A New Creation (Masami/Invite)

[Evan Fader]

11/25/09

Today was a day when the sunshine was bright. Despite the bright sun, the outside air was frigid. The weather outside would force one to wear a light jacket. However, if one did step up and wear the light jacket, then they could enjoy the day.

In Evan's case, he decided to spend a day or two in Domino City. After all of that trouble with the duel and is fate, he wanted to relax. Arriving by boat, Evan was alone. He had gotten permission to boat off to Domino City. It was even a recommendation on Medic Nagato's part.

After finding a desirable spot, Evan parked the boat. After tying it up, Evan had hopped out. He now set foot on the wooden pier. He then began walking along the pier of Domino. Today was a day to relax. Today was a day to listen to the good medic, and just take a break.

The duel with Rubicante, that fateful moment at the Condemned Dorm. It was his first encounter with the supernatural. It was the most frightening experience of his life. Those two dead bodies he saw had shocked him to the core. And worse, the demon had forced the girl to perform all of those heinous acts on its behalf.

She was intending on making Evan her number three. However, Evan refused to become a charred stiff. At least not without putting up a fight. The challenge was that they were each safeguarded by a barrier. However, as there life was depleted, so was their barrier. Despite the fact that she ran Volcanics, Evan's spirits smiled upon him. However, he had rescued the liberated slave.

As he was contemplating all of this, he had set foot off of the pier. His foot had landed on the cement sidewalks of Domino City. From this point on, he would transition between walking on cement, stopping for signs, then transitioning to asphalt and back to cement. This was a walk though a city, something he knew of.

Through his city wide trek, he was nearing his first destination. He was now approaching the Kame Card Shop. The shop once owned by the Muto clan was now under new management. He didn't know who worked there, or how they ran. However, he was going to check it out all the same.

Entering the card shop, he looked around. He was looking for cards to make a new deck with. He started by browsing around the card cases. Evan was now starting off by browsing. However, this browsing could easily transition into an actual choice.

[Masami Maeda]

There simply weren’t a lot of things for someone like Masami to do on a quiet afternoon like this. Most of the patrons minded their own business; some of them even got annoyed whenever she tried to approach and friendlily ask if they required any assistance in finding things; others still yelled at her because the store layout was apparently too difficult for their simple minds. Whatever the case, there simply was not very much for the imaginative Obelisk girl to do.

Instead, she doodled to drawings on a sketchpad. They were fairly impressive doodles, but nothing that she would have displayed proudly. A single earbud slung from her ear, as Masami was subverting the policy that forbade employees from appearing too ‘closed off’ by having headphones while working. That earbud pumped music from a player that she had slid into her jeans’ pocket. The tune made her want to dance, but obviously it was not the best venue for that while others were shopping for their cards.

As much as she liked working the game shop-and it was very fun at times-Masami hated it during the slower hours. Seeing the delighted looks of children’s faces whenever they eagerly saw the new card shipments made her job enjoyable. Watching a few grim faced middle aged men who seemed more interested in checking her out than the cards did not make for a very exciting afternoon. Instead, Masami turned her attention back to her sketchpad, idly drawing a few more swirls while she listened to the beat in her ear.

[Evan Fader]

Evan had spent his time roaming the shop. He wanted to build a new deck, but he didn't know what he wanted to build. Mist Valley would be a nice deck for him, considering that Wind is his favorite Attribute. But then again, it might be nice to just try something new for a change. But what kind of deck would he try out?

Core Chimail sounded good, but so did many other deck types. It was so hard to decide what he'd build next. But for now, expanding his options was his priority. So he managed to scratch out Mist Valley for now. Core Chimail still sounded good to him. But then again, an X-Saber deck was on his mind too. And speaking of X-Saber, he spotted Masami.

His old friend Masami worked at this shop, huh? He might be able to ask her, but he wanted to do this alone. However, she was a great duelist, so she might be able to offer him some good advice. But for now, he would attempt to strike a conversation with her. Hopefully this wouldn't backfire on him at all. With a smile, Evan said to her "Hey Masami, how's it going today?"

[Masami Maeda]

Masami looked up at the counter. The familiar voice startled her a little, but a slight smile broke out when she saw that it was her old friend, Evan, who had wandered into the game shop. She had last seen him on the docks, when he first entered the academy. Since then, though, they hadn’t had much time to talk or catch up. At the very least, he represented a suitable diversion from sitting around and loitering in the shop while all the other patrons went about their way.

“Hey Evan,” she answered in a low voice, trying not to talk too loud so that the other customers would drop their browsing. “It’s not too bad.”

She put down her pencil and flipped her sketchbook closed to show that he was giving him her attention, while her eyes darted towards a boy in the corner who was flipping through a few cards in top-loaders. Almost by automation—as if she had anticipated him turning around and asking for the price—she said, “2500 yen.”

The years that she had spent working at the Kame Game shop had made her into a seasoned, skillful employee, no doubt recognized by her frequent employee of the month awards. Still, she had been a bit distant and hard to approach while in her position, as most people simply saw her as the pretty girl behind the counter. Whenever a customer did talk to her, Masami usually treated it as a welcome diversion, even if it was occasionally sleazy. She turned back to the other Obelisk and asked him, “What about you?”

[Evan Fader]

Evan had smiled after she had responded. At least she wasn't the type to pretend they don't know you. Masami and Evan had known each other from middle school. She was one of the first major friends he had made. It wasn't that he was withdrawn or anything, it was just that he was a busy guy. Not only did he have school, but he also spent time training with his family.

However, due to the common ground the two had found, they became friends. They were both young duelists who attended tournaments. They were also very much into music. Masami was one of those people Evan actually put effort into making time for. They had even built decks together at times. However, it was sad that he neglected to tell her he was going to West Duel Academia.

When she asked about his situation, Evan sighed. First of all, he got forced into that demon war that happened. Second, he thought he would get into major trouble for two things. One was obviously entering the condemned dorm. The second was contributing to burning down the condemned dorm. He thought he would not only get expelled, but arrested for arson. However, the staff understood, and let him off.

He then let out a light smile. He summarized his recent experience with a single word. With a chuckle, Evan said "Madness." Madness these moments have been indeed. He had been forced to fight a fire demon, and he won. Then he had to defend himself. But now, it was all over.

Evan now wanted to build a new deck. However, he wasn't sure what he wanted to build. There was Mist Valley for one, sticking to his favoritism towards the Wind attribute. But Core Chimail still had Draco, who was a Wind monster himself. A little variety wouldn't hurt anyone, would it now?

Evan then spoke again. He decided to ask Masami a question. Hopefully he wouldn't look like an ass when he asked. "Masami, do you have any Core Chimail cards in stock?" He already had some Core Chimail cards. He just needed some of the newer ones. However, he couldn't find them in the display cases.

[Masami Maeda]

She blinked at him briefly when he replied. Masami figured that a lot of people had ‘mad’ existences the last few weeks, considering what all had happened with the academy. Everything just seemed so abrupt. People had gone from routinely going to classes and filing homework to fighting for their very lives and existences from terrible demons. Masami had not been involved in the struggle, and if not for footage and firsthand accounts from her classmates, she would have hardly believed that the struggle had really occurred. In fact, she sometimes still failed to believe that it had really happened.

After Evan had alluded to his tough few weeks—and she had heard that he needed to appear in front of a staff hearing because of his behavior—she wanted to be more sympathetic. But she simply failed to grasp the scope of the issue, having never witnessed it herself. The demons fell quickly, having claimed what amounted to but a handful of victims, and Masami had never considered herself in any real danger. If anything, the warnings from the staff to stay away only meant that she had more time to get lost in her own world.

“Koa’ki Meiru?” Masami asked, her eyes glancing away in thought. She had been thinking about the academy over the past few days, and the question came so abruptly to change the topic. But Masami was good enough on her feet that she could adjust quickly.

“That depends on which cards you’re looking for,” she answered plainly, knowing that the cards at the shop had numerous arrangements depending on series, type, archetype, and various other factors. Many of these factors ran contrary to each other, which meant that it was impossible for her to give a plain answer without knowing more information. As much as she would have liked a perfect answer where she could point to everything, there was just too many factors to consider when sorting cards that it meant that unless the shelves would rearrange themselves each time someone asked, she couldn’t give them the answer without a bit of legwork.

“You could try aisle three,” she said after a moment’s pause, “most of them should be in there.”

[Evan Fader]

Evan had listened closely to what Masami had to say. She had told him to look in aisle three. With a grateful nod, he responded, "Thank you. He then walked towards aisle three. Hopefully he would be able to find what he needed here. He already had quite a few of them. All he really needed were a few more of them.

He then looked around the aisle. It didn't take him too long to find the cards he was looking for. He had found Maximus, Urknight, and Synthetic Beast Research Lab. He had then examined the price tags on them. None of them were out of Evan's pricing range. It seemed that Evan could quite easily pull this off today.

Maximus, the boss monster he wanted ran for 419.775 Yen. Urknight ran for for the price of 1,767.15 Yen each. Synthetic Beast Research Labs would run for 883.809 Yen a piece. Together, this would form a price of 8,785.66 Yen in order to complete his deck. However, he had the money to pull it off, and his parents would really have no problem with him doing this. After all, they did make a living off of the professional circuit, and they hoped the same for him.

After collecting eight cards in their top loaders, Evan went to Masami. He held the cards carefully, as to not accidentally damage anything. After putting them on the counter, he prepared himself to get out the funds needed to pay off the cards. With these eight cards, he would be able to build a Core Chimail deck of his own.

[Masami Maeda]

The Core Chimail cards that he was looking for were fairly popular cards. They were far from household names, and a lot of people didn’t bother to know how the deck ran, but they were still very solid cards that were capable of generating huge amounts of advantage off of fairly routine plays. Their ability to one-for-one against other decks and still maintain an advantage made them a very effective anti-meta matchup. Masami spent a moment to ponder how Koa’ki Meiru would do against her own deck, but then shrugged, as she did not really care for worrying about it.

With Evan leaving to check the aisle for the monsters, Masami returned her attention to the sketchpad. She had mostly filled the notebook of interesting and unusual pictures. Masami was a girl of considerable artistic talent, and she had learned how to draw from a very young age. Even though she was armed with just a pencil and a pad of paper, the game shop employee had already managed some pretty impressive doodles on the page.

[Solomon "Suguroku" Muto]

A crashing boom could be heard from the back room, with a following holler as an added boom could be heard following the fumbling of ladders and boxes. Small groans and light laughter could be heard afterward before Solomon rushed out of the back opening and closing the door fairly quickly behind him. He sighed faintly as he shook his head muttering under his breath. He then finally saw a familiar face that he hadn't seen in quite awhile ever since he had been back. "Ms. Maeda! Good to see your lovely face again." he said with a buoyant tone of voice opening his arms up to her as he walked half way toward his hard working female employee. Attempting to ignore everything that just happened a moment ago.

Regardless if she returned the hug he immediately turned to her sketchpad with a hardy laugh, "You've always done well with your amazing aesthetic talents Masami." as his eyes dipped closed with a smile on his face. he leaned back cracking his back blatantly, doing a few exercise twists before he caught the second male within his eyes. He walked around the counter to see the cards the male was taken a kin to and then his smile got wider. "Free of charge, lad." he said patting him on the back tenderly with his fervent tone. "How can I charge a strapping young duelist when the holidays are right around the corner?" Very energetic for a man his age, especially one who just came back from an expedition.

[Evan Fader]

Evan had reached into his wallet. Before he could pull out the funds, he heard a loud thud coming from the back. Apparently some stock was falling back there. Then he heard the sounds of a person who attempted to deal with it. It seemed like they hurt themselves, but the laughter was a sign that they might be alright.

Just then, an old man came out of the back room. Suguroku Muto, the owner of the shop and grandfather of Yugi was having all of that trouble. Obviously he was so passionate about games that he didn't retire. Then Evan saw him hug Masami, then examine her sketchbook. He seemed to be very friendly.

Just then, the old man saw Evan. He was going to give him these cards free of charge? Evan was surprised by this apparent act of charity. But the only way to find out was to accept the offer. "Thank you, sir." he said kindly to the old man. However, he wouldn't pocket the cards until he was sure Suguroku was serious.

[Masami Maeda]

She craned her neck back towards the storage area when she heard the crash. Though to be fair, crashing boxes and spontaneous booms were not a new or especially rare occurrence at the Kame Game Shop. The owner, Solomon Muto, was hardly a very coordinated individual. The fact that he had insisted on being in the back and moving boxes came as something that Masami had, repeatedly, suggested against. The last thing she wanted was for him to throw out his back in an attempt to carry a box that weighed a bit too much for any one person to carry.

But even if he was stubborn and overzealous, he was a very friendly man. Emerging from the back, he wasted no time to throw his arms around Masami. She instinctively hugged him back, but with far less force and enthusiasm. She blushed at the comment, standing there with her pencil in hand and her weight shifting from foot to foot as if she didn’t know what to say. It wasn’t that Masami did not know that she was good; she did. She just never liked to deal with people talking about her art in front of her. Luckily, the attention was not focused on her for very long. Evan decided to bail her out by approaching the counter.

“Best take the offer and run before he changes his mind,” she joked.

[Solomon "Suguroku" Muto]

Solomon just let out a hardy chuckle, "Of course lad think nothing of it." he said continuing to pat him on the back before returning his gaze to his female employee. "And what is this radiant queen doing working before the holidays? Hmm?" he asked giving her a playful stern gaze as he jokingly folded his arms and tapped his foot awaiting an answer. He would wait there for a few moments before another smaller crash was heard coming from the back, in which Mr. Muto winced at, however he attempted to just blow it off.

"That one wasn't my fault" he said with a soft sigh as he went behind the counter once more and pulled up a stool to sit next to Ms. Maeda. he reinforced the question in case she attempted to avoid it. "Come on now child, why are you working so hard? This is a time to rest and enjoy your Christmas!" he said with an extreme joyfulness that he felt should be shared between all. He treated his co-workers with a great amount of respect knowing they were all hard workers, but the great Solomon couldn't slack off either right?

As the soft murmurs of the other customers slowly began to blend into one another, Solomon began to just look toward the Obelisk Blue student making a connection in his head. "Oh.. aren't you two in the same dorms?" he asked while he tilted his head at them both for his inquiry.