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Kotori had always watched her friends from the sidelines, cheering them on with all her might. She didn’t mind being the only one around who didn’t duel — it wasn’t really her thing, and now that things had settled down and everyone was home, safe and sound, it didn’t seem like dueling was all that necessary anymore.
Time had passed, and she was a second year, sporting the Heartland Academy green uniform now. Her hair had grown longer, and she had let go of her iconic bun to instead wear her green hair down, using a ribbon on her head. Rio, her best friend, had helped her out to truly blossom into her beauty.
Over time, her friend group had grown, and currently she sat with her friends eating lunch together on the roof. Shark and Rio were sporting their own new blue uniforms, being third years themselves, while the rest of the gang was a year below them. Kotori was halfway through her lunch when she suddenly jumped in surprise at Yuma yelling at the top of his lungs.
“Shark! Let’s duel!”
Ah, there it was. It wouldn't be break time at school if Yuma wasn’t heckling their friends to duel him, especially now that things were so cheery and calm. Kotori smiled at herself while she saw how Shark groaned, but still pulled out his deck. “Just with cards today, Yuma. No Duel Gazers. I want to actually finish my lunch today” the purple haired boy said. He himself had changed a bit in the year that had passed — silver piercings adorned his ears, and he wore his long purple hair tied up, with parts of it framing his face along with his teal bangs.
Kotori had to admit to herself that he was quite attractive. This thought vanished from her head when she felt Rio elbowing her side. “Hey, Kotori. You okay? You’ve been chewing on an empty chopstick for a few minutes.”
The orange eyed girl coughed, and shook her head. Since when was she the type to admire Shark of all people?
“I’m fine, just fine. Who do you think will win today?” she asked, referring to Shark and Yuma’s duel. She watched as they dueled while eating, and to be honest, despite watching so many duels in her lifetime, she still quite didn’t understand some things. “I wish I could duel…” she said out loud, and pink tinted her cheeks when she felt multiple pairs of eyes on her. Oops.
Yuma totally forgot about his duel with Shark to instead grin widely. “Let me teach you, Kotori!” he exclaimed, and before Kotori could deny his request, Shark sighed. “You’re not the best teacher around, Yuma. You’ll just get ahead of yourself, duel her and forget to slow down and explain things.”
“Well, if you’re sooo much better at teaching than I am, you do it, Shark!” the tanned boy replied. Everyone stared at Shark. It’s not that he was particularly mean, but rather, you wouldn’t expect the nicest reactions out of him. Kotori was looking back and forth between her friends, mind reeling. She hadn’t meant to say her thoughts out loud!
“Shark, you don’t have to—”
“Fine.”
That’s when Shark’s gaze found Kotori’s, blue staring down orange. She felt shy, and twiddled with her fingers subconsciously. “Today after school, meet me here. We’ll go over the basics.”
And that was that. Lunch continued on, and eventually everyone headed back to class. Kotori’s mind kept replaying the way Shark had stared at her, over and over again. It wasn’t anything weird, just that… Shark was, well… Shark. He was serious, intimidating, but he was also smart. To be fair, they hadn’t really become close in the time they had known each other, but Kotori guessed now was as good a time as any to start. It was just that she had hoped Yuma would teach her instead, since her crush on him was still going strong. She sighed, flipping a page in her mathematics textbook. Oh, well.
Soon enough, after school time came, and when everyone else was heading home, Kotori made her way to the rooftop. She patiently sat and waited for Shark, who as promised, arrived and waved at her. “Yo.”
Kotori waved back. “Hello!” she said, cheer in her voice. She was always like that, Shark noted. Cheerful, happy, a total ray of sunshine. She was kind of like Yuma, in that aspect. Shark sat in front of her on the ground, legs crossed, and pulled out his deck.
“We’ll go over the basics first,” he started, shuffling his cards and then going through them. “You can’t learn to duel unless you actually know what you’re working with.”
Kotori nodded, and saw how Shark separated different kinds of cards into different piles. “You have monster cards, trap cards, effect cards…” he said, and started a long explanation about the different types of cards available to use. Kotori listened attentively, her eyes darting across the artworks of the cards. However, her sight darted to Shark's hands, the silver ring adorning one of his thin fingers, the way they pointed at the text on the cards he showed her. Did boys usually have such pretty hands? They were thinner than Yuma's. Something was so wrong with her today — she couldn't be the type of girl to admire Shark this way. She liked Yuma, and besides, he was her best friend's brother. Maybe it wasn't a good idea to let him be her teacher after all?
"So, do you have any questions?"
The voice made her snap out of her thoughts, and Kotori blushed. Crap. She hadn't caught the last part of his explanations.
"Well... how do you decide what type of deck to build?" she asked. Good save.
"What type? You mean... archetypes?" he asked, and the girl nodded. Shark shuffled through his cards, and slightly tilted his head. "I think the theme calls to you. At least that's how it was for me" he said, holding up Number 32: Shark Drake. Kotori smiled — sharks were the obvious choice for him, after all. The ocean could be harsh, scary, but it was beautiful to admire and made one feel calm. In a way, it did remind her of him. He wasn't all that scary in this moment. Just a calm ocean.
"You have some cards, don't you?" he asked, and Kotori nodded. "Yeah, but the only time I got to use them, I wasn't myself..." she muttered, flashbacks to the time she was controlled by the Barians. "But, uhm... I have a fairy deck..." she sheepishly said, a bit embarrassed of such a girly theme. Would Shark find it childish? She knew he and Yuma were the ones to duel her and Cathy that time, but...
Instead, she was greeted by the smallest of smiles.
"It fits you" he said, and Kotori's heart started to beat faster inside her chest. "That time, I wouldn't say we dueled. I want there to come a time where you can face me as yourself. Think of it as a teacher's plan."
The green haired girl grinned, and nodded, her heart still a bit hectic inside. "Thank you, Shark!" she exclaimed. That's when Shark nodded, gathered his things, and stood up. "Meet me again tomorrow. We'll go over dueling basics then." Kotori stood up as well, and straightened out her clothes. "I will. Thank you again, Shark. You really don't have to do this" she said, and was greeted by a shake of the head from the taller boy. "Nah, I need something to do anyways. You can't always be our cheerleader, you know. I'd like to see what you're capable of, and I'm sure you do too."
They said their goodbyes, and Kotori watched as Shark climbed down the stairs of the rooftop, heading home. Her heart calmed down, and she gently slapped her hands against her cheeks. There was definitely something up with her today.