On the other side of the window was a caterpillar. It had fallen from the cherry tree in the yard, and was now climbing a thread back up, wriggle by painstaking wriggle. It was slow going.
On this side of the window was a snug living room. Yonaka — the hero, or at least the principal figure, of this tale — and her younger sister Rui both lounged on the sofa, theoretically watching TV, but it was commercial time and the volume was low. Between the TV and the sofa was an antique coffee table, covered by a jumble of video games, comic books, and Duel Monsters cards. The remote was there somewhere, too.
A sparrow flew by and ate the caterpillar.
On the screen appeared a Duel Monsters card, which started to spin. It was joined by the text “NEW HIMUKA DUEL OPEN”. Yonaka found the remote and cranked up the volume.
“...once again for the annual New Himuka Duel Open,” the machine announced. “Duelists from across the country and around the world will gather to prove their skills. Many will rise to the challenge, but only one can become...”
“Do you think Sarah’s in this commercial?” asked Rui, as clips from previous years’ matches rolled by. Sarah was their older sister, and she had made it to the Top 16 last year. No sooner had she spoken than Sarah, tall, tanned, and hard-eyed, was on screen with her proud ace monster, Black Luster Soldier, about to wage an attack. Unlike most people, who would have been pleased by a Top 16 finish, Sarah had immediately left for Japan, home of many past champions, on a mission of self-improvement.
“...time to register is running out,” the ad was wrapping up. “No tournament experience necessary.”
“You should enter,” Rui said.
“But Dad won’t let me, and I’m not good enough anyway,” Yonaka replied, employing the psychologically suspicious two-proposition self-canceling structure mentioned by Philip K. Dick (whom she had never read). “Maybe you should enter,” she added, deflecting.
“I’m definitely not good enough,” Rui said. She and Yonaka played often — Yonaka had almost no one else to play with — but Rui was rarely the winner. They both had the same pool of cards to pick from (mostly hand-me-downs from Sarah), but whether through aptitude or practice Yonaka had ended up on a different level.
“But what if...” Yonaka said slowly, allowing the idea to become attractive, “...I played against Sarah in the tournament.”
“That would be fun.”
“We now return,” the TV chattered, “to the NH City Showdown. Sponsored by Pann Microsystems, engineering the road to tomorrow...”
* * *
In the evening, their dad called them in for dinner.
By the way, the three sisters — Rui, Yonaka, and the off-screen Sarah — were not actually sisters in the genealogical sense. Through events that may be abstractly surmised from the prologue, they had at different times come into the care of a man named Abraham, who was now their father.
And now a paragraph at least may be spared on him. Abraham was the kind of man a historian would describe as “most likely a homosexual”, though being fictional, he will forever escape the gaze of history. He taught literature at a small university (a subject even less popular in the nonspecific future in which this tale takes place than it is now). He had never married and preferred books to people, but honored his familial obligations, and had raised the three sisters as best he could.
“Sarah called,” he said as they started to eat. “She said she’s finished in Japan. Her plane is arriving at midnight. She’s going to be staying a few days before she leaves for America.”
“She wants to train at the origin place of Duel Monsters?” Rui asked. You may recall that Industrial Illusions, the company that manufactures Duel Monsters, is based in America.
“Exactly.”
On the wall of the dining room was mounted a silver Duel Disk, so old it was almost an antique. Their dad didn’t duel, but there it hung like a coat of arms or a mounted katana, as if waiting for something. Yonaka toyed with her green beans. She didn’t like green beans much.
“Um... she began, “I was wondering... I mean, next month I want to play in...in the Duel Open.” Since the afternoon, she had grown infatuated with the idea of playing in the Duel Open. Not for something so prosaic as a reason. But there was the urge.
“You know that isn’t possible,” he said.
“It doesn’t have to be the Open,” she added hurriedly, continuing to find the vegetables fascinating. “I could try a local tournament—”
“You know the size doesn’t matter,” he said.
“No, I don’t know,” she retorted, more sharply than she’d meant to. She was looking up now.
“The Witch Hunts—”
“That all happened before I was born!” The liquidations had officially been terminated fifteen years ago, so it was a little more recent than that. But it was true within a rounding error. “It doesn’t matter anymore! No one cares anymore!”
“You weren’t there,” he replied firmly. “There are people who care quite a bit. You can’t hide that you’re from a witch bloodline, not from those who can recognize the signs. We’ve left the house together from time to time. But not where you could be recognized. And not to duel.”
“I’m almost an adult,” she protested. “I have to leave sometime.”
“Maybe. But not now.”
Her fingers squeezed the table, expressing the feelings she couldn’t turn into words. Then she pushed away her plate.
“I’m not hungry any more,” she said, and left the table. Her dad could have called her back, but he didn’t.
Rui bit her lip. “Um...” she started, but had nothing to add.
* * *
Yonaka went to her room fuming. She had gotten angry, really angry, which was unusual. She lay back on her bed and stared at the ceiling. After a few minutes, her head had cooled off, but that didn’t mean she’d stopped caring.
She opened the window, letting in the cool night breeze. Right outside her window was the cherry tree in the yard, which hadn’t been properly trimmed and grew right up against the house. She moved her VR headset (which she used to go to school) off the desk, then clambered over the desk and onto the windowsill. From there, even from that awkward position, it wasn’t hard to push herself out the window and grab onto the nearest branch. She had done this before.
She shimmied down the length of the branch, doing her best not to scratch or dirty her clothes, which could give her away tomorrow morning. When she reached the trunk she dropped down, landing with a shock to the ankles.
“Ow,” she said to the night air. She wasn’t exactly the athletic type. She looked around and saw Rui was already there, a bulky backpack in tow.
The two of them followed the night wind.
* * *
They lived in New Himuka City’s picturesque residential district. From there, the mosaicked boulevards — lined with palm trees and sea grasses and lit by LED streetlamps and moonlight — led into the city proper, where the tops of the buildings climbed up, up to the sleek skyscrapers of the city center, and up still more to the vast hydroponic greenhouses that fed the population of an artificial island, and beyond them the desalination plants, and then the sea.
But they weren’t going that far tonight. Not too far away were some warehouses and a parking lot that were between leases. To most people that place meant nothing, but the young duelists of the area called it Battle Square.
“Dark Blade, attack directly!”
Yonaka and Rui arrived just in time to witness the conclusion of a duel. Dark Blade, the black-armored swordsman from the demon world, crossed the gap between the two players and swung his twin scimitars, and the defeated duelist fell back from the impact.
“Nice one, Keiji!” someone shouted. There were almost a dozen onlookers standing or sitting on the asphalt. The victorious Keiji was tall and exuded a fierce pressure even in the poor street lighting.
“Who’s next?” someone else asked.
Rui unzipped her backpack, uncovering the Duel Disk inside, and held it out to her sister with a meaningful glance. She and Yonaka had come a few times before, but only to watch, not to play. But tonight something had jarred inside.
“I’ll go!” Yonaka said, with a confidence she didn’t feel.
She took the Duel Disk and stepped up to the makeshift duel field, remembering as she did that this was her first time playing with a Disk rather than on a table. Now that she was closer, she could get a better look at her opponent. He was about her age, maybe a little older. His jeans were fashionably tattered, and he was very good looking, which wasn’t the kind of thing she usually paid much attention to. He watched her with an intensity that made the back of her neck prickle. She fumbled a little putting the Duel Disk on, and almost forgot to put her deck in the slot.
“Finally,” he said, raising his own Duel Disk. “Let’s go already. Speed...”
DUEL!
Yonaka LP 4000
—VS—
Keiji LP 4000
Music To Duel By: Cipher Peon Battle (XD)
“You can go first,” he said. “Seems like you need it.”
“Um...fine,” she said as she drew. Her head was swimming with performance anxiety. What a jerk! What should I do? I have to focus! She stared at her hand. Oh, that would work.
“I set a monster in defense mode,” she began, placing the card on her Duel Disk. A hologram of the concealed card shimmered into existence in front of her. It was Magician’s Valkyria, which had 1800 DEF. It should take him at least a turn to play something stronger. “And one card face-down,” she added, as a second card appeared in her back row. That was Mirror Force. It wouldn’t trigger until he had three monsters, but it would be useful later. “I end my turn.”
“Then it’s my turn!” Keiji said. “I summon Dark Blade.” (ATK 1800)
The knight that had won him the last game appeared on the field, a red cape swirling about his shoulders. Yonaka was glad to see his ATK didn’t surpass Magician’s Valkyria’s DEF.
“Also,” he continued, and held up another monster, “if Dark Blade is in play, I can special summon Jetblack Dragon (ATK 900) from my hand.”
This dragon wasn’t large (as dragons go), but as it flapped its wings and descended to stand next Dark Blade, Yonaka noticed how its heavy scales resembled Dark Blade’s armor. There was a connection between the two — a connection that was about to be made obvious. Dark Blade’s eyes glowed red, and he leaped up and landed on the dragon’s back. The dragon’s eyes flashed the same red. (Dark Blade ATK 1800 + 400 = 2200)
“Dark Blade has the power to command dragons,” Keiji explained. “By using a dragon as a mount, his attack power rises, and he gains a special ability. Now go!”
Jetblack Dragon surged forward with a flap of its wings. As the mounted knight passed by the set monster, he swung a scimitar, slicing the card in two. The blue-clad Magician’s Valkyria emerged from the card and shattered into pixels, destroyed by the attack. The impact from the Solid Vision was harder than Yonaka had expected, and she was thrown to the ground.
Yonaka LP 4000 - 400 = 3600
“Ow,” she complained. That hurt. “Hey, I lost Life Points! That means...”
“Jetblack Dragon gives Dark Blade the ability to pierce enemy defenses,” he finished. “I set a face-down card of my own and end my turn.”
She drew. Unfortunately, her hand had too many monsters, and none with the strength to overcome the empowered Dark Blade. “Uh...I set a monster and a face-down again. That’s it.”
“Try doing something!” somebody from the crowd heckled.
“I would if I could!” she shouted back.
“Then this will be a short duel,” Keiji said as he drew. “I play Reinforcement of the Army, searching my deck for —” the Duel Disk automatically shuffled through his deck and ejected the appropriate card, which he slapped down on the field, “— Twin-Sword Marauder.” (ATK 1600)
His newest servant was a masked warrior with a triple-bladed katar in each hand. This was, as far as Keiji could see, game over on board. Not only did Twin-Sword Marauder also have piercing, but after attacking a monster in defense mode, he could attack a second time. If her monster’s DEF was too high, his set card was Rush Recklessly, which would make the Marauder strong enough to run over almost anything. Now he just had to put theory into practice.
“Go, Twin-Sword Marauder!” he ordered. “Slice her monster to ribbons.”
The masked warrior dashed forward and, just like last time, Yonaka’s face-down card was sliced in two.
She grinned. “I got you.”
From out of the shattered card rose not a creature but a gilded oil lamp. Smoke poured from the nozzle of the lamp. Within those mystic vapors could clearly be glimpsed the form of Dark Blade. With a contemptuous swing of one scimitar, the Twin-Sword Marauder was slashed in two.
Keiji LP 4000 - 600 = 3400
“What happened?” Keiji demanded.
“When Ancient Lamp is attacked while face-down,” Yonaka explained, “it redirects the attack to another of your monsters.”
“Not a bad trick,” he said, “but it only works once. Dark Blade, go!”
The dragon knight advanced once again, but this time his sword hit nothing but empty air. One of Yonaka’s face-down cards flipped open.
“I activate Soul Barter,” she said, “exchanging Ancient Lamp with the Magician’s Valkyria in my graveyard.”
The Magician’s Valkyria (DEF 1800) returned to the field. She was clad in sky blue and wore a helm patterned on a witch’s hat. In one hand was a silver staff. She floated in the air out of the reach of Dark Blade and wagged a finger. The dragon knight retreated to home ground.
“You scraped by for one turn,” said Keiji as he ended. “That’s all.”
Yonaka wasn’t sure when it had happened, but somewhere along the way she had gone from anxious to exhilarated. It was like the pain had cleared her head. It was a cool night, but she was sweating. She drew.
“I start by playing Magical Mallet,” she said. “I shuffle it and all but one of the cards in my hand back into the deck, and draw replacements.” She drew three fresh cards and looked at them. Yeah, these were pretty good.
“I’ll place a card face-down, and I’ll summon a second Magician’s Valkyria, in defense mode!” she continued, and a twin of the warrior witch already on the field appeared beside the first. The two Valkyrias crossed their magic staffs, and energy crackled between them.
“Magician’s Valkyria guards my other spellcasters from your attacks,” Yonaka explained. “Since I have two of them, each one protects the other, forming an impenetrable barrier. This is the Valkyria Lock!”
“You’re so annoying. All you do is defend,” said Keiji as he started his turn. But the game had his full attention now. “If I have Dark Blade out, I can summon the Level 5 Hellride Dragon without making a sacrifice.”
A new dragon, this one larger, sleeker, and bright red, swooped down to join the first (ATK 2000). Yonaka was alight with anticipation. What was he going to do next? Could he do it? Was he about to break through? Unfortunately, she would never get to find out.
“Yonaka! What are you doing?”
She turned to the source of the voice and discovered with shock, followed by mounting horror, that it was her dad. Next to him, in the flesh for the first time in over a year, was Sarah.
“Hi,” said Sarah.
“Oh,” said Yonaka.
OP: kiseki (nirgilis)
* * *
Closing Thoughts
I put a lot of work into this chapter, but despite that I can’t claim it’s my best work. These are not the kinds of scenes and character interactions I’m good at writing to begin with, and on top of that this chapter and the next aren’t my own exactly, they’re derived from the first chapter of Key of the Mind (see the Foreword). As the writer I’m willing to accept that it has to be this way and that writing it was a learning experience that took me out of my comfort zone, but that doesn’t make the meal any tastier for the reader.
* * *
Card of the Day
Today’s card is Jetblack Dragon. This is a remake of Pitch-Dark Dragon, made to be at least moderately playable. You will see each time I feature a custom card that I’ve tried to write the card text not as if it were a real TCG card, but in a shorthanded and somewhat vague way, as if it were a card from the manga.
Jetblack Dragon (DARK)
(☆) x 2 [Dragon/Union/Effect]
Can be Special Summoned from your hand if Dark Blade is on your field. As an Equip Card, has these effects:
- Can be Union equipped to a Warrior. The equipped monster gains 400 ATK. If equipped to Dark Blade, it gains piercing.
ATK 900 / DEF 600
* * *
Master of the Cards
A list of all cards played in this chapter, grouped by card type (Monster, Spell, Trap, Extra Deck) and sorted alphabetically. Next to the name of each card is, for OCG/TCG cards, the first TCG set they were printed in; for anime/manga cards it is the series they debuted in; any custom cards are marked as such. If a card has been modified for this tale, it will be labeled (modded), though the line between a modified and a custom card can be surprisingly blurry. After that is the year the card was first printed (TCG or OCG) or first debuted.
Ancient Lamp (SP2, ‘01)
Dark Blade (MFC, ‘02)
Hellride Dragon (Custom)
Jetblack Dragon (Custom)
Magician’s Valkyria (CP08, ‘03)
Magical Mallet (GX, ‘04)
Rush Recklessly (MRL, ‘00)
Soul Barter (R, ‘05)
Mirror Force (MRD (modded), ‘00)
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