Yu-Gi-Oh LUCKS

Chapter 5: The Mystic Mine

Clavis Barnes was a man of perfect routines worn to their end. His work coveralls once had reflective strips emblazoned across the shoulders; over time, they had peeled and been reglued so that they bit and bunched the fabric around them. His boots had been mended similarly, the sole held together with a triangle of duct tape from the toe through the arch to the back heel. This routine assembled itself on the body of Valz Lemora, reporter from the surface. His crimson hair disappeared beneath the hard hat. He sneezed as he pulled the fake beard tight to his face.

Yuu watched the transformation and stifled a laugh. Clavis's work clothes were grumpy all by themselves, but Valz was a little taller and skinnier, and his shoulders tautened the wrinkles like beauty injections. Valz had already had a fake beard on hand, claiming that it was an invaluable tool for collecting information covertly. It muffled his jaw as he spoke. "Do I look like him?"

"Sure," Yuu said. "You two could be brothers."

Valz grinned. "I actually feel like I'm gonna stretch this out."

"That suit's been through worse, trust me."

Yuu's amusement was underscored by wistfulness. Clavis had always prided himself on being able to work so much with so little. No one would blame him if all he amounted to was Heart Excavation's employee of the month. Somewhere deep down, Yuu wondered if he had been relying on that.

Clavis had stopped showing up to work. When he'd seen him last, the old man had seemed kinder and colder, as though he couldn't muster the energy to make his usual jabs at Yuu's demeanor. It was as though the gap in their ages had disappeared, and they were two old men at the end of the world, or two young men at the precipice of a new one. Yuu couldn't tell which one it was; all Clavis would tell him was that he was "working some things out." Rumors about his disappearance swirled around B Block; the popular theory was that he'd finally gone senile.

Yuu wasn't sure what to believe. He'd asked Clavis to borrow his work uniform hoping for an extreme reaction, or at least an interrogation of his motives. Instead, all he'd gotten was a hollow chuckle and a nod. It seemed like Clavis really didn't plan to come back anytime soon. Yuu didn't have time to check on him.

Ten days from now, the Atrium Royale would take over Leviathan Plaza. Inspector Fey had promised to provide Duel Disks for the registrants; nobody in the Atrium could resist such a spectacle. Yuu never got tired of seeing the monsters leap from the crystal lenses into semisolid beasts of light, and now many people would be seeing it for the first time. More than anything, he wanted them to love it as much as he did.

Rumors were also circulating about Otaro Yamatano, who'd appeared like his namesake mist, cold and overpowering. A champion from the surface fighting the champions of the deep. Zato would be salivating at the thought.

Yuu had been avoiding Zato at work, but the deputy chief's recent enthusiasm for the tournament indicated that he was involved somehow. Yuu couldn't stop Zato's machinations, but he hoped he could duel while staying relatively uninvolved.

In the meantime, Valz Lemora had taken up his days. Fascination spurred the hapless reporter into a chain of new experiences where he absolutely floundered. The two of them squatted beneath lamplight in artificial night, listening to the clink of dice in ceramic as Valz lost his last dollar to the old smokers. They chatted in Valz's hovel, where mice scampered across a single cracked rafter. They even took more trips to Badtown, where they entered at a stroll and left at a chase. Valz seemed to take his defeat in stride, as long a stride though it was. He magnetized trouble, and it hunted him down.

It fascinated Yuu, and he knew it would exhaust Clavis, but he still wanted them to all meet together. All his life, Yuu had wanted friends his own age, and now all he wanted to do was introduce Valz to his old friend. It was only now that his oldest friend was nowhere to be found.