"YAHOOOOO! TIME TO CELEBRATE! LET'S BLOW THE ROOF OUTTA THIS CRAPPY JOINT!"

We're starting early.

It was friday, after classes were over and Kikka had her training matches with Ryuuga. Yeah, we're skipping that much ahead, the two lovebirds got themselves some days off school thanks to the cold they caught over the rain the day before their special date.

The usual suspects were at the Mahapadma; Harui, Yukie and Kikka were at the usual table while Satoru was on the table next to theirs alongside an unlikely guest, the gardener himself Jiei. The old man was at the counter, because someone had to cook the food.

"Do you need to get on top of the chair to do say that...?" Kikka asked, sweatdropping at the antics she had been forced to accept as the usual.

"Well, duh! It's a big day, Probie!"

"Please sit back down, we've gone over this already, Harui." Yukie sighed, tugging on the white haired's arm until she sat like a normal person.

"And wasn't the big day, say, last week?" Satoru asked.

"Yeah, but then me and Yukie were under the weather on monday and only returned to school today so suck it up! 'Sides, you're one of the people we're celebrating today, so shut up and get celebrated! Even Jiei got the memo!"

"You promised to cover my soil fees until the end of the semester. I'm expecting the premium stuff." The Kiba sibling chuckled.

"And here I thought you came to celebrate your bestie's big achievement." The other boy teased.

"It's dirt, how expensive can it be?" Harui asked with a shrug. "Anyway, raise your glasses, you fools!"

"Was it necessary to close down the Mahapadma for this..." Nozomi groaned.

"Zip it, old man! You're the one who kept the place closed for like half a week! What was that even about?!"

"I'm not an old man and I had stuff to do! Adult stuff!"

"Oh yeah? Name me one."

"I'll tell you later."

"Sounds like you were just being lazy and drowing in despair over no new dinosaurs coming out to me."

"Can you get to the point, tanuki?" Kikka spoke up. "I still gotta stop by Ruler's Dogma to pick up Bifrons on my way home!"

"Should have pre-ordered them."

"I didn't know she was coming out until last week, now hurry up with your speech!"

"Alright, alright, I'm getting to it! Everybody, raise your glasses!"

As Harui got up from her seat with glass up, everyone else in the dinner raised theirs aswell, and thankfully, she didn't get on top of her chair again.

"Girlfriend, friends, old man-"

"Hey!"

"We are gathered here today to celebrate the achievements two of the usual suspects of the gang achieved these past weekend!"

"Seriously?" Kikka stared at Harui with a blunt look. "The achievements we achieved?"

"Shut up, Bachi ate my original speech, I'm winging it." Harui deadpanned. "On one side, we have Satoru finally breaching the ten million tier! And against all odds, his lame The Untitled title stuck!"

"Thank you, thank you a bunch." Satoru got up and bowed. "I'd like to thank-"

"Moving on!" Harui exclaimed. "Contrasting Satoru's very expected achievement, we have our very own Probie winning her first shop tournament! The odds were all against her but she somehow made it out on top with Unica! Everyone, applaud this girl!"

"Ahah... This is a bit embarassing..." Kikka chuckled with a light blush as she heard the applause. "It was a miracle neither Nozomi-san nor Lucia-san participated in the tournament, otherwise I'd have probably gone X-2... Speaking off, why didn't you go, Nozomi-san? I thought you said you were going to close shop to go enter the tournament."

"I had to... Do some adulting." Nozomi sweatdropped. "I'll tell you guys later."

"What were you doing that got you to be so secretive?" Harui asked. "Oh no... Did you blackmail Ryuzaki to print a proper dinosaur deck and are now fearing for your life?!"

"That didn't work when I worked at GEN, it really won't work now." The blonde deadpanned.

"You blackmailed your employer...?" Yukie asked, raising a brow.

"No, that's your girlfriend exaggerating again... I caught wind of a potential new format when Yuuto told me about the deck Ryuzaki used once so I asked him for a dinosaur deck as payment for entering Project Motor Future, but he just got me a car instead."

"GEN already had D decks?" Satoru asked.

"Sorta? Ryuzaki used the place as a free testing ground for all kinds of stuff while I was there. Ride decks in V began there before moving on to the proper game, for example."

"Are you done loredropping about your old job?" Harui asked. "We gotta celebrate Probie's big win! Bring out the snacks already!"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm working on it. Can you help me out, Jiei-kun?"

"Sure thing, Nozomi-san." Jiei replied before leaving for the counter.

Nozomi and Jiei brought out the spread of food Nozomi prepared for the party, a varied mix of all the meat dishes Satoru liked and Kikka's prefered picks from the menu, and because of her demands as party planner, there were plenty of soba options for Harui.

"I apologize for only asking about this now  but how did the tournament go for you, Kikka-san?" Yukie asked.

"Oh don't worry, it's totally fine! You two were sick for almost the whole week, you had bigger concerns!" Kikka giggled. "Like I said, most of it came down to neither Nozomi-san nor Lucia-san participating."

"You're mentioning this Lucia-san again. Is she your girlfrieeeeeeeend?" Satoru teased which a smug smile, making Harui choke on her noodles as she tried to not laugh.

"Of course not!" The redhead exclaimed, but suddenly got all pensive. "I guess Lucia-san is very pretty... But she's too many tiers above me."

"In Vanguard?" Jiei asked.

"That too."

"Heh. Girlfail." Harui said with a punchable grin.

"Zip it! Anyway, Lucia-san is the afternoon part-timer at Ruler's Dogma, we tend tilo be at the store at the same time so we've become friends since. She was working as a judge during the tournament, so she didn't enter."

"What did you match into on finals?" Nozomi asked.

"Drajeweled. It was easy peasy for me. It has no early game while my Unica has it in droves so they went down before even riding to grade 4." Kikka declared with a big smirk.

"People are still playing that crapshow of a deck? Yeesh. You'd think they'd caught on to what the real good decks are now." The white haired scoffed and got back to eating her noodles.

"What good decks? Luard lost the dog and you're back to Genkai. You even lost Dragveda." Satoru pointed out.

"So? The Shogoat isn't a card, it's a state of mind. The biggest hit I took was having to pull the sick card on Ryuuga to get a free Idosfaro. Ugh, my dignity will never recover from asking that loser for something."

"Did it work?" The blonde asked.

"Nah, Neetama got me one yesterday. Ryuuga's cheap anyway. My gorgeous Neetama got me the SP."

"They come in SP?" The other white haired asked.

"Ryuzaki & Co. makes anything in any rarity if demand's big enough." Nozomi mentioned. "Or if Ryuzaki just feels like it. There was this one time he got Yuuto a single edition SP Dordonna for Valentine's."

"How come your dinosaurs never get support then, Nozomi-san?" Kikka asked. "The demand exists, right?"

A monumental silence fell upon those inside that smell dinner.

Satoru's sunglasses moved down a little for him to look at Kikka.

The Kiba twins were shocked to the core, but obviously didn't show it.

Harui had a proud smile that somehow managed to radiate that punchable tanuki energy.

Nozomi fell through the deepest pit of despair he knew into a new one he didn't want to think about.

The blonde's shoulders slumped. He just ate quietly, leaving behind but a single somber response.

"There's two Tachikaze players in the world and I'm three fourths of them..."

"You cooked him, Probie. Attagirl."

"H-huh?!" The redhead looked between the despairing young man and the cackling tanuki. "I-i didn't meant to! I'm sorry, Nozomi-san! I'm sure there's a third Tachikaze player in the world!"

Nozomi's head dropped even lower. He wasn't even eating anymore, he just stared blankly at his plate of nikujaga. Maybe being called an old man by Yuuto wasn't so bad anymore.

"I don't think you're helping, Kikka-san..." Yukie sweatdropped.

"I swear I didn't mean to hurt Nozomi-san! This is all that tanuki's fault! She's been corrupting me!"

"Yeah, and you're finally one of us. Kiss your sanity goodbye, sweetcheeks."

"I don't wannaaaaaaaa!" Kikka whined.

"Hang in there, Nozomi. You'll get more dinosaurs some day. Maybe they'lll even be generic." Satoru said, patting Nozomi's back. "So Uekoshi, now that you got an event under your belt, you gotta come up with a title for the future. You got one in mind?"

"Actually, I do!"

"Already?" Harui asked. "Bet. Let's hear it then."

"Ahem... I'm the fightet who'll skyrocket her way to the top! The R - The Rising Star!"

"Layered, not bad." Satoru said along his applause.

"Ten times cooler than The Untitled, that's for sure. I'm rooting for it to stick, Probie!"

"You're rooting for someone besides yourself? Consider me surprised."

"Oh shut it, you furry. I can be an awesome team player when I want to."

"That's why Blacksync's still missing a member."

"Jiei, put some tape on your bestie's mouth if you want him alive to see you put in that premium soil."

"I'll see if Nozomi keeps any around." Jiei chuckled.

"Second drawer from left to right behind the counter..." The store owner muttered.

"Why do you have duct tape in a restaurant?" Satoru asked.

"You never know when it may be useful... It may one day cover that tanuki's mouth when Yukie isn't looking..."

"You're overprepared for a senile old man."

Nozomi's dino-depression shattered in an instant. It was time for him to defend his age from that white haired tanuki again.

"I'm twenty six!"

"You were fifty years ago."

"When are you gonna get some new material?" The boy in sunglasses asked.

"Thank you, Satoru." Nozomi sighed.

"Innovate the old man jokes a little."

"Not you too!"

"Hmm... I can call him an old well." Harui suggested.

"Oh, that's smart. Who came up with it?"

"Probie."

"Leave me out of this, I already hurt Nozomi-san too much today..." Kikka sweatdropped. "Any more bad karma and the universe will take away my trophy!"

"Not if I get to it first..." Nozomi scowled.

"N-nozomi-saaaaaan!" The redhead weeped. She had become a victim of that white haired monster.

Anyway.

The group eventually moved away from Nozomi's age and deck and just got to talking about other stuff as they ate, mostly about what Harui and Yukie missed during sick days, which turned out to not be much.

About twenty minutes later, Nozomi picked up the empty plates and went back to his station behind the counter to give them a wash while the rest of the gang kept talking.

"One shop tournament's down, what's next on the agenda, Probie?" Harui asked.

"How should I know? I just won my first event ever, I can't blindly ride this high." Kikka answered with a sweatdrop. "Plus, this win relied more on outside factors than in my own skill..."

"So what if the old man and what's her name didn't participate? You won, that's what matters. That trophy proves your skill is legit! You can take on the world, Probie! Ain't no one gonna believe in the you that doesn't believe in herself!"

"She means you should look at the positives and keep giving your all, you got what it takes." Satoru explained. Someone had to translate from haruinese to japanese.

"I know, but..."

"No buts! Or ifs! Or ands! Or other words used to make conditional sentences!"

"You're really annoying for a tanuki..." The redhead sighed, but then followed it with a smile. "But you got it."

"I said no buts!"

"But I was agreeing with you!"

"Did I sutter?!"

"Make up your mind, you damn tanuki!"

"Keep it down you two, you're bothering everyone else!" Nozomi yelled from the sink, where he washed the dishes.

"Put a sock on it, old well!" The two girls replied.

If the plates were part of the restaurant's insurance, Nozomi's inner thoughts would have broken a few.

"Okay, let me think..." Kikka put her hand in her chin and closed her eyes. "Dogma has monthly tournaments, so they're out of the picture if I wanna be in anything soon. What other stores do I know... What other stores do I know... What other... Stores do I know..."

"Do you know any other stores?" Harui asked.

"Of course I don't!" The girl deadpanned. "I've only been going to card stores since we've met! You know when we met?"

"The start of the school year?"

"And when was that?"

"When the school year began."

"Oi you little-"

"Last week." Satoru chimmed in.

"Exactly! I've been going to the card shop closest to my house for little under two weeks now, of course I don't know any other stores!"

"Krill issue." Harui said with a shrug. Coincidentally, she was picked up her bowl of spicy soba noodles with okiami broth.

"I don't know, I guess I'll look up whatever events are happening around town this weekend or something..." Kikka sighed dejectedly, but then was hit with a stroke of genius. "What about that tournament Kiru-san mentioned?"

"You mean the one that's all rumours and no confirmation? Sounds like a sham to me."

"Wouldn't Ryuuga-san know about it?" Yukie questioned. "Events being developed by Ryuzaki & Co. tend to be of a large magnitude. While those can take upwards of three months to get announced, branch managers and other related employees become aware of them way before the general public."

"For real?" Satoru asked.

"Correct." Jiei began. "There was this regional event in Okinawa about one or two year ago, give or take. Emon was one of the special guests at it and knew about it two months before it was even announced."

"Well? Does that old man know anything?" Harui asked.

"The three of us are gonna be at the same retirement home." Nozomi deadpanned.

"As if I'll ever age! I'm unstoppable!"

"Not that I'm aware. Ryuuga-san doesn't talk much about his work as branch manager." Kikka explained with a light hum. "Granted, it's usually Mayuri-san that does must of the work."

"That scum." The blonde scoffed.

"Yeah, if you fell off as hard as Ryuuga did, you'd become scum too." Harui nodded sagely.

"What? No, Ryuuga's fine. It's that Mayuri rat bastard who's the scum."

"You have beef with Mayuri-san, Nozomi-san?" Kikka asked, looking over at the young man by the sink.

"The things me and Yuuto had to deal with because of him was enough to shave ten years off my lifespan!"

"Ehue. Old man."

"Shut up, tanuki."

"Really? But Mayuri-san always comes off as such a kind hearted guy. I'd never guess he was that bad in high school."

"That's how the dirty ikemen get you." Satoru said.

"You aren't one, Satoru?" The redhead asked.

"As if. The only thing where this furry has any sort of pull game on is in fishing." Harui cackled.

"What can I say? I just love fish."

"And even in that, your pull game is trash compared to mine. You may love fish, but me? Women want me, fish fear me."

"I'm going to redirect the topic to the tournament before she keeps boasting..." Kikka deadpanned. "Like I said, Ryuuga-san doesn't seem to know anything about the tournament, and I'd wager that if he doesn't, neither does Mayuri-san."

"That leaves us with two options here, Probie." Harui began. "Either Ryuuga doesn't know anything because the tournament is all talk with no real proof, or he doesn't know anything because not even the branch managers were told."

"What does the latter entail, exactly?" Yukie asked.

"Well, it could be something that just straight up doesn't concern the branch managers, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. If it doesn't involve or affect the branches, they don't have to worry about it. On the other hand... It could be something so massive that even they are being kept in the dark, which does raise the question... What exactly is Ryuzaki cooking in his office to warrant all this secrecy?"

"Could it be something in the same scale as the Dream Team Challenge?" Nozomi asked.

"Dude, we just established the branch managers don't know a thing, why are you bringing up a branch-focused event... Either listen to the whole thing or don't listen at all."

"No, I mean in terms of prizes."

"Then start with that!"

"What do you mean, Nozomi-san?" Kikka asked.

"When it comes to Ryuzaki, the bigger the prize, the more he tends to keep things under wraps. For the Dream Team, the winning team would be able to fight anyone they wished on the big stage. It doesn't sound like much on paper, but the appeal for many was the chance to show off their stuff when all the country had its eyes in them. Going pro was never easier. That alone made the demand for the event go past Ryuzaki's prevision tenfold."

"You didn't enter the Dream Team, Nozomi? Sounds like your type of deal." Satoru said.

"It happened during Project MF, so I was busy with that. Besides, I wouldn't have a team either." The blonde laughed. "All my friends were either at the MF, taking a break from college or working."

"You had friends other than the momcon?" Harui inquired.

"I was a high schooler too, you know? I'm sure I've mentioned Kiri here and there, but there's also Hori-san, Amalie and Gangan."

"Two of those sounds made up."

"You're made up."

"God forbid the two of you hold back on the bickering for ten minutes..." The redhead deadpanned. "How much secrecy surrounded the Dream Team event?"

"You're asking the wrong guy. If I had to guess? Probably not much. It was a Tokyo-wide event that included new daily events in the six branches across two weeks, not to mention how it came soon after the reintroduction of Premium to the bigger audience. If anything, Premium returning was probably kept under bigger wraps than the Dream Team ever was." Nozomi theorized. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, let's say that this tournament is in fact going to happen. Would a single tournament have so much secrecy surrounding it?"

"Oho! Now you're up to something, Probie!" Harui cackled, crossing her arms with her big grin. "It's true your typical tourney wouldn't get all this hush hush around it. But what if said tourney is just the beginning of a much bigger challenge? You think you can take it, Probie?"

"I don't even know if it's happening!" She deadpanned. "Plus, if what Kiru-san is true, it's a three-member team event. There's five of us here."

"Hey!" Nozomi exclaimed.

"Six."

"You can count me out." Jiei said. "The theorizing's fun, but I don't care much about tournaments."

"Likewise." Yukie nodded. "I like watching Harui from the sidelines."

"You're not fighting with me? Booooooo. I want out- Ow!" Harui yelped. Someone had kicked her in the shin under the table. "What was that for?"

"You made a vow. That leaves you, Kikka-san, Satoru and Nozomi-san."

"Hm... I don't know. For me, the fun's in fighting against Harui, not with her. Besides, can you imagine listening to her yapping for every little misplay you make?" Satoru asked.

"If I called you out, odds are you deserve it." Harui replied. "That leaves me, Probie and the old-"

"No." Nozomi interjected.

"What do you mean no?!"

"You keep calling me an old man! And when you aren't calling me an old man, the two of you are calling me an old well!"

"I said I was sorry for that!" Kikka exclaimed.

"Looks like the quick team building went down the drain. Maybe Rita still needs a third person for Blacksync." Satoru suggested.

"I'd rather eat a pear." Harui deadpanned. "This was always all hypothetical anyway. Can't make a team for a team event you don't even know is happening, right?"

"True that."

The conversation slowed down, and with the plates Nozomi had left at the table all empty now, Harui and Kikka, the former forced to by her girlfriend, decided to take them to the chef sitting behind the counter as an apology. And of course, Yukie tagged along to assure no foul play happened.

"We're sorry for calling you old." The two girls said.

"You could at least put some emotion into it..." Nozomi sweatdropped. He grabbed the dishes they brought and got started on washing them. "Do you guys got any plans for today?"

"Why do you ask?" Harui asked. "You got anything planned?"

"I guess I'll hit up Dogma after this." Kikka said. "Why, Nozomi-san?"

"I got something to show you guys. It's what I've been doing for the past week, and it's also a surprise for you, Kikka."

"F-for real?!" She asked.

"Oh man, do you really gotta catch a case? I like the food here." The white haired girl said, and promptly got her cheek pinched by Yukie.

"Shut up, tanuki." Nozomi said. "Satoru, Jiei! Can you watch the place for an hour or so?"

"You got it, Nozomi." Satoru replied.

"Great, thanks you two."

Nozomi quickly finished washing the remaining dishes and set them on the wooden rack next to the sink to dry. As he put on his jacket, Harui raised a question.

"Where are we going anyway?"

The blonde tossed up his car keys and swiftly caught them.

"Nakano."