“I can’t believe all this is going on here.” Kouji commented as they walked about. Waa had obtained some food to eat, mostly on sticks as she carried a pair in both hands.

“Of course, a lot that goes on in the convention itself is mostly to sell doujins and enjoy a little bit of cosplay.” She explained to him, not caring at all about finishing to chew first. “A lot of otaku still around during the day though. So of course these businesses would have some promotions and events going on.”

“That’s pretty cool.” He responded. “Have you ever gone to one of these special events?”

“Can’t say I have.” She answered. “I only ever go to the convention by myself. It’d be kind of lame to walk in here all by my lonesome.”

“But isn’t your mom in the industry? And I’d think that your dad would be cool with this event.”

“They used to take me when I was really little.” She recounted those times, when she wasn’t even in junior high yet. As a little girl, she was always enamored about the people here. How much they loved their hobby. Even getting to join in a promotion at a popular children’s restaurant where she won her cherished playing card. “But nowadays, they’ll only go to one of these things if they need to for promotional work. And I almost never get to come because of school.”

“That’s a shame.”

“Aren’t you the one who says not to feel pity for others?” She finished off the rest of her food. “Don’t worry about me, let’s have some fun instead.” Waa directed him to some tables, where there were a lot of people facing each other in battle. The type of battle where one draws from a deck.

The girl was salivating over this chance to play with her own cards. No one at school played this game, so her deck sadly had to gather dust while at home. She pulled it out and got ready to lay down.

“Why do you have that with you?” Last time he checked, they had no plans on running into this.

“I always have a lot of my stuff with me. You never know when you’ll need it.” She opened up her jacket to reveal a compartment with a book, a manga, a spot where the deck originally was, and a… Whip?”

“I’m not gonna ask about that.” He commented as she zipped herself back up. “Anyway, it’s not like I have any cards with me. So I guess I’ll just watch you.”

The two of them walked up to a desk where everything was handled for a smooth experience. She asked if it was possible for her to get matched up. It was, but only on one condition.

“You’ve got a friend too? Well, we have a tag match waiting on some opponents.”

“I don’t have any cards.” Kouji informed them. “I’m just here as a friend.”

“It’s no problem for us. We also have rentals for people curious about the game.” The clerk pulled out a box lined up to the brim with various decks for different styles.

“I could…” He considered it, but didn’t want to get in Waa’s way. “If you’re fine with it.”

“Go ahead.” She allowed it. “But you better not be a noob and hold me back.”

“All right then.” He picked a deck without spending a second to think about it. She took some issue with that decision as the clerk put away their supplies and directed them to the table. “What?” He looked bewildered at her glare. “This is all for fun anyway. I didn’t want to spend an hour deciding what was the best choice.”

“So much for not holding me back.” She crossed her arms.

“Relax, I don’t plan on sucking.” He tried to convince her that things would go fine. After all, as a kid he remember the tv show they had for this card game. How hard could it be?

They arrived to their table, where the challengers were awaiting them. It was a pair of otherwise unnoticeable dudes who seemed to be related to each other. Considering how they looked the same, outside of the direction their bangs pointed at, these two must’ve been twins.

“This isn’t looking good.” She muttered while they shuffled each others decks. “They probably are going to have decks that are in sync.

“Don’t worry about it.” He told her. “We can still have fun with this. Besides, I like a challenge.” Her eyes widened as they drew their hands. His confidence… Did he know more about this game than he let on?

As they began their game, that feeling would prove to be quite erroneous. Every time they reached his turn, he would have to slow down the game just to read out the effects of every card. Of all games she had to be into, why did it have to be one with so much text?

For the majority of the game, she felt that she had to take the lead on making moves to give them the advantage. Using the effects of cards to create a field of monsters to keep them both safe. All the while taking out as many creature their opponents had summoned. It was getting to be a lot of work, and she felt it was one versus two here.

Things were going well enough for them. Until she ran into a blunder, or more accurately, a trap.

“Heh, now that you’ve fallen into my trap.” The person sitting in front of her said. “I get to destroy one monster on your field, and banish the other.” Waa couldn’t believe it, they were at a real pickle now. With only one of her monsters on the field, and one that Kouji set face down. Things were looking bad as she ended her turn.

The counter attack hit the both of them hard, with them wiping her half of the field on their opponent's turn. The only cards she had to offer were spells face down that would be useless until she got her to her turn again. However, with it being Kouji’s turn right now. Their chances were looking slim. He would have to do something, or else the person sitting before him would end the game before that would happen.

“This is over.” She said, laying her head down in defeat.

“It’s not over until one side loses all their point, right?.” He stayed optimistic. “It’s my turn now, so all I have to do is win this.”

‘You make it sound like it’s easy.” Waa doubted him. From what she had seen, where would he find the ability to finish the game off here. “Isn’t this your first game? You’re definitely acting like it is.”

“It is.” That killed any hope she had. Everything else he said after all did a good job in beating that dead horse. “As long as I believe in my deck’s heart. We’ll be fine.”

“That was a stupid line in the show!” She yelled at him. “Relying on luck is a very lame brain scheme you got here.”

“Well, luck is a part of the skill, right?”

“We’re going to lose.” She covered her face from the embarrassment of having this be her partner.

“Can you please start your turn?” One of their opponents said to them. Prompting Kouji to get into mood.

“I draw!” He said, taking a card from his deck. His cards seemed to have this gimmick of fairies based on fruits and sweets. Particularly the game plan was focused on healing and having more life points than their opponents. Right now, they were a razor’s edge below them, but he was about to turn it around thanks to the card he picked up. “Perfect.” There was a grin on his face from the gift he got. “Now I’m really feeling the flow.”

“Dude, how much of that show did you watch!?” They were all getting tired of his lines at this point.

“Huh? Is that something in the show? I didn’t watch beyond the first season.” His statement caused the other three to faceplant on the table in utter disappointment. “Anyway, it’s time for my turn to get really started. I summon the card, ‘Budding Apple’.” He placed down his monster, then flipped over the one he had set on his last turn. This revealed the small monster known as ‘Ripe Banana’.

These names sounded ridiculous to him as he placed them down. That was just the nature of a game like this. However, those embarrassing names didn’t stop him from saying them out loud.

“That’s great and all.” She commented. “But I don’t see how those two are going to take their their boss card.” Indeed, these two were measly compared to a monster than had an attack of 2500. While they couldn’t get over 1000.

“This is fine, since I’ll use the apple’s ability.” He explained that when a monster was flipped while this card was out. He could sacrifice it, along with a spell card placed by either him or his ally, to bring out a new monster. Taking what Waa had left behind, much to her disagreement, since she wasn’t certain he could win here. Kouji was able to bring out, ‘Strawberry Jam’.

With these two finally out on the board, he was able to make use of the card he just drew at the beginning of the turn. “I’ll use this card, ‘Ice Cream Surprise’, to fuse these two monsters to create, ‘Ice Cream Sundae’!”

It was a powerful creature, yet still below the threshold needed to overcome the behemoth at just 2400 attack points.

“I’m still not seeing how this is going to win us the game.” She said, still doubting his abilities. So far, he seemed to just run into a combo that sounded good, but wasn’t up to snuff.

“I would’ve thought you knew more about this game. There’s still one last thing I have to do.” He assured her, as he brought out his final card. It was one that healed them for every monster on their side of the field. This brought their total to just over their opponents. “By restoring our life points, I trigger the ability of the ‘Ice Cream Sundae’. This forces all monsters on the opposing side to switch to defense mode.”

By doing so, this turned the 2500 attack monster against him, to one of just 1000 defense. Now he could destroy it with ease, and he still wasn’t finished yet. “I attack, and because we have more life points than you. This will cause piercing damage.” Thanks to that ability, he was able to do just enough damage to their opponents, that the two of them were able to win the game.

“You… You did it!” She was in awe as they celebrated. “How did you plan all that out?”

“I didn’t.” He answered. The two of them stood up from their seats. Kouji picked her up in a hug as they cheered out their joy. “I just read all the cards and figured something good was bound to happen. Then I just did whatever seemed like a good idea at the time.”

“Ah, well it doesn’t matter anyway.” She responded. “We won, and that’s great!”

“It must be pretty cool to win with your boyfriend.” One of their opponents comments, congratulating them on the victory. That was when they realized how this sight might look to anyone around them.

“She’s not my girlfriend.” Kouji straight dropped her to the ground as he turned away. “We’re just friends.”

“I’m pretty sure people don’t just drop their friends on the floor like that.” She slowly got up, rubbing her butt from that fall.

“C-come on.” He grabbed her arms while she was packing away their cards. “Let’s go see what else is going on here.” After returning his rentals, all the boy wanted to do was pretend their little bit of intimacy never happened.