(19) Real consequences
Date: 6/Ago/35MT
The rest of the week passed with little bother. I figured out I could just watch the optional classes from the NWDA app, so I did that for professor EGO’s class and went to the deck building one in person. I really don’t care for what he has to say about me, but he hasn’t mentioned yet and when asked he just defaulted to “An announcement will be made at a later date” whatever that means, the Director has been unusually quiet about the whole thing.
Something that I learned while hanging out with Aiko and Mia is that Aiko apparently wants to learn pendulum summoning because of me. That made me go over the moon, because, you know? “Pend Best Deck” and all of that. I myself keep thinking about changing my deck as well. It’s not that I don’t like my pendulum magicians and with the extra deck here being unlimited, the amount of stupid shit I could make is legendary. Coupled with me not having spotted anyone yet with a decent deck other than maybe Yasuna, but Synchrons without synchro summoning is kekw. And maybe Aya, but the least I talk about her, the better. I have not seen a single deck I could call decent, the director is rumored to use Zoodiacs. Now I have no idea what that means, it could be tier 0 Zoo, which in that case I might have a little trouble, or it could be meme Zoo. Regardless, I don’t want the bother of dealing with the director like that.
So it’s currently Saturday morning and I’m laying in bed in my pajamas chilling out watching some videos on GlobalNet. By the way, a duel gazer is hella convenient for this. I can just lay in bed with my phone to the side and use an AR screen from the duel gazer as a display. Yasuna went to the gym - which I didn’t even know we had, and maybe I should go too as I don’t want to ruin this new body I’ve been given - and Mia and Aiko are with me.
“Hey Yuumi?” I hear Mia calling via transperancy mode on my earbuds.
“Yes?”
“I’ve been thinking. With Aiko learning pendulum summoning and Yasuna being a synchro summoner, maybe I should also learn a summoning method. Could you recommend one?”
“Hmmm. I can’t really give a general recommendation, it really depends on which deck you wanna use. The most generic one without a doubt is Link Summoning, but I don’t know.”
“Well… That’s the other thing. I don’t really have a deck in mind. You’ve seen my current one, but after seeing some of the decks of the other students and how they use them, I fell mine is kind of inadequate…” She trails off.
‘Errr. This is tough. I mean, her deck is straight up beat-down, which in modern YGO is not workable.’
Before I’m able to give her an answer, an announcement rings out through the PA system.
“Student Yuumi Matsunaga called to the director’s office, I repeat…”
“*GROAN*, Sorry Mia, I have to go. We can talk about this later,” I tell.
She smiles “Sure.”
I dress up and make my way out of the dorm. The looks I get when passing by the other dorms have gotten worse since the professor's incident. I just passed by the Yellow dorm and when a student spotted me, he just pointed before his peers grabbed and dragged him away.
*Sigh*
I get to the tower that is noticeably more agitated than last time, with students of various ranks going about. After waiting in line for the front desk, I get told to enter the same elevator as last time and ride up to Light’s office.
“I’ve told you she’s not going to accept.” I hear the director say to the worried professor sitting opposite to him.
“What am I not accepting?” I ask as the doors open.
“Ah, Yuumi, perfect time. Sit down.” Instructs the Director.
I sit next to the professor I beat last week.
“So, Yuumi, do you know what happens when a student defeats a professor in a duel?” Light asks. I can see the professor shudder at that implication.
“Something that should not happen? I mean, I have no qualifications to speak of when it comes to teaching. This system can’t be a good idea.” I tell him.
“Ha, I would have to agree. If it wasn’t you, I would have even bothered. But contrary to other students that challenge their mentors to wrench their positions, this time it was the professor that challenged you.” He explains, “So with these being the facts, I will offer you the position of assistant Dueling Theory Professor with a base salary of 20000@ to start.”
‘That is a lot more than I expected, still the answer is obvious.’
“As much as I’m honored for the offer, I would have to refuse.” I reveal.
“The reason being?” Asks the professor of all people.
I glance at him and explain. “Well, I currently am comfortable with my conditions and am not looking to add more responsibilities unnecessarily.”
The Director also looks at the stunned professor and says. “Told you.”
He then looks at me. “Well, with this dealt with, I would still like for you to give a lecture explaining the duel with the professor to the students of the academy. I myself have seen the duel and think it requires some extra explanation.”
“I wouldn’t be opposed to that.” I say.
We go over times and decide I will do it next Wednesday with the more advanced students being present and the others watching remotely.
With all of that dealt with, I return to the dorm and find Mia and Aiko missing. A quick message reveals they went to sort something out at the central tower and I just missed them.
————
‘Now, this is strange.’ I think to myself..
It’s just past 2PM. I had my lunch with Yasuna, but Mia and Aiko were nowhere to be found. Yasuna doesn’t think much of it and after lunch excuses herself and goes out on a jog. The thing that’s making me worried is that they stopped responding to my messages.
Currently, I’m in the dorm room checking out some GlobalNet news sites.
*BAMP*
I hear the door fly open.
“YUUMI COME QUICKLY,” Yells Mia.
I hastily arch my neck to see her… She has bruises…
I was already dressed and didn’t have to be told twice. I grabbed my duel disk, guessing I would need it, and ran out of the dorm behind Mia as fast as I could.
We arrive near the blue dorms that look like a castle, and just outside, near the path, there is a sizeable crowd surrounding what look like five wooden poles… They have people that had almost all their clothes ripped and are bruised…
Wait…
Is that…
...
Aiko…?
…
…
…
...
...
‘IM GOING TO KILL WHOEVER DID THIS!!’
My vision turns red, the only thing on my mind being stopping this.
“OUT OF THE WAY!!” I scream as I run headfirst into the crown.
The crowd is mostly made up of Yellow students on the outside with blue ranks on the inside. I ram into it and when they see who just bumped into them; they seem to do their best to get out of the way. It doesn’t take long to reach the center where the poles are located. Inside, I can see the victims better. They are horribly bruised and bloodied. Four male blue students surround them, they are laughing…
“WHAT IN THE FUCK IS GOING ON HERE!” I yell as loudly as I can, pretty sure I strained my throat.
One of the blue students looks at me.
“Oh? Another red bird wants to pla… SHIT RUN!!”
The other three follow what he says and disappear into the crowd.
“COME ON FACE ME COWARDS!” I announce.
‘Shit.’
I rapidly face the crowd.
“SHOWS OVER EVERYBODY DISPERSE!” I yell.
I see a lot of the students turning away, but there is still a good amount that haven’t gotten the message. One particularly annoying blue rank chick speaks out.
“What gives you the right to give that order!? This blue territory!”
I respond by holding my duel disk in front and plopping down on the blade starving venom dragon.
“I didn’t expect I would be testing my new duel disk with back to back 1v19, but if that’s what it takes, so be it!” I claim.
This seems to do the trick as the crowd then hurries to disperse. The annoying chick manages to blurt out a: “You’ll pay for this!” as she is dragged away by her more intelligent peers.
What she said is kind of true. Summoning a monster out of a duel in the middle of the campus is a great way to get yourself into very serious trouble, but mark my words if the director tries to take action on this I will be testing out his zoodiac deck sooner than I hoped.
I then summoned Astrograph and tasked it with bringing down the red ranked students from the poles. As he did that, Mia ran up and started blabbing.
"OMYGODOMYGODWHYIT…”
“Pull yourself together MIA!” I urge as I instruct Astrograph to put Aiko down next to her.
“Aiko needs you right now!” This seems to make her perk up.
“R-Righ! What can I do?!” she asks.
I think about it.
‘There is no way the blue dorms infirmary would accept us… Shit.’
“Is there anybody here that can walk?” I ask the injured students.
One of the guys stands up. “I-I can.”
“Good!” I turn to Mia. “Mia, grab Aiko and that girl over there and follow me!” I order.
I grab another girl and the other guy that could not walk on their own and urge the one who could to follow me.
—————————
“AHRG” I groan as I sit down on the floor, leaning on the infirmary wall.
We got to the red dorm. The other boy had slowed us down, but we made it in the end. The most disgusting thing was how the other students didn't even try to help us. They just stared and I think I saw some pull out their phones.
We all entered the female dorm, and as soon as Miss Umeda noticed she called for the nurse right away, then grabbed the two students Mia was carrying at my request and I carried my two over to the infirmary. The wounded boy also got to rest.
All the muscles in my body are burning, and I think I dislocated something. Carrying two people across an entire island is something that should be reserved for the military, not two 18-year-old girls!
‘How did this happen? This is my fault, isn’t it?’ Are the sort of thoughts going through my head at this moment.
‘This has Aya’s handiwork written all over it! THAT BITCH IF I EVER FIND YOU, I’M GOING TO DOUBLE WHAT YOU DID TO AIKO!’
My thoughts must have started to leak through my mouth as at that moment, I hear someone yell behind me.
“I DIDN’T DO THIS!”
I turn around a lo-and-behold. There’s the bitch.
“Then who DID?!” I yell in her face.
“EKkkkkk, please don’t hurt me!” She begs and retreats.
She doesn’t get very far as she bumps into three red students I recognize as seniors.
“Stop! You’re scaring her!” pleads Mia, inserting herself between me and Aya.
I turn to Mia.
“Then how about you explain what happen then Mia? Please, I’m waiting.” I angrily demand, crossing my arms.
“Well… Me and Aiko were just walking back from the tower when we got ambushed by those four blue ranks…” She starts “We didn’t have time to run away… We got into a duel then those four other red students tried to help but we couldn’t compete! In the end, Aiko told me to run away to get you! I COULD HAVE RAN FASTER! IT’S ALL MY FAULT!!”
She breaks down in the end, crying into my chest. I hold her in a hug and pet her hair to try and comfort her. All the while staring down Aya, who seems to have been surrounded by the irate seniors after they heard Mia’s story.
“So, Aya. What do you say to defend yourself?”
“I WARNED THEM! They told me they were going to get revenge on the red dorm for me and I told them not to do it! I said you wouldn’t let this go!”
…
…
‘Of fucking course. Why would I expect something else? It’s Aya, for god’s sake! She's clearly not smart enough to plan this shit out!’
“Aya…” I mutter. “Please… Do us all a favor and get out of here…”
“What!? I just said! I had nothing to do with this!” she insists.
“Please…” I urge. Still holding a crying girl in my hands.
“…. I get it.” She says and turns around. The seniors seem to have gotten the message and don’t stop her.
“Wait…” I say and she looks back.
“Take this.” I give her a note with my GN messager ID.
She grabs it and hurries out of the dorm.
————
The day passes by slowly. I urge Mia to get checked up, and after promising to look after Aiko, she did. Aiko seems to have gotten it worse than the others. They completely ripped her clothes off, with only a part of her bra barely hanging on. The others have already partially recovered and the guys have returned to their dorm.
When I mention how I found Aiko, the nurse urges me out of the room and after a few seconds calls me back and reveals that they didn’t go that far… Oh… I get it now… For fuck’s sake, why did it take me this long to understand? I’m a woman now! It should have been the first thing on my mind! Stuff like this just keeps on happening, reminding me of my situation. Just this week I walked in on my roommates naked in the bathroom many times and I nearly couldn’t hide my embarrassment while they acted like nothing was wrong… Because, nothing was, we’re all women.
‘I’ll have to come to terms with this, eventually…’
“M-Mia…”
A pained gasp from Aiko snaps me out of my thoughts.
“Mia is resting. It’s Yuumi.” I reassure.
“Y-Y-Yuumi… are they…”
“Yes, they’re gone. You’re safe; Mia is safe; the others are safe. You can rest now.”
“Th-Thank you… Yuumi.” She says and closes her eyes.
“Don’t mention it.”
‘I’m responsible for the state you’re in.’
I told the nurse I was going to rest and, after reassuring that my wounds are only emotional; I walk back to the dorm room and fall down on my bed.
‘This is all my fault… If I had just swallowed my pride… No, I can’t think like that! But… I don’t have anyone else I can blame… Aya seemed to be genuinely apologetic. But again, why wouldn’t she? She was surrounded by people who were just one second away from beating her up! The only people I can 100% blame are those four blue ranks… and myself…’
As I steeped in my depression, I heard the door open and saw a tanned girl with a green ponytail wearing a sporty uniform.
‘Great, here comes the “I told you so” and you know what? I fucking deserve all of it!’
She sits next to me on the bed.
“Hey… I heard what happened…”
I don’t respond.
“Waaannt some ice cream?” She offers.
…
…
I sit up and look at her.
“Woah… You look like shit… Crap, sorry!”
I grab the tub out of her hands, shutting her up. Then eat a big spoonful.
“Hey... you might want to slow down brain freeze is a real bitch.”
“Too late...”
‘Shit, this sucks.’
I put the ice cream tub and spoon to the side and look at Yasuna.
“Where is it?” I ask.
“Where’s what?” She seems confused.
“The ‘I told you so’? The gloating! You were right; I should have never messed with Aya! It’s all my fault!” I shriek, and as I am about to start crying, Yasuna goes in for a hug.
“Come on, let it all out,” she says, and I bury my face into her chest and do it.
I kept myself buried in her shoulder for a long time afterward. I repeat, “It’s all my fault” numerous times, and Yasuna reassures me, “No, it isn’t” many more. Eventually, I stop saying anything and just bawl my eyes out.
A few minutes later and I have no more tears in me.
“Calm now?” She asks.
“No... but... Thank you.” I tell.
“Soooo, what are you going to do?” She asks.
“What do you mean ‘What am I going to do’? There’s nothing I can do! If I go to the director, maybe I can get them expelled, but then what?!?!? I just let them go free???”
She recoils at that, clearly not understanding my predicament.
“Go free? No, they will be expelled. What do you want to happen?”
“I don’t know, Yasuna! Then going to prison, some kind of punishment! ‘Oh no, I got expelled. Time to apply to another academy in a year!’ don’t you see the problem here?!”
Yasuna is taken by surprise at my outburst.
...
...
“I don’t know what to tell you, Yuumi... I’m sorry.” She finally responds.
…
‘What am I even doing? Yasuna came here to brighten my mood, and then I started spitting my ideology at her! What the fuck is wrong with me!?’
“I’m sorry...... I didn’t mean to yell at you.”
“I understand... You had a tough day... how about we decide on what to do tomorrow?”
“Yea...”
Just like that, I lay back down and try to get some Z’s; I don’t care that I’m technically dressed. for some reason, Yasuna lays down next to me too, and after all that’s happened today I appreciate the company.