Yu-Gi-Oh! Skies [IC/R-16]

[VCR_CAT]

Hiraku

 

"Shorty must be picking on freshman who don't know any better. What a jerk, going after easy targets like that," a voice spoke from the crowd, and at the sound of the words Hiraku's ears practically perked up.

 

"I don't know what you're talking about," Hiraku started, barely containing his annoyance at the jab at his height. "They all approached me for a challenge, and I showed them how high the mountain really is. Am I really a jerk for that?" Hiraku turned to see who it was he was talking to, and his mind raced with ideas for who it could be, but in reality in ended up being someone he hadn't even heard of-- another student who was in his grade, at least from how old he appeared, but nobody that had apparently accomplished anything of note. Hiraku's lips curled into a subtle, venomous grin. "But if you think all I'm doing is picking on the inexperienced and have nothing to back up my talk, then please, by all means, I'm open for a challenge if you think you have what it takes."

 

As he spoke, Hiraku could feel his phone buzz, and glanced down at the post that the student council president had just posted.

 

@: PrezAshley

o. m. g!! #BlueYonder students, I just got the #craziest scoop! Elizabeth Hall is challenging Hitomu Amaya to a duel in a few days!! Details coming soon for this *must see* #duel!

 

A vein twitched on Hiraku's forehead. Of all the luck, this sort of thing had to happen now. He looked back up at Yushiro and scrutinized his potential opponent. If he took up that offer, then maybe he could make it quick.

[Yui]

---

A buzzing sound suddenly appeared. No, it wasn't an astoundingly well-timed bee, but Yusuji's phone.

"Hold on, just ONE second!" Yusuji said, quickly fishing it out. Then, glancing at the screen, "It's from Jun!"

From: Jun
To: Paintsuji 
 
awesome! what if we met up by the food truck
i havent eaten anything yet
also made a new friend 
shes very quiet but youll probably like her

"Oh, she's met a friend!" she exclaimed, "Also, she's finally made it to school, so we get to meet up. Apparently we're going to the food truck; we'll get to see Jo too!"

From: Yusuji
To: NiceHatJun

Yay! Friends, food, and more friends!
Cya there!

Also, I found Kyouko! You didn't tell me she was this nice :P
 
"Food truck..." Kyouko mused to herself. She'd been to Fast Food a few times before. The hamburgers were among the better ones she'd had before, and while she didn't recall tacos being on the menu there, Kyouko could definitely have gone for something to eat right about now. She hadn't grabbed any breakfast on her way out of the house, and between getting here, getting into a "fight" way too soon, and taking some time in the pool to settle down, Kyouko was a hungry girl. I should have stopped by a Tito's on the way here. They have good tacos. Kyouko climbed out of the pool, and nodded at the painter before her. "Sounds good. Let's go meet up with Jun and whoever her new friend is."
 
I'll try not to forget this new friend's name. No guarantees though.
 
While Kyouko was drying off, she looked at her phone. There were only three contacts in it. The first was herself, so that she had a convenient spot to refer to when giving her number to people, or otherwise to just text herself important things to remember. The second was of course Jun, who she considered texting for a bit  before tossing the idea aside. She was going to see her in person soon enough anyway. The third was the nearest Tito's Burritos, for when she wanted mexican and really didn't feel like walking to the place and waiting for her food there. She picked it up, and started for the pool lockers so she could change back into some actual clothes.

After some time spent drying off and changing back into her clothes, Kyouko and Yusuji were off for Fast Food. And when they arrived, they found that Jun and her new friend were already there, though it didn't look like they'd been there very long. Only just long enough to get their food, it seemed, as the truck's greatest and only chef laid down a pair of plates before the girls. It seemed that besides them, as well as Yusuji and of course Kyouko herself, there was only one other student left here. Some girl Kyouko thought maybe she'd possibly caught a glimpse of last year, sitting at a table near the truck and just staring at her food. What was her deal?
 
Oh well. It wasn't Kyouko's problem, and she definitely wasn't going to make it her problem.
 
"Hey there Jun," Kyouko said, raising a hand as she continued toward the truck. "Your buddy happened to find me at the pool earlier so she invited me to hang out too." If her height didn't give her away - she towered over these other girls, after all - the whale-print hoodie probably did. As Kyouko approached the counter of the food truck, she put down a pretty simple order. "I want three burgers. No veggies. And... hmm, you wouldn't happen to have any bacon would you?"
 
"Not today," Jo shrugged in response from her spot in the truck, already getting started on the burgers Kyouko had ordered. "I'm expecting slow business today so it's just burgers and fries right now."
 
"Double order of fries then." A big appetite and a skipped breakfast were seldom a good combination, especially with the low-budget lifestyle Kyouko had to live with back home. "I'm using school money for this."
 
"Got it. And for your friend with the glasses?"
 
Friend of a friend. While Yusuji worked on her order for some food, Kyouko turned her attention to Jun and the new person she'd befriended. "So, who did you end up stumbling into this time, Jun?"

---

[spoiler=OOC]Collabed with Dova for the start of this one, and I've also used my co-host powers a bit to keep things flowing smoothly around Fast Food. Here's just a quick recap of what all I did.

• Moved Yusuji, Jun, and Melissa to Fast Food, and got them whatever they may have been ordering. Feel free to detail just what y'all ordered in your respective posts.
• Moved Akari to a table near the truck, for flow purposes.

 

 

[a coffee]

 

The conversation was sort of erratic; Liz was not really sure how to go about this and probably came off of as a mess. Regardless, she had got the answer she wanted: it was a duel, and it was going to be soon. She had to go and prepare as soon as she could.

 

 “I mean… I’ll duel you Lizzy, no problem, but… I’m just not sure that it’s gonna--” 

 

Another customer had come in, and he was instantly back to customer service mode. Formal greeting and all. something was clearly on Hitomu's mind, but this was neither the time nor the place to figure out what. Besides, she got what she wanted, and that was a duel for the ages, or at least so she hoped.

 

Liz looked at her phone briefly and saw the notification that Ashley had posted, which reminded her: she was incredibly angry with Ashley right now! The fluster of emotion with Hitomu had distracted her briefly, but it was about time to pay a visit to her dear old friend.

 

"Yeah, I'll see you then Hitomu. Anyway thanks for the drink. I have to go choke the life out of our student council president." Elizabeth took a cigarette and her lighter out from her bag, snatched the drink and her card off from the counter, and made her way outdoors.

 

If she had to be honest with herself, she hated herself for doing this. She lit the end of the cigarette and inhaled deeply, and by the end of it, that self-hatred had washed away just the same as her nerves regarding the duel itself. Elizabeth knew what she was doing was bad for her, and she needed to get off of it by the end of her senior year; she was smoking far too much. And yet... the comfort of knowing she always had a way to reach a safe place in her brain was too tempting to let go of; what if she never got any better? What if she was never strong enough to get to that safe place without help? That was the real reason she was doing this; she had no earthly clue what would happen and was far from eager to find out.

 

~~

 

Elizabeth avoided main campus for a bit, knowing it would be busy. Instead, she had gone for a small hike around the beautiful surrounding area of Blue Yonder. It was a hot day for it, but the cool coffee and the sound of her own thoughts kept her plenty comfortable and occupied.

 

Hitomu's toons are going to be so tough to control, but if I can get Leo Dancer on the field, I think I've got a chance... I just need to get a little lucky. Elizabeth thought to herself, kicking occasional pieces of gravel along the road she walked on, headed back towards the crowded, stuffy main campus where she could grab her journals and start doing her prep work for the duel that laid ahead. She finally decided it was time to let Ashley have it, after some thinking about it. Liz took the phone out from her clutch and thumbed over the contact for a bit, waffling on whether or not she wanted to even bother.

 

 

 

To: Ash

From: Beth

 

Just settled the duel with Hitomu. Gonna be at the dueling grounds.

 

...Hey listen I just wanted to say that the way you treated this really hurt me. I wanted you to be in my corner, not Blue Yonder's.

 

 

 

She stared at the phone for an eternity, thumb hovered over the giant "Send" button next to her true feelings. She wanted so badly to send the text, but just could not force her thumb down on the key. At first it infuriated her, then it just upset her. She groaned about as loudly as she could. She couldn't do this to Ashley, could she? Elizabeth tried to restructure the text entirely:

 

 

 

To: Ash

From: Beth

 

Hitomu and I are on for the first day of classes; we're going to the dueling grounds and everything. Pretty serious stuff. Seriously though Ash, the advertisement? Couldn't you at least run it by me? Did you even think about how that was going to go for me? Did you care? 

 

 

 

Again she froze; this time she just sounded angry, and she was, she was really truly angry with Ashley for turning her depression into a sideshow for Blue Yonder. She would totally deserve a bit of a lashing for this, it was wrong what she did.

 

 

 

To: Ash

From: Beth

 

We're dueling at the dueling grounds and everything it sounds like. How's the festival going? Should I stop by for anything or just get prepared for my duel?

 

 

 

Frustrated with herself, she hit send.  It'll just be easier this way. No point in starting drama for myself now, I have a long week ahead of me no matter how this duel goes. she convinced herself.

 

Almost as if she had repressed from herself, Elizabeth kept her mind silent on the way back to Blue Yonder. It was probably better that she did not question herself anyway. Right?

[King K. Azo]

 

Before the dawn that morning, there was a man jogging in the streets. Not just any man though, it was THE MAN Akira, dressed in a red hoodie and sweatpants to keep comfortable in the cool morning. His red headband was tied to his right forearm, the cloth flowing with the motion of his run. His jog lasted until the late morning, when the sun was up. Unlike a lot of people, he had already moved into his dorm, since he had nothing better to do last night.

He sat down on a bench, taking deep slow breaths as he reached into his pocket. He had a text message to read, and unsurprisingly, it was from Yushiro. 

 

From: Yushiro

 

To: AkiraTHEMAN
 
Yo, out of work early. Finished moving in yet? We should chill before classes start tomorrow and you know who starts monopolizing all of your time :P HMU I'll be out on campus checking out clubs and food stands.

 

Oh, and tell THE MOM I said thanks for letting me crash the other week, forgot to thank her for that delish kamonanban! 

 

Akira smiled a little as he saw Yushiro was out of class. Good, good, they could do some fun stuff today. But who did he mean when he said someone monopolized his time? Was it Katsu? He tapped his chin. It was probably just Yushiro being Yushiro. 

 

From:AkiraTHEMAN

 

To:THEMANYUSHIRO

 

It's good to hear you're done with work. Let's get together today for sure! And I'll be sure to let THE MOM know. 

 

With that, Akira stood back up, stretching. He needed a drink, and he knew just the place to go do it. Bouncing on his toes for a few seconds, he decided that he would head to Coffee Cards, hope they have some hot chocolate today. He could really go for some hot chocolate right now. First though, he needed a change of clothes. He started to jog off again, a smile on his face. 

Eventually though, he saw a small crowd of people gathered. What was going on there? He walked over, and using his superior size, looked over most of the crowd to see...

"The man Yushiro!" He called out as he pushed through the crowd, eventually forcing his way to Yushiro's side. "Fancy meeting you here," He said before he looked over and saw Hiraku. "Who is the man you're talking to?"

 

---

 

 

Sai cursed to himself as he held a bunch of bags over one shoulder, digging into his pocket with his other hand. Of course he couldn't find the key to his dorm. Of course it had to happen while he was trying to move everything into the dorm. If Limerick and Sonnet were he, he was sure he'd be a laughing stock for sure. Grunting, he grabbed his phone, rapidly typing on the screen.

To: Souji of the Turbulent Wind

 

From: Sai Salamander

 

Hey, I seemed to have locked myself out of the dorm. Can you come here and open the door?

 

He sighed as he sat his stuff down, groaning. Now all he could do was wait.
 

[Super Chaos Sonic]

 

 

Souji was just enjoying the day...although it was hot as blazes right now. Nevertheless, he found himself some shade to stand under to keep cool. While planning his next move on where he should go, he got a message sent to his phone. "J-Jeez...I thought I put that on vibrate!" he muttered, fishing around for his cellphone. Eventually he was able to get it, entered the lockscreen password, and then noticed something.

 

New Message: Sai Salamander

 

"Oh Sai's finally here?" he asked, before proceeding to access the full message. "Ooohhh..."

 

From: Sai Salamander

To: Souji of the Turbulent Wind

 

Hey, I seemed to have locked myself out of the dorm. Can you come here and open the door?

 

With a heavy sigh, Souji shook his head. "He locked himself out of the dorm again? Jeez this guy..." he said, before getting a response to his roommate.

 

From: Souji

To: TheWizardingSai

 

Maaaaaan you are lucky I wasn't too far away from the dorms. Yeeeeeaaaaaah I'll be there...hero to the rescue xD

 

Souji put his phone back into his pocket before making his way towards the dorms again. His roommate, Saiku 'Sai' Kamezooka, was similar to him in a few ways. The number one way was that he was wanting to be an entertainer. Naturally, it would only be fitting to put two aspiring Entertainment Duelists in the same room, thooooooough Souji saw him as sort of an opportunity to try and get some easy A's in class.

 

In a typical fashion, Souji would normally just bug Sai for the answers to certain things. A bit of peer pressure and Sai would go from telling him where the answers were located, to just outright telling him the answers. That, of course, was their beginning years at Blue Yonder. Nowadays, it's become a lot harder for Souji to be that manipulative with him. Still, he was surprised to find that this wizard of a Duelist was still so keen on being his roommate.

 

Emerging from his thoughts and the dorm house, Souji saw Sai standing near the dorm room. With a sigh, he pulled out his keycard, shaking his head. "Here I come to save the day..." he said, chuckling as he unlocked the dorm room door. "Seriously...you could've said something earlier in the day. I would've tried to help."

[The Frost King]

"Anything you particularly want or don't want on this burger? I can't keep up with what the entire school does and doesn't eat, so sorry if I've asked this before."

Akari wasn’t really surprised that Jo didn’t seem to remember her. With how busy the fast food truck usually was, it was probably impossible to remember each and everybody that came up. To be perfectly honest, she herself had forgotten about probably half of the people she had met last year at Blue Yonder.

 

“Alright then.” Akari said with a bright smile. “For what I do or don’t want, I don’t want any onions or tomatoes, but besides that it’s ay-ok to put everything you’d usually put on a regular burger. Along with that, I think I’ll have some fries with ketchup.” Just as she was about to finish her order, a drop of sweat came rolling down her forehead, reminding her of the blazing sun above. “Oh, and I’ll have a bottle of water as well.”

 

Happily paying for her meal, Akari sat down in a nice spot in the shade and waited for it to be made. Relieved to be out of the cruel sun, she thought about what she would do for the rest of the day. There was, of course, a lot to do with the various different stands set up for clubs, food, and entertainment. It was kind of hard to choose which to do first. Playing some of games seemed like loads of fun, but enjoying the different food stands was certainly a tempting thing. And then there were duels going on all around, which would be a great way to get some practice in. But in the end, looking for a club to join seemed like the best choice, as it freed up the rest of the day for her to enjoy herself.  Plus, she hadn’t really joined a club last year, so this year seemed like a great time to start. But which club should she join? If she could remember correctly, there was a swim club. That seemed sort of fun, although she wasn’t the best swimmer. But she had spent a lot of time in the huge family pool during the summer, so she was alright in the water. There was also an art club, that she was sure of, but she wasn’t really good at the whole artist thing.

 

At that moment, Akari realized the food she ordered was sitting on the table right in front of her. She had been so lost in thought that she didn’t even notice Jo place it down. Slightly embarrassed by this, she slowly picked up her burger and looked around to see what else had changed. And from what she could see, a lot had changed. The few people that had been here earlier when she had first walked up were now all gone, with four different girls now hanging around. Two of them were sitting down nearby with their meals while the other two seemed to be making their orders. While Akari wasn’t the eavesdropping type, it was kind of hard not to ease drop with how close they were.

 

 "So, who did you end up stumbling into this time, Jun?" Said the tallest standing girl, talking to one of the girls sitting down. Getting a chance to look closely at the girls, Akari was sure she had seen them last year, especially the tall, grumpy looking girl.

 

Trying to decide whether she should try to join into the conversation or not, she took small bites of burger, ate a fry every now and then, and often took sips from her water bottle. This routine continued for about a minute until Akari accidentally knocked over her water bottle, causing it to fall to the ground, spilling water in a pretty big radius. “Ah crap!” Akari shouted in panic as she frantically picked up the bottle, trying to save any water that still remained inside. With a shy smile, she look around to see who had noticed her little mishap.

[radio414]

"Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat down on them, nor any scorching heat."

-Revelation 7:16 (NIV)

To: Jun

From: Melissa

Haha. I’m better at text conversations anyway.

 

~~~

"So, who did you end up stumbling into this time, Jun?"

 

Melissa gave a half-wave. "Hello. I’m Melissa," she said. She was still trying to fathom how someone could stand a good head and shoulders above everyone else and still pass beneath her notice until now. She was definitely a senior -- a lot of Jun’s friends were upperclassmen, it seemed, which she supposed made sense, but still, to be that high off the ground was impressive to say the least.

 

But she was staring, and as soon as Melissa realized that she immediately returned to focusing on her burger. She’d been maybe-recommended, maybe-pressured into getting the same thing as Jun, though it did feel nice to simply say "I’ll have the same" to the woman behind the counter, even if the woman had leaned in and asked Melissa to repeat herself a few times. For what it was worth, it seemed Jun had good taste in burgers.

 

When she looked back, the other girl at the register -- the much more reasonably sized one -- still had her back turned. It looked like she was wearing a smock? So she was an artist-type then, and knowing the art club that probably meant she was either eccentric or -

 

No! She couldn’t think like that. She couldn’t succumb to such idle, judgemental thoughts. Melissa nearly buried herself in her burger, shutting herself off entirely from the world around her to avoid any further social faux-pas, but then, from just outside her notice:

 

"Ah crap!"

 

If asked later, Melissa wouldn’t be able to say whether the world slowed down to a crawl or sped up to a flurry of running water and motion. She would only be able to remember the motion itself, going from seated at the table in one moment to helping a girl up off the ground in the next. "Are you okay?" she said. "That’s quite a spill."

[Hakima]

---

Hitomu laughed as he rang up the bottled water. “Yeah, I wouldn’t say it does. You’re Alison, right? Head of the Occult Club?” Her reputation preceded her in this case. He hadn’t ever had the chance to meet her, but he had heard how much of a personality she was. “My name’s Hitomu. I’m not the head of any group myself, but I make a mean frappuccino if you ever wanna try something a little more fun than this water.”

 

He smiled and passed the water back to Alison, waving at Elizabeth as the women departed. “Alright! See you there Lizzy!” he shouted just before the door swung shut again, the bell jingling. “That’ll be ten dollars and twelve cents. Paying with school funds or personal?” 

 

Once she handed him the funds Hitomu finished up the transaction and leaned back, staring at her quizzically. “So what was that before about the Emperor and the Hermit? Fortune reading?”

---

[The Warden]

“So what was that before about the Emperor and the Hermit? Fortune telling?”

Alison gave a sly little cat smile as the water bottle was stored away with the rest. “Something to that effect” she said while revealing a well-used deck of tarot cards.

“With most typical decks of tarot cards,” she began while shuffling the deck, “there are two sets” she concluded while laying the deck on the counter, and placing two cards neatly next to each other. “There is the Major Arcana for more pressing readings, as they have more meanings and principles tied to them” Alison explained, flipping over a card to reveal The Emperor. “The other is the Minor Arcana, which are used for quick readings and for a little look into your immediate future” she continued, flipping over the other card to reveal a second Emperor.

With a cheeky wink Alison flipped it back down, and then once more to reveal the Ace of Pentacles instead. “I called you The Emperor because that is the card that symbolizes you most, as The Hermit does for your rather shy friend. An Emperor is a male of accomplishment and power, and has basically been the card I've always drawn prior to your duels, which I have observed many of during my previous two years.”

[Hakima]

---

Hitomu wasn’t a superstitious person. He had been Christian before his mother’s death, but even then he had been the casual every-other-Sunday churchgoer. The thought of a bearded man with the power to reboot the universe as easily as he rebooted his duel disk was more terrifying than it was comforting. What was stopping him from getting mad and just starting over on a bad day? He had already done it once apparently, and Hitomu’s grandmom had told him as a child that God had wiped out the dinosaurs too.

 

He wasn’t sure he particularly believed that but the point still stood. Hitomu Amaya preferred to think that the only person in charge of his life was him, and not some omnipotent figure in the sky. What was the point in being alive if everything he did had already been scripted? Also seriously… what did they feed the lions on the ark?

 

Hitomu glanced up at the television but the duel hadn’t yet started. He still had a good thirty minutes to kill judging by the crowd in the duel arena. “How can you know what fits me best if we just met today?” he asked, leaning over the counter casually. “If figuring someone out was as easy as watching a couple duels and drawing a few cards then I’ve been doing it the hard way my entire life.”

 

Alison smiled serenely, and waved her hand over The Emperor, the card mysteriously flipping over as she did so. "That's what is so fun about the Occult. It's about seeing what is hidden. You might say we have just met, but from my observations of your duels, your dueling record, and how you carry yourself I would say that I have always known you," she explained and waved her hand over the face-down card, revealing it to be The Hermit. "Your friend has signs of The Hermit, much like you are brimming with the typical radiance of an Upright Emperor. It's that simple, really."

 

Hitomu pushed himself off the counter and smiled. “That’s pretty interesting,” he said genuinely. “Not really sure it’s as simple as you say it is, but I bet someone could figure out a lot about themselves with your help. That makes it as good a thing as any in my book.” He looked between Alison, the thermometer hanging from the wall, and then back at Alison and her heavy black robes again. “If you want you to message the rest of your club, you all can wait out the duel here. No point in melting out in that heat when everyone’s gonna be at the arena anyways.”

---

[Alaina]

 

With burger in hand, Jun waited with Melissa for her other friends to come over and enjoy the festivities with. Seeming to be more absorbed in her food then the actual people around her, Jun didn't actually make all the much conversation with Melissa as the two chowed down on their food.  Thankfully for either party, this didn't last for too long as the duo that Jun had been expected soon showed up. With her eyes lighting up, mouth full of food the girl shouted out, "Koko! 'Suji!" The girl waved to them with her burger hand before making her way over. As Kyouko had made her note about running into Yusuji, the girl looked towards her painter friend saying, "see, the fish part isn't just a name. Also," throwing her arms to the side, she said, "nice to see you again 'Suji! How've you been?" The girl went in for a hug as she asked these questions. It wasn't as if they hadn't had any contact with each other since the end of last school year, but being in person always brought a different feeling to it. After Yusuji answered her questions, the girl let go and moved closer to her roommate. 

 

As Kyouko asked about her new friend, Jun smiled saying, "oh, she's this really quiet girl named 'Lissa and I ran into her handing out fliers and she's not there anymore," Jun trailed off a bit as she looked over to see that Melissa had somehow vanished from where she was just a few moments ago. Looking around, she saw the girl helping someone else out with a spill of water, though Jun didn't make any move to go help herself. "She does this kind of stuff for volunteer work," Jun had a slight sense of general amusement in her voice as she said this. Looking over to her friend, inching closer with a smirk on her face, she said, "oh, and don't think you're getting out of a welcome back hug either Koko." 

[Dova]

---

 
The trip to the food truck was fun for Yusuji. She got a lot of chatting done with Kyouko; true, a lot of it was one-sided, but she was sure that Jun's friend had enjoyed it too. And now, here they were, with Jo flipping burgers in the truck, a couple of other students, and...
 
"Suji!"
 
"Jun!" Yusuji yelled excitedly as she ran over to join her friend. They ran into each other's arms, embracing tightly as Jun got the first few words in.
 
"See, the fish part isn't just a name. Also, nice to see you."
 
"Great to see you and your hat too!" The pair eventually let go, but they still beamed brightly enough to look like they'd hug again at a moment's notice. They'd caught up quite a few times over the holidays, but even a few days apart seemed like ages. In fact, Yusuji had even got distracted during painting thinking of Jun, which rarely happened, with the end result of that artwork being some sort of eastern dragon that looked like a rural townscape from the right angle.
 
"Yeah, I see what you mean," said Yusuji, turning her thousand-watt smile back onto Kyouko, "very fitting! But anyway," she added quickly, "we've got so much stuff to get up to this year! I'm going crazy just thinking about it!"
 
With Kyouko going to the food truck, it was perhaps a good idea to follow as well before another queue built up, although today seemed to be rather surprisingly lending little business to the truck. With a quick "Be right back!" Yusuji joined the shark-girl to do some ordering of her own. There didn't seem much to choose from today, but a burger was always nice. Veggie burgers too, on some days, so Kyouko clearly had taste, but honestly, it was amazing how much there was in a burger to like, not even just in the colors but-
 
"Got it. And for your friend with the glasses?"
 
"Oh, uh, who?" Yusuji asked, looking back up at Jo now that Kyouko was moving aside. "Oh, right, me. Um...food. Yes. Just 1 burger for now, had way too much cereal this morning. You know when you add too much, then add too much cereal, then you have to get a new bowl?" She gave a quick pantomime of the affair, featuring stand-in sauce bottles and napkins. "Yeah, that...oh, and a soda! Don't really care which, just something sweet and bubbly!"
 
One wonderful service later, courtesy of Jo, Yusuji returned to where Jun and now Kyouko were seated. In fact, she was just in time for another friend introduction, this time for another girl that was seated at the table that Yusuji didn't recognize. She seemed to be in a rather formal outfit, even for Blue Yonder, but wait focus Jun was talking now.
 
"Oh, she's this really quiet girl named Lissa-"
 
"Lissa! Nice to-" Yusuji said, trailing off in sync with Jun as the just introduced girl ducked out to help another student, who seemed to have made a mess with a dropped water bottle. It made a very nice reflection of the pair, especially with well-timed ripples. There was probably a metaphor to be found there, but...it was gone, Yusuji's shoes were now wet, and her attention had had to refocus on Jun again. At least her yellow shirt was still fine under her apron....although considering the spill was on the ground, she had no idea why her clothes wouldn't be fine.
 
"She does this kind of stuff for volunteer work," Jun added helpfully, and Yusuji just started beaming again. She briefly considered helping 'Lissa and the other vaguely familiar student work at the puddle for a bit, but the two looked like they had the minor spillage under control, so she just rejoined her own friends' conversation.
 
"Isn't this just all so cool!" she virtually squealed, "The first day of school back, an amazing festival in a few weeks, and-" pause for a quick soda drink "-ROSE DUELING TODAY! It's just..." The artist sighed in wonder. "...fantastic. What do you two think?"

---

[The Warden]

“If you want you to message the rest of your club, you all can wait out the duel here. No point in melting out in that heat when everyone’s gonna be at the arena anyways.”

 

Alison blinked, before giggling. "Tee hee, you are quite right, aren't you? I'm sorry, I tend to get rather involved when it comes to these sorts of things" she explained while putting the cards away and acquiring her phone.

 

Glancing about, she took seat at the nearest table, finally able to lose the burden of the bottles as she called her first Occultic Guardian. "Hello Tobi? Yeah, it's Alison. No, I've got the water, but something has come up, and really I don't think we'll be getting any new members today. So can you two just close down shop and come down to Coffee Cards? Yeah, I heard about the duel, it's being televised. So we might as well enjoy the air conditioning while we can. Huh? Oh, just zip up the tent, it's not like we have anything in there worth taking anyway. Yeah, we'll pack everything up later. Okay, see you soon."

 

Ending the call, Alison put it aside in favour of a water bottle, which she gingerly cracked open and took several petite gulps to sate her thirst. "I will admit," she said suddenly and loudly enough for Hitomu to hear, "but I am surprised you never knew what Arcana matched you, given your run of successful duels at Blue Yonder and out of it too" she mused.

[BANZAI!!!!]

 

 

"I don't know what you're talking about" 

 

"A real duelist would be trying to help them improve, not gloat."

 

"They all approached me for a challenge, and I showed them how high the mountain really is. Am I really a jerk for that?"

 

"Yes you really are a jerk fo-" It was at that moment that Yushiro realized he'd been speaking aloud and immediately an awkward, embarrassed smile came over his face. To make it worse, some members of the audience started laughing at him. So much for starting the year off without a hitch.

 

"But if you think all I'm doing is picking on the inexperienced and have nothing to back up my talk, then please, by all means, I'm open for a challenge if you think you have what it takes."

 

Time to try and salvage things. Yushiro took a moment to clear his throat and responded in a sort of polite, apologetic tone. "Hey man, I'm not denying that you have skill, but you shouldn't beat down on a weaker player and then gloat about it. You should respect the people you play with, you know?" He waited a few moments for the guy to respond, but all Yushiro got was silence as he appeared to ignore him and check his phone instead. Yushiro's buzzed too (for the second time in the last few minutes, no less) but he chose not to check it. What a rude guy this was.

 

"The man Yushiro!"

 

There was only one person that could be, and Yushiro turned around just in time to see Akira effortlessly parting the crowd.

 

"Fancy meeting you here. Who is the man you're talking to?"

 

"Hey, Akira." Yushiro acknowledged his friend before turning back to the short guy, who apparently hadn't paid attention to what he said and was now looking at Yushiro impatiently.

 

"I am helping them improve. Nobody gets better without first realizing how bad they are, and it's not my fault a reality check is hard for them."

 

Now that Akira was present, Yushiro felt comfortable enough to switch from apologetic and express how he was really feeling: annoyed. "I guess you weren't listening... You know, self absorbed guys like you really get under my skin." Yushiro slid his duel disk onto his arm while he spoke. "Tell you what, I'll take you on, and I'll win, too. You can bet on it." Next was his deck, out of its box and into the appropriate slot on the duel disk. "Name's Yushiro. Yushiro Midori. And you?"

 

"Hiraku Tsukino, and you might want to be careful about getting ahead of yourself when you say you'll win with suck confidence."

 

"Guess I'll have to prove it to you then. Tell you what Hiraku, you can go first." His duel disk was ignited now, glowing green, and the sky overhead began to redden as the duel space field began expanding. The group of students around them backed up some, just in case.

 

---

 

To: Ash

From: Beth

 

We're dueling at the dueling grounds and everything it sounds like. How's the festival going? Should I stop by for anything or just get prepared for my duel?

 

 

Ashley sighed. The #shorttext could only mean one thing: Lizzy was upset. Not that she'd express that to Ashley, of course, not these days. Still, reading it caused a pang of guilt to well up in her stomach.

 

"Its for her own good. She'll thank you later, Ash." She thought to herself, mostly for her own assurance. Instinctively, she scrolled through her phone contacts.

 

To: Tomu

From: Ash

 

Hey Hey! How's work going?

 

Everything go ok with Liz? Hope you don't mind my advertising. Its a big deal and all.

 

Realtalk though, I hope this helps her out. It means a lot to her... and it would to Todd too. She kill me for asking you to go easy on her, so I won't. Instead, make sure you both have fun, ok? I think that'll work out out best.

 

oh look at me rambling. Sorry for bugging you. Please don;t tell her I talked to you though, she'd crucify me ^^;

 

See you there! and Good Luck!

 

She hit send before she had a chance to start second guessing herself, typos and all. It was probably as bad idea to talk to Hitomu about it behind Liz's back, but maybe with a little prodding she'd be able to swing things in her friend's favor. And what Liz didn't know would never hurt her.

 

To: Liz

From: Ash

 

If you need to go get ready, go get ready, but you'll be missing out on having a little fun if you do.

 

Why not worry about the game later and come hang out for awhile? A few hours won't take your edge away. Besides, maybe we'll bump into someone nice ;)

 

Either way I'll be here. Gotta attend the exhibition duel after all. LMK what you wanna do.

 

 

[Yui]

---

"Oh, she's this really quiet girl named 'Lissa and I ran into her handing out fliers and she's not there anymore. She does this kind of stuff for volunteer work."
 
Kyouko took note of that. This quiet Lissa girl - Kyouko was pretty sure the girl had introduced herself as Melissa, but it may well have just been her ears playing tricks on her - did volunteer work. That was a pretty admirable trait, some might say. Kyouko wasn't some. People who want help are just lazy, and people who need help don't need help so much as needing to adapt to their situation. That was how Kyouko saw it anyway. She definitely wasn't about to throw away her time and effort purely for someone else.
 
It was then that Kyouko noticed Jun inching closer and closer to her. "Oh, and don't think you're getting out of a welcome back hug either Koko," she said. She never did like nicknames, but generally tolerated them when people threw them around at each other. Being given or called by one herself, however, always irked her.
 
"My name's not Koko, it's Kyouko," she sighed, as a tray with a pretty hefty amount of food was placed before her. Picking it up and making her way to the table where the others seemed to be eating, she continued "I don't want a hug anyway. I've never liked the whole touchy-grabby stuff, and you know it." With that, she took a fittingly large bite into the first of her burgers, just in time for Yusuji to excitedly go on about the start of the school year.
 
"Isn't this just all so cool! The first day of school back, an amazing festival in a few weeks, and ROSE DUELING TODAY! It's just... fantastic. What do you two think?"

 

As she swallowed the food in her mouth, Kyouko responded with a comparitively level "I'm just glad to be here again. Good food, comfy bed, peaceful environment..." As if she hadn't just gotten into a brief fight that very morning, Kyouko reached for where she would have placed a drink... only to realize she never actually ordered a drink. "Would be nice if people stopped trying to fight me though," she thought aloud, getting up and returning to the truck itself, completely ignoring the fact that it was in fact Kyouko who turned most of her fights into fights.

---

[VCR_CAT]

Hiraku

 

"Guess I'll have to prove it to you then. Tell you what Hiraku, you can go first."

 

Hiraku smiled as he heard that prospect. "It's your grave, Midori," he said, readying his disk once more and drawing his opening hand. "You might want to get ready, then. I'll start by normal summoning Kabeiriko, Mount of the Crucible." Hiraku placed the card on his disk, and in front of him appeared a winged, armored demon with a strength of 1500. "When this guy's Normal Summoned, I can send 1 light 'Crucible' monster from my Deck to my grave to inflict 800 damage to you, so I will be sending Kuanos, Guard of the Crucible." Bright, yellow particles began to swim around Kabeiriko's body before piercing through its skin. The demon took in a deep breath, before releasing a beam of yellow light from its maw directly on Yushiro, subtracting 800 points from his life.

 

(Yushiro: 8000 -> 7200)

 

"Ooh, watch out there, Midori! Can't afford to be left in the dust so soon! Next I will be activating the field spell Daedalus's Crucible. Once per turn, it lets me banish 1 card from my Graveyard to add a Crucible monster from my Deck to hand, so I will be banishing Kuanos to add Kourai, Guardian of the Crucible." Hiraku added the card to his hand and his disk shuffled his deck. "By the way, when Kuanos is banished from the grave, I get to add a Dark Crucible monster to my hand, so looks like I'll be adding Talos, Giant of the Crucible as well. Oh, and one more thing? My field spell boosts my monsters' attack and defense by 100 for each of my banished monsters."

 

(Kabeiriko - 1500 -> 1600)

 

"But I'll put the onslaught on hold for now. I set two cards and end my turn." Hiraku placed the cards on his field and passed the duel on to his opponent. Around himself, Yushiro could hear the whispers of the other first year students, talking about the two monsters Hiraku added to his hand and how each was beaten by those two cards. Hiraku couldn't hear what they were saying, but judging by their expressions, he could tell what they were talking about. He smirked in Yushiro's direction, laughing internally over how they thought those two cards were his end-game.

 

And how wrong they were.

 

 

[spoiler=Duel Stuffs]

Hiraku: 8000 LP / 3 cards in hand / controls: 1 monster, 2 set spells/traps, 1 field spell

Yushiro: 7200 LP / 5 cards in hand

 

Custom cards:

Kabeiriko | Kuanos | Daedalus's Crucible | Kourai | Talos

 

 

[Alaina]

 

Jun merely smiled and shrugged as Kyouko refused to be a part of her nicknaming frenzy. Nodding her head as Kyouko also refuted her welcome back hug, the girl simply said, "don't worry Koko, when you most expect it, I will hug you to welcome you back to your senior year. After all, it's the last chance I got!" The girl gave a small laugh to punctuate her statement, but had her attention drawn to her friend as Yusuji started to gush about Rose being here. Munching on her fries, Jun said, "I know, I was surprised too! To think we have our own idol going here no, and her of all people! You must be some kind of extra lucky 'Suji."

 

Jun nodded as Kyouko gave her reasoning for liking it back in Blue Yonder, being glad to be back here herself. It wasn't as though she were particularly fond of the school, but all of the friends she had, she had here. The girl could only shake her head though, as Kyouko made her note about fighting, followed by an abrupt exit. The girl wondered if she had managed to break her record for quickest time between the start of the year and her first fight, wondering what the girl could've possibly gotten involved in on this festive day. As the girl sipped her own drink, her thoughts lingered on that for a moment. Maybe it was actually the latest time between the start of the year and her last fight? Records sure were complicated. 

 

Turning her attention back to Yusuji she said, "oh yeah, the duel is starting soon, so we should probably head out once all of us finish our food, and," she looked over to Melissa. "Her work is done. Hey, 'Suji, also, I hear that Rose is like super nice to all of her fans too, so you probably have a good chance to ask her for an autograph. Maybe on one of your paintings. I'm sure she'd say yes, and even if she doesn't, you have the whole year to ask her for one!" 

[The Frost King]

"Are you okay?"
 
As soon as Akari looked up, one of the girls that had been sitting down only seconds ago was now right in her face. Taken by surprise, she instinctively jolted backwards and in the process fell and landed painfully on her butt. “Ow,” she whispered lightly under her breath before the girl helped her up.”Oh um, thank you.” Akari’s cheeks stained a bright shade as pure embarrassment rushed through her body. Now having a chance closer look at the girl, she noticed that she was wearing a cross necklace. So she was religious. . .or maybe she wasn’t and just wore the necklace because she liked it. Whatever the reason for wearing the necklace was, it didn't bother Akari.
 
 
"That’s quite a spill." The cross-wearing girl spoke softly, sounding a bit on the shy side.
 
“Oh yeah! I should probably clean that up.” Quickly placing her almost empty water bottle back on the table, Akari grabbed a couple of napkins and went to work on cleaning up the puddle of water, but soon realized it was a wasted effort as the blazing sun above was doing a better job of cleaning up the water than she was. Standing straight up again, she turned to face the cross-wearing girl.
 
“Um, thank you again for helping me." She nervously scratched the back of her head before donning a friendly smile. "My name’s Akari Ito, what’s yours?” 
 
As soon as the girl finished introducing herself, Akari instantly picked up the conversation.
“You know, I’ve seen you before a few times during last year but never really got the chance to actually talk with you. It’s nice to finally introduce myself to you.”
 
Looking over the girl’s shoulder for a second, she looked at the three other girls. She was sure that she had run into them at least once before, but their names evaded her mind. But as her eyes passed by the grumpy, tall girl, a name suddenly came rushing forth.
 
Her name was Kyouko. From what Akari could remember, she was known around school for her tendency to get into fights. Luckily for Akari, she had never gotten involved in a fight with her, but sometime last year she had tripped and accidently bumped into her. What followed after wasn’t anything really bad, just a mean look from Kyouko while Akari spilled out a few “I’m sorry’s”. But the Kyouko’s mean look alone had been enough to scare the crap out of Akari. With those cold, hard eyes and that viscous scowl, it had felt like she had been face-to-face with a man-eating shark and not a human being.  After that day, she had made a note not to make any kind of altercations what so ever with the tall grumpy girl, just to be on the safe side.
 
Although at the moment, Kyouko was hanging out with friends(?) and seemed nice. . .enough. So maybe she wasn’t as mean as Akari had assumed her to be. Maybe she should try to talk to her. Unluckily, the idea quickly faded away as soon as the girl herself walked past, not seeming too happy as she made her way back to the food truck. ‘I think I'll try talking to her later,’  She nervously thought to herself before diverting all of her attention back to Melissa.
 
“I should probably get going soon. I’m thinking about joining a club today and I want to make my decision soon so I can enjoy all of these festivities.”

[King K. Azo]

 

Akira stood behind Yushiro as the duel began. He didn't have much to say to Hikaru, but he did have words for Yushiro. "You feel great, you can win! You! Can! Do! This!" 

 

---

 

 

From: Souji
To: Sai Salamander
 
Maaaaaan you are lucky I wasn't too far away from the dorms. Yeeeeeaaaaaah I'll be there...hero to the rescue xD

Sai rubbed his shoulder, waiting for Souji to come to his rescue. But was it really a rescue when he knew Souji would hold this over his head to make him do something he didn't want later. So he still needed a hero, he was holding out for the morning light. Soon, he saw Souji pulling out his keycardf.
 
"Here I come to save the day..." he said, chuckling as he unlocked the dorm room door. "Seriously...you could've said something earlier in the day. I would've tried to help."

"Are you trying to hit on me?"  Sai joked. "You're only this nice to women,"
 
"...Sai, I thought you were trying to be a Entertainment Duelist...not a comedian." Souji rolled his eyes, opening the door. "Besides, you just owe me now."
 
"I know, I know, but you know as well as I that there is more than one way to entertain people. Gotta keep your horizons board, so you can entertain in all situations," Sai countered. "Besides, I'm pretty sure my IOUs have piled up for about 5 years now. What's another one on top of that crushing pile?"

 

"Fine fine..." Souji waved his hand dismissively. "Whatever you say, sorceror supreme."

"Indeed, hero of the turbulent wind," Sai said as he walked inside, throwing his bags inside. He looked around, looking for the signature posters that he would have to stare at for the next year, Souji's favorite movie, that one movie with all those superheroes coming together after about a decade of build up. It was really odd to think about. 

Sai took the barren bed, throwing his bags on it. "I'll unpack later," Sai muttered. "Don't you have a duel to get ready for?" He asked as he opened up a familiar duffel bag, pulling out a white wig and fixing it to his head. 

[Super Chaos Sonic]

 

 

Souji followed Sai in, watching him immediately pull out a white wig from his dufflebag. Guess he's showing up as his Entertainer persona...eh sooner or later he'll ditch it to enjoy time outside that wig. he shrugged, leaning against the wall some.

 

He had known Sai roughly about 5 years, even before being accepted into Blue Yonder. With that much history, of course he knew that Sai still wasn't a social butterfly, hell...wasn't even a social moth at this point either. Still, it didn't stop Souji from at least attempting to help his friend out with his shyness...after all, that's what heroes do.

 

"Don't you have a duel to get ready for?"

 

Souji waved his hand dismissively, before smirking. "It ain't until later on today. I've got time." he said, before pointing a thumb at himself. "Besides, it's me we're talking about, Sai. Don't need to prepare too much."

 

"I mean, sure, you don't," Sai said, holding up his own deck. He took the top card out, showing Double Iris Magician. "You're always ready to go, go with the flow, high five the sky, yada yada," He then spun the card around before showing the front again, revealing it was now Elemental Hero Divine Wind. "But if you're ready...," he then let the cards slide, showing he had 15 cards. "Why do I have your Extra Deck?"

 

"Wait..." Souji immediately pulled out his deck, rummaging through the cards. Sure enough, his Extra Deck wasn't there. "...I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times...you really need to teach me how you do that, ya little thief."

 

"And I told you that you having such power can be catastrophic to the world," he commented, deadpan. "Anyways, I'm just testing out a new card trick," he said as he picked up a cloth, sweeping it over the Extra Deck. When the cloth was pulled off, the two duelist's Extra Decks were mixed up. "Well, I need to keep working on this trick," he said with a little laugh.

 

"Catastrophic..." Souji scoffed a bit, before watching Sai's little card trick. It seemed to be going good, until they were mixed up. "Man I seriously need to invest in a lockbox deck box or something..." he rolled his eyes, before chuckling. "Still, not bad."

 

"I just need to work on it a little more," he said as he fixed the two Extra Decks and handing it back to Souji.

 

"Just a bit." Souji chuckled, putting the Extra Deck away. "Seriously, with all the card tricks and what not...and even the whole 'catastrophic' talk, you really need to join that one magic club. I mean...yeah the outfits are terrible and for a day like today, they're bound to be melting under there, but hey...might work for ya."

[radio414]

"Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you."
-Ephesians 4:32 (NIV)

Melissa never meant to hurt anybody -- forcibly dragging random people through school fairs notwithstanding -- so when the girl tumbled backward, Melissa nearly jolted back as well. It was fortunate for both of them that she didn’t; she was able to quickly help the girl back up, and even with the "Ow" it looked like she was all right and in good enough spirits to give a half-hearted attempt at cleaning up before deciding not to bother. "My name’s Akari Ito, what’s yours?" she said.

"Melissa Ashforth. Um, I can take care of those napkins for you if you want." Melissa held out her hand, but Akari took that opportunity to shake it instead.

"You know, I’ve seen you before a few times during last year, but never really got the chance to actually talk with you," said Akari, "It’s nice to finally introduce myself to you."

Melissa wasn’t sure if she should be flattered or not. It came out as a blush anyway. "Thanks, I guess. You as well." She wasn’t sure if either of them meant it or not. It was true that Melissa had probably seen Akari around at some point -- maybe she’d heard the name before? She felt like she should have -- but there was still that niggling doubt. She was already regretting coming over, not because she didn’t mind helping but… Well, she couldn’t really explain the feeling, besides an all-too-familiar stomach cramp, and that just made the feeling worse.

"I should probably get going soon. I’m thinking about joining a club today and I want to make my decision soon so I can enjoy all of these festivities."

Relief! Saved from the awkwardness that would be dismissing herself from the conversation she herself had forced her into was so much better than any alternatives Melissa could think of, and she silently thanked the heavens that she didn’t have to come up with her own excuse. As the two said their goodbyes-for-now, Melissa made sure to add, "If you want, check out the Community Service Club. Tell Connor that I sent you." She almost added, "Maybe then he won’t be so mad at me," but stopped short. She was already being selfish. She didn’t need to be more so.

Melissa watched Akari rush off back towards the fair and rejoined Jun’s group or, more specifically, two more people she had to meet. "Back, sorry. Um, hi again. My name’s Melissa."

[a coffee]

 

As Elizabeth approached the festival for the second time today, she felt her phone buzz:

 

To: Liz

From: Ash

 

If you need to go get ready, go get ready, but you'll be missing out on having a little fun if you do.

 

Why not worry about the game later and come hang out for awhile? A few hours won't take your edge away. Besides, maybe we'll bump into someone nice ;)

 

Either way I'll be here. Gotta attend the exhibition duel after all. LMK what you wanna do.

 

 

She scoffed, bump into someone nice?  What would that matter? Sometimes Ashley never seemed to have her head in the moment. She aimlessly wandered towards the main area of campus, naturally gravitating towards somewhat of a crowd that had gathered around a moderately sized blonde boy and a diminutive silver-haired opponent. She hardly knew what was going on, but there was a decisive tension that hung over the duel.

 

She wiggled her way to the front of the crowd to observe it more closely; there was something to this duel, but she couldn't tell what it was. Elizabeth looked around herself to see if she knew anybody, and to her dismay, she didn't, but she figured she had time to take in a duel before meeting up with Ash. Shoot, maybe she could just get Ash to meet her here. She took out her phone real quick between turns so she didn't miss anything of great importance:

 

To: Ash

From: Liz

 

Yeah, yeah, maybe Brett from Physics will come and sweep both of us off our feet to a land of paradise and sweaty romance. Until that happens though, I just ran into a bit of a crowd down near the fountain. Some kind of duel, looks like it's getting pretty heated over here. Wanna come watch with me? If not I'll meet you when I'm done. Kind of want to see this one through for some reason.

 

Liz looked up, examining the field. The silver-haired one had gotten out to a solid start. She examined the other one closely; he was running hot, clearly. She felt kind of sorry; pretty rough to already be entrenched in some sort of "fight" as it were before school had even started. Then again, she was pretty familiar with the idea of starting the school year off on the wrong foot. She just hoped these two got it out of their systems now.

[Dova]

---

"I know, I was surprised too! To think we have our own idol going here no, and her of all people! You must be some kind of extra lucky 'Suji."

 

Yusuji nodded as Jun responded, but her eyes were already a little distant as she was lost to imaginings of what she and her best friend in the entire dome could get up to this year. True, they had begun to make plans over the holidays, as barely a week went by without the two catching up the missed time, but it was always more exciting closer to the actual event. Also, now they had Kyouko, who, despite looking a bit grumpy occasionally, looked like quite a bit of fun! Who knew what the trio could get up this school term, especially with THE EVENT coming up?

 

“Would be nice if people stopped trying to fight me though."

 

“Oh, that happens often?” Yusuji asked, sipping her soda. Her question was answered almost immediately as Jun shook her head following Kyouko leaving to grab something else from the food truck (more food? She’d already had at least…a lot?...of food!), but a glance at her friend’s expression made her realize the shake was less of a shake one would shake when doing a negative, but more the shakey shake kind that held more exasperation than anything else. Fortunately, Yusuji wasn’t forced to interpret Jun’s body language for her next comment.

 

“Oh yeah, the duel is starting soon, so we should probably head out once all of us finish our food-”

 

“Yes, right, yes!” Yusuji’s eyes widened as she looked down at her half finished burger, then narrowed into twin slits of pure determination as she dove into it, trying to focus on her meal while also listening to Jun who was still talking, now talking about autographs with the amazing and wonderful oh my god ROSE.

 

“Maybe on one of your paintings.” Furious nodding from the referenced painter as she murmured something through a mouthful of burger. “I'm sure she'd say yes, and even if she doesn't, you have the whole year to ask her for one!” The nodding intensified.

 

Eventually, Yusuji managed to get through her entire meal. She sat back, catching her breath from the meal, and also sighing briefly as she realized that Kyouko was coming back with food, meaning her hurried binge was all for nothing. Her mind beginning to wander again, she noticed the previously named ‘Lissa returning from helping that other girl. Yusuji waved brightly; she still didn’t recognize her, not with that weird necklace or relatively formal outfit, but she’d probably still be great anyway.

 

"Back, sorry. Um, hi again. My name’s Melissa," the girl said, so softly that Yusuji barely managed to make it out. She leaned in, ready for another quiet comment, and took the opportunity to stick out her hand for a greeting.

 

“Nice to meet you Melissa! Any friend of Jun’s is a friend of mine, and...wait, would you prefer ‘Lissa? Or is that just Jun being Jun.” She gave a little laugh as she continued to smile at Melissa...or ‘Lissa. Whatever worked.

---

[Yui]

---

"Don't worry Koko, when you most expect it, I will hug you to welcome you back to your senior year. After all, it's the last chance I got!" It was a statement that Kyouko didn't really respond to verbally. She simply acknowledged it with a nod as her drink was set down in front of her; just a simple bottle of water. Grabbing it, then returning to the table, didn't take long. Melissa too-quietly introduced herself just as the blue-haired girl sat back down, followed by... what was her name again?

 

“Nice to meet you Melissa! Any friend of Jun’s is a friend of mine, and...wait, would you prefer ‘Lissa? Or is that just Jun being Jun.”

 

She didn't introduce herself, Kyouko thought to herself. Kyouko raised a nonchalant hand, and said "I'm Kyouko. As long as you don't go looking for trouble, that should be all you need to know." Kyouko then took to the food. Three burgers, and double order of fries. She picked up what was left of the first of the burgers, and devoured it in a manner that may have reminded one of a starved wolf. It wasn't long before it was gone, and half of the second burger followed, along with a few fries. She paused for a quick breather and a sip of bottled water, then consumed the rest of the second burger.

 

"By the way," she started, only just barely swallowing her food before speaking and turning her gaze directly toward Melissa, "I guess since we're meeting for the first time, I should give you life advice or something. Jun here is a kind and sweet person. I'm not. Don't pick fights with me, and especially don't pick fights with her. Not that I think you will. Just something to keep in mind."

---

[King K. Azo]

 

Sai tapped his chin after placing Souji's Extra Deck on his bed. "Well, let's see here... For the price of dealing with people I don't know out of costume and sitting in a boring club instead of working on my persona and plays, I get to melt under the sun. Mighty tempting Souji, who could resist?" He rolled his eyes as he placed on his jacket. "Tell you what," he held up the back of a card to Souji. "If you guess the attribute of this card, I'll join that club. And yes, it is an actual monster card this time,"

 

"Oh jeez..." Souji sighed heavily. "Sai you are really difficult sometimes. Alright...let's try and see what these sixth senses most of us can pull out." He held a hand to his face, closing his eyes a bit. He remembered the kind of cards Sai ran, the same cards he's had for the five years now. Finally, the young man pointed towards the card Sai held and he smirked. "I'm saying its a Dark Attributed monster!"

 

Sai nodded, smiling a bit. "That's a smart choice," he said. "You know my deck is made of all types of attributes, but a good portion of them are dark, since it's Pendulum Magician," he grinned widely afterwards. "But...," he flipped the card to show Elemental Hero Stratos. "It's Wind. Sorry,"

 

"YOU TOOK MY STRATOS?!" Souji exclaimed, face palming with a loud groan. "Sai, your cruelness knows no bounds..."

 

"I'm not cruel," he muttered, handing it back. "That's all your cards I have... I think," he muttered as he reached up into his white robe's sleeves, and pulled out another card. "Um... No, that's Tuning Magician...," He then pulled out a Elemental Hero Rainbow Neos. "Do you still use this?" He asked.

 

"Rainbow Neos?" Souji asked, glancing at the monster. "Jeez...I haven't used that since we met. And that deck running Rainbow Dragon didn't help me much. Buuuuut since it's a HERO support...might as well keep it."

 

"Figured as much. Honestly don't know why I have it," he said with a shrug. "Anyways, shouldn't you get changed for the duel? Or are you going as yourself?"

 

"Psh...its an Exhibition Duel, Sai." Souji smirked, moving towards the door. "Of course I'm gonna be in costume."

 

"Then you better get ready," Sai commented as he walked out in full costume. "I'll go on ahead then!" With that, Sai left the dorm, placing his deck into his pockets and walking to the duel site. He was ready for this now!