Chapter 242: The Chronicle - Kaiba Chiaki's Reverse Body Possession
Amano Rei leaned against the balcony railing, looking out at a sky full of stars.
The club room Rin Seiya had applied for was tucked into a corner of the building, and the room itself was small. But being a corner unit had its advantages: the balcony was twice the size of any comparable room's, which made it the hidden treasure of the place.
Right now Amano was hiding out there to escape the noise inside, replaying in his mind what Z-one had said to him, and what the Eva proxy representative had said in that final moment before he returned.
Z-one had told him not to trust Eva's proxy representatives completely. But the Eva who had appeared at the end had said that breaching the Fusion stage had raised her permission level, and that she would be able to show him more hidden truths.
Should he trust her or not?
Lies and truth were far harder to tell apart than Amano had expected.
At least this time, he had not experienced any strange visions.
But if Eva made him see something strange again next time, then it would have to be real. Probably.
The balcony's sliding door eased open. Rin Seiya's small white-socked feet shuffled across in house slippers and came to rest beside him.
"What are you thinking about, junior? Playing the brooding mysterious type? Doesn't suit you."
When she got close enough, Amano caught the faint but unmistakable smell of alcohol coming off her.
"Senpai, have you been drinking?"
"No I haven't." Rin Seiya held up her glass with a slightly flushed face. "This is the wheat juice Kuroshio brought. She said it was non-alcoholic. It's pretty nice though."
She was clearly a little tipsy.
Could you really trust Kuroshio Nagi's definition of non-alcoholic? Knowing her, anything under ten percent probably counted.
Rin Seiya mirrored his posture, folding her arms on the railing beside him.
The night breeze moved across the balcony, catching the pink in her cheeks and lifting her white hair so it caught the light of the stars.
Rin Seiya was already plenty striking on any ordinary day. But if Amano were being honest, the complete version was this: a white-haired girl standing under a starlit sky, her hair and eyes reflecting the scattered light of the night above her.
She spoke without preamble. "Junior. That person today. He wasn't really Yusei Fudo, was he?"
"You figured it out, Senpai?"
"I guessed. The face was identical, but the overall impression was different. I thought I heard you say the name Z-one during the duel. Was that him?"
"Yeah." Amano nodded but did not volunteer more.
"Since you know him, tell me about him. What kind of person is Z-one?" Rin Seiya was clearly not going to let it go.
He looked up at the stars above, then back at Rin Seiya's expectant eyes, bright with genuine curiosity.
Amano let out a quiet breath. "I don't know that much about Z-one myself. But if you want to hear it, I'll tell you what I know. Just think of it as a story."
"A story? That sounds almost romantic."
"A story about the last man in the world."
Amano's knowledge of Z-one only extended as far as the few final episodes of 5D's that Rin Seiya had missed. But those few episodes were enough to piece together the whole arc of Z-one: a man who had witnessed a future of complete ruin and spent everything he had trying to change it. A tragic hero, if you were feeling generous.
He told the story from memory.
Rin Seiya, who usually filled every conversational gap with commentary, had gone completely quiet somewhere in the middle of it.
"Senpai?"
It was only then that Amano noticed: her eyes were glistening. A clear streak had already run down from the corner of one eye.
"Senpai, why are you crying?" He felt the first edges of panic. There were plenty of people inside. If Rin Seiya came back in with tear tracks after the two of them had been standing alone out here for a while, the misunderstanding potential was not something he wanted to think about.
Rin Seiya sniffled. "The last man in the world. That's such a good story. Z-one, you really were a good person. If there's ever a chance to meet again, I want to thank him in person."
"I..." Amano thought back to what Z-one had said to him. "I think there will be."
If Z-one ever knew you said that about him, he would probably be happier than anyone.
"You knew the story of those missing episodes this whole time and never told me. As punishment, I'm using your sleeve."
Before he could object, Rin Seiya caught his sleeve and pressed it to the corner of her eye, dabbing away the tears.
Her eyes were large. With the transparent teardrops sitting against irises that caught the starlight, they looked almost impossibly vivid. She really was absurdly beautiful. Even crying, there was something almost unreal about it, like a scene from a dream.
Then, accompanied by the very real and extremely loud sound of Rin Seiya blowing her nose directly into his sleeve, Amano looked down at what had been left on the fabric and felt the dreamlike quality evaporate at high speed.
Rin Seiya. Did your father never teach you that blowing your nose on someone else's clothes is disgusting?
"Oh, also." She wiped her eyes and straightened up, the bright open smile already back in place. "We had the party together today, but if you're free tomorrow, can you come to the club room on your own? Just you. Don't bring anyone."
"What's so important it has to be just me?"
"Hehe. It's a secret." She raised one finger to her lips. "Come and you'll find out."
"Sure, if I'm free."
Although at this rate, everyone seemed to be developing a habit of calling him out alone. First Chiaki-senpai, now Rin Seiya-senpai. He was starting to detect a pattern.
In the end, the question of scheduling order was settled for him. The next afternoon, before lunch period even ended, Kaiba Chiaki had sent enough consecutive messages to drag him to the virtual network login terminal by sheer volume of notification alone.
In order to avoid Nanki'in Sakuya and Kikawayu tracking him down during the lunch break, Amano had slipped out of the classroom early under the pretense of a bathroom visit before the bell rang.
When he arrived, slightly winded, to find Kaiba Chiaki sitting in the premium private booth of the network terminal without a trace of hurry in her expression, he knew immediately that she had skipped class again using her family's time-honored method.
"You finally made it, Amano Rei."
"Could you check the time, Chiaki-senpai? The last morning period isn't even over."
Kaiba Chiaki opened her blue-green eyes wide with an expression of genuine incomprehension. "Do you actually still need to attend class?"
"If the class representative stops showing up, the whole class falls apart."
"I'll resign it. Whatever a Synchro Academy class representative makes per semester, I'll pay you double."
Clearly Fusion Academy does not have a class representative position. Which tracks. Something that traditional only exists in an academy modeled on a certain kind of educational culture.
Not that Amano had come all the way here to debate the merits of class attendance.
"Chiaki-senpai. You called me out here alone. What's so special about this Chronicle?"
"You'll see."
The truth was that the illustrious president of Kaiba Corporation had been stuck on this particular Chronicle for longer than she cared to admit. Something that embarrassing was not the kind of thing Kaiba Chiaki shared with other people.
She ran the Chronicle challenge every week without fail, always alone. Every time, the same result.
But this time, Kaiba Chiaki was certain she would not lose again. Since acquiring Deep-Eyes White Dragon, she finally had the power to break through the most powerful Evil God.
As for why she had specifically called Amano Rei here to witness it: she could not have explained that with any particular precision. She simply wanted this man to see the victory she had been waiting for.
Kaiba Chiaki activated the virtual network terminal display and opened Chronicle Mode.
It did not require the system to randomly assign a scenario. The screen went directly to the Chronicle that Kaiba Chiaki had never cleared.
[Duelist Kingdom: The Vengeful Demon, the Mightiest Evil God Above the Three Phantom Gods]
[Difficulty Rating: SSS]
[Possible Card Drop: ???]
[Note: This Chronicle is a Divergent History.]
Amano drew a sharp breath. "An SSS-difficulty scenario?"
No wonder Chiaki-senpai had called this Chronicle special. SSS-rated was equivalent to a final boss fight in any of the main Yu-Gi-Oh! series. The difficulty ceiling.
But Kaiba Chiaki had noticed something off in the display before Amano finished his reaction.
She had challenged this scenario more times than she could count. The opening screen was completely familiar to her.
Except this time, it was different.
Two things had changed. First, the possible card drop had shifted from Evil God - Embodiment of Apophis to the unknown [???]. Second, the system had added an annotation that had never appeared before: [This Chronicle is a Divergent History.]
She had run this scenario dozens of times. Only now, for the first time, something had changed.
There was exactly one new variable.
Kaiba Chiaki's gaze moved to Amano Rei standing beside her.
It had to be him. His presence had changed something.
She hit the start button without another second's hesitation.
"Here we go, Amano Rei."
"Right."
This was Amano's first time observing someone else's Chronicle from the inside, and he had no idea what to expect. What would be different from entering one himself?
The answer came in the next instant: the familiar weightless drop, followed by the same story-completion effect as his own Chronicles, memories flooding in.
Wait. Why does observing someone else's Chronicle give me my own storyline?
[This scenario is a Divergent History. Timeline: the world in which Maximillion Pegasus died.]
[Clearing this Chronicle will return its divergent influence to the normal historical timeline.]
[Yugi Muto defeated Pegasus at Duelist Kingdom and became Duel King.]
[Afterward, Pegasus was discovered dead inside his own castle on the island.]
[Many of Pegasus's devoted followers refused to believe that Pegasus and his invincible Toon Army could have been beaten by Yugi Muto.]
[A faction of them became convinced that Yugi Muto had colluded with Kaiba Corporation and used underhanded methods to defeat Pegasus. Their reasoning: to suppress Industrial Illusions' influence and make Kaiba Corporation the world's dominant Duel Monsters company.]
[The most prominent figure among these fanatics was Pegasus's adopted son: Tenma Yako.]
[According to legend, Pegasus had once created the three Wicked God cards as a counterbalance to the power of the three Egyptian Gods.]
[Tenma Yako, as Pegasus's adopted son, found these three cards with their mysterious power among Pegasus's belongings. His intention: to use that power to resurrect Pegasus.]
[The vessel for the resurrection would be Yugi's companion, Anzu Mazaki. The location of the ritual: Kaiba Corporation headquarters.]
[This was a revenge campaign against the "underhanded" duelists he blamed for Pegasus's death.]
[Against an Evil God that surpassed even the Phantom Gods, even Kaiba Seto was defeated. The entire Kaiba Corporation building fell under Tenma Yako's control, occupied by him and Pegasus's fanatical followers.]
[To rescue their companion Anzu Mazaki, Yugi and his allies decided to storm the top floor of Kaiba Corporation. They would have to fight their way through thirteen card combat specialists positioned across every floor of the building.]
[Among those specialists are duelists who wield the other two Wicked God cards. These are not simple grunts blocking the path.]
[Fortunately, Tenma Yako appears not to have investigated your background.]
[You, Amano Rei, have been retained by Kaiba Seto as a contracted duel examiner. Your employee ID card has clearance to access the top-floor executive office directly.]
[Chronicle Clear Condition: Defeat Tenma Yako]
[Hidden Clear Condition: ???]
After the memories settled, Amano vaguely placed the source material.
This was not from the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime. It was from a spinoff manga, Yu-Gi-Oh! R. The Wicked Gods originated in that story.
He had not expected the Chronicles inside Eden Tower to include spinoff manga storylines, let alone present them as Divergent Histories.
The divergence itself made sense: in the anime, Pegasus survives. In the manga, he is already dead. That difference in outcome was the fork point.
Kaiba Chiaki was equally stunned. Because she had experienced the same story-completion flood of memories. That had never happened to her before in any previous Chronicle run.
But the plot detail that caught her attention most immediately was the last line.
[Your employee ID card has clearance to access the top-floor executive office directly.]
The reason the system rated this Chronicle at SSS was precisely because the normal completion path required fighting through thirteen card combat specialists one after another, from the bottom of the building all the way to the top, before the final confrontation with Tenma Yako. Among those thirteen, several wielded Wicked God cards themselves. This was not a gauntlet of throwaway opponents.
An enormously long and difficult scenario. Lose a single one of those fights and the entire run was over.
But if the system had specifically noted that Amano's ID card provided direct access to the top floor, that might mean bypassing all thirteen specialists entirely.
"I knew bringing you was the right call, Amano Rei."
"Hold on, hold on, Chiaki-senpai."
Before either of them could fully think through the implications, something else was already demanding their attention. As the lore download completed and both of them were about to move, Amano noticed a sharp, unmistakable wrongness.
Kaiba Chiaki noticed it at almost the same moment.
Amano found that his body would not respond to him at all. And Kaiba Chiaki found that the body she was in was not hers.
Kaiba Chiaki's own body had not entered this Divergent History Chronicle.
Instead, the two of them were sharing Amano Rei's body. And control of that body did not belong to Amano. It had defaulted to Kaiba Chiaki, who had been the one to open the Chronicle.
Kaiba Chiaki raised a hand to examine it. "What exactly is happening, Amano Rei?"
"I have absolutely no idea, Chiaki-senpai."
Every other time, Amano had been the one possessing a woman's body while his Chronicle companions rode along as the background presence. Now the tables had turned completely. His own body had been taken over by a woman.
And specifically by Kaiba Chiaki.
A visible shudder ran through Kaiba Chiaki. No matter how composed and assertive she was in everyday life, Kaiba Chiaki was still a twenty-year-old young woman. Being dropped without warning into someone else's male body was not a sensation anyone would find comfortable as a first impression.
But almost immediately, a second thought followed the first: this was a male body, yes, but it was specifically Amano Rei's body. Which made it somewhat different from anyone else's.
And this was a virtual world generated by the network. Data and simulation, not flesh and blood.
"Hmph. Fine."
"You accepted that really fast, Chiaki-senpai."
So the question now was: as the background spirit reduced to a ghostly commentary role, would Kaiba Chiaki be the one dueling with his body for the rest of this Chronicle?
Kaiba Chiaki, who had spent her entire career working with high-Level Dragon-type monsters, running his pile of Normal Monster trash?
Amano had to admit that Kaiba Chiaki's ability to act was something else entirely. She had barely finished processing the body swap before she was already moving, striding into Kaiba Corporation with complete familiarity, pulling the employee ID card from the pocket, and swiping the elevator to the top floor without a moment's hesitation.
The elevator doors opened.
Two large men in black suits and sunglasses looked out at them with bewildered expressions.
"Hey. Who are you?"
"This floor is off-limits."
Right. The scenario had specified that Tenma Yako controlled the entire Kaiba Corporation building. The elevators would naturally have guards posted.
Kaiba Chiaki, occupying Amano's body, took a sharp step backward.
So even with a direct-access ID card, the story had still arranged a mandatory encounter.
Then, in the next instant, Kaiba Chiaki set her expression, planted her weight, and launched a snap double kick that no one saw coming, landing both strikes precisely on the backs of the two guards' necks. Both men dropped immediately and lost consciousness on the spot.
"Ph... physical combat? Your moves are something else, Chiaki-senpai."
Amano had seen Kaiba Chiaki hanging one-handed from a moving armed helicopter before. He had not known she also had hand-to-hand combat training.
Though when he thought about it, combat skills had limited practical application inside Eden Tower where all conflict was settled through duels. So why had Kaiba Chiaki learned them?
"This is just something I do for physical conditioning. It's not a particularly advanced technique. I could teach you if you want. Though the real reason is actually..."
"The real reason?"
Kaiba Chiaki dragged both unconscious guards out of the elevator, then paused to take stock of the body she was operating: the strength coming through it, so different from the lean frame of her own.
"Your body is remarkably easy to work with. I had no idea we would be this compatible. Ha. Ha ha. Ha ha ha ha. I find this quite satisfactory, Amano Rei."
"Thank you for the compliment. Glad you're happy."
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