Chapter 252: Limited Link Zone, Nanki'in Yukihime
The new skill that came with the system upgrade was Link-related.
If ever there was a case of the universe delivering exactly what was needed the moment it was needed: Amano had just been thinking about how to unlock Extra Deck Zone access for Link Summoning in Eden, and Limited Link Zone had arrived.
But why limited?
While Nanki'in Sakuya continued flipping through the remaining identification cards, Amano opened the system and read through the newly acquired skill.
[Limited Link Zone]
[During a Special Duel, temporarily open both players' Extra Deck Zones. Once the Extra Deck Zone is open, the number of available Link Summons is restricted. Current available Link Summons: 2.]
Two Extra Deck Zones, one accessible to each player, usable only for monsters Special Summoned from the Extra Deck. Link Summoning was specifically bound to the Extra Deck Zone because a Link Summon had to be performed in that zone.
[Available Link Summon count increases with the number of Millennium Puzzle fragments collected. Millennium Puzzle (2/4).]
[This skill is usable in background spirit state.]
Limited: it referred to the number of Link Summons available per activation.
Amano had researched Link Summoning in Eden's Eva network some time ago. Within Eden, Link Summoning had all but gone extinct as a practical method. The only professional duelists still on record as capable of performing Link Summons were a handful of veteran players in the upper districts, all of them over fifty.
The rules for Link Summoning in Eden also differed from what Amano remembered from his previous life. Because Extra Decks in Eden had no size limit, the Link Summon rules imposed a cap on the number of times it could be performed. Without that cap, loading a hundred Link monsters into a deck would make a single duel's resource pool expand without boundary.
The specific cap was tied to each duelist's mental fortitude. Like the mental strength required to materialize cards from the Extra Deck mid-duel, stronger mental fortitude meant more Link Summons available within a single duel.
According to Eva network records, the current record holder for most Link Summons in a single duel was a professional duelist from 180 years ago named Elwin Ketch, who had performed six in a single match.
Amano currently had a cap of two, and only with the Extra Deck Zone opened by the system on his behalf.
According to the supplementary note, collecting more Millennium Puzzle fragments would raise the available count.
Two Link Summons was a modest number, but any capacity to Link Summon at all was a pure positive addition. Even two represented real new potential.
Better still: the background spirit availability meant he could open the Extra Deck Zone for Nanki'in Sakuya while possessing her, giving her access to two Sky Striker Link Summons in the critical duel ahead.
[Sky Striker Ace - Hayate]
[Machine / Link / Effect]
[ATK: 1500 / LINK-1]
[1 non-WATER Sky Striker monster]
[When this card is Special Summoned: You can target 1 Sky Striker Spell in your GY; add it to your hand. This card's ATK increases by 100 for each Spell in your GY.]
Using this to support the young lady at the Farewell Banquet: the "young master" title that kept following him around was practically going to cement itself permanently.
Amano had now understood the new skill thoroughly. The one remaining question was what exactly counted as a "Special Duel" in the trigger condition. What kind of duel had to be involved for the Extra Deck Zone to open?
"Amano, I'm done."
Nanki'in Sakuya turned back to look at him.
All ten starting cards had been revealed. Amano scanned them quickly: the majority were Sky Striker support Spell cards, with only two cards related to Swordsoul.
So even with the Blade and Sword field awakened, Sakuya's natural orientation was still primarily Sky Striker.
"Let's get the deck reinforced," Amano said.
Now that the corresponding field was awakened, the next step was to draw additional cards from the Eva Terminal to round out the deck.
"Did you bring enough points, Sakuya?"
He recognized immediately that this was a pointless question to ask. This was the young lady of the Nanki'in family, a person who could casually gift someone a mansion with a garden pond without a second thought. Asking whether she had enough spending money was practically self-humiliation.
But Nanki'in Sakuya accepted the question without any sign of irritation and answered with a firm nod. "Yes. I brought a lot."
Ten thousand Eva Points per ten-draw; the system gave ten field-matched cards per pull. There was apparently also a daily limit of one hundred draws per person, which was the first time Amano had heard about that cap. He had always just spent his ten thousand, done his ten draws, satisfied the gambling itch, and left.
Once they had reached the draw limit, the recognition expansion space closed and both of them were back to being physically packed into the small sealed room again.
"Out we go, Sakuya. I'll work through the new deck configuration with you."
Amano managed to extract his arm from the confined space and reached to unlock the door, only to have his wrist caught by Sakuya's cool fingers.
"Wait, Amano."
"What is it?"
"There is one more thing I want to tell you."
They could perfectly well step outside to talk. Nanki'in Sakuya was choosing to have this conversation while pressed together in the cramped space.
In this proximity, when either of them spoke, Amano could feel the faint air movement of Sakuya's breath.
"This Friday evening, the Nanki'in and Jinguuji families are having a gathering..."
The thing Nanki'in Sakuya wanted to say was exactly what Ryuuma had already told him: the Farewell Banquet.
In order to prevent Ryuuma from receiving too severe a punishment when he returned that night, Amano had no choice but to pretend he was hearing all of it for the first time and let Sakuya walk through the whole story from the beginning.
But Sakuya was not exactly recounting events. She was extending a formal invitation.
"Could you come with me to the banquet?"
Ecclesia: "Accept it, Amano Rei! I must be present for this!"
Even without the advice from a certain greedy saint, Amano would have said yes. This was directly tied to what both families would do after the severance.
"It would be an honor, young miss."
"Then I'll send someone to collect you." Something faint and unusual crossed Nanki'in Sakuya's otherwise expressionless face. A faint warmth at the edges. Her mouth moved in something that was almost a pout. "Young... young master."
So Class President, when did you start deploying that kind of thing? That landed with more impact than expected.
The next two days passed without significant incident. The one development worth noting was that Yui's transfer examination came back successful.
The academy she had ultimately chosen was Xyz Academy, the same one Chiha attended.
That said, in Yui's own words, the reason was not Chiha.
The reason was that Xyz Summon was the simplest. Compared to Fusion's material formulas and Synchro's Level arithmetic, Xyz just needed two monsters of the same Level. Yui had concluded it was the best fit for a beginner.
Even with both Amano and Kikawayu at Synchro Academy, the moment Yui heard that Synchro required morning runs and evening study hall, she immediately abandoned fifteen years of District 32 friendship without a second thought.
Friday arrived as planned.
Before heading out, Amano made a resigned voice call to Nanki'in Sakuya.
"Sakuya. I know this is last minute, but can I bring one extra person?"
"One extra person..." Something in Sakuya's voice through the phone went slightly colder than her usual baseline. "It is not Finesse Wein, is it?"
It was not. Kikawayu was still locked in evening study hall with no legitimate excuse for leaving. Finesse was the first name that came to mind for Sakuya.
"No, actually it's Shio."
"Shio?" The name caught Nanki'in Sakuya off-guard for a moment.
"Amano Shio. My little sister. She found out about the banquet and has been demanding I take her."
The last time Amano had slipped off to the mid-level district's joint family banquet without Shio, she had sulked about it afterward. This time she had planted herself firmly and refused to be left behind.
"Every time it's just Brother going to banquets with all the nice food. That's not fair. I want to come too!"
Shio had activated full pout mode, rolling back and forth on the sofa like a very determined spinning top.
"Oh, Amano's little sister!"
Sakuya had only seen her briefly at the Academy Challenge Tournament. It took her a moment to place the name, but once she did, the temperature in her voice warmed immediately.
"Both of you come. I have been wanting to get to know Shio properly for a while. Please do bring her."
"Thank you, Sakuya."
"Not at all."
After hanging up, Amano gave Shio a thumbs-up. The spinning top motion on the sofa came to a halt.
"Yes!"
The venue for the banquet was the Heavenly Chalice Dragon Pavilion, as extravagant as ever.
As the highest-end hotel in the mid-level district, it appeared to have a standing reservation from multiple major families for evening events. The owner clearly maintained connections on both sides of the law.
Luxurious as it was, Amano's memory of the last visit here was nothing but stress. The name of the place did not help: Heavenly Chalice Dragon Pavilion, sitting right in what felt like a card-game themed location title.
At least this time there was only Shio along, with no potential for the last banquet's chaos. This should actually be an enjoyable occasion. Probably.
The car Nanki'in Sakuya had sent for them had barely stopped in front of the hotel before Amano felt the tension radiating from inside the building.
Which made sense. A Farewell Banquet was a pleasant name for two family organizations formally splitting apart. The lower-ranking members eyeing each other across the lobby and generating friction was entirely expected.
The moment Nanki'in Sakuya appeared outside the front entrance, however, the tension on the hotel's exterior dissipated.
A Farewell Banquet carried longstanding rules: beyond the parting duel itself, any other conflict between the two families' members during the event resulted in the most severe internal punishment that family could impose. So the lower-ranking members kept to cold looks at most, and had to maintain civil behavior the moment either family's leadership came into view.
Nanki'in Sakuya coming out personally to receive the Amano siblings at the car was a gesture that gave face on every level.
"Good evening, Shio." Nanki'in Sakuya smiled.
That was the remarkable part: facing Shio, the expression that was blank and unreadable ninety-nine percent of the time had actually produced a genuine smile. Even Amano was briefly startled.
The Class President was clearly making a real effort on Shio's behalf.
"Good evening, Sakuya-nee-san!" Shio responded cheerfully and with perfect manners. "Thank you so much for having my brother and me tonight!"
"What a lovely child." Nanki'in Sakuya seemed genuinely moved by the response. "Let's head in. Grandfather and Mother are waiting."
Waiting a moment.
Grandfather and... Mother?
A new person had just entered the picture.
Which was reasonable: this was a Nanki'in family internal event. For Nanki'in Sakuya's mother, as the current head of the Nanki'in family, to be present was completely natural.
Amano had never met Sakuya's mother. Not once during the full week of tutoring sessions, not at any other point. His only impression of her existence came from a Thought Reading session: the one where she had fed Sakuya a half-eaten piece of food and claimed it was a Nanki'in family secret technique.
"Brother, why are your steps so stiff?" Shio asked, tilting her head while holding his hand.
"Are... are they? Probably just cold outside." In honesty, meeting a mother felt significantly more daunting than meeting a grandfather. Especially when the mother was the actual current head of a major family organization: a genuinely formidable woman by any measure.
Whether she would be as straightforward to talk to as Muramasa-dono was an open question.
They walked through the Heavenly Chalice Dragon Pavilion's long and ornate main corridor. Following Nanki'in Sakuya's lead, the Amano siblings passed through without obstruction and arrived at the Nanki'in family's private rest area.
Along the way, several of the men Amano recognized from the Nanki'in estate greeted him with respectful "Amano-nii!" as they passed.
"Brother, you have so many little brothers now. I'm glad none of them are little sisters or I'd be jealous."
Shio, the little brothers you're imagining are in their forties, heavily scarred, covered in tattoos, and made of solid muscle.
Inside the innermost room of the rest area, the most immediately noticeable figure was Muramasa himself, standing as large as ever.
Beside him sat a woman in an exquisite kimono.
"If it isn't young Amano!" Muramasa greeted him warmly the moment he saw them.
"Come sit, come sit! It has been some time, hasn't it. Stay and talk with this old man. And who is this young lady?"
"My sister, Amano Shio," Amano introduced.
"Greetings, sir!"
"Ha ha ha, what a charming girl! You sit wherever you like as well."
Muramasa proceeded to physically steer Amano to the main table, ostensibly for conversation, though clearly for the secondary purpose of putting him in front of the woman in the kimono.
At close range: no visible lines on her face, snow-white skin showing at the gap of the wide kimono sleeves, her makeup precise and her posture refined. Calling her Sakuya's sister rather than her mother would not have been exaggeration. This was a strikingly beautiful woman.
Something about her face was triggering a sense of familiarity in Amano that went beyond the resemblance to Sakuya. He had seen this person somewhere before. Not in her physical features, exactly. Something else.
"So you are Amano Rei." The woman spoke first. "Quite handsome, I have to say. No wonder little Saya has gotten herself this thoroughly turned around. Her taste in men, at least, she seems to have inherited from me."
"Mother..." Sakuya, seated beside her, pressed her elbow gently but firmly into her mother's side through the kimono.
"Ha. Let me introduce myself properly. Nanki'in Yukihime. Current head of the Nanki'in family and Saya's mother. If you intend to marry into the Nanki'in family, Amano, there is no need to be formal. We will be family."
As she said it, Nanki'in Yukihime poured a cup of tea with her own hands and placed it in front of Amano.
But the strongest reaction in the room to that name did not come from Amano.
It came from Shio.
"Yu... Yukihime! Are you Yukihime? I was wondering why you seemed so familiar!"
"Shio. That is not polite to address an adult like that."
She was a generation above them, at minimum. Calling out to her by given name on first meeting was too casual.
But Shio was too flustered to register the warning.
"No, Brother, you don't understand. It's Yukihime! Don't you remember? The professional player from the tape. My absolute favorite!"
The mention of the tape brought it back.
That recording Kikawayu had found from somewhere and brought home to their old District 32 apartment: Shio had watched it hundreds of times during the years when her legs had made movement difficult, and it had been essentially her only entertainment.
Amano had not watched it as obsessively as Shio had, but he could still pull up fragments of the image.
A dark-haired woman in a long white coat standing in an enormous and brilliantly lit arena with every eye in the building on her. Slender fingers lifting the card that held her soul.
"Dragon soul as the key, break free from the nine depths' chains! Seven stars align, Dragon Abyss descends upon the world! Synchro Summon! Swordsoul Supreme Sovereign - Chengying!!"
[Swordsoul Supreme Sovereign - Chengying]
[Wyrm / Synchro / Effect]
[ATK: 2900 / DEF: 2300]
[Tuner + 1 or more non-Tuner Wyrm monsters]
The professional player from the tape who had Synchro Summoned Swordsoul Supreme Sovereign Chengying was Nanki'in Sakuya's mother?
Yukihime: the name had appeared as just a given name in the tournament records, no Nanki'in surname listed. Deliberately hidden.
Looking at this from the other angle: of course Sakuya could awaken both Sky Striker and Swordsoul. Her mother was Swordsoul.
Nanki'in Yukihime's elegant brow arched slightly as she looked at the girl in front of her, a genuine surprise in her expression. "Professional player. That was twenty years ago. How would someone your age know about that?"
"Yukihime-san, you're my absolute favorite player!" The awe on Amano Shio's face had reached a level he had not seen from her in a very long time. "Could... could I have your autograph?!"
If the recording was of the player Shio had spent those years watching on repeat, then this reaction was not remotely excessive.
For Shio back then, it had been more than just watching a favorite athlete. It had been a portal into an imagined future: the girl who could not move freely watching someone at the height of the dueling world and daring to picture herself there someday.
"An autograph? Of course." Nanki'in Yukihime covered a quiet laugh with her hand, then turned and gave the instruction: "Ryuuma. Find some cardstock and a marker. Quickly."
"Yes, Yukihime-dono." Ryuuma was out of the room at a near-sprint.
"Wait. A professional player?" The most visibly surprised person in the room, beyond all expectations, turned out to be the daughter. "I have never heard you mention this, Mother."
Sakuya had not even seen her mother duel, let alone known she had competed at the professional level.
"There is no reason you would know, Saya. I retired from the professional circuit twenty years ago when I became pregnant with you, and I have not touched a deck since. What surprises me is that a girl your age would know who I was."
That recording Kikawayu had tracked down had come from twenty years back. He really had found an old relic.
"Yukihime-san, haven't you played since then? That's such a shame. Why did you stop?"
Faced with a fan from across the generation gap, Nanki'in Yukihime could not very well stay quiet. She answered with a rueful smile. "Family matters, and a man."
The man in question was presumably Nanki'in Sakuya's father.
Amano had always assumed the current head of the Nanki'in family would be Sakuya's father. It had not occurred to him that the father might have married into the family, making the mother, Nanki'in Yukihime, the actual head in her own right.
Sakuya had mentioned her mother occasionally. Amano had never once heard her mention her father.
"I was a complete romantic fool back then. Met Saya's father at a professional tournament. He was handsome, so I fell for him completely. We ended up pregnant and married before I really thought it through, and then six months in I discovered he was having an affair. After that I had no more interest in competing professionally, so I came home and took over managing the family business."
"He... had an affair?" This had not been anywhere on Amano's list of expected revelations. But given that Nanki'in Yukihime spoke about it with such easy calm, twenty years of distance had clearly removed any remaining weight from the subject.
There was still one thing Amano wanted to know. "So Sakuya's father, he..."
"No need to worry about that." Nanki'in Yukihime's fingertip, lacquered in deep red, traced a light circle around the rim of the teacup. Something in the movement carried an implication. "On the evening I discovered the affair, I dealt with him."
"Dealt with him meaning..."
Yukihime's smile turned mysterious. She looked at Amano with an expression that was pleasantly unreadable. "Family business matters are not something you need to inquire into too closely, young Amano. These are things that will not touch you in any case. I am right about that, aren't I?"
"You are correct," Amano said, with complete seriousness.
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