see him, I knew he was there, and I found him.

"... I'm broken, aren't I?" She said—the same words from before, but without any trace of bitterness this time.

"You are," he said—no placating, nothing like that. "But you'll pick the pieces up and keep going, like you always do."

"... and if I want to stay broken for a bit?"

"That's fine." He let go of his hands, and then his arms wrapped around her, pulling her into a tight hug. "I'll carry you until you can walk yourself. And you'll carry me when I stumble. That's how we are."

"... shut up." She pressed her forehead to his. "... I can walk just fine."

This time, she let herself rest. Some people said that the other senses became sharper when one of them was lost—and if that was the case, maybe that was why she was sinking so much into that feeling of being able to touch someone. In being held by someone.

And yet…

"Say you trust me, little blackbird."

She drew herself back and breathed out.

She could still hear him. She could still hear everyone.

But…

Ah.

I still have the capability to trust someone.

""So, I have…" Nue gestured vaguely. "... episodes, I guess. The doctor called it schizophrenia." She shrugged. "It's… I don't know if that's true. Basically, sometimes, I see things and hear things when they're not there. My name at birth was Naori, but… that's what the voices called me, because I associated it so strongly with myself. So… it was dumb, but I made up another name. Because if I could convince myself that I was someone else, I could maybe escape all of that."

"... is that it?"

"Wait," Nue said—it was a plea, before he said those words. Before he said anything close to—

"It's still just a part of you. If you're crazy, then I'll love you even when you're crazy anyway—how about that?"

"I told him," Nue said. "Because I trusted him. Because I was so self-righteous that I thought he would never hurt me, that I was the only person he had. And he… I don't know if he was that way beforehand, but… he was fascinated by the fact that I was sick. So, without me knowing… he started to test me, I think. He wanted to see what would make me break. What would make me fall apart, start to hear things, vanish into the horror of my own head. And so… when he realised that I don't see or hear what's real during those episodes, when I told him that I don't retain anything except the horror… he figured that he could push because I wouldn't know anyway. So he would…"

She took a deep breath.

"You can stop," Shun said. "If you're hurting—"

"No," she said. "... I'm okay. I need to keep going."

Or I'll never finish it.

"He told me that it was never malicious, just curiosity," Nue finally continued. "He told me that if I didn't remember it, then it shouldn't matter. He tried to convince me that I was just imagining it, that anything that I thought had happened hadn't really happened, he called me delusional and I am, but what I felt for him was the delusion, and what he did to me was reality—I woke up! I didn't want to, but I woke up and I saw what was happening to me and it was the worst!" Her voice trailed off. "... it was the worst."

She rubbed at her face.

"I think you can guess it," she muttered.

"He hit you," Shun said, and his voice sounded murderous.

"... he hit me," Nue said, lowering her head. "At first, he tried to be careful and subtle with it, but then, as he tried to figure out how those episodes worked, he got more and more bold with it. He left marks that I didn't remember, and convinced me that I had hurt myself. And he would comfort me afterwards."

He broke me because he wanted to watch me break. And then he sat back and watched me pick myself back up every time.

"That feeling—how it feels like to not trust your own mind—for someone to hurt you and make you think that you hurt yourself, and make you feel grateful—" She couldn't help it. She spat out the last words. "That he's so understanding, that he'll help to treat your wounds, don't worry, he'll take care of you when you're losing your mind, you're crazy but he likes you crazy, and you believe him!"

She went silent. Shun carefully patted her shoulder—but even without seeing his expression, she could feel his rage, burning up just like hers.

"I didn't realise it back then, but I was having more and more episodes the longer that I was with him," she admitted. "On some level, I think subconsciously, I must have associated him with danger. On some level, I must have known, even if I didn't remember it clearly…" Her laugh was bitter, and her arms were folded so tightly around herself that it would probably look like she was trying to crush her own ribs. "He did it so much, and so often that my legs used to hurt all the time and I didn't know why—I thought that I was probably just thrashing too much when I was seeing things, and I was, but not for the reasons that I thought I was. He made me feel like he was the only one I could trust with that part of myself, so I didn't tell anyone that I was hurt because I felt embarrassed and ashamed, and then—"

She cut herself off.

"I found out after I won against him in the ranking match," Nue finally explained. "... he thought that I was hallucinating. I wasn't—I was just worried that I would have hurt him by winning against him. The worst part is that he wasn't hurting me because he was angry with me, you know? He did it because he thought I was beautiful for winning against him. Because he was so fucking messed up that he thought that I was the most beautiful when I broke. That one time, I was conscious, you know? I knew what was happening to me. I fought and screamed and clawed at him and he was so used to me doing those things that he didn't realise that I wasn't crying about anything else—I was crying about him."

"He…"

"Yeah." Nue clenched her fists. "... it was the first time that I knew it was happening. And after I understood what I had been feeling the entire time, I knew that he had been doing that for months. And when he was done, he looked at me and looked in my eyes—and he saw me looking at him, and he finally realised that for once, I wasn't locked in my own mind."

"... I'll kill him," Shun vowed, and Nue appreciated it, but she still had to finish it, as fast as she could.

"I shoved him off me and walked away," she said. "He tried to grab onto me—he shoved me towards the wall, and I don't know how I got away from him, but I ran down the corridor from the prep room and—I was so desperate, so I called Kaito on my phone because I didn't know what to do. He raced over and heard about it—and then, he stayed at my house the entire night, because he was worried that Tatsuya would show up at my house."

"So, that's why Kaito…" That boiling rage was rising, rising, rising.

"That's why he hit Tatsuya," Nue finally said. "That's the story. That's what happened. I'm sorry that I didn't tell anyone—I just wanted to avoid him, to avoid it all. But if I'd said it, everyone would have known not to trust him. He wouldn't have gotten to do all this, but…"

"You still need me."

"I thought that he was strong and the Resistance needed him. So… that's why I just tolerated it."

A pause.

"You shouldn't have to," Shun said. "I'm not going to say you're brave, even though you are, because saying that makes it sound like it's a good thing that you agreed to work with your fucking abuser. Because you shouldn't have to. Because it means—"

"I know," Nue said. "I know, Shun, it's like all the progress I've made disappears in a day, but we all needed him at the time. Look at what happened since I left, since he left—"

"... you don't need to carry the whole world on your shoulders," Shun said. His fingers rested on her shoulders, but he didn't pull her in again—maybe he was scared to set her off. "It's not all your fault. It was never your fault."

"... I want to believe that. But there's so much that I have to fix." Nue clenched her fists. "I'm going to protect myself and everyone else. But I'm going to put myself together for me, even if it takes a long time… I might snap, I might yell, but I'll do my best not to be… intolerable. I don't want to keep on hurting others to fix myself."

Shun squeezed her shoulder. He didn't say anything else—no sweet words, nothing like that.

Maybe that was, in its way, sweet too.

"Kurosaki. Can I talk to you for a bit?"

Shun stood up. Hitoda grinned at him expectantly, before they headed to the corridor. "What is it?" He asked.

"... I wanted to know what you're doing here," Hitoda said, pressing her hands together. "Shouldn't you be with Nue-san?"

"... she said that she wanted to be alone."

"Oh yeah," Hitoda said dryly. "Because leaving the blind girl alone in a room is the best thing for her mental state. You know, when she clearly struggles with sounds and silence."

"... huh?"

"You haven't noticed? Whatever." Hitoda shook her head. "She might have told you that she wanted to be alone, but we obviously know that's because she doesn't want anyone to see her in pain, right? But if you let her keep hiding it away like this, aren't you just saying that it's fine if she does that? That she seals away everything without ever healing from it?"

… that was the most sense that this girl had ever spoken in front of him. Since when was she like this?

"Anyway, just my opinion!" Hitoda spun around. "I think that she shouldn't be alone right now. But I guess you know her better."

He did know her better, but…

What did he want right now?

'Her'. That was the answer.

… screw it.

Screw it. He'd apologise later.

Right now, he was going to find her. That was what he wanted.

"You look like the cat that caught the canary," Serena commented when Hitoda dropped by, sitting next to her, Yuya and Yuzu. (They had been discussing their respective duels and what they wanted to learn in the future too.) "Do you need something?"

"Not a thing," Hitoda said cheerfully. "Just like it when things work out!"

Maybe when she's a bit calmer, we can give dueling a try again.

… well. When she can pick up a card without looking like she might shatter.

As Nue and Shun talked, Yuto (who had followed Shun back, hoping that his sister would be open to having people around now) sank to the ground in a nearby corridor.

God.

God.

He buried his head in his hands.

… enough was enough.

He would never allow her to get hurt again. Or Ruri, or Shun, or anyone…

He had to be the strongest. No matter what.

(And in another nearby corridor, Sayaka Sasayama covered her mouth, tears in the corners of her eyes. She turned and fled.)

"She's blind."

"... she's blind, huh."

"... Mariko and I have most of them done, by the way. When you're ready…"

"... Reiji Akaba's asking too many questions," Tsubaki admitted. "Deflecting is getting harder." She rubbed her forehead. "... we should do it now."

Kaede blinked. "... now?"

"... asking for forgiveness later is far easier, isn't it?" Tsubaki turned away. "Nothing's left that hasn't been destroyed anyway."

End Notes:

The nursery rhyme that Tatsuya references at the start of the chapter is 'Sing a Song of Sixpence'. While there are several different versions of it, this specifically references the two verses that existed in the 1780 version. Thus, the lines are, as referenced in the chapter: "Sing a song of sixpence, / a bag full of rye. / Four and twenty blackbirds / baked in a pie. / When the pie was opened, / the birds began to sing. / Wasn't that a dainty dish / to set before the king?"

The flower that Yuri is looking at is the magnolia liliiflora, also known as the 'lily magnolia'. The magnolia symbolises nobility and purity. I think even without me saying, just with the colour of the flower, you know why he's looking at them.

Sleeves being a revolutionary technology and idea to the characters was such a funny idea to me that I had to include it.

I doubt it'll come into play since a lot of it is just flavour text, but Colossia here just refers to a wider nation that ZEXAL's Sparta City (where Droite and Gauche are from) is a part of. In other words, the reference of most of Heartland's current residents having come from Colossia is just a reference to migration and settlers in the past. Heartland's worldbuilding and history is not as 'in your face' as the Synchro Dimension, but the world is definitely built on headcanons. :) Essentially, Colossia is European in culture, and Sparta City is Greco-Roman. Aegeya is a mix of Oceania and Asia in terms of culture but probably closer to Australia, and Heartland is a part of the continent. However, since this is based on an anime, the main spoken language across the world is Japanese, not English, and most names are still Japanese.

A lot of 6ARC is about recovery, and… yeah. Recovery is not always smooth. People are emotional, they strike out, things like that.

As of now, 6ARC is M-rated! :) Just take note of that.

Review responses!

To Enigmathenightmare, mm, Naori is her name at birth. Nue is her current legal name. Tatsuya is... yeah, a lot to deal with.

To Infernal Enby, cool name! Thanks for this review and the one before. Glad you like it. Yeah, this fic... can get pretty raw at times, and while I've been slammed for talking about such serious topics in a fic about a franchise that wasn't that serious, it's still the kind of fic that I want to write :)

To Egduardiazsluber, I don't think that I know enough about the Orichalcos archetype to say much about it :) I do think that the Atlantis mythology in the anime is fascinating though, hence why I'm using it.

To Bryz0n, yeah, I always like to examine the 'why' of characters and their behaviour :)

To T.V. 2000, a lot of things are purposely left ambiguous for now, so don't worry if you don't quite know what they are yet :)

To phantomdragons, looking forward to your theory!

Updates are going to slow a lot, actually, due to irl reasons. A bit unavoidable… it's just life things :) The topics that 6ARC covers right now are also a bit... heavy for me personally, and we're in a part of it that is very personal to me, so taking a few breaks occasionally is pretty important for my own mental health too. I'll do my best to continue updating as regularly as possible though!