Chapter 84: Aspiring to Become Yusei Fudo
After gaining the card spirit's approval, Amano received two romance skills from Rin Seiya that had absolutely nothing to do with romance.
[ROMANCE SKILL: "ASPIRING TO BECOME YUSEI FUDO"]
[Unlocks "Junk," "Warrior," and "Stardust" series Synchro Monsters in Extra Deck. Opens "Synchron" monster cards for exchange in the ranked shop.]
A duelist with a card spirit really was built different.
The skill content was on an entirely different level from what he'd unlocked before. Completely different aesthetic.
Three new categories added to his Extra Deck simultaneously. And for the first time, the system was affecting his Main Deck—not directly, but by making new cards available in the academy shop for exchange. That was an epochal leap forward.
The system could add cards to the shop inventory. Good system. Very helpful system.
Before unlocking the monster shop, Amano's only available Tuners had been vanilla Tuners with price tags that made his wallet cry.
Now he finally had access to effect monsters. Tuner effect monsters, even.
"Synchron" monsters were the iconic Tuner series from the anime. Using them for Synchro plays would be infinitely more convenient than relying on vanillas.
Amano opened the ranked shop immediately to confirm the skill had activated.
A whole new row of monsters appeared.
Front and center: the adorable poster child of the Synchron series—Junk Synchron.
[Junk Synchron] [Exchange Cost: 50,000 Points]
You don't deserve to be called junk.
I don't have trash that costs as much as Red-Eyes Black Dragon.
The plan to replace his deck's vanillas with Synchrons was dead on arrival. The point costs made it impossible.
At best, he could exchange for a few versatile Synchrons and pair them with support spells.
Still better than pure vanilla.
As for the second skill:
[ROMANCE SKILL: "CLEAR MIND STATE"]
[Grants D-Wheel Riding Proficiency—Master Level. Unlocks "Formula Synchron" in Extra Deck. Unlocks all "Speed Spell" exchanges during Riding Duels.]
Formula Synchron was a solid utility Extra Deck card. But—D-Wheel riding proficiency? Did the Tower even have D-Wheels and Riding Duels?
The anime made it look difficult. Crash if you didn't know what you were doing.
Speed Spells were exclusive to Riding Duels—normal Spell cards couldn't be used while riding.
Amano pulled his arm out of the treatment pod. It felt healed enough.
Only now did he notice something odd. Rin had taken a direct hit from Ancient Gear Chaos Giant during the Dark Game—far more powerful than the Flying Dragon attack that burned his arm—but she had no visible injuries.
No blood. Not even scratches. The only evidence of battle was the black ash smudged on her white uniform and face.
Finesse's lack of serious injuries in her Dark Game had made sense—she'd been wearing HERO transformation gear with built-in defense. But Rin had fought in her regular body and come out completely unscathed.
Are all Synchro Academy duelists physically built like monsters? The kind who can crash a D-Wheel and walk it off?
"Rin-senpai, do you have a D-Wheel?"
"I do! I rode it here tonight, actually. Let me show you—"
She stopped mid-sentence. Her expression darkened as something deeply unfortunate occurred to her.
She'd parked her D-Wheel at the outer edge of the club building district. The interior zones didn't allow vehicles, so she'd deliberately parked far out.
In the direction that Ancient Gear Chaos Giant's artillery had fired.
"I don't. Not anymore."
Outside the club building, Rin stood frozen, staring at the half-melted lump of red scrap metal. Her voice carried a subtle waver.
"My 'Yusei-Go'—"
She'd already named it. That made it genuinely tragic.
"My condolences, senpai."
"..."
"It's—it's fine."
Probably trying to save face as an upperclassman, Rin forced herself to rally.
"The Three Academies Riding Duel Tournament isn't for another six months. I'll figure out how to get another one before then!"
"Riding Duel Tournament? Can I participate?"
"First-years aren't allowed. Academy City rules—second-years and up only for Riding Duels."
"Shame."
Amano had been looking forward to Riding Duels.
Anyone who'd watched Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's had fantasized about playing cards on motorcycles at least once. Shouting "Accel Synchro!" and disappearing down the track—peak aesthetic.
By the time they'd finished handling everything, it was nearly four in the morning.
Rin had anonymously contacted the hospital about Kozuka Yoka in the medical bay. Someone would be coming to pick her up soon.
Amano's burn wasn't serious—post-treatment, only reddened skin remained. The real problem was the destroyed uniform sleeve. Rin asked for his measurements and promised to get him a replacement tomorrow.
When Amano finally made it back to the East District student dorms, he entered as quietly as possible, guilt making him cautious.
First time staying out all night. He'd sent Shio a single message—"something came up, going to be late, go to sleep"—and then vanished until four AM.
Except when he stepped into the dorm lobby, someone was sitting there waiting.
Red hair unmistakable even in the dim light.
"Fi—Finesse? You're still—awake?"
Caught red-handed by the young lady. Like a teenager sneaking back from an all-night internet cafe only to find his parents sitting in the living room.
"I asked Nanki'in Sakuya." Finesse's voice was cold. "She said you had a date tonight. With Synchro Academy's goddess, Rin Seiya."
"Ah—well—"
The traitor was right beside me the whole time. How did you two even end up in contact?
"Did you have fun? Of course you did. You wouldn't stay out until dawn otherwise~"
Finesse was smiling when she said it.
But the smile reminded Amano of their first meeting—cold, artificial, a mask covering something sharper underneath.
"It's not like that, my lady."
Amano had prepared for this. He pulled a card from his pocket.
[Ancient Gear Chaos Giant]
He made sure to use the arm with the destroyed sleeve—the burn visible on his skin—when handing it to Finesse.
"I ran into the Puppeteer tonight."
"What?!" Finesse's demeanor shifted instantly. Then she noticed the burn. "You fought a Dark Game? You got injured!"
The fake composure shattered in a second. Finesse grabbed his wrist, inspecting the injury with genuine concern.
"The wound's fine. I already had it treated. Take the card back—maybe you can trace something about the Puppeteer from it."
"How could you go fight the Puppeteer alone?! We agreed to do this together! If something had happened to you, I—"
"Don't talk like that. I won. Clean victory."
Deflecting with the Puppeteer situation worked. Finesse stopped asking about Rin entirely.
So when explaining what happened, Amano kept it vague—said he'd encountered a student being attacked by the Puppeteer and intervened to help.
"That explosion was you? I thought a gas station blew up! You made a mushroom cloud!"
After hearing the story, Finesse's tension eased slightly.
"I'm sorry, Amano. I'm the one who dragged you into this. Now you're injured because of me. I feel—genuinely awful."
"Stop talking like that. Besides, I promised you I'd catch the Puppeteer, didn't I?"
[FINESSE] [AFFECTION +1]
See that? Came home at four AM, got caught by the young lady waiting up, and still gained affection.
That's Amano's technique.
"By the way, where's Kikawayu? He's usually the one waiting up for me when I work late. Not very brotherly of him to skip out."
Normally when Amano worked night shifts and asked Kikawayu to watch Shio, his friend would be there when he got home. Not seeing him felt off.
"Kikawayu has a fever."
"A fever?"
"After the joint duel, his face was flushed red and he seemed off. He locked himself in his room, wouldn't answer when I knocked, skipped dinner. And there were weird breathing sounds coming from inside."
"That sounds pretty serious." Amano frowned.
Strange. Kikawayu had seemed fine when they dueled earlier. How did he suddenly get sick?
It couldn't be heartbreak from losing—that made no sense. He'd never beaten Amano before.
"Actually, Amano—I wasn't just waiting up because of what Nanki'in Sakuya said."
The young lady's tone shifted, visibly less confident.
Right. Because Amano had just fought a life-or-death Dark Game to honor his promise to her.
And she'd suspected him of fooling around with another woman.
I'm a terrible person.
"Amano—I wanted to talk to you about Shio."
"Shio?" Amano's brow furrowed immediately.
Finesse waiting up until four AM just to discuss Shio didn't sound like good news.
"I took Shio to see your joint duel today, remember? When I went to her middle school to pick her up, I heard some unpleasant rumors."
"Unpleasant rumors? Tell me!" Anything involving his sister made Amano's tone sharper.
"Shio seems to be involved in a school bullying incident."
THUD.
Amano slammed his fist on the table. The sound echoed harshly through the quiet lobby.
The thing he'd been most afraid of had finally happened.
His soft, vulnerable little sister—bullied at school because of her lower district background and her disability.
"Don't panic, Amano."
"How can I not panic?! That's school bullying!"
"Well—it's Shio doing the bullying. To someone else."
"..."
"..."
That's still not great.
He'd need to have a talk with her.
***
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