(9) Meeting

After the duel ended, it pulled me back into the real world.

I looked out of the car window, incapable of facing Agent Phoenix after that fiasco.

“Will they be ok?” I ask in a somber tone.

He looks over at me.

“What? What do you mean?”

“Those guys. They sound like they were in a lot of pain.”

He stays silent for a while, then responds. "They were just thugs. If your conscience is hurting because of injuring some kidnappers...”

He pauses for a moment.

“*Sigh* forget it, yes they’ll be fine. That was just a VR Duel the damage is visually exaggerated.”

I breathe a sigh of relief at the confirmation. Still, I’ll have to be more careful with my dueling lest I accidentally kill someone.

The car ride from then on went in silence. I kept my eyes away from the agent and stuck to the window. The city looks even more impressive from up here. I could see skyscrapers in all chapes and sizes, from the smallest three stories one to the massive ones that almost reach the cars overhead. Between the giant towers, there were massive plazas and parks. The city looked like an amalgamation of giant towers with rectangular chunks taken out in between. I could see the monorail system slivering around the city, passing through skyscrapers and sometimes going even underground like a severely overbuilt rollercoaster ride. Over the horizon, a massive tower with the letters MDS written on the side it dwarfed everything else.

After 10 more minutes, we rode into the middle floor of one of the many skyscrapers. Yes, right into it. The parking lot inside was spacious, but they also piled the cars on top of one another. Inside, we followed a series of projected tracks and eventually parked in one of the empty lots.

I got out first, undoing my seatbelt like I normally would. As I reached to pick up my bag - that the agent had thankfully retrieved after the altercation with the kidnapper - he motioned for me to leave it, so I did. I then followed behind him through the parking lot, sometimes glancing at the many strange-looking cars parked there. We rode an open elevator down to the ground level of the parking lot and waiting by the door was a woman that looked to be in her 20s wearing a typical office lady uniform with short black hair.

As she saw us coming, she put on a “Service Smile,” and said, “Welcome to the NWDA Headquarters in Dragoon City.” She peers over at me. “Miss. Yuumi Matsunaga, the director has been expecting you. We have informed him of the altercations you’ve experienced getting here, and we severely apologize for the subpar security and guarantee it won’t happen again.”

‘Well, “Dragoon City”? Huh. That’s a name I guess. Next you'll tell me there’s a city called “Towers City” or “Eldlich City”.’

The agent looks ahead with a polite smile, but I can feel that dig worked as intended.

“Miss. Yuumi, if you would follow me, I’ll guide you to the director’s office.” The office lady states and starts walking away. I give the agent a look and he shrugs, so I follow the office lady. The headquarters are strangely empty considering that recruiting is going on. So I follow her through the offices and reach an elevator. She presses a button and the doors open. We get in and the elevator rises.

“So Miss. Yuumi. What brings you to the NWDA?” She asks.

“Ah. Well, it was the academy I thought I would fit in best.” I fumble for an answer.

“You’ll fit right in then.” She says, after giggling at my response. Then continues. “We provide the best conditions for skilled duelist there are, and provide equipment from all brands. NWDA is proud to be the only academy in Dragoon City licensed to provide ‘DragonFruit’ dueling equipment! We are also the only academy in the city with an on-site certified Turbo Duel Track.”

The elevator door opens, putting a stop at the impromptu sales pitch. They open into a corridor with a single door at the end.

“The Director is waiting.” The office lady shows and urges me to walk out.

So I walk through the corridor and open the door. Inside is the same person who, just an hour ago, was giving a speech. In real life, he looks even younger than before.

“Sit down. Please, we have much to talk about.” Says the director.

I sit down.

“Good morning Director Light.” I greet.

“No need for the Director just call me Light. I very much don’t care for formalities.”

“Oh, sure. Then call me Yuumi.”

“Very well. Yuumi, as you might have noticed, there are many people after you right now. Do you know the reason for this?”

I think about it for a minute.

‘It can’t just be the duel, right? It wouldn’t make sense. I just played like I normally would and the bot didn’t draw hand traps.’

“I honestly do not know.” I admit.

“As expected. Well Yuumi let me explain,” - He leans back, then continues. - “Normally for someone to perform an extra deck summon, they’d need to be instructed on how to do so extensively, just knowing the basics isn’t enough..."

I interrupt him. “Wait what? What are you talking about? It’s just elementary math. Kids should be able to do it.” ‘After all, it’s a children’s card game. If they couldn’t, it wouldn’t make sense.’ I didn’t say that last part out loud.

“*Sigh* Yes, if it was just the basics, it wouldn’t be a problem, but there’s some kind of mental block preventing that from working. The normal process of learning XYZ summoning, for example, involves repeated examples, mechanic interactions, and several months for intense tutoring or a year at a more relaxed pace to bring results.” The director explains.

...

...

‘Holy shit. I know YGO players aren’t known for their reading ability, but this is extreme.’

After an awkward silence where I just stared at him wide eyed, he went on. “Because of this, extra deck summoning methods aren’t something your every day Joe can perform, as only dueling academies may instruct about them."

“But doesn’t that mean that someone could learn all five in five years at the academy?” I try to reason.

He shakes his head. “It’s not that simple. Yuumi have you ever attempted to do something that just wasn’t working but you were 100% sure you were doing right?”

“Yes. Multiple times.” I quickly respond, knowing that feeling very well.

“Imagine that frustration and then multiply it by ten. That’s the experience of learning extra deck summoning methods. Your brain tells you, you are doing everything right, but it is just not working. Because of this, most people limit themselves to one or two extra-deck summoning methods, even after 5 years at the academy. I myself had to be taught all five and let me tell you, those 10 years were the most miserable of my life.”

Shit, then I guess that's that. Still.

“That still doesn’t explain why people were after me.”

“I was getting to that. Yuumi, you are what we call a natural, not only a natural, a natural PENTA-Summoner.”

“PENTA-What?”

“PENTA-Summoner. Let me explain.” He grabs a tablet from the desk. “You can perform all five extra summoning methods without being taught them, like I mentioned. This makes you valuable to a lot of unscrupulous groups of organized crime that use violence and blackmail to keep members in line. For them, training a member is a major investment of time and effort that normally won’t be worth it. But you? You don’t need any intensive training.”

My stomach drops.

‘O-Organized crime…? Then what would have happened if I got caught…’

“Hey are you OK?” asks the director, noticing my grim expression.

“Y-Yes, so was that it?” I ask, just wanting to be over with this already.

“No.” His previous severe expression turns into a light smile.

“Yuumi, as you can guess, security agencies and other dueling academies quite sought after people like you and even more after that demonstration.”

“So I offer you a Fully Paid Scholarship at the NWDA, with a salary.”

“Salary?” I mutter.

He giggles. “Yes, the offer includes a salary of 10000@s and 500DC per month.”

“What are the obligations?” I plainly request with a straight face.

“Well, before I list them, let me just add that because of the skill you showed at the tryouts you won’t be required to attent the classes that are normally obligatory, mind you this won’t exclude you from exams, but as they are all practical, I doubt you’ll have any problems.”

“So the obligations?” I ask again.

“I want you in the ADF.”

“ADF?”

“‘Academy defense force.”

...

'I'm noticing a theme here.'

“Why would the academy need an army?” I ask the burning question.

“It’s not an army. First you have to understand, the academy is on a private island for security concerns.”

‘Of course it is.’

“This means that we can’t rely on the city security to defend ourselves in case of raids.”

“Raids? Who would raid an academy?”

“The same groups that would go after you. After all, senior students are easy enough to kidnap and can be easily disciplined. So we need an “Army” as you call it. Calling it an army thought would be an overstatement. Technically, it’s just one of the many clubs just indorsed by the school. Don’t worry unless an invasion happens. You’ll have to attend a meeting per week and nothing more.”

“Can I just check something on my phone?” I ask, after a bit of thinking.

“Sure.”

I take out my phone, which elicits a response from the director.

“Woah, I didn’t know our duel disks even supported phones that old.”

“I’m an orphan, ok.”

“Oh… I’m sorry I didn’t mean to…”

“It’s fine” I interrupt him.

I go on GlobalNet and find out the prices of general items, from electronics like smartphones to groceries. From my short research, I work out that 1@ is worth about 33 cents.

‘So he wants to pay me about 3400 bucks just to attend? Holy shit.’

“What is DC, by the way?”

“Oh, I almost forgot.” - He realizes - “DC means ‘Duel Credits’ it’s currency at the NWDA primarily used for the purchase of dueling equipment and other necessities. Actually, let me explain how the ranks work first. There are 6 of them, Red, Yellow, Blue, Pink, Green and Cyan. Each corresponding to 200 wide elo range, 600-800 for Red, 800-1000 for Yellow, and it goes on from there. Each rank gets a different allotment of DC per month and DC doesn’t carry over from the previous month. The allotment is 25 for Red, 50 for Yellow, 100 for Blue, 200 for Pink, 300 for Green and 400 for Cyan. You will receive 500DC on top of the normal for your rank.”

'So much like the academy in GX, but with more ranks, huh? Still, that raises another question.'

“What’s my rank going to be?”

He looks down at the tablet for a moment.

“Well, you’ll be at your elo bracket, so Red, there’s nothing I can do about that, even though I doubt you’ll stay there for long.”

‘Well, it’s obvious I’m going to accept. (Even tough offers like this are literally how I got into this situation anyway) But what are my other options? Go homeless? Turn criminal? Yea, I’m accepting this.’

“I assume there’s some kind of contract you’ll want me to sign?”

He looks up from the tablet. “So you accept?” He asks.

“Let me read it first.”

“Sure.” He says passing over two sheets of paper.

I read over the contracts. The first one is about the scholarship and the other about the ADF membership. I carefully read over them, and fortunately there’s nothing written on them that the director forgot to mention, so I ask for a pen and sign them both, making up a signature on the spot.

“Welcome to the NWDA Yuumi.” He says, standing up and offering a handshake.

“Thank you.” I offer, also standing up and shaking his hand.”

“As your security is still a concern, you will arrive at the island before the rest of the students. An airplane chartered for the island, which is also taking some staff members will depart at 2PM. I recommend having some lunch before embarking. Agent Phoenix will be responsible for you until then, so just follow him. I think that is all.”

“Thank you, director.” I say, then turn around.

"Oh, actually I forgot something!" He exclaims.

I turn around again and see him handing me a circular badge cut into five wedges of different colors. Those being purple, white, black, greenish cyan and blue. Grabbing it and examining it closer reveals a thin gray border around all the wedges.

"What is this?" I ask, already having a pretty good idea based on the colours alone.

"A badge that signifies your status as a natural Penta-Summoner, you aren't required to always have it on, just wear it when you deem appropriate." he confirms my suspicions.

"Thank you. Anything else?"

"No, that was it."

With confirmation, I turn around and follow the office lady - that I now notice, because of the nametag, is the director's assistant - back to the parking lot.