20 – Sakamoto Games Tournament Part 5 - Finale

The rest of the tournament went really well and I ended up winning and having a great day!

...Is what I would like to say. Unfortunately, I was destroyed in my 3rd round. 

It started off great and I even got Gloria, a Russian blonde-haired, brown-eyed pro who lived in Domino City, down to half of her Life Points!

...Then she summoned not one, but TWO Barrel Dragons (Effect - 2600/2200) and it was over for me. I lost the round the moment she got her second one out and I couldn't even be mad.

I looked at those before, but with an online price tag of 48,000 Duel Points, I would not be buying them anytime soon. 

I shook her hand and bowed to the crowd as I got a standing ovation before leaving. Not only was I a local star, but I had defeated a World Champion as well. I could lose with my head held high today, that was for sure. 

I may have been popular, but there were much larger fish in the pond today. I got more than a couple of smiles and pats on the back as I walked through the crowded store, but everyone was talking amongst themselves, placing bets, and debating on how the Pros were going to perform. 

Quickly I make my way over to the stairwell of the game shop. I will be changing into another persona and starting my long trip around to meet up with Ishizu, whom I texted earlier about my plan. I decided to wait for a minute or five to make sure it was safe and nobody followed me. After 5 minutes went by undisturbed, I breathe a sigh of relief and start calling on my mask and outfit to change. 

Right at this moment, the door opens, and a curious Yamagata Kimiko walks in. Her steel-grey eyes, ones she passed on to her son Kin, quickly find me as her long straight black hair flutters in the wind of the closing stairway door. 

I play it cool and raise the phone in my hand while quickly canceling any change in my appearance. 

"I am about to place a call, Mrs. Yamagata, is there something you need from me?"

Her face steels in determination and she walks up to me with purpose, saying nothing.

"Um...Mrs. Yamagata-"

She raises her hand as if to slap me and I flinch unintentionally. Nothing I can do about it. Despite myself and all that I have overcome, my body still fears the strikes that my Uncle had sewn into my subconscious mind.

"I knew it." She says, lowering her hand as her voice takes on a very soft tone. The corners of her eyes glisten and she looks angry, though I can tell it is not directed at me. 

"Anubis, I don't want to take up much of your time, but I wanted to offer you this." She says, handing me a small white business card. 

"This is probably not a topic you wish to speak on, but I want to say my peace and then I will leave you alone. I know that reaction. My adoptive son has that reaction. I knew from the moment I saw you flinch in the first game that you must have somewhat similar circumstances going on..." She trails off for a moment, taking a deep breath to center herself.

"I cannot begin to imagine what that is like, and I will not insult you by claiming I can help or understand you. What I will do is offer an ear to listen. If you ever need assistance, you can call this number at any time. No matter the time or the place, I will do my best to listen to anything you have to say and promise to keep the conversation private. I can also help you secure a safe location to stay in if you need one. If you don't wish to talk with a woman about it, I wrote my husband's number on the back. Just like me, you can call him anytime. He is a rather good lawyer and can offer you some legal advice, completely confidentially, if you would like or, otherwise, just talk about whatever you want."

A tear falls from the corner of her eye as she smiles a bitter and sad smile at me. "You do not have to go through things alone if you don't want to. That is all I wanted to say. Thank you for your time."

She bows and forces the card into my frozen hand, then wipes the corners of her eyes and turns to leave.

My chest feels like it is about to burst with emotions. Her tongue may be sharp and her ire may be terrifying, but she is an amazing woman who has helped me more than I can ever repay.

I make another, probably rash, decision. But, hey, I was never planning on keeping this a secret forever. Just until I was powerful enough to defend myself in the open. 

Besides, she is family. I planned on telling Kin's family and Ren soon anyway. 

"T-Thank you." My voice cracks, but I keep going as she turns her head. "But I already have a loving and caring mother-"

Here I take off my mask.

"-to help me through the pain my Uncle caused," I say, my face open to the world while I am still wearing the costumed outfit. 

She spins around so quick I worry she might injure herself with whiplash and barrels into me, pulling me tightly to her.

"Aki-kun! You're Anubis!?! Why? Since when have-"

"Shhhhh!" I hush her, accepting her hug and placing a finger on my lips to indicate her need to be quiet.

"Don't you shush me, young man! I have not decided if you are in trouble or not yet." She says curtly with a glare. 

"Okay, Okay, I am sorry." I offer with my hands up. "I was planning on telling you soon, honest. I have to put the mask back on now though. I can't risk being found out yet. That is the only reason I didn't tell you sooner." I say, trying to placate this upset momma bear who is patting me down as if looking for injuries for some strange reason. 

"You better explain this all to me. I am not afraid to ground you!" She whisper-yells with a finger poking into my chest painfully. 

"Why would you ground me? I haven't even done anything wrong! ...But that is beside the point. I will be telling you soon, but I really need to go." I say, attempting to pull the mask back on again.

She stops me by pulling my head down to match her eyes, her hands holding my cheeks. 

"You will explain everything tomorrow night, Aki. We will have pasta. Bring this new girlfriend I have heard so much about, I want to meet her." She demands offering no room for me to deny her.

"Yes, Mother," I say in the same way every son does to deescalate things with their mom. She may not be my legal guardian, but there is no denying that she is my mom. She has been since my parents died.

Hell, I called her mom before they died too! That is just how close she and my true mother were. Kin and I have been brothers since pre-school, just not technically related. He called my mother "Mom" as well, so it is not really that odd. 

Confusing, yes, but not weird at all. ...At least to our family. 

She lets me go and I quickly pull the mask back on.

"Good. Now, I better get back. Naomi-chan is going to get flustered without me. Are you staying or are you leaving?" She asks while patting down the wrinkles in her dress and adjusting her hair. 

"I will be changing then coming back to watch the rest of the tournament with Ishizu. She is already here." I answer, now back in my lower voice.

"Oh? Excellent. I will wait for you to introduce me to her afterward then. She will still be expected tomorrow, however! ...Well, if she is available that is." She says, raising her finger in warning to accent the point. 

Her fingers were weapons that extorted promises from men she considered family. I am not sure how, but one poke and she can immobilize Kin, her husband, and me through targeting some sort of secret ninja pressure points. I guess this is true for most mothers, however. You don't purposefully piss off your mother unless you are suicidal. 

"Ah...Okay. I will talk to her about it. I am sure she will be excited to meet you." I answer, scratching the back of my head awkwardly.

"Good to hear. I would give you the shpeal about making sure she is good enough for you, but from what I know about you, I can already tell she will be a nice girl." Kimiko says as she walks towards the door and grabs the door handle.

"See you soon- Ah! One more thing." She turns to face me again with a wide smile.

"I am very proud of you Toshiaki. Your parents would be as well. You beat a World Champion, that is a feat not many can claim. Even if it was due to his overconfidence, your victory was no less astounding and inspiring."

I choke up again. "T-Thanks..." I get out through my embarrassment.

"I also can't wait to tease Nobu about it at our next Champion Get-Together~!"

"Mom, secret, remember?" I plead. The tone sounding odd in my lower voice.

"Yes, Yes. I will keep your secret. It doesn't mean I can't tease him~!" She answers with a wicked smile as she turns and finally exits the room.

I lean my back against the wall and let out a massive sigh. 

'Dealing with her always gives me anxiety.' I think with a sardonic smile under my mask. 'Oh well. I guess that is what moms are for. Worrying over you even when you don't ask. Wanting to brag about you even if it embarrasses you. Disciplining you to make sure you follow the right path. All the stress and prodding just proves she loves me.'

Standing up, I switch into a new persona I made just to travel with. I ended up creating more than 10 of each gender and practiced transforming into them. Associating an image I had in mind with a name made the process much easier. 

They would always turn out slightly different from the original, but that was alright. Only Anubis and my other Duelist personas were important to always stay consistent. 

In fact, the inconsistencies of these other personas would just help me blend in more. 

* | * | *

I take about 10 minutes walking out of the shop to look normal, change my persona again in a nearby alley after exiting, grab two orders of fish and chips from a street stall along with one large cola, and walk back into a different alley where I take on my own natural appearance before heading back into the game shop. 

I find Ishizu sitting at a table, watching the screens of the next match with rapt attention. 

I can't help myself, so I creep up behind her and move my head near her left ear. 

"Hey little lady, want to have some fu-" Is all I get out before she jumps and the back of her head smashes into my nose.

I probably deserved that. 

Luckily, I put the food down quietly beforehand otherwise I would be covered in scalding hot fried foods. 

"Toshi, gods above, I almost had a heart attack! What the hell?" Ishizu demands as I am crouched on the ground holding my nose and blinking away tears.

"Shorry." I mumble out, trying to rub the pain out of my nose.

"Are you alright?" She asks with a raised eyebrow. Then she realizes what happened and smirks down at me triumphantly.

"What did you learn?" She asks in a sing-song tone.

"That your skull is like iron-" She interrupts me with a light boop on the head.

"Nope! Try again." She says, shaking her finger at me.

"That you are a sadist that enjoys inflicting pain on her boy-" Another boop greets my response, slightly harder this time.

"Not even close. Besides, if one of us is a sadist, it is clearly you." She rolls her eyes and helps me up. After I am standing she pulls me into a tight hug and whispers into my ear.

"Your duel with Takashima was so cool! ...But we are going to have a long talk about that whole 'Married to Isis' thing." Her tone becomes frigid near the end. 

"What, you don't want to marry me now?" I whisper into her ear in a teasing voice as I lightly bite her earlobe. 

"T-T-That has n-nothing to do with t-this! And stop that! We are in public!" She hisses at me as her face turns several shades of maroon.

"That just makes it more exciting," I respond with a waggle of my eyebrows.

She harumphs and turns away from me, but I can clearly see her red cheeks color deepen. 

She finally notices the food and squeals in delight. 

'Food is and always will be the quickest way to a person's heart.' I philosophize as I munch on a fry. 

I am somewhat bummed that she doesn't hesitate about sharing the same drink with me. I thought I could get a reaction out of her for sure, but clearly not.

When I ask her about this, she responds with, "What are we, 10?"

She has grown up so fast...There might come a day when I can't embarrass her anymore. That will truly be a shame...then again...being the one who is corrupting her isn't so bad. I can't say I mind that she has been much more proactive in our makeout sessions as of late.

* | * | *

The rest of the tournament flies by and there are quite a few very close duels. The finals stretch into the early evening and when it is finally over, the streetlights are all lit. 

People file out of Sakamoto Games and Mr. Sakamoto thanks everyone for coming as well as Naomi and Kimiko for their assistance. 

After the place clears out and most of their fans have left, Ishizu and I approach Kimiko and Naomi's charity booth.

"There you are Aki-kun! I was worried you left!" Kimiko says with a sigh of relief as she stands and walks over to hug me.

"I just wanted to avoid the crowds and give you a chance to talk to people about the charity. Good work out there, Mom. Same to you Mrs. Hayashi." I answer, receiving the hug and then bowing to Naomi since this is the first time we have officially met.

"My, how considerate. It is very nice to finally meet you, Toshiaki-kun. Kimiko-chan speaks of you often." Naomi says with a smile reaching out to shake my hand. 

I accept it and Kimiko immediately dives in to talk with my looking-out-of-place girlfriend. 

"You must be Ishizu! I have heard so much about you" Kimiko starts with a hug immediately. 

Ishizu freezes in shock but quickly smiles and reciprocates it. "Yes, Toshi has also told me much about you and Mr. Yamagata. I must thank you and your husband for taking such wonderful care of him. He means the world to me." She says with a blinding smile.

"Okay. She passes." Kimiko says with a serious expression and a nod. "I like her. Make sure you marry her." She continues pointing at me.

"Again with marriage!?!" Ishizu blurts out as her cheeks redden for the umpteenth time today. 

"That's the plan, Mom," I answer with a cocky smile of my own which only causes Ishizu to blush even fiercer. 

"Oh my. How bold." Naomi says, her own cheeks flushing red. 

"Sorry, Naomi. I originally wanted to set you up with Toshiaki, but it looks like that ship has sailed..." Kimiko says in mock sadness.

"Wai- What!? He is, like, way younger than me!" Naomi says, her hands rising to her cheeks to cover her embarrassment. 

"Age is only a number, beautiful." I jump onboard my mother's teasing train and give into my sadistic side. This girl is just too fun!

Naomi is stunned for a second, before looking away shyly. "It...It would never work..."

"Toshi is-! He's mine!" Ishizu says defensively latching onto my arm and glaring at Naomi. 

'A rather unexpected reaction. She has to know I am joking, right? I suppose she can feel jealousy the same as everyone else. Oh well, better take this chance to tease her too.'

"That's that, I guess. Sorry, Mrs. Hayashi, but Ishizu is really possessive and will beat me if I act up. It is probably best for me to stop talking to you now."

"I-I will not! That is slander! Toshi, you apologize right now!" Ishizu demands, her blush extending to her ears and chest now as she stomps her foot in indignation.

"See what I mean? She is a total mad dog. It is a good thing I know a way to appease her." I say to the two ladies in front of me as I pull Ishizu into a bow, like we were dancing, and kiss her deeply in front of the gods and everyone. 

Claps, cheers, and shouts of "Get a room!" come from all around as I pull the dazed Ishizu up and to my side.

"Wow..." Naomi whispers as she stares at me with stars in her eyes. 

'Sorry lady, I am not interested in you.' I think as I smile at both of them.

"That was...rather interesting to see you do, Aki-kun." Kimiko says in genuine shock. "I am not exaggerating when I say that he has never acted that way before, at least not in front of me." This time she says this to the still-recovering Ishizu. 

"She is the only one for me and makes me incredibly happy. I consider myself extraordinarily lucky to have won her love," I say seriously and all three women smile back at me.

I can be romantic if I want. I just choose to tease to show my affection so that when I am genuine it means more.

Ishizu hugs my side, no longer caring about the PDA, as we continue having a conversation with the two older women. 

* | * | *

30 minutes later and Ishizu and I are walking hand in hand back home. 

She agreed to the dinner for tomorrow and is very excited. She even offered to bring a dessert, which Kimiko loved. I promised to help her with it tomorrow and Ishizu is doubly excited for a baking date.

I had a couple of things to do tomorrow, Sunday, now that I think about it. 

First, I need to check with Solomon to see if Takashima sent the Regionals info over. If not, I will need to swing by his office as Anubis and confirm all the information. I realize, after the fact, that I probably could have just done that earlier and saved myself from having to tell Solomon, but it is not that big of a deal in the long run.

As I said before, I don't intend to hide my identity forever, just until I am feeling confident enough in my deck being one of the best in the world so that I can protect those I care about. 

Secondly, I need to talk with Ishizu about an idea I had during the tournament. The system won't allow her to give me Duel Points to buy cards from the shop, but there is nothing saying she can't buy cards for me and give them to me as a-

"-gift?" I finish my thought as a black screen with golden Egyptian hieroglyphs pops up before me and explains how "The System" will allow it to work.

I stop in my tracks, causing Ishizu to stop as well.

"What's up, Toshi?" She asks, tilting her head adorably.

"Nothing, sorry, Zushi. I just had a box pop up as I was thinking of something. Like those game boxes, I told you about before. I didn't know they could generate based on what I am thinking about. It startled me." I say with a laugh.

Some might lie and say it was "nothing" and move on. I am not about that life. I never understood that, personally. Why lie about something so stupid? Just tell the truth and talk it out. It is honesty 100% of the time or you can GTFO. 

Well, SOME things can stay a secret, but I will not lie to her as long as it doesn't reveal the one secret I am still holding onto.

"Oh, alright. Do you want to talk about it?" She asks while turning forward and pulling me along to start moving again.

"Tomorrow. I need to organize my thoughts a bit more tonight and then I just want to unwind with you." I answer while internally dismissing the box.

"Sounds good~!" She says in a cheery voice. She always loves getting into pajamas and snuggling.

Alright, back to my internal monologue. 

Yes, so, second I am going to ask her to buy common cards for me. They should be much less expensive than the higher rarity ones and will bring a significant boost to my deck. I will pay her back later if she wants, but I am doing this for our future and any of my money she wants or needs is already hers if she asks. I think of it as an investment in our mutual success. 

I will also want to talk with her about her own deck at some point. I will offer opinions and advice, but I will never force her to use my recommendations. It is her deck, she can do what she wants. 

Duel Monster Decks are incredibly personal. Usually, they represent years of effort, money, and time put into lovingly crafting the best deck you can with what you have. Telling someone their deck sucks or that they should play in a different way is akin to calling someone's baby ugly.

Them be fighting words.

So I will offer my opinions to Ishizu, but only that. She is her own woman and can make her own decisions. 

Lastly, we have cooking and then dinner with Kin's family & Ren.

This leaves me with a dilemma. Do I tell them all now or do I wait until I feel a bit more secure? I will have to tell Kimiko either way, but she will keep my secret. From what I know of her personality, there is no doubting she will keep it a secret if I really want her to and give her a reasonable explanation as to why. 

Then, if I do decide to tell them, how much? Just the Anubis persona? The Guardian info as well? The shop?

I won't be telling them about my soul merge, I am super not ready for that, but I don't particularly mind the others. That is what I told Ishizu as well, so they would get the same level of trust. I think they have all earned it...but is now the time or do I wait until I am stronger?

Having Ryo, Kin's dad, who is a famous lawyer on my side to shore up my legal side wouldn't be a bad idea. I have no idea if I have anything needing legal defense or advice, but having and not needing...I've said it before, it is good. 

Also, I kinda wanna tell Kin and Ren. I feel like Ren will definitely find out if I don't tell them, and then they will be all pissy with me for not letting them in on the secret...Not to mention that if Kin finds out I told his mom before him he is probably gonna flip.

Bro code and all that. It is fucking sacred, yo. Telling him tomorrow would still fall within an acceptable timeframe to avoid a brotastrophe, I think.

Hmm...

We arrive home and get changed into our pajamas, which is just boxers and shirt for me and panties and one of my baggy shirts for Ishizu - Yea we are getting pretty cozy. 

We lie down to snuggle and put on the TV to watch a movie.

As she slowly falls asleep on my chest, I am still pondering what I should do.

To tell or not to tell.