I'm Not Afraid of the Dark (Yuto x Reader)

Chapter 27

*Flashback to Academia*

Your heart is pounding, breathing laboured and uneven. You feel another knot form in your stomach as the soldier before you draws.

No way were you agreeing that your opponent being supplied with a deck specifically engineered to counteract your own was fair. To top it off, he has to be at least four times your age.

The smirk on his face when he sees his card doesn't sit well with you. Neither do the electrodes attached to various points on your head.

You risk the temporary distraction of a glance at the reinforced glass window behind which the white-coated adults stand – including your mother. One of them gives an encouraging nod.

You scoff in disbelief. They can't be serious.

The soldier sets one trap card and plays one monster face down in defence. His easy over-confidence is starting to get on your nerves. Your life points had both taken hits. It wasn't like he was winning – yet.

Fine.

If they wanted a duel, they would get a duel. This is just another challenge, same as the 27 other identically-dressed soldiers you have been made to play today. What's one more?

You are growing tired of their games, but at the same time you don't want to disappoint your mother – you know how much her work means to her.

The frustration of the situation crowds your thoughts and you clench your jaw, the current match temporarily forgotten.

You felt backed against a wall, like your life was no longer your own. If only you could go back. Back to before the experiments. Back to before you duelled your entire class. Back when your family felt whole.

You could feel the tension in the air whenever your parents fought, yet you were powerless to stop it.

You just wish you could do something.

Hot, angry tears fill your eyes, but you blink them away before they fall.

"C'mon kid, what's wrong? You s-c-a-r-e-d?"

The soldier's taunts bring your attention back to the present and you feel your frustration hone like a blade.

You draw, feeling a cruel smile tug at your lips. Maybe this wouldn't be such a challenge after all. You couldn't have asked for a better hand.

Your pulse races in your ears at the anticipation of just how well you could get back at the soldier for his insolence. There was part of you that wanted him to pay – wanted to hurt him for the way he treated you, for the way they all treated you – and that part turned the small smile into a full grin.

"Oh, I'm not scared. We'll see about yourself in a moment though. I use the spell card Polymerisation to fuse my (monster 1) and (monster 2). I fusion summon! Come forth, (epic ultimate fusion monster)!"

Your opponent's smile loses some of its menace, but his confidence is still there. You sigh.

"Your face-downs will do you no good. Even with a special deck the cards are only as good as the duellist. I play my spell card Raigeki!"

His face-down monster is destroyed and a sliver of fear creeps into his expression. Your grin widens.

"Now my (epic ultimate fusion monster), attack him directly!"

"W-wait, I activate my trap-"

"And I quick-play Mystical Space Typhoon from my hand so your trap doesn't matter."