Under the Rain [Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS]

S3-55✩ Are You Ready to Lose?

"Tsubaki-chan, please step into the light when you're ready!"

Mirai had never imagined she would receive so much enthusiasm from the audience so when she walked out of the box and heard their loud cheers for her, she could feel her stomach instantly churn again. Thankfully, that ominous feeling quickly got washed away once Mizuno entered her vision, because after having known him since they were little kids, his presence had become somewhat of a cure for her anxiety. Although she had always tried to maintain his image at school by calling him by his title and acting reserved whenever people were watching them, sometimes she just forgot to because of their relationship. Like right now; she didn't realize she was skipping happily towards him, Igarashi, and GO Onizuka after seeing his smile.

She stopped in front of Igarashi and bowed for him and the other boys. "Sorry for the wait, everyone!"

"There you are, Tsubaki-san! You look dazzling in your costume," GO Onizuka smiled gently in response to her greeting before noticing the bracelet around her left wrist which actually was her duel disk. "It goes really well with that elegant white bracelet of yours!"

"Ah, this 'bracelet' is my duel disk! I'll be using a digital deck!" Mirai proudly beamed while showing it off to him, earning a look of interest from him. "Better yet, it's a gift from my big brother!"

Next to GO Onizuka, Igarashi and Mizuno were also admiring her duel disk. Igarashi nodded once and gave a side glance to Mizuno. "Impressive. When I first saw it I thought it was just a smartwatch, but it turned out to be..."

"...a geniuswatch!" the pair exclaimed in chorus, then Mizuno turned to Mirai and asked her, "Where did he get it? Did he ask one of your relatives who works at SOL Technologies to customize it for you?"

Mirai tilted her head to the side and blinked, seeming confused. "I think he customized it by himself... why? Does it have something special that makes it different from other duel disks?"

Mizuno nodded firmly. "It does! See, the current version of the new-type duel disk doesn't support the world clock or heart rate tracking function so if Ryoken, who's not supposed to have access to SOL Tech's duel disk's firmware was able to add those functions to it by himself, that could only mean..."

"He had to jailbreak it--like a hacker," Igarashi finished the sentence for Mizuno, but then quickly realized they were being rude towards Mirai and her brother so he promptly corrected himself as he turned to her, "Ahem, what we meant to say was: your brother's intelligence is on par with a skilled hacker. In other words, he's way above mine, or Mizuno's league when it comes to programming."

"Hmm..." Mirai seemed to be preoccupied with her own thoughts, but not long after her murmuring, she looked up from her duel disk and said with glitters in her eyes, "Some people are way too good at their hobbies. Like, Fuku Kaicho! Since when were you able to perform magic tricks that well? I remember back when you could only make a candy appear in my palm, but now you could just change your clothes with ease!"

"Oh, that? Why, anyone can do that!" Mizuno sheepishly laughed while Mirai, Igarashi and GO Onizuka vehemently shook their heads, denying his claim with all their might. "...with lots of practice, of course. I get it now, your brother must be passionate about programming, just like how Igarashi takes extra care of his glossy card prints. Which reminds me, we've got a duel to commence! Both duelists, please go to your respective field--!"

But Igarashi quickly raised his hand to catch Mizuno's attention. "Judges, may I propose to you and Tsubaki-kun to have me taking the first turn? Because I think we can all agree it's obvious from the start who was going to win the votes..."

As he spoke, he turned to see Mirai, who blushed lightly, in the eyes. "Though... if I may be honest, I just wanna show her my deck right away. I guarantee you'll like it, Tsubaki-kun."