Yugo wandered the corridor whistling, hands in his pockets, until a stadium loomed up ahead of him. The automatic doors slid open, and he stepped inside.
A tired-looking old man in a rumpled suit sat behind a counter marked REGISTRATION.
Yugo read the sign twice before approaching.
"Hey, I want to enter the Friendship Cup."
"Fill this out." The old man slid a white form across the counter without looking up.
"Thanks." Yugo scanned it. "Name... photo and age... reason for participating?"
"You have to write down why you're participating?" He asked, genuinely baffled.
The old man finally glanced up — taking in the spotless white rider suit first, the restless energy second, and stopping there before he ever really looked at the face.
"Yes. Your reason matters."
"Is there an actual reason it needs, or...?" Yugo scratched his head. "I'm not complaining. I just don't get it."
"Fill it out and go. Don't annoy me."
Yugo's eyes narrowed for half a second before he grabbed the pen chained to the desk and got to work.
"I don't have a photo," he said.
"Booth's right there." The old man jerked a thumb toward the far corner. "Take your picture, print it, glue it to the form."
Yugo stepped into the narrow booth, pressed the button, widened his eyes and smile. He made a smile gesture by his fingers and put it on his chin. Five seconds later the photo slid out. He glued it in place and came back to the counter.
Then something occurred to him.
"Can I register someone else too? She's not here right now."
"Sure. Just fill in what you can."
The old man handed him a second form.
"If she's not here, I can't attach a photo. What do I do?"
"Name is fine. Rest is optional."
"Then why did you make me—"
"Because it's mandatory for you. I'm not looking to make this more complicated than it has to be."
"...Fine."
Ten seconds later, both forms were done.
"Here. Anything else?"
There was no entry fee.
"Just wait for the Cup to start."
Yugo left the same way he'd come in.
The old man set both forms aside and took a long sip of his coffee before finally glancing down at them.
He choked. Coffee sprayed halfway across the counter.
"That's the one who took down Duel Chaser 227. He's on the wanted list. And the girl he registered must be the one who was with him!" His hand was already reaching for the phone. "This needs to be reported."
He dialed, then caught himself mid-motion, staring at the forms.
"Wait — if I'm reporting this, they're going to want details." He squinted at the handwriting. "Thank god he actually wrote something down." He held the page closer, then further away, then closer again. "What is this hideous handwriting?! All I can make out is the names. Yu... go? Yugo? And... Yuz? Is that even a real name?" He kept reading, and his eyebrows climbed higher with every line. "No address. No contact information. And the reason... 'to beat Jack Atlas... and... become new king'? Is he serious?! He's trying to challenge the King?!"
The old man sighed, already regretting picking up the receiver.
"Should had noticed him the second he walked in. Guess I have to be more focus."
"Security desk. What is it Counter Six?"
He blinked, realizing too late that the line connected directly to headquarters — meaning his name, station, and location had already been logged the instant the call went through.
"...Uh. Hello. This is Daniel Roy, Counter Six. I'd like to report some, ah, information."
Even with barely a name and a badly guessed spelling to go on, it was still enough to start a file.
...
As Yugo went, he watched the sun diving into horizon. "What a beautiful sight. Just like me and Rin always used to see. Feels like tonight is gonna something special happen."
# The Sewer Tunnel
Yuya's group reached the sewer tunnel's exit and found Crow and Shinji already waiting, the city sprawling out beyond the opening ahead of them.
"Yuya? You and your friends made it too, huh?"
"Yeah." Yuya grinned. "I don't leave friends behind."
Crow returned the smile. Behind him, Damon leaned against the tunnel wall, arms crossed.
"Let's move," Yuya said.
"Hold on." Crow held up a hand. "We're waiting on a signal from Tony. Once he flashes it, we know the way's clear."
A single point of light blinked from opposite side.
"There it is!" Shinji dropped into the shallow water without hesitation, the rest of the group following close behind.
They made it halfway before a wall of harsh light hit them all at once.
Tony stood in the middle of it, already in cuffs, a ring of Security officers around him. In front of them all stood a man in a long purple coat with an orange collar. waiting.
# The Council
"Is this true?" A council member in an orange robe asked.
On the screen before them, a man with thick moustache and beard reported. "Yes. As instructed, I'm reporting. They've escaped the Facility."
"Then I suppose we honor our agreement." The old man in white — the Chairman — gave a light laugh.
"It's the seventh day, correct, Chairman?" Tall member asked.
"It is. But the day isn't over yet. Four hours remain before the deadline closes."
# The Suite
Ryo had already settled onto the bed when five holographic figures appeared in the room.
"They've escaped," the old woman said. "The day hasn't ended, which means our condition holds. We'll honor it — and hear you out, and help recover the rest of your people."
"Crow and his people as well," another added. "That was part of the arrangement too."
"We haven't forgotten. You and your siblings are to come to the Council chamber immediately. Transport has already been arranged for you and your comrades."
The holograms winked out.
"So it worked," Ryo thought, already moving as the door slid open on its own ahead of him.
# The Sewer, Moments Later
"Let go of me!" Celina snapped, twisting against the two Security officers dragging her.
"Hey! Where are you taking her?!" Yume shouted.
"Not your concern." Roget's voice carried an easy, unbothered smile. "I did knew there was some kind of festival happening at the Facility today. But I didn't realize it was a jailbreak. Either way — you're all going back."
A heavy mechanical thrum cut through before anyone could answer him. A massive craft descended into the open space above, two men in long white coats and tall hats stepping down from it.
"They're coming with us," one announced. "By order of the Administrative Council."
Roget's composure slipped, just for a second. "These people disrupted the order of this city. They can only cause more damage."
"That decision belongs to the Council. Hand them over."
Five holograms flickered to life beside them, confirming it.
"That's the order," the chairman said. "So please cooperate."
"Fine." Roget's jaw tightened. "But I'm coming with them to discuss this personally."
The two men exchanged a glance behind their tinted glasses, unreadable, and said nothing.
Yuya and the others could only watch, thoroughly confused by all of it.
# The Council Chamber
The chamber swallowed sound the moment the doors opened — tall white crystal columns rising, four robed council members seated in both side, and above them all, raised higher than the rest, the Chairman sat.
Roget didn't wait for permission to speak. He argued without pause that every person before them was a criminal, nothing more.
Sawatari's temper finally snapping, blurted out the whole truth — the Lancers, the coming invasion, Academia, the fact that none of them were even from this dimension.
Roget seized on it instantly, twisting the talk into suspicion of its own: the very things they are spouting is bizarre nonsense. And for the moment they believe it is true, if an invasion truly was coming, what proof was there that these weren't the invaders themselves, wearing the mask of allies? Didn't the very strangeness of their summoning methods only support that?
Yuya and Gongenzaka both started to argue back — but before either could get a word out, the chamber's other, far doors swung open.
"As you've heard," Reiji said, striding in with Ryo, Riley, and Tsukikage a step behind him, "we came here to help."
"Reiji?!" The whole room turned, stunned.
Yume was the only one who didn't look surprised, just clicked his tongue. "So you two were fine the whole time."
Celina's eyes found Riley first. "That ninja must have taken him. So why didn't any of you come for the rest of us?"
"We are the Lancers," Reiji said, descending the last of the steps. "We've come to this dimension to ask for your aid against Academia."
"Lancers?" Crow and Damon exchanged a blank look.
"Lance Defense Soldiers," Sawatari cut in, puffing up with pride. "Lancers, for short. Warriors assembled to fight the interdimensional war."
Roget let out a short, incredulous laugh. "Children playing soldier in a war between worlds. Forgive me if I find that difficult to take seriously."
"What are you laughing at?! You can believe it or not, but—"
"That's enough," the council member in the yellow robe said. "Akaba Reiji has already briefed us in full. This is not baseless. There is evidence behind it."
"And didn't you arrest these people in the first place," the one in red added, "specifically because their behavior struck you as abnormal? You can't have it both ways, Roget."
Roget's eyes narrowed.
Yuya turned the words over in his head, still catching up. Thinking deep.
Razz frowned, working through it deep. "Wait — if he's already had this briefing, doesn't that mean he's had time to check it out properly? No way they'd just take some stranger's word for something this big without evidence. So why didn't he do anything to help us sooner, if he already knew?"
Roget pressed on regardless, demanding how the highest authority in the world could possibly believe something this absurd.
The Council's response came without hesitation: it didn't matter how absurd it sounded. These people were undeniably from another world — that much was already confirmed. And if the threat they described was real, ignoring it wasn't an option. If anything, they pointed out Roget's own insistence on suspicion looked less like caution and more like fear of exactly what these outsiders might actually represent.
Roget finally found an opening to push back properly. "Then let Security determine whether they're a danger. That's precisely what we exist to do."
"No," the Chairman said, before Roget could finish. "That determination belongs to us. To all of them."
"All?" Tokumatsu spoke, indignant. "Even me? I've been locked in that Facility for ten years!"
"There are no exceptions," the female council member said. "You aided them, and you escaped alongside them. That makes you part of this judgment as much as anyone else here."
Roget argued further, but with every word the ground under him seemed to shrink a little more — until, seeing exactly where that path led, he changed course entirely.
"Then we shall test them," he said. "Let all of them enter the Friendship Cup. And we shall determine if they are strong enough to be called allies and if we can count on them."
The chamber went quiet.
Confusion rippled through the Standard Dimension group — but oddly, it didn't stop there. Even Crow and the others from this world exchanged uncertain looks of their own, as if the suggestion carried a weight none of them had expected either.