"It's not supposed to be like this," Yuya whispered in horror. He was witnessing the unthinkable right in front of him - it was all happening again. Even then, there was something more immediate that took his attention: Shun was being loaded onto a stretcher down in the arena. Yuya and Yuzu pushed past the people still seated, uncharacteristically paying them no attention as they rushed to the stairs.

Once again, they found themselves riding in the ambulance to the LDS infirmary. The medical staff had received a call that seemed to insist Yuya and Yuzu be allowed to come. Neither of them, nor any of their counterparts, had any doubts who had sent the call. In fact, as they sat in the lobby while Kurosaki was being examined, they were fully expecting that Reiji was already monitoring his condition and half wondering if he'd arrive personally. Instead, after they'd called their parents, they got a call from Sawatari of all people. He opened a video call while sitting with the LDS aces - Masumi, Yaiba and Hokuto.

"I wanted to talk about that duel," Sawatari said, "there's something about one of the monsters Ryo used. That Cyber Dragon Nova - it seemed familiar somehow."

"If I could get a shot at that Ryo Marufuji, I'd show him for that misusing of Xyz Monsters," Hokuto growled.

"How?" Masumi asked with her trademark bluntness. "The three of us together didn't stand a chance against Kurosaki, and Ryo just proved he can beat him." Hokuto deflated, Yaiba shifted with a wince and Masumi herself looked uncomfortable after bringing up how Kurosaki had brutalized them. Reiji had replaced those memories to make them think Kurosaki had been their teammate at LDS before everything was reset. Yuya had to wonder, did they now have conflicting recollections of the real and fake events?

"I still can't put my finger on that Cyber Dragon Nova monster," Sawatari said, "I'm sure I've seen it somewhere before." Yuzu was about to tell him to stop going on about it when Masumi spoke up again.

"Well of course you have; we've all seen it every time we enter the LDS main lobby." She pulled out her duel disk and tapped at it a few times before holding it up to show what she'd been looking for: the LDS website. A short looping animation was playing on it, and now everyone remembered: that animation was displayed on the big screens in the LDS building's halls. It had even been playing on the very day Sawatari had met Yuya and Yuzu and brought them there. A Warrior-type Xyz Monster, Heroic Champion - Excalibur, was battling in the air, and though the other monster was only briefly visible, it was unmistakably a black robotic dragon with glowing red wings.

"Reiji won't be the only one with questions," Yuya muttered.

It came to pass that Kurosaki had been declared fit for release and 'someone' had sent him to rest in the same room as Sora. When they came in, Sora was out.

"Maybe we should take this opportunity to have a talk with Shun," Yuzu whispered.

"Right…"

"If you're thinking Reiji put me up to that duel, you're right," he told them. "When he approached me with suspicions about something behind the tournament, I agreed with him. It was just even more surprising than I imagined…"

"I guess stopping the tournament isn't on his mind," Yuzu remarked.

"I attacked his personnel and he recruited me, remember?" Kurosaki pointed out. "I think our personal safety is a secondary concern of his."

"I heard about the… incident with Ruri at the end of my duel," Shun said. "I wish I could have seen her."

"I'm sorry that there's no way to ensure that," Yuzu replied.

They both knew things must have been harder for him than he was letting on. Though he had tried not to make it obvious, it must have felt like his sister and best friend were effectively dead and trapped in their bodies.

Unfortunately, it appeared that only instances of high stress were able to allow the others to extend their minds out. Duels had helped in the past, but the stakes had been high then: starting duels up specifically to allow the others to take over hadn't worked. And they'd certainly tried, whether to give some comfort to those who knew them or just to allow their counterparts to have some time with actual bodies ("Yes, even you, Yuri," Yuya had told him once, prompting a now-rare chuckle).

"I'm the one who needs to apologize," Shun said, "I let things get out of hand in that duel. I let the past come into it."

"I…" Yuya's words got caught in his throat. He knew what Shun had been going through; he'd felt the emotion through Yuto, the days of living in fear and fighting for survival, the pain of people lost. He'd witnessed the shattered remains of Heartland and the nightmare the survivors' lives had become. As unhappy as he'd become with how the tournament was turning out, it suddenly seemed unfair to condense the issue like that, like they were expecting Shun to act like his trauma would just go away by itself.

Yuya struggled with the dilemma he was feeling and it came as a relief when, sure enough, Reiji arrived. He came in with Sora, who didn't look surprised to see them but did look slightly uncomfortable.

"Reiji…" Yuya said, eyeing him suspiciously. "Am I right, thinking you were seeing Sora about his memories?"

"You've come to know me well, Yuya, but in case you're concerned, tampering with people's minds is no longer an action I resort to. Nothing done was intrusive or against Sora's consent." At this, Sora shrugged like it was no big deal. He was probably used to the idea from his time at Academia. Yuya wasn't completely sure, though it wasn't his call. Plus, he'd come to value Reiji as both a trusted ally and a good friend, so he decided not to protest. For now.

Yuya wasn't able to dwell on it thanks to Yugo tactlessly shouting "ASK HIM ABOUT THE MONSTER!" in his head.

"Cyber Dragon Nova," Yuya sighed. "We've seen it here at LDS."

"Yes," Reiji explained, "it's true that that card was made and distributed by Leo Corp. As for the second, Cyber Dragon Infinity, believe me: I don't know where Ryo Marufuji got that card." Seeing the looks on their faces, he went on: "Understand, I allowed Ryo to enroll at the LDS and enter the tournament because I was suspicious of him. Unless it would have been a better idea to let him run loose, like you did, Kurosaki?"

Yuya and Yuzu were about to retort when Kurosaki raised his hand.

"He does have a point."

"Onto the matter of Sora's experience last night, then," Reiji directed the conversation his way. "Is there anything you're starting to remember?" At his words, Sora's eyes widened as he thought.

"I think there was a huge monster… and someone asked me a question. They asked…" He cast a guilty look roughly in Kurosaki's direction. "They asked me how it felt to be hunted."

"If someone's going after former Academia students, that could be a huge problem," Kurosaki said thoughtfully, not looking back at him.

"A monster like you described should have had a huge summoning energy signature, yet nothing like that was detected during the night," Reiji added. "Add the apparent fact that your memory was tampered with, and without any evidence of how they brought you to where they did it and back… it's not even outside the realm of possibility that they had a portable version of the technology they could bring with them. Either way, it seems that there's somebody here with capabilities we don't understand yet."

"Maybe Sora getting parts of it back so quickly is from it being rushed," Yuzu suggested.

"Or left deliberately… like a warning or something," Sora shuddered.

Reiji took a moment and raised his finger to his ear.

"For now, we'll have to focus on something else," he said as he turned on the TV in the room. "Asuka is about to face the other Marufuji brother, Sho."

Next time: Even with questions still unanswered from previous events, Sho Marufuji enters the dueling field and puts Asuka's devotion to Entertainment Dueling to the test.