#can't catch me clogging sociological theory tags with fics

[team-frightfur]

Dramaturgy: Standard Chapters 1-3 (because looking back they’re super short.)

Archive of Our Own Link : https://archiveofourown.org/works/43361508/chapters/108999891

Episode: 1

Disclaimer: I Don't own any of the characters, stories, or even most of the plot points. - Text Glossary (this will get longer) Italics - Either emphasis or thoughts. Brackets - an aside. Brackets + Strikethrough - Repressed thoughts. Skippable.

Expect no consistent quality with the art. They are crimes for a reason.

Born from the discovery of implementing mass into Solid Vision, Action Duels! Duels where the field, monsters and Duelists' become one, pulls the crowd into the maelstrom of crazed excitement!

In Yuya’s opinion, action duels were, without a doubt, the latest and greatest evolution in duelling! Setting aside the sheer fun factor of riding Odd Eyes Dragon around the field, you just couldn’t get this kind of lighting anywhere else!

Admittedly, the lighting was doing way more for Gongenzaka than it was for him. Gongenzaka’s white clothes blazed like a star against the simulated firelit night, and the simulated wind made his red bandana flare out behind him. Above them, curtains of falling sakura cast dappled shadows on his shiny samurai monsters.

As if that wasn’t enough, the set was based on Ancient Japan! So the scarlet torii, paper screens, and wood houses fit Gongenzaka’s samurai themed monsters like a glove.

Yuya’s bright pink hip hippo, though, didn’t really blend in so well. Technology just couldn’t put yukatas on duel monsters yet.

Still! Never let it be said that Yusho Sakaki raised a quitter! Smiling for the camera, Yuya jumped his hippo right onto the roof of the main building. With the moon behind him, the backlighting would shine down like a halo - perfect for his dramatic turnaround!

- Is what Yuya would have said if Gongenzaka hadn’t accused him of messing around, followed by the real solid vision projector promptly dying, dropping Yuya face first onto the floor mats.

The impact took a moment to sink in.

Did I just nearly die?

It had been an 8 foot drop.

Luckily, or unluckily, depending on how much his head hurt in a minute, ‘nearly’ meant ‘not dead yet’, so the show could still go on! Groaning, Yuya forced his eyes open and sat up, scanning the room for why everything had shut off.

Instead, he landed on four different Tatsuyas, large grey eyes fixed on him with identical expressions of horror.

Ouch. Maybe he thinks I got one turn killed in real life.

If so, then that was not gonna fly! As an entertainer, Yuya made eleven year olds smile! He certainly didn’t traumatise them by breaking his neck onstage!

As such, he did the only thing he could think of.

He pulled a very funny face.

*****

You Show Duel had always been a small school. Even when ‘Yusho’ was a legendary name, it'd never opened outside 3-8pm, had more than two teachers, two floors, one stadium, seven rooms, and twenty students.

According to You Show’s current principal, Shuzo Hiiragi, it was by design. When it came to education, Yuya’s dad believed in ‘quality over quantity’, so he refused to have one person teach thirty kids. Workplace policy was that one teacher could teach ten max, making twenty a mark of success!

For over a decade, the sheer star power of Yusho’s name had kept the number of students maxed out. In Yuya’s memory, the attendance rate had only dropped below 100% twice.

First was when Yuya was six and the attendees had halved to ten. There was a long waiting list, though, so by the end of that year it was full up again.

Three years ago, on the other hand, they’d lost 16 students and, in all the days since, they’d never been able to hook another.

It was obvious why. Yuya and his dad were ruining this school. He knew it, Yuzu knew it, and Mr Hiiragi had to know it.

Despite that, no one had  ever  asked Yuya to leave. He’d always be grateful for that and he’d never forget what he owed to Mr Hiiragi.

Mr Hiiragi was a miracle worker. Yuya didn’t know how he did it but, no matter how few students showed, how much he was offered for the building, or how thin school finances got, Mr Hiiragi always pulled through. Because of him, the legacy Yuya’s dad had left behind always felt secure.

Seeing his face turn pained as he inspected the real solid vision projector made Yuya’s insides twist. The low ache in his nose didn’t even compare.

“We can fix it, right?” he asked, grip tightening on the ladder Mr Hiiragi was using. Any school without a real solid vision projector was dead in the water these days -especially one that focused on entertainment duelling like You Show.  

“We’ll find a way.” Mr Hiiragi said nervously, before wailing. “-But in the meantime, my hot blooded coaching is going to be  wasted !”

“Aw don’t say that.” Yuya tried. “I for one think your theory lessons are super hot blooded and fun!”

He did not, but, considering how the real solid vision projector had broken the instant he’d tried to play a card, Yuya was scared he’d been involved somehow. If he personally destroyed the school his dad and Mr Hiiragi had founded in a single duel, then Yuya’d have to start making up for it early.

Thank god that, while Yuya was resting on the front room couch fifteen minutes later, Mr Hiiragi reported that it was not, in fact, his fault.

Kinda.

Well, basically, Yuya’d upset Yuzu so badly that she’d smashed the keyboard up, which overloaded the system and caused the duel to shut down. An act which Yuzu, arms crossed on the couch next to him, was clearly unrepentant for.

“I don’t even see what I did wrong!” Yuya protested. “Tatsuya was laughing, wasn’t he?”

“He was laughing because you were making a fool of yourself!” Yuzu snapped.

“Exactly.” Gongenzaka added. “There’s a difference between laughing  with  someone and laughing  at  someone.”

“Buuut” - Yuya pointed out with a wink - “isn’t it better to be laughed at than ignored?”

 Or worse…

Gongenzaka frowned, eyes narrowing in a way that made it clear he knew exactly what Yuya hadn’t said out loud. “You think too little of yourself.”

“Gongenzaka’s right! Promise me that you won’t make a joke out of yourself again!”  

Yuya held back a sigh, he could tell it would be stupid to argue. “I promise.”  to give it a shot.

Tragically, just like Gongenzaka, Yuzu heard the quiet part. Suspicious, she leaned in closely so that Yuya could see the fire in her blue eyes.

“You mean it?”

“Of course I mean it!”

“You liar!”

Caught red handed somehow, Yuya dodged off the couch as Yuzu swiped at him playfully? forcing him to hide behind Gongenzaka. Sweating, Yuya prepared for the next five minutes of “Hide from Yuzu or Die Horribly.”

Never had Yuya been more happy to hear the door burst open behind him. Smiling, he turned around and backed up towards the wall, hoping to welcome any other kids who’d dropped by.

Instead of a kid, though, it was an adult man with the most impressive moustache, bumblebee striped suit and sideburns that Yuya had ever seen. Honestly, he was kind of impressed. Sure, the style wasn’t his cup of tea, but you had to respect someone who wore their heart on their sleeve like that.

Mr Hiiragi was less stunned. “Who are you?”

Smiling wide, the man bowed slightly. “My name” -he supplied dramatically- “is Nico Smiley. I’m the manager of the current action duelling Champion, Strong Ishijima!”

Instantly, the air temp in the room crashed. Yuya’s heart froze to match, chest aching from the tangled mess of emotions twisting around inside it. He felt like he couldn’t breathe.

But there was a stranger here so he couldn’t show any of that.

Mr Hiiragi exploded. “I refuse!” he bellowed. “Yuya is a precious student of You Show! I won’t let him join your dog and pony show!”

“What a shame,” Smiley replied. “After all, if you did, we’d be happy to provide you with Leo Corporation’s latest real solid vision projector for free.”

“Whether or not he wins or loses?” Mr Hiiragi asked.

Yuzu kicked her dad in the shins.

“I mean -could we get back to you on that?”

“Of course, of course! The duel isn’t until tomorrow, after all.”

Yuya’s smile faltered. Tomorrow!? “Y-your promoters haven’t already advertised the match, have they?”

“We would never! That would be a violation of your rights.” Smiley assured him. “I can promise you that no advertising will occur until after you give us the go ahead.”

I guess the promoters working on who knows how many hours of crunch don’t get those sorts of rights.

Putting aside his sympathies, Yuya was happy he didn’t have to answer yet. There were so many questions, feelings, and obligations swirling around in his head that he’d need at least a half hour to sort through them all.

Luckily, half an hour was also the amount of time it took for Smiley to walk out of their school. Yuya was frozen to the couch at that point, so Mr Hiiragi saw him out.

The moment he heard the door click closed, Yuya’s smile dropped off his face.

“So, pros and cons!” Yuya started. “Pro number 1: The school survives-”

“-Don’t you even think about duelling just for that real solid vision projector!” Yuzu warned, scooting over and pressing a finger to his chest. “I won’t let you walk into this on our account!”

“But-”

“What’s more important is that you want to go,” Gongenzaka added.

“Exactly! Focus on yourself! No thinking about You Show, or our classmates at Maiami middle, and definitely no thinking about all of Ishijima’s fans!”

“But just imagine how much the crowd would laugh if I lost!”

“Yuya!”

*****

Three years ago, Yusho Sakaki disappeared. Since it happened the same day as his match against Strong Ishijima, instead of a 'disappearance’, they called it a ‘no show’, instead of a ‘missing person’, they called his dad a ‘coward’ and instead of getting any sympathy, Yuya was called a ‘coward’s son.’

But Yuya’s dad was not a coward! He was a legendary duellist who never ran from a challenge and always, always fought to the end! Nothing could shake Yuya’s resolution on that.

No, his dad must have had a good reason for leaving.

-Which meant there was no need to doubt him on anything else! Satisfied, Yuya shamelessly kicked the idea that he should ‘focus on himself’ under whatever dusty mind closet he had in his head. Dad was exempt.

“So!” -Yuya started, stepping into his room and diving onto his bed- “What would Dad want?”

As he considered it, his eyes wandered to the poster of his father on the wall. In it, his dad was dressed in his signature suit and top hat, triumphantly punching the air at Maiami Stadium.

If Yuya remembered correctly, that had been his big win against Ushio -a milestone that earned him the title of ‘legend’ -but what Yuya liked most about it was the clear, picture perfect angle on his dad’s face. Because of the pro-camerawork involved, It was bigger and more High Q than any other pictures in the house.

Thanks to this poster, he would never forget his dad.

(The grief would haunt him every day .)

Right now, Yuya needed those memories. Eyes fixed on it, he thought back to the day he’d been crying in the schoolyard. What had Dad said to him back then?

“Laugh when you want to cry” - he muttered, dragging the words out of the back of his mind - “and push forward when you’re frozen in fear. If you can do that, you’ll definitely have fun.”

The meaning was clear enough. Dad would want him to duel

In that case, Yuya had no choice. Taking a deep breath, he steeled his shoulders and switched his duel disk to communication mode. His hands shook as he dialled in Mr Smiley’s number but, no matter how fast his pulse was racing, Yuya’s heart was set.

“Hello, this is Nico Smiley speaking.”

“Hi Mr Smiley, this is Yuya Sakaki! I think I’m going to accept that duel!”

*****

The single saving grace to the duel being tomorrow was that the ‘tomorrow’ in question was a Sunday.

Sadly, this Sunday was looking to be worse than usual. Sure, it was partly Yuya’s fault for going to bed last night with toxic, man eating butterflies in his stomach, but he’d expected them to go away overnight! Not get married, buy a house, have five kids, and settle down for retirement!

Yuya could only thank his lucky stars that he still had one countermeasure: mum’s pancakes.

Everyone who’d ever finished a plate agreed that Yuko Sakaki’s pancakes were the best. The dough was so fluffy that it melted in your mouth and the lemon juice, strawberry, and cream on the side balanced their flavours perfectly. Yuya fully believed that, should he ever meet a monster down an alley one day, he could domesticate it with these pancakes.

Not even the butterflies stood a chance. By the time he’d finished digging in, Yuya felt ready to face anything.

“Thanks for the food!”

Mum waved him off. “No need. I figured you’d need a pick me up for the duel!”

“I can’t just not say thanks though”- Yuya muttered before the rest of the line crashed down on him. “-wait, you already knew!?”

“It was on the morning news, Yuya. I bought a ticket.”

The promoters worked at least 10 hours of midnight crunch, he decided. At least 10.

Since his Mum had already found out, Yuya wasn’t surprised when the doorbell rang. Hurrying over, he opened the door and found Mr Hiiragi, Yuzu and Gongenzaka all packed onto the footpath outside.

Gongenzaka spoke first. “You truly accepted Mr Smiley’s offer?”

“Sorry for not telling you! It was pretty late when I called Mr Smiley about it last night.”

“Well, that’s a relief! Guess I won’t be needing this after all!” Yuzu said brightly, hiding her paper fan behind her back. “In that case, I’ll be watching from the stands! Give it your best shot and not an inch less, Yuya!”

“And put You Show Duel School back in business!” Mr Hiiragi chimed.

“-But If you  did actually do this just to pay us back, I promise I’ll make you regret it!”

“Trust me!” Yuya laughed, sweating slightly as Yuzu pulled out the fan again. “It’s nothing like that! I just wanted to …be brave and have fun!”

“Then you’ve already succeeded. After today, whether you win or lose, no one can deny your courage.” Gongenzaka said firmly. “Make sure that you try to enjoy it, too.”

“I promise! -and on that note, since you guys are here I may as well run this clown idea past you-”

*****

A few hours and several devastating discussions later, Yuya had to head out. The duel wasn’t for another hour, but it was good manners to show up early for the deck inspection.

Well over a decade had gone by since duel disks had been upgraded to shuffle themselves. That made most forms of card manipulation, like false shuffles, cuts, and passing, impossible. Somehow, though, there were still duellists out there who thought they could get away with marked cards, so inspections were still mandatory.

The deck inspection, along with “being too stupid”, “not respecting your opponent”, “making a joke out of yourself again ” and “making it seem like clowns and magicians are interchangeable” were just some of the many reasons Yuya was convinced not to sneak up behind Strong Ishijima in a jester costume. It wouldn’t be much of a twist if everyone in the entrance hall saw him jingling around.

“If you want there to be a twist, then win.” Yuzu huffed.

“Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

“It’s not about what’s likely or unlikely, it’s about what everyone expects.”

Yuzu was right, obviously. To everyone in the stands tonight, Yuya was less likely to win than an exodia user missing both legs. Only Mr Hiiragi, Yuzu, Gongenzaka, and his mum even entertained the thought of anything else.

Speaking honestly, Yuya agreed more with the majority. This was the champion of action duelling they were talking about! Compared to that, Yuya could barely qualify for the locals every second year.

Yuya was going to lose, he’d accepted that. As long as he did his best, that was what counted, right?

But if he knew that, then why wouldn’t his heart stop racing, why were his hands so sweaty they could barely hold his deck, and why was that same mess of emotions that had been dug up by Nico Smiley writhing around a day after he’d left?

Even when he took the field, Yuya was no closer to an answer.

*****

Maiami stadium could house up to twenty five thousand people. With that many seats, the field was almost dwarfed by the stands around it. Luckily, the stadium was fitted with state of the art drone cameras, which could capture the duel and project it onto wide screens behind the seats.

Yuya had sat in those stands more times than he could count to watch his dad leap, spin, and fly across the field. Since his dad disappeared, he’d come a lot less, but he could still be dragged out for the occasional match.

No amount of watching could have prepared Yuya for actually standing on the field. From here, the lights were blinding, the empty space around him felt massive, and Yuya could practically feel the thousands of cheers for Strong Ishijima shaking the air and grinding down his bones.

To his relief, the cheers quieted down when Smiley started announcing the match, allowing Yuya to hear Ishijima’s greeting.

“Here alone?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Hmph. I expected Sakaki Yusho to appear if we dragged out his son.”

Yuya couldn’t even imagine what to say to that.

( If that was enough, he’d have come back ages ago .)

Before either of them could say anything else, Mr Smiley announced the action field. In a flash of light, grass sprouted from gravel, and a forest appeared around them like a cage of trees. Under Strong Ishijima’s feet, a large stone castle materialised, carrying him so high up that Yuya couldn’t even see his face anymore.

Still, you couldn’t ignore tradition. If Yuya remembered correctly, the first part only took this long.  

(“Duelists locked in battle!”)

“Kicking the earth and dancing in the air alongside their monsters!”

(“They storm through this field!”)

“Behold! This is the newest and greatest evolution of Dueling!”

*****

After his dad disappeared, things got difficult.

When he walked into You Show and his dad wasn’t there, the absence stabbed into his chest, when he walked home alone, it weighed on his shoulders until they ached and, when he walked through the front door and closed it behind him, it dragged him back to that day, three years ago, when he’d waited behind that door for hours.

Back then, Yuya’d really believed that, any second, the door would swing open and his dad would come back. Because of that, he’d been frozen behind it until the sky turned dark and the only light in the room was what streamed under the door crack.

But in the end, his dad never came back. His mum came home late from her own desperate search and, when she realised he hadn’t done anything but sit there, collapsed into tears.

Seeing Mum cry made Yuya swear never to sit in front of the door again. Still, he never stopped waiting.

*****

No matter how much things hurt, Yuya never cried. A single week of school was enough to teach him that, for most people, crying was weak.

Instead, when Yuya walked to school and was stabbed by a hundred mocking gazes, he smiled and dragged Yuzu to the lockers. When the word “coward” was scrawled on his locker and desk, he smiled, cleaned it off and moved on with his life.

No one had left a flower vase for him, yet. He was honestly surprised.

 I don’t want to go back.  

As the months passed, Yuya had to clean his locker less and less, people stopped staring at him when he went to school, and his smiles stopped making Yuzu angry. He got used to the ache in his chest until even the lack of students at You Show became something acceptable.

If Yuya lost, would people start writing “loser” on his locker? Would they glare at him every morning and put a flower vase on his desk?

The path in front of Yuya felt like a sheer cliff.

*****

“Entertainment Duelling has nothing to prove!”

No one outside You Show believed that. To them, if the father of Entertainment Duelling didn’t believe in his own style enough to duel till the end, what good could it be?

There was only one way to make people respect Entertainment Duelling again: for the students at You Show to win. As Yusho’s son, Yuya had to win more than anyone else.

He didn’t win enough.

What is wrong with me?!

All Yuya wanted was to protect Entertainment Duelling, but all he could do was drag it through the mud! He lost half his duels, acted like a clown, and could never keep his big mouth shut! Three years ago was proof of that -a smarter kid would know better than to challenge the champion!

Now, Yuya was going to lose the one match he shouldn’t. Finally, the open question of which was better, Entertainment Duelling or Ishijima beatdown, was being answered by the worst possible person.

Everyone’s eyes were on him! The pressure made his ears ring!

How could this possibly be fun!?

*****

In the end, though, it was everyone else’s problem.

His classmates were scum, one moment they pretended to be decent, the next they were rubbing salt in his wounds.

The audience was just as worthless. After seeing his dad take on pre-errata crush cards, monster reborn, and Yata-locks they thought that Strong Ishijima  scared him?! Just think for one second and they’d realise that, even if his dad  had lost, Entertainment Duelling was second best!

But no! That’s too much to expect! Better to make Yuya duel a man three times his age over a grudge with a missing person!

Didn’t anyone have standards?! Why wasn’t anyone worried?!

His dad might be dead or trapped somewhere!

Was it just that fun to drive him crazy?

If so, then it was working. Underneath the nausea, underneath the ache, underneath the ringing in his ears, his blood was always boiling. When the feelings faded thread by thread, anger was always last to disappear.

Maybe one day, it wouldn’t disappear at all.

I want to make them pay for these last three years!

(At that time,  Would Yuya finally lose it?)

*****

( When he was younger, Yuya suspected that Strong Ishijima had kidnapped his father.  

  Obviously, that wasn’t right but, even after Yuya realised how silly it was, he kept looking for reasons. Maybe his dad had been taken by the Yakuza, or maybe he’d been teleported to some fantasy realm! Maybe he was sealed by an ancient curse and could only be freed by Yuya solving a puzzle!

Yuya’d outgrown those paranoid fantasies. Still, deep down, a part of him felt like if he won today, on the anniversary of Yusho Sakaki’s disappearance, his dad would finally walk back through that front door. He’d say he was proud of Yuya, give him a big hug, and Yuya wouldn’t have to deal with any of this fear, shame or anger  ever again  . )

  Something has to change!

*****

No set cards, no hand traps, just 400 LP and 4 monsters to take down Ishijima’s 4000 LP and his ace monster.

The duel was over. As the cheering for Ishijima rattled his skull, Yuya didn’t know if he could smile through it anymore.

Maybe that was the worst part. Even if Yuya lost, he wanted to live by his father’s teachings.