Chapter Text
One of the benefits of Hope’s Peak was that it wasn’t on an island in the middle of the ocean. Staring up at the gates of the revered school, all Makoto could think was At least I’ll be able to run if things go badly.
Wait, what am I saying? I have no reason to believe that’ll happen.
But he hadn’t been feeling well lately. It would have been easy to chalk it up to nerves, but there were periods of time missing from his memory, usually late at night, but he always found himself asleep in his bed. Perhaps this was some advanced form of nerves. Everyone would be expecting a lot out of him, as the academy’s first “Kuriboh duelist.”
But standing here and stressing out wouldn’t accomplish anything. He still had to move into his room, attend the opening ceremony, and meet his classmates. And hopefully dodge Byakuya. Meeting each other again, outside of the arena, wasn’t going to be pleasant. How he was going to handle being around the formerly undefeated heir was a constant question by the press, and one he was always unsure how to answer. Makoto would like to think that he was good at getting along with everyone but this…would be challenging.
I know I can do this! With a nod of his head, Makoto took his first step onto the school grounds. But a sickening feeling spread through him like wildfire. His head spun and everything started to go dim. Everything went black before he had the chance to panic.
Muht let out a held breath. His attempts at regaining control had finally succeeded. But now he found himself before Hope’s Peak…where Makoto was soon expected to make his introduction to the other students.
This…is going to be challenging. He had never needed to pretend to be his host before, but these were going to be meaningful first-impressions…that he would have to handle. I doubt anyone will want to be friends with a nobody like me. But if I act polite, then Makoto can take it over from there.
Luckily for him, there were plenty of staff directing the new and confused around. Muht made it to his—or, perhaps, “their”—dorm room, with boxes of belongings ready to be unpacked. But he decided against doing so; it would be better for Makoto to do it himself so he knew where everything would be.
There was the chiming of a bell, but the source wasn’t obvious. He looked around in confusion and jumped when the door opened.
“Hi, neighbor!” It was a shorter girl who practically bounced into the room. Behind her were two other girls: one meek and tiny, the other the exact opposite.
“Oh, uh, hello!” Muht was endlessly grateful that he was able to speak and read whatever language it was everyone used, otherwise his ability to get by would be dreadfully hopeless.
“Well, I guess we’re not actually neighbors, technically, there’s a few dorms between yours and mine, but close enough, right?”
“What Hina is trying to say,” the absolutely massive woman cut in, “is that we’re in the same class, so we thought it best to introduce ourselves.”
“Oh, of course. I’m Makoto Naegi!” I hope that’s how you pronounce it, at least.
“You’re the one who won that tournament, weren’t you?” the smaller girl said. “With the Kuriboh deck.”
“That was soooo cool,” added the peppy girl. “And you even beat Byakuya! Now maybe people can take decks seriously that aren’t full of big, scary dragons.” She then glanced at the larger woman. “I mean, rose dragons are still really cool!”
“I know you mean no offense.”
Those have…tuners, was it? And synchro monsters. Anything in the extra deck that wasn’t a fusion monster was totally lost on Muht. It was very difficult to figure out the exact mechanics of summoning them, since it didn’t list a specific spell card, like ritual monsters did. He should probably find a rulebook and study it. At least figure out what all the places on the field were supposed to be, as there were things he didn’t recognize. But it has been a few thousand years, it’s only natural the game would change, I suppose.
“I’m Aoi Asahina, but you can call me Hina! And my deck is frogs!”
There’s enough frogs for a whole deck? I don’t remember them being very strong. But duel monsters came in shapes besides fierce warriors and vicious beasts nowadays, the ba came from all sorts of people. And a swarm of frogs could do plenty of damage through overwhelming force; perhaps that was the case here, too.
“I’m Sakura Ogami, and I use rose dragons.”
“And I’m Chihiro. I use Qli monsters.”
“Qli?” Muht said without thinking. Or am I supposed to know what that is? There’s so many cards, there’s no way I can be expected to know them all, right..?
“They’re, uh, also known as ‘Qliphort,’ they’re pendulum monsters.”
“Oh, I see.” He did not, at all. Perhaps divination was now part of the game?
“They’re not very popular. They were quite powerful when they were first introduced, but ever since master rules 4, a lot of archetypes had to change. It just means I need to use link monsters to…,” she dropped her head. “Sorry, you probably don’t care to hear about a weak deck like mine.”
“Don’t talk about yourself like that!” Hina exclaimed. “You’re a really strong duelist, that’s why you’re here!”
“But….”
“You’re here, aren’t you?” Muht added. “On your own merits, no less. I’m only here because I got lucky, they never would have scouted a worthless duelist like me if it weren’t for—”
“Not you, too!” Hina sighed, exasperated. “We’re all good duelists! That’s why we’re here!”
Muht doubted that. The fact that Makoto knew all the rules to the modern game already made him a much better duelist than himself. But perhaps he was good in his own time. Maybe it wouldn’t be too difficult to pick all this new stuff up.
The girls left him to go meet the others and give him the chance to unpack. Instead, he sat there, unsure of what to do next. It’s just my luck that I wake up at the worst time. The more I do, the more Makoto will have to re-do, and the odder he’ll seem. But I must need to be here, otherwise…. He looked at the ring, his prison. The fact that it bore the crest of the school wasn’t a coincidence. Nothing about it was from his time, either, so when did he end up in it? Was he in something else that was then forged into this? Or was he plucked from the afterlife and bound to it in modern times? But that would take powerful magic, and now most people seemed to possess little.
And as if the gods found it prudent to prove him wrong, he felt it: the overwhelming power of a ba being summoned. A ghostly form shifted through the wall and entered the room. It was a dragon, serpentine and with two pairs of wings and long, golden claws.
[Serpent Night Dragon], it was one of the monsters he actually recognized. It undulated as it moved across the room, pausing before passing through the wall opposite. It half-turned, catching Muht in its ruddy gaze.
It won’t attack me, right…? I’m not even—
The dragon suddenly turned, bending over itself as it rushed back to where it came. Muht was still processing what he saw when the doorbell rung again. When he opened the door, a woman was glaring at him.
“What are you doing here?” He could immediately tell that the ba was hers. He laughed nervously.
“It’s my room, that’s why I’m—”
“You know that’s not what I meant.”
“I…I don’t know what you’re talking about.” And he didn’t. Was she referring to him, personally? How could she know? There was no sense that Makoto already knew her, so she shouldn’t know that something about him was off.
Her stare was icy, her face unmoving. How much did the dragon tell her? How much could it have even picked up in their short interaction? It was known for its strength, not magical powers, so it probably didn’t read his mind. So what did it—
“Where did you get that ring?”
“That’s kind of a weird question. It’s—”
A class ring, right? I was sent it. But… The focus was shifted to the girl’s hands. They were gloved, it was impossible to tell if she was wearing something similar. The other students should have them, too.
It took Muht a moment to realize that wasn’t his own thoughts. But there was no sense that it was coming from somewhere else.
Makoto! But he was aware of what was going on, somehow. There was the chance he might realize everything and try to wrest back control, which would be…not good.
“You should ask the headmaster about it, maybe yours got lost in the mail?”
She observed him for several moments before saying “I see. Goodbye.” She turned and walked away.
Muht closed the door but didn’t move, waiting for the ba to come back, but there was nothing. Okay, I think we’re safe.
We? What do you mean we? What the heck was that dragon? And who are you?
This…will be difficult to explain.