Chapter 164: The Meteorite Has Arrived
Nibiru, the Primal Being.
The most legendary field-resetting meteorite in all of Yu-Gi-Oh!
Its effect was straightforward: tribute every monster on the field. As a skill unlocked from Kuroshio Nagi's affection, it was a perfect thematic fit for a deck built around consuming and replacing.
The activation requirement, however, was the sticking point. The opponent needed to have Normal Summoned or Special Summoned five or more monsters in the same turn.
The effect was spectacular on paper. When it went off, it felt like the sky was falling.
But given the average duel intensity inside Eden Tower, most opponents ran decks that could never hit the five-summon threshold in the first place.
That was the awkward reality of the skill.
Not that Nibiru was a weak card. It was simply the kind of card that was useless against easy opponents and absolutely devastating against strong ones.
Fortunately, the system had given Amano full control over how many copies to slot in before each duel. Against a lower-ranked opponent in Academy City, he could drop it entirely. Against a serious threat, load all three. And in any Dark Game, the answer was always all three. Even if the opponent was too weak to trigger it, the sheer physical impact of a meteorite crashing down on the field would be more than enough to leave a mark.
Amano also noticed, while thinking it over, that the system seemed to be accumulating more and more skills of this particular type: adding outside cards directly to his main deck. He now had Timelords from Rin Seiya's skill, Shiranui Spiritblade from Sakuya's, and Nibiru from Kuroshio's.
If this trend continued, there would eventually come a day when he showed up to a duel carrying nothing but a packet of pocket tissues.
"My idol? My streamer?"
Kuroshio Nagi, still clutching his arm from the excited revelation, noticed her idol's gaze drifting somewhere completely disconnected from the room. She tried calling him back.
"Right, sorry."
He had gotten so absorbed in analyzing the new skill that the actual conversation had slipped away from him.
"Where were we?"
"Your destined person! I was saying, my streamer, you are my destined person!"
Right. Destined person.
If Amano was the destined person Kuroshio was describing, then according to what Yugi Mutou had told her inside the Chronicle, he was supposed to gather the fragments of the Millennium Puzzle three thousand years later and wake the soul sleeping within it.
A remarkably vague prophecy.
Was he meant to revive the Pharaoh?
Based on the storyline of the final theatrical film, the soul of Pharaoh Atem should no longer be residing within the Millennium Puzzle at all. He had passed on. That was the whole point of the ending.
Which made Amano wonder: was Yugi Mutou's prophecy referring to a different sleeping soul entirely? Not the Pharaoh's?
The more he thought about it, the more convinced he became that the Chronicle system inside Eden Tower was not a simple archive of historical records. There was something else in there. Something being concealed.
"Oh, a destined person." Rin Seiya echoed the phrase in a tone that could charitably be described as layered with irony. "How nice to be popular with girls. You duel someone at the school gate and come home with a destined person. Amano-kohai, honestly, trust me over her. I am practically royalty by comparison. And I am not even asking you to pay up front."
Seiya-senpai could be pleasantly unserious most of the time, but her aim when she actually decided to land a point was impeccable.
To be honest, Amano was not so romantically frustrated that a girl declaring herself his destined person was enough to flip him completely. Even with the Romance Development System unlocking a new skill, that alone did not tell the whole story. Good affection numbers did not automatically mean good judgment on his part.
After all, one particular little demon had thrown a seventy-point skill directly at his face on their very first meeting. And it was only yesterday that her affection value had finally climbed back into positive numbers.
That said, the Millennium Puzzle fragment Kuroshio had brought out of the Chronicle was real, and it had genuinely triggered a system upgrade. Whatever was hidden inside the Chronicle system, it clearly had something to do with Eden Tower itself. And that was worth pursuing.
Amano was in the middle of calculating how best to use his status as her favorite streamer to extract more information about her Chronicle experience when Kuroshio Nagi suddenly glanced at her Eva Terminal with visible alarm.
"Hold on, is it Monday morning right now? Are classes happening?"
"First period is almost over." Rin Seiya checked her own Terminal.
All four of them had casually skipped class without a second thought.
For Amano, Rin Seiya, and even Sakuya, missing a class or two was not going to dent anything academically.
Sakuya was a special case, naturally. Missing class did not particularly affect her either, in the sense that attending class also did not particularly help her.
Kuroshio Nagi, however, was in a different category entirely.
"I have to go! My idol, I have to go now! I missed too many days last semester and my homeroom teacher warned me that if I keep skipping this semester, they will make me repeat the year!"
So she was already on academic probation. That tracked for someone who looked like she had built a lifestyle around not attending school.
It also quietly confirmed that Kuroshio had no particular family backing or resources. Otherwise she would not have been buying the kind of cheap lighter that could explode without warning.
Back in his previous life, Amano had read about Kaiba Seto treating high school coursework as essentially beneath his concern, given his position as CEO. This world's Kaiba Chiaki was said to be similar, disappearing for Tower exploration expeditions that lasted at least a month at a time with no academic disruption whatsoever.
Money had its privileges.
"My idol, is it okay if I come and visit this streaming club sometime? The truth is, I have always kind of wanted to try being a streamer myself. I just never had the courage to actually start."
"Of course. Just know that the club's upload schedule has been a little unpredictable lately."
Ever since the Kaiba Corporation AI had been blocked, Mizuki had not landed on another reliable format for her card-game content. Between that and the school rules banning private duels, the club's "Let's Play Cards Today" series had been running on an entirely theoretical update schedule for some time.
Rin Seiya and Sakuya both came to the room regularly, but truthfully their visits had nothing to do with the streaming content. They came because Amano was there.
A high-energy delinquent beauty with a strong personality, genuine competitive ability, and an actual interest in streaming though, that was a profile Mizuki would almost certainly welcome with open arms.
With that settled, Kuroshio Nagi left at something close to a sprint.
Amano almost called after her to offer a ride back to Xyz Academy, then remembered the current state of his D-Wheel's back seat, and said nothing.
He would deal with the car wash first.
Since he had already taken the morning off, going back to class now would be a waste of the leave. There was nothing more pointless than skipping class and then going anyway.
"Since we're all here," Rin Seiya proposed cheerfully, "why don't we just skip the rest of the morning and watch some footage, kohai?"
"Watch footage?" Sakuya looked mildly puzzled. "Is that the club activity everyone keeps talking about?"
"You have not experienced it yet, have you?" Rin Seiya's smile went subtle and slightly knowing. "Come give it a try. It might just open a Pandora's box for you. Fair warning: people tend to get hooked."
Rin Seiya's description was mysterious enough that Sakuya could not quite figure out what kind of footage this club watched.
She settled for looking at Amano with an expression only he could fully read: should I?
After receiving a nod of confirmation, Sakuya gave a calm nod of her own. "Okay."
And so, on a Monday morning with classes in session, the Historical Film Appreciation Club held what was quietly its first ever three-member gathering.
In consideration of their newest member, Rin Seiya started the playback from the very first episode of Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's.
The morning passed in a blur of Yusei Fudo's duels moving across the screen.
The turning point came when Yusei's D-Wheel burst free of Satellite District, cutting through the closing gap at the last possible second after his Riding Duel victory against Officer Ushio.
Nanki'in Sakuya's perpetually composed expression cracked open just enough to let genuine excitement through, a small but unmistakable flicker in her eyes.
"That is so cool. Riding Duels."
Up until this moment, Riding Duels had been something she acknowledged existed without caring much about them. That had changed. She was now seriously considering reaching out to Ryuuma to have a D-Wheel waiting for her by the time school let out today.
"You two have been doing something this interesting without telling me. That is genuinely too much, Amano."
"See? Hooked. I knew it."
Rin Seiya wore the expression of someone who had successfully recommended their favorite series to a friend and watched them immediately declare it the greatest thing they had ever seen. She was practically glowing.
"If you are interested, Sakuya-chan, I would like to officially invite you to become the third full member of the Historical Film Appreciation Club."
"Full member?" Sakuya checked with Amano again via the same quiet look.
Another confirming nod from him, and she settled comfortably back into the sofa. "Yes. I would like that."
Between the Shiranui Zombie Synchro style she already used and the general thematic overlap with 5D's, watching more episodes was practically academic preparation. The caveat was that this only applied to her current deck. If Sakuya ever fully awakened the Salamangreat field that her secondary style pointed toward, Riding Duels would become considerably less convenient, since non-Speed Spells cost 2000 Life Points to activate.
"To celebrate Sakuya-chan officially joining, let's watch one more episode!"
"Yes! Let's!"
Sitting on the sofa watching the unexpectedly lively dynamic between cheerful Rin Seiya and composed, low-key Sakuya, Amano had an odd impression. Seiya-senpai's attitude toward Sakuya was noticeably warmer than how she treated Finesse. With Finesse there was visible friction. With Sakuya, nothing but genuine enthusiasm.
During the pause between episodes, while crouching down to swap the playback at an angle where no one could quite see her face, Rin Seiya allowed herself a small, satisfied smile that did not reach her voice.
One down. Sakuya-chan has officially been pulled into my corner.
Watch yourself, Finesse Wein.
Sakuya, meanwhile, sat quietly on the sofa, fully absorbed in the screen ahead of her, perfectly innocent of the invisible political maneuvering currently happening two feet away.
She had also entirely forgotten that her weekend homework was sitting completely untouched, and that she had specifically planned to use Monday morning classes to quietly finish it.
During the lunch break, Amano's Vsn pinged.
The message was from Kaiba Chiaki.
Given how occupied she was on any given day, the Kaiba Corporation president finding time to send a message was not nothing.
The content was direct.
[Today is Monday. Don't forget the Chronicle. I'll meet you at the login point after school.]
Not a question. No option to decline built in anywhere.
As it happened, after everything with Kuroshio Nagi this morning, Amano had already been planning to run a Chronicle today to look for more information. The timing worked out perfectly.
At that same moment, Kaiba Chiaki was standing inside one of the VR network login point's private booths. The precision equipment surrounding her was venting steam as if running past its thermal limits, suggesting she had just completed a duel.
Every Monday morning at the academy, without exception, this was how she began: challenging the SSS-difficulty Chronicle.
This week's attempt had ended in failure again.
The god card she was facing was not either of the two Wicked Gods from the weekend duel against Amano. This one was something else entirely: a black sun rising from the depths of an abyss, radiating absolute despair in concentrated form. Even her own ace monster had been unable to touch it.
If she could not see further through the Chronicle on her own, the only remaining option was to use Amano Rei's access and observe what he uncovered. His Chronicle was unusual enough to be worth watching closely.
She sent the reminder. His reply of "OK" came back quickly, and she allowed herself a quiet smile.
There was one other thing from the weekend that had settled her mind.
After the initial run of large expenditures, Kaiba Chiha's Eva account had begun, slowly, to show incoming credits. The amounts were small. And that smallness was exactly the point. Small incoming credits meant she was not liquidating rare cards from her deck. It meant she was earning it herself.
She was adapting. Learning to stand on her own outside the Kaiba Corporation's umbrella.
The decision to push her had been the right one, regardless of how much resistance it had faced internally. Chiha was stubborn and impulsive, but she was capable. Hopefully this stretch of real-world difficulty would leave her slightly more grounded when it was over.
After school, Amano rode his freshly cleaned D-Wheel to the Academy City VR login point.
Same as last week, Kaiba Chiaki was already waiting outside when he arrived. She appeared to be in a reasonably good mood. Her eyes went briefly past him.
"Your shadow didn't come along today?"
The shadow in question was clearly Sakuya.
"She had homework she hadn't done. Kondo-sensei kept her after."
Poor class rep. Once their teacher decided to sit someone down for individual tutoring, there was nothing anyone else could do from the outside.
"Long time no see, Chiaki-senpai!"
Rin Seiya stepped out from behind Amano with both hands in her pockets and a bright wave.
"We saw each other over the weekend."
Kaiba Chiaki looked down at Rin Seiya with a flat expression.
"Why are you here, Rin Seiya."
Despite the significant height difference, the two held each other's gaze without either one blinking. In terms of sheer presence, it was a dead draw. Which made a certain amount of sense: ranked second and third respectively in their academy's competitive ladder, they had almost certainly faced each other across a duel field more than once. Familiar opponents, if not exactly friends.
"I have a task from someone." Rin Seiya smiled with casual confidence. "A certain cute kohai from Fusion Academy asked me to come film Amano's duels and bring the footage back."
Kaiba Chiaki's expression settled into something faintly dismissive. "Mizuki. Still pushing that tedious video project."
Mizuki's name being recognized by the Kaiba Corporation president herself was, in its own way, a measure of how far the streaming club had come.
"Come on, then. Let's go up."
The same top-floor booth, the most spacious and most expensive option, same as last week.
Amano stood in front of the Chronicle machine again for the first time in a week.
In his inventory was one Chronicle Free Entry Ticket, usable to select any Chronicle from the available catalog. He considered it for a moment, then decided against using it now. He had only experienced one short sub-Chronicle from the GX era so far. Without a broader frame of reference, he would not know how to make a smart choice. Better to let the Eva system select and save the ticket for when he actually knew what he wanted.
He submitted the decision to the system.
The cursor moved rapidly through the Chronicle list, cutting across dozens of unlocked entries tied to his deck's composition, before landing on a single selection within the original Duel Monsters era.
And within that era, it narrowed further: Battle City.
When the chapter title appeared on screen, Kaiba Chiaki's expression shifted in a way she rarely let happen. Unmistakable shock, unguarded and visible.
Battle City: Kaiba Seto's Test Invitation
Difficulty: A+
Possible reward cards: Soul Exchange, Megamorph, Melody of Awakening Dragon, Celestial Submission, Enemy Controller, Destruction Ring, Crush Card Virus.
Amano stared at the title.
He was not entirely sure what "Test Invitation" meant.
But those reward cards told a clear story. Every one of them was a classic Spell or Trap card from Kaiba Seto's own Battle City arsenal.
Was he about to be sent into Battle City to duel Kaiba Seto?
Was he actually going to duel Kaiba Seto in front of Kaiba Chiaki?
Eva, this is genuinely impressive, even by your standards.
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