365 Days of Starshipping (Part 2)

Deck Changes

10/19/19

They got through the rest of the rounds just fine, until finally it was time for the finals. They had another period of waiting beforehand though, mainly because they were having an intermission and taking the chance to show off the winners of the costume contest again (along with a couple interviews or two about the entire event); they weren't going to complain at all, mainly because they weren't the ones getting interviewed for once and that would never cease to be something to celebrate, so they took the time to finally get some dinner seeing as it was nighttime at this point.

"I knew the place was decorated before, but I didn't know that they had all this set-up," Judai wondered, blinking around in wonder at all the black lights and string lights and those lights that shined pictures on the ground and walls. He hadn't noticed them at all besides from the string lights, but it was a pleasant surprise and made walking around the crowded spaces a lot more fun and interesting on their quest for food.

"Makes me curious to see if the city is going to do anything huge on Halloween," Yusei replied, looking around as well for a moment before setting his attention back on him and making sure their hands continued to hold tight so they didn't get separated, "Maybe at one of the parks? There's the major one in the middle..."

"Have we been to that one?" Judai asked, trying to think of the park. He was pretty sure it was named, so Yusei was probably right that they hadn't gone yet together since he couldn't think of a name for it.

"No, but we've been to a couple around it," Yusei answered, "This one's a little... unconventional because of how it's structured. Basically it's tiered and spread out over a wide area, but traversing the tiers can get difficult if you don't already know what you're doing. It was never conducive to what we wanted to do, so I never brought it up as a place to go."

"That makes sense," Judai said, giving him a relaxed smile as they reached a hallway with less people than the previous ones, "Well, we'll have to pop over there sometime. I imagine one day we'll cover the whole city, top to bottom, just to say we did."

"...I don't think I have the energy for that, Judai," Yusei sighed, though he smiled back despite that, "Let's just stick to multiple trips like we've been doing."

"I know I know, don't worry. I won't make you go running around the entire city in a day," Judai laughed, finally spotting the specific food court they were looking for - luckily there wasn't much of a line right now, so they must've gotten there just in time between rushes of people. Which, honestly, was a really good thing because they were actually on a little bit of a time crunch - they had thirty minutes until they were up and they'd expected to have to rush because of the lines, but now they didn't have to worry.

"Thanks so much for thinking of your poor boyfriend," Yusei drawled, making him laugh at the sarcasm. If there was one thing Judai enjoyed, it was getting Yusei to joke around with him or use sarcasm, because he hardly did it unless he was prompted somehow.

"Anyway, we can look up a city event schedule later. What'd you want to eat?"

"No idea... surprise me again, I'm just hungry."

"Alright, I can do that," Judai agreed easily, not entire sure what he wanted himself. When he still wasn't sure by the time they reached the front of the line, he ended up just ordering the first two things his eyes landed on and a single drink to split since there were free refills and they had a duel to get to right after.

"So... about the duel," Yusei started lowly once they'd sat down with their food at a table that was towards the back of the food court and a little less crowded as a result, "I may have switched out a lot of my side deck for different cards, mainly 'cause I wanted to surprise you."

"What kinds of cards?" Judai asked curiously, definitely surprised by the revelation - Yusei usually didn't use new cards since his deck was tried and true, not unless they were archetypal or just flat out synergized with his deck.

"That's the secret, though" Yusei replied, causing him to pout at him mid-bite with a fry in his mouth, "It wasn't exactly my idea, I'll tell you that much as a hint. But in the next duel, can you do your best to get fusion gate out on the field? Just in case things go awry."

"Yeah, that's not a problem, but now you've got me curious," Judai whined, making sure he swallowed down the fry first before he spoke, "Wasn't your idea, but you're going along with it? Spirits of some sort?"

"You'll understand immediately once I play them," Yusei replied, and Judai had to give him credit where credit was due for managing to not give away anything else about the mystery.

Suddenly the finals couldn't come fast enough.