章 41: Sakura Days, 3rd Petals
The sky's color begin to turn ash gray, then gradually change into the color of the dirty black charcoal
Before the rain fall, I hasten my running... so I can get to grandpa's café quickly.
"This... what?"
After I entered the café, I was... speechless... that is because the café is cleaner and tidier than usual
I mean... look at it the floor, table, the counter, and the utensil is so sparkling
This is truly impossible, only on ads can those thing sparkling like a twinkling star... even a brand-new item won't be so sparkling like this
Looking at the clean café worried me more than the café being robbed
As curious as I am, I decide to call my grandpa, maybe he knew or learned something interesting to make the café this sparkling clean
"Grandpa... this is me" I called him
After I called him, I heard a sound of wood squeaking. It is seemed he was on the attic, probably doing something related to coffee or the brewing equipments.
Thus, I sat waiting for him to come down.
"Hello, may I help you?"
But what comes down from the attic wasn't my grandpa, but a youth like me who I have never seen before
When I see him, a bunch of question that naturally pop up into my head
Like,
"Who are you, and what's wrong with your hair?"
I asked him, and I'm unsure of why, the surrounding air is become... what do you call it... awkward?
... I shouldn't ask about his hair.
.....................................
Later,
"So you're the new employee" said her looking at his appearance.
"Yes. My name is Yuji A- Kusanagi, Yuji Kusanagi"
Sakura narrowed her eyes, when he introduces himself he briefly paused when he told his surname.
Even though she's a bit curious, it wasn't polite to asked something that he doesn't want to talk about, and it is very uncomfortable for the opposite party which she herself experiencing back in the past.
Of course, as the granddaughter of the owner of the café she can just order him to explain that brief pause, but she abstained in doing so.
"I see..."
Listening to his stories, Sakura now understand who he is, and why he was here.
The gist is he ran away from home because he had a complex family problem, then he lost wandering in Domino City without a penny, and for some reason her grandfather help him out by letting him work and live at their café.
Sakura took a glance at his face, "Are you the one who cleaned this place?" Asked her, as she was a bit curious about how he can clean the place so sparkling like in TV ads.
"Yes ma'am" nod him slowly.
Sakura sighed, "Don't call me ma'am, I'm not that old and... aren't we the same age?"
"Then, how should I address you, lady?"
Sakura open her mouth and shut it right away, she folded her arms thinking about the Lady part he spouts.
She then remembers her time in her former school, many of her acquaintances were called Lady by their butler or maid.
[Being called a Lady is nice...] think her.
"Well, you can call me Lady Sakura or just Sakura if you want"
"Understood, lady Sakura"
Sakura still had poker face plastered, but hearing the name lady is actually pleased her.
"Yuji, huh? Nice job, I really like a clean and tidy place" praised her.
"Thank you, lady"
.....................................
Minutes become hours, hours become days, days become weeks, and so on...
"H- how?! How is this possible?!" Asked her, looking at her zero LP.
Her eyes widened, shocked at the combo that Yuji's pulled off. It's just the third turn and her second turn, but she was OTK'ed by just 3 cards.
Bad Reaction to Simochi + 2 Gift Card
She held her head, wondering if all the duel she had before was a lie, and that is she truly dueling.
"Hahahahaha, you lose again didn't ya Sakura" laughed the dandy bald oldman.
"Shut it Grandpa" yelled her, the bald oldman Shinjiro Wakaba then snorted.
Sakura held her chin, analyzing this combo. For her, this is the first time she knew this.
Who knew that Gift Card with effect to give the opponent 3000 Life Points, a VERY generous gift can become something so awful like a poison.
"Again! I'm not satisfied with this duel!" Demanded her, as she began shuffling her deck again.
"As you wish lady Sakura" replied Yuji.
Sakura's eyes twitched when she heard the word "Lady" from him, "No... stop it, just call me Sakura" unlike before, being called lady by someone who defeat her multiple time didn't sit well with her now.
"Alright then... um... Sakura" answered him.
Yuji then begin shuffling his deck, while he does so, Sakura secretly took a glance at him.
At first, she didn't think or minding much about Yuji. She just saw him as an employee that doing a part-time job, simple as that.
But everything began to change since that day.
That day...
"That *5 cm* movie is better than I thought"
It was Sunday night, Sakura just return from a Cinema which held a foreign movie festival.
As usual, Sakura visit her grandfather's café whether it is for helping or for hang out spot... but probably hang out.
But when she visits the café, her grandfather were gone to visit a certain *acquaintance*, leaving Yuji alone tending the café.
There he saw Yuji cleaning a bunch of cards with smile on his face, at first she wants to remind Yuji about his job, but after looking at the quiet café and the room is sparkling clean, she abstained from doing it.
Without her grandfather to brew a coffee for her, and to pass time, she sat across Yuji.
"You like Duel Monster?" Asked her.
A bit shocked, Yuji tidy the cards he was cleaning and greet Sakura, "Ah. Good night, Lady Sakura, may I help you? If it's the owner, he just left a second ago, and Yes! I like Duel Monster"
"I see... hey, want to have a match?"
"Match?" Asked him, tilted his head.
"Yeah, just one round is fine. I'm bored, so think of it as passing the time until Grandpa come"
Yuji scratches his cheek unsure to agree or not, he then looks at the deck in his hand and then shift his gaze to Sakura.
"Alright, I accept" replied him.
There's no special reason or whatsoever, She just challenged Yuji to a card game for passing time.
Speaking of card game, after she graduated from her previous elite school, she's still playing Duel Monster until now, whether it is online or offline.
Both player exchange their deck, and shuffle them. When she shuffled Yuji's deck, her nose picking up something funny from his deck. But abstain asking him for it.
Sakura and Yuji then give the respective deck to each other.
"Before we start, I'm going to tell you something" said Sakura
Her words interest him, and he wonders about it, "Oh, what is it?" Asked him.
Sakura let out a smile, "I'm strong"
Hearing her words... Yuji nod, "Then please... go easy on me" told him smiling.
"Ready? I count from three. Three, two, one"
""Duel""
Yuji |LP 4000|
Sakura |LP 4000|
Both of them start dueling, unlike Yuji who just use low attack monster, Sakura monster were pretty much have high attack, that, combined with strong support from the spell cards and trap cards manage to gain advantage over him, and draining his LP quickly.
But-
"Mokey Mokeys! Attack Sakura directly!!"
Three Mokey Mokeys with an attack of 3000 thousand attack points, attack Sakura directly (not literal), and drained her Life Points to Zero in a Single. Move.
Sakura widened her eyes, her breath become bated, after receiving the undeniable truth.
[I lost? Me? ME?!! By a bunch of salted fish?! Me?! Who played Duel Monster for years... lost?!]
Sakura held her head, lost in thought of the realization she just lost.
Remember, she is a gifted child with rare talent and high capability mind.
But today, she was school'ed by Yuji, and reduce from a gifted to a mere normal child.
Just before she recovered from the shock and frustration, her grandfather finally came.
"Oh? Did you have a duel?" Asked, as he walks toward the both of them.
When he arrived, Shinjiro Wakaba raised his eyebrow and shifted his attention to Yuji.
"Hey... isn't this the cards you picked up from the trash when we go to the grocery this morning?" Asked him.
Yuji nod, "Yeah, it is"
Sakura jolted when she hears their conversation.
[I... I lost? Not only to a salted fish, but also literal garbage?! Me? ME? Who had won over a hundred or maybe thousand match lost? This! This...]
BADUMP!
"Kuh..." Sakura clutched her chest, her heart feeling an unnatural beat.
[This... what is this?] Think her
Thanks to Yuji, it is seemed she had awoken to emotion called frustration and anger
Don't be mistaken, the previous feeling of her frustration and the current feeling of frustration is so different.
Or hope that what she awoke to is just frustration... and not some strange feeling.
"Ha... Haha-hahaha" Sakura begins to snap, Yuji and Shinjiro looked at her with worried and scared eyes
"Good... this is good... I underestimated you before! But, I won't do it again! Right here, right now, let's duel!" Said Sakura, glaring at Yuji, with her pupil now resembling that of a serpent.
Yuji, still worried of her and himself in particular, try to refuse, "Um... I think the duel n-"
PAKK!
Before Yuji finished his word, Sakura hit the table, creating a loud knocking sound.
Her grandfather now become more worried, this is the first time he saw her like this, so gung-ho about something that she start hitting the table as to crush it.
While Yuji seemed to be scared of her.
"I won't take a NO! Right here... right now, duel me!!" Ordered Sakura, her eyes glare fiercely at Yuji.
Yuji then looks toward Shinjiro, but Shinjiro in particular sighed and shaking his head.
Seeing his answer, Yuji sighed, "O- Okay... let's duel again"
After that day, Sakura keep dueling Yuji more and more, she abandoned her old deck, researching about duel strategy, cards (old and new), rent and/or even buy DVD or Video that related to dueling, and even keep her eyes close to Yuji (his dueling habit, cards and combo preference, anything related to his dueling).
In short, she now took dueling and Yuji more seriously.
But thanks to her effort and dedication, she manages to beat Yuji.
"Won... I- kuh! I won! Take that Yuji!!" For the first time in her life, Sakura finally felt joy about winning, and even snarked toward Yuji.
"Congratulation Sakura!" Praised Yuji smiling, as he's clapping his hands.
BADUMP!
"Kuh..." she clutches her chest, [This feeling again! What is this?!] Wondered her.
"Humph! Don't be. I just won because you use the same deck and methods over and over again. It is natural that I win!" Told her, after she clapped by the same deck 3x straight.
Yuji scratches his head, "Well... this is the only deck I can use, I didn't even have the money to buy a new structure deck nor booster"
Hearing his words, Sakura raised her eyebrow, "Wait... Grandpa didn't give you salary?" Asked her.
Yuji shakes his head, "No. He gave me salary, it's just that I'm saving the money for my tuition" told him.
Sakura folded her arms, "Tuition?"
Yuji nod, "Yes, tuition. I planned to register and enroll in Duel Academy next year. For that, I need to save money as much I can" replied him.
Sakura shocked hearing his words, "That is mean... you won't work here anymore?"
"I don't know.... maybe I'm still worked here if I failed the exam, but who know" replied him.
"Humph. For someone like you who is good at dueling, why you need something as to enroll in Duel Academy?" Asked her, eyes focused on his face.
"That... because I had a goal, a very big goal"
"A dream?"
Yuji nod, "Yes! My biggest goal is... to become a Duel King!!"
Sakura widened her eyes, "You... wanted to be a Duel King?"
"Yes! To become the best of the best not only I must work hard and smart, I also must gain experience, and new knowledge about it, and where is the best place for providing such thing?
The answer is school, a Duel School! If I manage to graduate from such school it is also very beneficial for my future career as a Pro Duelist" said Yuji.
Sakura held her chin, she is thinking that even without going to School, Yuji can achieve such thing, but after thinking through it... she also came to agree with his decision.
Dueling is not a trendy sport, but also part of a lifestyle. Thanks to Kaiba Corporation, dueling which only sees as sport is become much something larger and even pierced through another field of studies.
Not only that, because dueling is such a trendy and serious sports it is also synonym with other thing like... MONEY.
Not all duelist would share their knowledge, and even deck build.
Moreover, because dueling need Duel Monster card, any information about such useful and powerful card(s) can't be accessed so easily.
Even more, there are a saying that a mere one copy of Blue Eyes White Dragon can make you rich enough up to seven generations.
It'll be very hard for Yuji who is a no name in dueling world can receive such sponsorship, nor even gained such access to powerful cards.
It is right for him to say that it is best to start from Duel Academy. Not only they provide knowledge, they also supplied with experienced staff and equipments.
"I see... that is a very good idea" said Sakura.
"Isn't that right?" Replied him.
But then, after saying it Yuji shifted his gaze downward, "But... if I really manage to pass and enroll in Duel Academy, that is to mean that I must leave this place-"
BADUMP!
Sakura's heart begin beating.
"Thanks to owner's generosity, not only I had a place to stay and earn money, but also meet various good peoples like... you, Sakura. I know it'll be a sad thing, but I already decide on the path I should take!" said Yuji, eyes full of determination.
BADUMP!
Thinking about Yuji left, something stir in Sakura's heart.
[This again! What is this?!]
Sakura's look at Yuji in the eyes, "I see... I wish you good luck, Yuji Kusanagi"
"Thank you... lady Sakura"
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