Chapter Text
“I release my Superheavy Warrior Waka – 02 ‘Oni’ and my Superheavy Warrior Sword – 999 to Advance Summon my Superheavy Warrior Big Ben-K! Now, Yuya, I, Gongenzaka, am ready to fight you, man to man!”
“Ladies and gentlemen!” Yuya announces, and gently kicks Discover Hippo’s sides to make it jump to the top of the small building. “I activate the Quick-Play Magic Card, Hippo Carnival! It’s showtime!” The colourful hippos spring into action in a burst of pixels, and immediately begin to dance and giggle.
“What the…? Are you mocking me!?” Gongenzaka shouts.
Yuzu’s irritated voice, muffled by the glass screen, reaches Yuya’s ears. “For god’s sake! Take things a bit more seriously, Yuya!”
Yuya grins and ignores her. He ignores the indignation on Gongenzaka’s face too. All he cares about is capturing the attention of the mother and child watching him through the window. “This is the Entertainment Duel that the You Show Duel School prides itself on!”
And then the dancing hippos are gone.
Actually, everything is gone. Yuya barely registers that the Solid Vision System has turned itself off before he’s abruptly falling. “Whoa!” He hits the ground, hard, and then lies there until he remembers that he still has an audience. The kid looks concerned, so Yuya pulls the most ridiculous face he can, wiggly hands included for maximum effect.
The kid’s mother curls her lip and leads her child away.
Ten minutes later, Yuya sits in the main area of the You Show Duel School in absolute silence.
“MY HOT-BLOODED TRAINING!”
Shuzo sinks to his knees, overcome with despair. “The Solid Vision System broke down, the new applicant I was hoping for is gone now, and my You Show Duel School’s management’s…!”
Yuya pulls his goggles over his eyes, stares at the ceiling, and pretends he doesn’t care. “Aa-aah, if Yuzu hadn’t broken it, there’d have been more smiling.”
He manages to offend Yuzu before the sentence is finished. “It’s because you treat everything like a joke, Yuya! And look into my eyes when I’m talking to you!” She swats at him, but Yuya jumps out of the way and narrowly misses being hit.
Of course, fate has it out for him today, and Yuya crashes face-first into Gongenzaka’s chest. This probably hurts more than colliding with the ground earlier, because Gongenzaka is built like a solid rock mountain. “Ouch! You were still standin’ there, Gongenzaka?”
His quip rolls right off Gongenzaka’s stony expression. “That child didn’t laugh or smile.”
Yuya stands and removes his goggles; he probably has marks around his eyes from them getting pressed into his face. He waves a hand nonchalantly. “Huh? No way, I’m pretty sure he smiled.”
He fails to wave the conversation away, and in fact, Gongenzaka only becomes angrier. “Making someone laugh and being laughed at are as different as the Earth is from the sky! Your father, Sakaki Yusho, Duelled in a way that let everyone smile. Did you forget how they smiled, with their hearts into it!?”
That strikes a nerve, but Yuya doesn’t let it show. He balances himself on one leg and crosses his arms behind his head, closing his eyes so that emotions won’t shine through them. “Well, in the end, even my father ended up being the butt of a joke!”
It’s callous and he knows it, as do his friends. “YUYA!”
Yuya laughs.
“My oh my, you lot seem to be in a heap of trouble.” The voice is unfamiliar, coming from the doorway, and Yuya turns around curiously.
He doesn’t recognise the man that walks into the room. He’s tall and reedy, with dark hair and a short moustache. He’s dressed in a garish yellow and black striped suit, and vivid pink glasses are perched on the bridge of his nose. “I am the Manager-slash-Promoter of the current Action Duel Champion, Strong Ishijima. The name’s Nico Smiley.” He bows slightly.
Yuya tenses. “Strong Ishijima!?”
Everybody knows who Strong Ishijima is. Nico sits on the couch across from Yuya and Shuzo. “Strong Ishijima, who serves as the mascot for LDS, wishes to invite Yuya to his Fan Appreciation Day!”
“So me… with Strong Ishijima!?” Yuya can barely believe it.
But Nico Smiley gives him a wide, toothy smile. “Yes, and he wishes to Duel you. To make that three year old wish a reality.” Something about his tone is almost mocking to Yuya’s ears, and he chews at the inside of his cheek uncertainly.
Three years ago, Sakaki Yusho, the reigning champion, had been meant to Duel Strong Ishijima in front of one of the largest crowds that Miami City had ever amassed. Yuya still remembers the excitement, nearly bouncing over the edge of the stands, and he still remembers the confusion and heartbreak when his father hadn’t appeared. He’d been desperate to deny it, desperate to deflect the cruel accusations hurled at his absent father, but it had all meant nothing in the end. Sakaki Yusho had vanished.
Nico slides a poster across to Yuya. Strong Ishijima’s confident face is plastered right over the middle, but what’s important is that Yuya’s face is printed in the bottom right corner. “As you can see, everything’s already been prepared.”
Yuya swallows weakly over the rising panic in his throat. They’ve already set this up. He doesn’t have a choice. If he says no, it’s too late, and they’ll heckle him just like his father.
“‘Fraid not!” Shuzo interrupts sternly. “I can’t afford to send Yuya there.”
Nico jumps a little. “Eh, why not? The guests would be delighted to see the son of Sakaki Yusho there!”
“I won’t allow Yuya to be turned into a spectacle!”
Yuya blinks, and considers pulling his goggles back over his eyes. Maybe he doesn’t have to be forced into this after all; maybe Shuzo can protect him. The lump in his throat this time isn’t panic.
“For these past three years, Yuya’s been feelin’…” Shuzo trails off, his voice gritty with emotion. “Go show yourself the way out!”
“What a pity,” Nico says, sounding not at all upset and actually rather smug. He taps his fingers together idly. “If you were to accept, as a ‘thank you’ present, we were thinking of giving you the latest Real Solid Vision System from Leo Corporation LLC. Free of charge, of course.”
“Seriously!?” And just like that, Shuzo’s hooked. Yuya tries not to be too disappointed. He knows damn well that Nico Smiley hadn’t had any intention of giving them the new Solid Vision System unless they were difficult.
Yuzu smacks her father in the back of the head with her trademark paper fan. When he sits up, she puts her hands on her hips and scowls. “You just said you won’t let him turn into a spectacle!”
“Well… but…” But their Solid Vision System is currently busted, and it wasn’t even that good in the first place. The fields it generates are still pixelated around the edges, not like the lifelike holograms that LDS’ technology can produce.
“Though our Duel School is important, too,” Yuzu acknowledges, but she’s still cross.
Feeling suddenly guilty, Yuya slinks away. Not one of them notices his absence. He leaves the building entirely, and goes to the bridge across the main river. He pulls himself up onto the fence and slides his goggles down over his eyes, and thinks.
Carefully, Yuya removes the pendulum necklace from around his neck, and holds it out in front of himself. It swings gently in the wind, back and forth, back and forth.
He wonders what his father would say to him now.
Yuya remembers being in a similar situation years and years ago, when he was still just a kid and things weren’t so bad. He’s been hiding under his goggles for years. It’s just a reflex, now, he doesn’t want anyone to see him cry.
His father had removed his goggles and let the pool of tears inside spill to the ground. Frantically trying to prove that he hadn’t been crying, Yuya had rubbed at his eyes, and then stilled at the feeling of his father’s hand on the top of his head.
“When you feel like crying, just laugh. Laugh it off with everything you’ve got. When you laugh, you feel a lot happier. And then it turns into energy.”
He’d then removed the pendant, and feeling strangely bereft without it, Yuya’s eyes had fixed on it as Yusho continued speaking. “The same holds true for a pendulum. If you swing forward, you’ll always swing back. It’s the same in Duels.”
“In Duels?”
“If you curl up because of fear, you won’t be able to do anything. If you want to win, then bring out your courage and step forward! The more courage you put into things, the more happiness you’ll get out of them. The pendulum. Pendulums are tools that can be used to find things. If you ever lose your way, this pendulum will help to point you toward the direction you must go.”
Yuya stares at that pendulum in front of his eyes now, and thinks.
Sway…
Sway, pendulum…
Swing more… even more…!
He knows what he has to do.
*
“And finally, today’s main event has arrived!” Nico Smiley announces. His voice comes out slightly grainy through the loudspeakers all around the stadium. “Here to challenge the champion, Strong Ishijima, is the one and only son of the legendary Duelist, Sakaki Yusho… Presenting Sakaki Yuya!”
Yuya swallows. Nico Smiley continues announcing.
“This special match will be held using the Official Action Duel Rules! Activating Field Magic, Frontier Fang Castle!”
The Real Solid Vision System rumbles into action, and light spreads over the stadium as the solid holograms forwards. The audience blinks the brightness out of their eyes, and where the beams have passed, a realistic field has replaced the plain stadium. “Behold! It looks and feels so real that you could fool yourself into thinking it’s the real thing! This is the Solid Vision System created by LDS!”
At the top of the tower on the field, materialised brick crackles under Strong Ishijima’s feet. “Whoa! Appearing on top of that castle is none other than the Supreme Ruler who has reigned above all at the summit of Action Duels for the past three years… Strong Ishijima!”
Strong Ishijima roars out a generic battle cry, and his adoring fans scream along with him.
“And facing the Supreme Ruler is the young challenger, Sakaki Yuya!”
But Yuya isn’t at the point where he’s supposed to enter. He’s doing things a little unconventionally.
“Y-Yuya, any time now!”
The audience begins to murmur. Yuya can’t make out what they’re saying from where he is, but he’s got a pretty good guess. He’s heard the same things over and over for the past three years.
The thing is, he’s already on the field. Strong Ishijima stands tall with his arms crossed, and Yuya tiptoes behind his unwary back and begins to bounce.
“I thought dragging out his son would get Sakaki Yusho to show his face…” Ishijima mutters. “Shit! I can’t call myself the Supreme Ruler unless I beat him down!”
The crowd has caught sight of Yuya and the faces he’s pulling now, and they’re whispering amongst themselves. Yuya’s dressed up a bit too fancily for them to recognise him – his Pierrot costume is pretty good.
“Champion, behind you! Behind you!”
“The hell?”
The second that Strong Ishijima turns around, Yuya gets right up in his face and wiggles his fingers at his worst. He rolls his eyes back and pulls at his nose and says, in the most ridiculous voice he can muster: “Boo!” As soon as it registers in Strong Ishijima’s face, Yuya springs away.
“Are you Sakaki Yusho’s son?”
Yuya bows.
“You call that the right attitude to face the champion with!?”
Yuya kind of wants to just say yes, I think it’s perfect, but he sweeps his jester hat and makeup away with a flourish. “Pardon me, sir. Now then, I have a teensy little favour to ask of you.” He winks. “Please have a Duel against me!”
He stands up properly and raises his left arm as his Duel Disk activates. Yuya can’t resist posing a little as he settles into a battle stance. “Show me what you’ve got, great champion!”
“Show you what I’ve got!? You snot-nosed little brat!” Strong Ishijima activates his own Duel Disk, one with a deep purple blade. “Guess I’ll have to beat some manners into you with the skills of a pro!”
Yuya tries not to let it show on his face, but he’s nervous. This is the champion that his father hadn’t faced, and Strong Ishijima seems to view Yuya as an extension of Yusho to take his grudge out on.
Nico Smiley takes it all in stride. “Oh my! There was a sudden, unexpected development out of nowhere, but at least the actors are now assembled! Now, you both draw five cards into your hand.” Yuya does, and watches Strong Ishijima do the same. “After gathering at the Palace of Battle, the Duelists, alongside their monsters, kick up dirt and spin through the air as they dash across the field! Take a look at the greatest evolution of Duelling to date! Action…!”
“Duel!” Yuya and Strong Ishijima cry.
Nico Smiley clicks his fingers, and cards are dropped from the sky to land all around the stadium. “Action Cards have been scattered across the field! The fires of battle have been lit!”
“I’ll give you the first turn,” Strong Ishijima says gruffly. “Guess I should tell you this beforehand just in case. You can’t draw on your first turn.”
Yuya wonders if it’s the clown costume or his age that makes Ishijima think he doesn’t know the basic rules of the game. He likes to consider himself a pretty good Duellist. “Ladies and gentlemen!” he shouts, and jumps towards the edge of the tower. There’s a convenient flying-fox swing leading to the ground below, and Action Duelling is all about using your surroundings. “From here on out, I am going to show you, dear viewers, what a real Action Duel is all about!” He jumps at the swing and slides down; it makes a very realistic grinding noise against the rope.
“What!?”
Yuya starts as he’s still swinging, just to make it exciting. “To start off, the first thing I’ll do is summon Entermate Discover Hippo!” Discover Hippo materialises on the ground beneath him, and Yuya immediately ditches the swing to hop onto his monster’s back. He waves nonchalantly at Strong Ishijima. “So, by all means, try to catch me!”
He takes off. Yuya can hear the crowd’s dissatisfied murmuring, but despite what it appears, he’s not running away. What he can hear, though, is Strong Ishijima talking due to the connection between their Duel Disks. It’s important for opponents to communicate in a Duel, and with Action Duels, it can get a bit tricky. “I’m gonna kick his ass when I catch him. My turn! Draw! I activate the Magic Card, Savage Feast Level 5! It Special Summons two Level 5 Warrior-Type monsters from my hand with their effects negated! Show yourselves, Barbarian 1 and 2! Swamp and Lava Battleguards! I then release the two for an Advance Summon!”
Yuya continues urging Discover Hippo around the field. He’s almost surprised that Strong Ishijima hasn’t caught on to his plan yet, but Yusho has a reputation now.
“Emerge from the depths of the dense forests, tear through the thick trees and show yourself! King of the savage tribe who rules over the barbaric nations! Barbarian King Battleguard!”
Nico Smiley eagerly announces what’s just happened to the crowd. “Here he comes! It’s Champion Ishijima’s ace monster!” The audience screams and cheers with delight at its appearance.
Yuya returns to face it; his little mission complete. It’s a pretty big monster, he’ll give it that. Very intimidating.
“Your old man may have escaped me, but you won’t! Battle! Barbarian King, attack his Discover Hippo!”
Yuya’s foresight shines through. He slams an Action Card down on his Duel Disk and grins. “Such luck! I got an Action Card! Action Magic, Evasion! Rolling Hippo!” Discover Hippo rolls out of the way of Barbarian King’s enormous fists just in time, narrowly avoiding being squished.
Discover Hippo continues running, continuing to take Yuya in search of more Action Cards.
Strong Ishijima narrows his eyes. “To use an Action Card in such a way… he really is the son of Sakaki Yusho. But you can’t stop a Pro like that! If Barbarian King was Advance Summoned by using Barbarian Monsters as Tributes, it can attack twice during the same turn!”
Damn. “Eh!? A second attack!?” He spies an Action Card out of the corner of his eye, just where it had been earlier, and the dust cloud from Barbarian King’s gargantuan arms hitting the ground covers his grin as he grabs and sets the card on his Duel Disk.
“That settles it!” Nico Smiley proclaims. “Barbarian King’s 3000 Attack points have pulverized Discover Hippo…” But Discover Hippo runs out of the range of the blast with Yuya still on his back. “… or not!”
“What the hell!?”
Yuya beams openly. “Phew, I made it! I activated the Action Card, Miracle! Due to its effects, my monster’s destruction was negated, and the Battle Damage was halved!” He’s still got 2900 Life Points, which is more than enough.
The crowd goes wild. Yuya can’t help but bask in it. This is what he’s always wanted, to feel all those eyes on him as he performs to his best, capturing the hearts and minds of his audience with his Action Duel. Is this how his father had felt?
“Hmph, oh well,” Strong Ishijima mutters. “I set one card, and end my turn.”
“My turn! Draw!” And it just so happens that the card Yuya draws is just the one he wants. “Here it comes!” Discover Hippo takes up right up to the highest platform where the people in the stands can see him the best. “Now then, dear viewers, we are just about to reach the climax! Entermate Discover Hippo can be treated as two Tributes for an Advance Summon!” Discover Hippo runs forwards, picking up speed, until it launches itself right off the edge of the platform. Sailing through the air, Yuya continues to grin. “I release my Discover Hippo! Advance Summon!”
Discover Hippo vanishes, but Yuya isn’t worried about falling at all. “Please welcome him!” He tosses the rest of his costume from his body at last, revealing his normal clothes underneath. “Today’s main star is a very rare and strange dragon with heterochromatic eyes! Odd-Eyes Dragon!” Yuya lands safely on Odd-Eyes’ back, and grins the pale beige horns protruding from its back to steady himself. “The fun is just beginning!”
His father’s catchphrase, but now, it’s Yuya’s catchphrase too. He’s going to do Entertainment Duelling like his father, and he’s not going to live in the shadows anymore. He will discard fear and doubt, and he will win.
“Don’t you dare repeat your spineless old man’s words!” Strong Ishijima spits.
“He isn’t spineless!” Yuya snaps back at him.
“What?”
Yuya clenches his right fist. “I’ll beat you with the knowledge that I got from him, and prove that dad was stronger than you or anyone else in Duels!”
Strong Ishijima snorts. “Hmph, your dragon’s only got 2500 Attack Points. It doesn’t stand a chance against my 3000 Attack Point Battleguard King!”
Oh-ho. “I wonder about that,” Yuya drawls, unable to keep the smug excitement out of his voice. “Continuous Magic, Wonder Balloon!”
He jumps for another Action Card, which Nico Smiley broadcasts to the audience as well. “Whoa! Yuya is gathering Action Cards one after another, and keeps sending them to the Graveyard!”
“Take flight, Wonder Balloon! Each time I send a card I added to my hand to the Graveyard, Wonder Balloon increases the number of balloons by one. And then if I send the card itself to the Graveyard, the balloons pop, and after each of them, a monster loses 1000 Attack Points until the end of this turn.”
Yuya sends Wonder Balloon to the Graveyard, and the three balloons generated from the three Action Cards he’s used pop. “Three balloons have popped! Which means that Barbarian King’s Attack Points have fallen to zero!” Barbarian King is encased by the three balloons, vulnerable and ready to be struck.
“W-What is this? Using Action Cards like that!?” Nico Smiley is astonished, but the audience loves it. They’re cheering for Yuya now.
“You can only have one Action Card in your hand,” Strong Ishijima says. “You acted like you were just running around, while actually, you were looking for places where Action Cards were.”
Yuya smiles and holds up his pendant, which still hangs loosely around his neck. “I’ve been good at finding things since I was a kid.”
He stares around at the stadium, feeling the crowd’s enjoyment flood through him. The applause, the cheering, it’s wonderful. This is the kind of ovations that his father had received; had he felt like this then? “Let’s go, Odd-Eyes! We’ll excite the crowd some more! When Odd-Eyes Dragon destroys a Level 5 or higher monster, it inflicts damage equal to half of its original Attack Points.”
“Wha—?” Strong Ishijima does the math for him. “Barbarian King’s original Attack Points halved is 1500. Together with the 2500 Battle Damage I’ll take, it adds up to 4000 damage!”
Which, incidentally, is exactly how many Life Points he has.
“With this, my One Shot Kill is completed! Battle! Odd-Eyes Dragon! Attack his Battleguard King! Spiral Flame!”
Odd-Eyes’ attack collides with Strong Ishijima, but when the smoke clears, Barbarian King is still there. Strong Ishijima stands triumphant with an Action Card shining on his Duel Disk. “I activated an Action Magic as well! Miracle, which you just used a little while ago!”
“That’s the champion for you!” Nico Smiley cries, just as Yuya’s face falls. “He obtained an overlooked Action Card!”
“In the end, this is all that there is to Sakaki Yusho’s Duelling!” Strong Ishijima shouts, jumping down from the castle to the grass below. “I activate my Continuous Trap, Barbarian Rage! Whenever I receive Battle Damage, a Barbarian Monster’s Attack Points increase by 2000!”
Yuya makes a noise of discontent. There’s nothing else he can do for now. “I end my turn.”
“At the end of the turn, Wonder Balloon’s effect wears off, and the decreased Attack Points return to normal!”
Uh oh. And with the 2000 point increase from the Continuous Trap, Barbarian King now has a whopping 5000 Attack Points, and Yuya’s main strategy has just fallen through. Strong Ishijima stands tall on the rock ledge behind his monster. “Now… I’ll make you regret this! My turn!”
Yuya turns to look for more Action Cards; there should be one nearby if he’s remembering right—
“I won’t let you escape! Battle! Barbarian King Battleguard! Attack Odd-Eyes Dragon!”
He’s too late. Barbarian King’s hit collides just as Yuya’s fingertips are inches away from grabbing an Action Card, and Odd-Eyes Dragon dissolves beneath him. Yuya crashes to the ground painfully as his Life Points sink to a measly 400.
“Due to Barbarian Rage’s effect, the monster I destroyed goes back into your hand instead of going to the Graveyard.” That doesn’t make it any less insulting to have his ace monster destroyed, but at least Yuya might be able to summon Odd-Eyes again. “I also activate a Quick-Play Magic, Battleguard Magic! I’ll be gaining Life Points equal to half the Attack Points of the Odd-Eyes Dragon that was sent back to your hand.”
Strong Ishijima has 4000 Life Points again, and his boss monster has 5000 Attack Points. Yuya has 400 Life Points and nothing on the field.
Crap.
“Barbarian King can only attack monsters a second time. You managed to survive. I set a card face-down and end my turn. It’s your turn now. Draw already!”
Yuya stays silent. He’s screwed, he’s totally screwed, and things had been going so well not even five minutes ago. He doesn’t know what to do.
“Or would you rather surrender? Like your old man, with his tail between his legs?”
“No way!” Yuya cries instantly. “I won’t run aw—” He cuts himself off. All he has in his hand are monster cards, nothing he can use.
So standing in for his dad was impossible, after all. Yuya’s never going to be like his father. He’ll lose to Strong Ishijima here and become even more of a laughingstock.
“When you feel like crying, just laugh.” Yusho’s words echo in his mind, the ones that had brought Yuya the determination to come to the match in the first place. “If you swing forward, you’ll always swing back. If you curl up because of fear, you won’t be able to do anything. If you want to win, then bring out your courage and step forward!”
Yuya repeats the last few words out loud, and feels confidence race through him. “Swing, Pendulum! Further…! Even further!” Electricity crackles and shoots along every nerve he has, and he feels alive. When Yuya draws, he feels it with his whole body, like something spectacular is about to happen.
One card. Yuya turns over the card he’s drawn with trembling fingers, wondering if it’ll be his salvation.
Polymerization.
Yuya stares dumbly at it. No, that isn’t right. Why…? Why does he have this card? He drew something else here, didn’t he? He drew—
Yuzu’s fan smacks into the back of his head. “Yuya, you blockhead!”
“Oww… Huh?” Yuya sits up, rubbing at where she hit him, and blearily glances around. Oh, he’s on the floor of the classroom. His teacher looks kind of mad. “S-Sorry!”
The bell rings just in time for him to dash for the door. Yuzu chases him, and when she catches up, she crosses her arms angrily. “Geez, Yuya. You’ve been sleeping in class way too much!”
Yuya waves dismissively, grinning. “Yeah, yeah, I get it.”
Yuzu seems to puff up a little. “You’re not listening to me!! If you keep this up—” She jabs a finger at him, and the silver bracelet on her wrist gleams. “—you could get yourself killed! We have to be on our guards!”
Yuya tugs at his tie and resents everything, resents the dreary grey clouds outside, resents the broken down building they’ve made their temporary base, resents the destroyed rubble of the tower that was once their beacon of hope, resents the fact that she’s right—
He shakes his head and blinks. The sky outside is blue. “Sorry, what were you saying?”
“I said, if you keep this up, I won’t be able to bail you out and you’ll get detention!”
“Oh. Yeah. Sorry.”
A small crease appears between Yuzu’s brows. “What’s gotten into you today? This isn’t like you, Yuya, what’s wrong?”
“It’s nothing,” Yuya insists. What had he been thinking, anyway? Something about towers? Outside, the golden spires of the Heart Tower gleam.
The rest of the day passes in a blur, and before Yuya knows it, he’s back on the driveway of the You Show Duel School.
“Cleaning. Cleaning. Cleaning.”
“Huh?”
White and blue robots wheel past him. As Yuya watches, one uses its long silver arms to pick up a stray can and put it in its mouth. Nobody else seems to be taking any notice of them, like they’re an ordinary part of life.
Yuzu tugs on his arm. “What are you doing, Yuya? Come on, let’s go.”
Yuya points at the robot, feeling kind of silly. “What are those?”
“What do you mean, ‘what are those,’ they’re the O-Bots, Yuya. You see them every day!”
Oh, right. Yuya nods, his head feeling full of fog, and understands. Yes, he remembers the O-Bots, they keep the city clean. One got stuck in the bushes outside of his house when he was six, and another time he’d found a broken one and he and Shun had gone through it, looking for treasure. They’d found nothing but garbage, of course, but it’d been fun.
Yuzu huffs and goes inside, and Yuya scrambles to follow her. As soon as he gets in, he’s hit in the head with a balled-up candy wrapper.
“You’re late, Yuya!”
“I’m not late, you just show up way too early!” Yuya retorts. “And don’t throw things at people!”
Sora sticks his tongue out at him. Yuya puts his hands on his hips and pretends to be mad, but is forced to drop it and duck when Sora aims another wrapper at his head. “Oi!”
“Boys,” Yuzu mutters in disgust.
“Sorry, Yuzu!” they chorus, and earn a sigh of frustration. Yuya laughs in response, turning to look to the other door where Shuzo should come in soon, and freezes.
There’s a full-length mirror on the wall. It’s just a plain rectangle without a frame, but the actual appearance of the mirror isn’t Yuya’s concern. No, it’s his reflection that concerns him.
His hair moves on its own like a crown of vipers, curling and lashing in a non-existent wind. His jacket is moving the same way, and an aura of darkness seems to thrum and churn around his body. His eyes are deep-set; his pupils are blown wide open, and their solid blackness contrasts sharply with his glowing irises.
Yuya’s reflection smiles, its mouth stretching wider than any human’s can, revealing a gaping maw of jagged teeth.
Yuya gasps.
The mirror shatters. The pieces scatter across the floor, all reflecting him, reflecting his red eyes and his grey eyes and the clunky seams that hold them together, reflecting the ragged holes in his body where white and purple were torn from him. They reflect his white jacket and his black cape, his goggles with the star on the left and the broken lens on the left, his pendulum, his pendulum, his pendulum.
It swings. It swings from shard to shard, swinging over torn clothing and open ribs; back and forth, back and forth. The pendulum swings and Yuya’s mind swings with it. Back and forth, left to right, Yuya to Yuto, Yuto to Yuya, right to left, forth and back.
“Yuya!”
Yuzu’s voice breaks the trance, and Yuya surfaces. But even though he can think clearly now, the glass is still there. The mirror has broken into tiny, irreparable pieces, and each one shines one of four colours – red, black, white, purple. The pendulum still swings, threatening to draw Yuya back in.
“Yuuuuya,” his reflection sings.
“Go away,” Yuya tells it.
It laughs, and as it laughs, its mouth spreads out across the ground until it’s all of it that Yuya can see. It’s just his mouth, three metres wide; it’s even got the tiny chip off his right incisor that he got when he was ten.
“Come back, Yuya,” it says.
Yuya shakes his head. The others have gone quiet behind him, and all he can hear from them is Yuzu hushing the children’s whispers. Tatsuya sounds curious, but this isn’t something for others to investigate. This is Yuya’s problem.
This is Yuya.
His mouth opens wider until Yuya can see every tooth, and then the arms begin to clamber out. They’re his arms for sure, because they have the same shape and the same hands as the ones attached to Yuya’s shoulders. But they’re dressed a little differently; uniformed in violet with two silver buttons on the cuffs. But just because they wear different clothes doesn’t mean they’re not the same.
The arms drag themselves along by their hands. They’ve been severed where they should join to shoulders, and they trail spots of blood and bone marrow in their wake. Dimly, Yuya can hear ear-piercing screams behind himself, and knows that he should probably run away.
He can’t, though. Well, he can, but he’s spellbound, and they’d just chase him anyway. So Yuya lets the arms claw at him and drag him along, and he lets them pull him into his mouth.
His mouth closes and swallows, and Yuya falls.
Yuya falls until he isn’t falling anymore. The ground beneath him can’t really be called ground, because it blends into the endless void around him seamlessly. There is nothing. He is nowhere.
He wanders aimlessly, searching for landmarks, searching for the end of the expanse of blackness, but there isn’t one. Just darkness as far as the eye can see. He could be going in circles and not have a clue.
Oh. He’s been stupid. Yuya’s been looking around and searching everywhere, but there’s been a simple solution this whole time.
He looks up.
The sky has a billion facets, serrated and uneven and going on for miles upon glimmering miles of crystal. Things are encased in it – that’s all Yuya can think to call them; they’re too horrific for words otherwise. Some have human features mixed amongst the extra limbs and unearthly body parts, and others are entirely beasts. Suspended in the centre of them all is the shadow of a great dragon, and the crystal is warped beneath it, directly above Yuya’s head.
It spirals down and down in delicate double helixes, and the spines part to let a single arm through. It’s uniformed in violet with two silver buttons on the cuff, and the fingertips are mere inches from touching the top of Yuya’s head.
This arm isn’t severed. The rest of its owner’s body is encased in crystal, and Yuya’s reflection’s eyes are shut. He looks like he’s sleeping. Yuya observes him for a long moment, tracing the familiar contours of his face, the long, inky shadow of his lashes resting on his cheeks, his lips, pale and parted against the crystal. It strikes Yuya, suddenly, that Yuri looks the most like him when he is at his weakest. Oh.
The thought stirs something stupid but curious in him. He reaches up without thinking, and brushes his fingers against Yuri’s.
Yuri’s eyes flutter open.
He stares down at Yuya with large fuchsia irises, regarding Yuya with the same curiosity that Yuya regards him with. What is Yuri doing up there, anyway? How has he found this place?
Yuri breathes on the crystal beneath him, and it fogs like glass. With his left hand, the one not trapped in the translucent spires, he writes on the small spot, quickly before it fades.
Let me in.
Yuya frowns. Yuri’s the one who’s ‘in’. Shouldn’t he be asking to be let out?
Yuri taps on the crystal with his knuckles, looking impatient. He opens his mouth and speaks, but no sound comes through. He settles for writing on the crystal again.
Let me in.
“Go away,” Yuya says.
Let me in.
“Go away.”
Let
me
in.
“Go away.”
Yuri hesitates, like the next words pain him to write. Please, Yuya.
Yuya grabs his hand. The crystal unwinds, opening up like a mouth, dangling Yuri between its pearly teeth. For a second, Yuya catches a glimpse of the monsters’ true faces without blur. They look like sunlight.
Yuri falls onto him, and the world warps violet. Yuya is blinded for a moment, and as he blinks the purple spirals out of his eyes, Yuri stands and moves away from him. For some reason, this is disappointing.
“We have to go,” Yuri tells him, and then crosses his arms like he’s expecting something.
Yuya frowns at him. He seems to do that an awful lot in Yuri’s presence. “Go where?”
“Back,” Yuri says, as if everybody should know what that means.
But Yuya does know, now. Relief tinted with joy floods through him. “Back to You Show?”
“What?” This time, Yuri’s the one to frown. He frowns harder than Yuya does. He must do it a lot. “No, you idiot. Back to—” The sound stops coming from his mouth, suddenly. His lips are moving, but his voice is gone.
Yuya isn’t really concerned. “Are we going back to You Show now?”
“No.” Yuri blinks. “Back to—” His voice goes again. “I can’t say it. It’s obvious enough, so you should be able to figure it out yourself.”
“I have,” Yuya says impatiently. “Back to You Show.”
Yuri scowls. “I don’t know what that is. Stop being stupid and start making sense.”
Yuya scowls back at him. “It’s—”
The pathway winds out under his feet. There’s no show of light like when an Action Field materialises; it’s just suddenly there, like it always was. Grass springs up along the edges, sweeping out into a full lawn in front of the You Show Duel School. It’s there; illuminated like it’s in the sun, but there is no sun and no sky.
Yuya goes to walk towards it, but Yuri grabs his jacket and yanks him back. “No,” he snarls. “Don’t you dare hide from me. Come back and—”
“I’m not hiding,” Yuya replies indignantly. “You can come with me if you want.”
“That’s not what I meant! Why won’t you realise—?”
“C’mon, Yuri, let’s go!”
The use of his name doesn’t reassure Yuri in the least. In fact, he curls his lip and narrows his eyes further. “Yuya, w—” His voice goes once more, and he doesn’t even bother to try to finish his sentence.
Yuya grabs Yuri’s hand to pull him along, and that’s when it all goes wrong. Wrong-er, anyway.
Their hands sink into each other. There’s a sickening sizzling noise upon contact; the sound of flesh melting into flesh. Yuya stares at the grotesque lump of viscera that had been his right hand a second ago, feeling kind of numb. It’s still hot, simmering like metal just removed from the forge, but it’s rapidly cooling—
Yuri lurches away from him with a bloodcurdling screech. There’s something wild and terrified in his face that Yuya has never seen before, and he isn’t sure how to feel about it. The vindictive part of himself revels in it, while the rest is horrified.
Their hands separate with a wet groan like a bone popping out of its socket, and their fingers untangle from the twisted, complex knots they’ve formed. Yuya flexes his hand, and then stares.
Yuri’s left hand is gone. It’s just… gone. The stump of his wrist rounds off with no stitches or marks, like there was never anything there in the first place. The skin is smooth, and it looks strangely natural.
Yuri doesn’t seem to think so, though. “Give it back,” he hisses, staring at Yuya’s right hand.
Fascinated, Yuya holds it up to his face. Some of his fingers have doubled in length – others split into two and branch out at the knuckle. As he watches, the extra digits sink down and sprout out elsewhere, wriggling like insects.
He doesn’t know how to give Yuri’s hand back. He doesn’t think he can. It’s already ingrained into him, and the longer it’s in him, the more it becomes a part of him, sprouting black scales on the palm of his hand. But the longer he stares at it, the more uncomfortable he feels. It looks wrong. Yuya doesn’t want it.
Maybe he can give it back through the same method that he took it. Yuya can see enragement and something like fear in Yuri’s face when he brings his double-hand to Yuri’s blunt wrist, and hopes he can get rid of this sudden burden.
Things are never that easy. The stench of burning meat reaches Yuya’s nose the second they touch, and he tries not to wince. Strangely enough, the actual joining feels like an itch he can’t scratch. Yuya leaves them joined for only a few seconds, and then slowly pulls back. Perhaps Yuri panicking and jumping back too quickly had caused the problem.
Evidently not. It’s even more nauseating when they do it slowly; melted flesh stretches and clings to them in strings, tearing slowly, and as Yuya pulls back, he pulls more of Yuri with him. He’s taking Yuri’s whole arm this time – Yuya can see it happening, and knows it’s not too late to stop it, but he just can’t. Something is chattering and egging him on. It feels like cold breath on his neck and the sweet stench of decay, and it wants Yuya to absorb Yuri entirely. Yuya moves forwards, ready to shove his arm further in and take Yuri’s lungs, suck out tendons and arteries and meld them together—
Yuri bolts. His empty left sleeve dangles uselessly at his side, and the lack of weight on that side of his body throws his balance off as he runs, but he’s desperate to escape. Yuya gives chase instinctively, his vision narrowing to show nothing but his quarry.
They run at the same speed. It makes sense; after all, they’re exactly the same. If their roles had been reversed, Yuri would have already torn Yuya to pieces.
Yuya stretches his right arm forward, and uses Yuri’s own flesh to slash at his back. Yuri’s uniform hides the injuries, but from the choked cry that escapes him, Yuya rends more than just skin off his back. It’s a shame that his cape is red; the blood blends seamlessly with the fabric.
They run, and they run, probably going in circles. The void wavers and vacillates beneath Yuya’s feet, and cold wetness begins to soak into his shoes. Yuya takes a risk and tears his eyes away from Yuri’s back, choosing to look down.
He’s standing on a great black lake. The ripples his steps make travel out in every direction, seeming never-ending. Their movement disturbs the cover of absolute darkness, allowing Yuya to see the depths of the lake.
Just underneath him, his reflection drifts along an unseen current. His eyes are closed, and his black hair floats around his face like a halo of shadow. He would look relaxed, but the permanent lines between his brows make him look troubled, even in sleep.
Yuya stares at his reflection and the black wings slowly unfolding deeper in the water, and then glances back up at the cracked crystal sky. The sealed monsters are twitching, becoming more and more restless as Yuri struggles to climb up to them.
Yuya dangles on a precipice between two worlds, and he must choose between up or down. The world above is scalding sunlight, and the world below is soft, watery shadow. Yuya’s seen into that world above – there’s nothing there for him but suffering, and the thought of baring himself to its blistering rays makes him flinch.
The world below looks so comforting. If he dives down now, the darkness will embrace him like an old friend. It looks almost alluring – there is something more, deeper down, something strong and hateful. But it doesn’t hate Yuya, he knows that instinctively. It will protect him, it will swallow his soul so he can sleep inside it, just like Yuto.
But Yuto doesn’t look content. His hands are gripping each other tightly where they’re laid on his chest, and his clothes are still worn and tattered. He looks frozen in time, preserved and imprisoned.
The wings beat slowly, chattering and singing at him, ready to take off.
If Yuya breaks the surface of the water, something else will be able to come out. If Yuya goes beneath the water, something else will take his place above.
He can’t stay here. Even if Yuya goes back to You Show, the temptation will always be there. As long as he stays here, the beast will continue to try to ensnare him in its thrall, and over time, it will wear him down until he gives in.
Yuya kicks off the water, lunging upwards at the crystal sky. He hopes the ripples are small enough to wake Yuto without releasing the already awoken-beast, and then grabs for the nearest handle hold he can get.
Which just so happens to be the hem of Yuri’s coat. Yuya scrambles to grab onto the crystal spires to support himself, and he’s lucky enough to have those to balance himself with when Yuri kicks him.
The coat hasn’t dissolved because it’s fabric and not flesh, but there’s a hot crackle when Yuri’s heel connects with Yuya’s head. Yuya has no choice but to look at the wound as he climbs up. It’s not rounded off like Yuri’s wrist had been; it’s just neatly sliced off, baring bloody muscle.
Inevitably, Yuya and Yuri touch more as they climb, because Yuya climbs faster than Yuri can and the space is narrowing. Funny; it wasn’t even this big before, was it?
Yuya’s vision is bleeding. He’s seeing memories, that’s all he knows, some are his and some are purple, some swing through him like pendulums and some melt and fuse with his brain. Some even are black and sorrowful, made of hope and dust.
He pushes the wrong ones away. Yuya’s elbow digs into Yuri’s ribs, which liquefy on touch. It makes the memories stronger; they twist and snarl at him, wanting to burrow their thorns into him and become part of him. He has the holes to fit them, tears in his mind where his real memories have been eaten away, so why can’t he take the new ones?
Some slink and crawl, trying to remain unnoticed, and these are the ones that seep in. They’re dark and foggy, made of cold eyes and stone walls, and they feel like they’ve been Yuya’s all along.
It’s not right, though. The creatures in the crystal are shouting and running around, and Yuya really wants them to shut up and let him concentrate. They look like people, now that he can see them closely enough, people who aren’t misshapen or unearthly at all—
Yuya breaks the surface.
The daylight is beautiful.