Bonds That Can Change the Future (Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds)

A Duel to Remember Part II

Writer's Note:

The cover for this Chapter was made by my dear friend Aoitsuki Mizuko. She's an amazing artist and all credit for this art piece goes to her. If you'd like to support her, feel free to visit her page - https://linktr.ee/aoitsukimizuko 

Chapter 40

(filler between episodes 130 and 131)

Part II

          Hanako's runner was piercing the air like a bullet as she was speeding through the duelling lane with Yusei on her tail - Yusei whose heart was racing against his own runner as his eyes watched her in action, putting her Soul into this duel and having a strong desire to defeat him and erase him from her life like they had never been friends before.

"What is it that you're duelling for...?" He mumbled into his chin, trying to understand this version of Hanako but also asking himself a question he was about to find an answer to. Those thoughts only inspired him more, increasing his drive to win this duel, and cutting Hanako at the corner, taking the lead.

          "Great, now Yusei can go first!" Aki's voice echoed through the garage of Poppo Time's house while she was watching the duel stream with the rest of Team 5D's members.

However, her enthusiasm was soon crushed by Crow's words. "Something's not right..."

          "What do you mean?" Rua asked as if he was able to read Aki's mind and it didn't take long for Crow to explain himself.

"She let Yusei take the first turn".

          "But how? We saw him take the lead!"

"That's Hanako for you", Jack joined the discussion while his eyes were still glued to the screen, "She can do many things not even we are aware of!"

          As Jack said those words, both Yusei and Hanako drew their cards for the first turn, jittering while scanning their draw with their eyes when Yusei reacted to it with a smile, giving his thoughts away. "Great! I got a perfect hand for the first turn but why did she let me take the lead?" His thoughts were curious, "If she doesn't remember me at all, that means she's also not familiar with my deck and my strategy while I know her cards like I know my own... I should take that as an advantage but still-"

"What's wrong, Yusei?" Hanako's voice pierced his ears and he could tell she exclaimed that call with a smirk on her face, "I gave you the lead and now you're procrastinating?"

          "Just as I thought, she let me pass that corner first but why?" Yusei caught himself gazing at the distance so he immediately shook his head and came back to reality. "I summon Speed Warrior (ATK 900 / DEF 400) in attack position!"

Seeing this move, Hanako's thoughts made a conclusion within seconds without even analysing what he's done. "Is he trying to summon Junk Warrior?" As she thought to herself, her eyes widened and she shook her head to get rid of those imposter ideas. "Wait, why am I familiar with this situation? It's like I know this card... And if he wants to Synchro Summon, he'll need his Junk Synchron, which means he'll have to draw it first if it's not in his hand! And that means keeping his Speed Warrior on the field is crucial and that face-down card... must be Scrap-metal scarecrow!" Again, she had to shake her thoughts off, trying to understand why she was so familiar with his move, "But what if I send his Speed Warrior to the Graveyard? Then he can Special Summon it via Junk Snychron's Effect..."

          "Is she struggling?" Yusei whispered for himself only, seeing Hanako was hesitant to make her first move, failing to understand why. Little he knew she was going to give him a real reason why, a reason not even he was expecting.