Scene 2.

"Game."

[Domino City, Japan. Saturday. 11/10/1990. Afternoon. Hongo Orphanage].

"Uh-uh. Damn it, everything hurts. Ugh, my head". I murmured as I sat up.

I had cramps all over my body and my head throbbed constantly. "Uh?". I hesitated.

My eyes wandered around the place somewhat unfocused. "Right". I whispered sadly.

Unfortunately, the first thing I saw was that mysterious red screen that had brought me so much misery to date.

"THE PUNISHMENT HAS BEEN SUCCESSFULLY IMPLEMENTED! ONE OF YOUR MEMORIES HAS BEEN PERMANENTLY DELETED! FOR MORE DETAILS, PLEASE PRESS THE BUTTON: -CONTINUE-!"

"He-hehe. I don't know why I expected all of this to have been a simple nightmare, a bad nightmare. God, I'm a fool". I added more salt to the wound.

For several minutes, I stared at nothing, dazed, lost, without the will to do anything but feel helpless.

"He-hehe". I smiled deliriously.

My mind found itself wandering through several scenes from the past, iconic scenes from my life. Did I search tirelessly for any sign of that forgotten memory? My mind reviewed past memories like the first date with Mei, our first time, when we moved into the apartment together, the wedding, Yumi.

Yumi.

"Yu-Yumi. I don't remember what day Yumi was born! No!". I screamed in panic.

I tried in vain to wrack my brain to remember how and when my little one was born, but nothing I tried seemed to work at all. I had lost that specific memory, that had been my punishment.

"This-this can't be happening, right? Why? What did I do to deserve this punishment?". I complained to nothing.

I couldn't accept the injustice that had been imposed on me just because. "What did I do wrong, God?". I whispered to myself.

My hands went to my head. My eyes lost reason, manifesting notorious signs of madness.

"I've never done wrong to anyone. So. So, why are you doing this to me? Why?!". I screamed, hitting the top of the bunk bed with my right fist several times.

Impotence spoke disguised as anger.

Tears rolled down my face like they hadn't done in a long time. My fist bled from the knuckles now crimson.

"Yumi". I murmured on the verge of mental collapse once again.

Then suddenly, apathy took hold of me and, for a moment, calm reigned over each of my actions.

My hand, still bleeding, instinctively stretched out towards the screen in front of my eyes.

The ground immediately turned red.

My index finger pressed the "-CONTINUE-" button, followed by a small click.

After a moment, the current screen was replaced by another screen that was partially different.

A screen, this time, blue with white letters, was what addressed my visual spectrum, a screen that had completely new content.

"CONGRATULATIONS! YOU HAVE BEEN RANDOMLY SELECTED TO PARTICIPATE IN THE INCOMPARABLE 'DARK GAMES'! FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE PRESS THE BUTTON: -CONTINUE-!"

Without commenting anything and without even reviewing the contents of the screen, I proceeded.

I pressed "-CONTINUE-" once again.

"FIVE THOUSAND YEARS AGO IN THE...! ...-CONTINUE!".

#Click#

And I proceeded again without a second thought.

Another screen, this time, green with white letters, appeared before my currently impassive eyes. "Uh?". I hesitated.

A screen whose contents had managed to make a radical turn to my state of total discouragement.

"MAIN MISSION, ACTIVE! TITLE: -BACK HOME-! FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE PRESS THE BUTTON: -CONTINUE-!".

Suddenly my hands began to tremble with excitement.

"Ba-ba-back home! Home! Yes! Yes! Continue! Continue! Continue!". I exclaimed overflowing with anticipation.

In a flash, my finger flew to the option: "-CONTINUE-".

#Click#

My breathing accelerated abruptly. Hope began to climb deep within me until finally the new screen appeared in front of my nose. A screen, now black and with white letters that read: "MAIN MISSION: -BACK HOME-! DESCRIPTION: -NEW TIMES BRING NEW RULES, BUT DARK GAMES ARE ALWAYS THE SAME AT HEART, AND IN THE ABSENCE OF TOMBSTONES AND ERRANT KA'S, NOW WE HAVE CARDS FROM THE ICONIC GAME KNOWN AS DUEL MONSTERS TO FIGHT! WITH THE AIM OF SUCCESSFULLY RETURNING HOME, OUR BELOVED ABERRANT HOMINID MUST BECOME THE NEW 'KING OF GAMES' AND TO DO SO, YOU MUST FIRST FACE BLOODY 'CHALLENGES' ALONG THE WAY, CHALLENGES IN THE FORM OF 'SIDE MISSIONS', SIDE MISSIONS THAT WILL APPEAR LITTLE BY LITTLE IN THE 'MISSIONS' MENU, ALL DEPENDING ON CIRCUMSTANCES! NOTHING MORE TO SAY, EXCEPT GOOD LUCK, DISGUSTING HUMAN, AS DEATH LURKS WITH FAILURE, AND FORGETFULNESS IS SYNONYMOUS WITH DEATH-! TO ACCESS THE SIDE MISSIONS, PLEASE PRESS THE BUTTON: -CONTINUE-!".

My mind went into speculative mode after reading the contents of the screen. It was that or go completely berserk because my person had suddenly been taken by who knows what and then inserted into a stupid demon game without any purpose in sight beyond the hypothetical entertainment of one or more third parties.

"Urgh. This is complicated. What the hell does all this babble mean? What the hell is Duel Monsters? And how in the world does one become the King of Games, or whatever that means? I also have to find out what Dark Games, those tombstones, and errant KA's are. God, and on top of that, there's that ominous final suggestion. Will I die if I make a mistake? Will I come back to this day over and over again until I'm no longer myself, until I no longer remember where I come from and my loved ones? Damn it, it's like he or they who did this to me just felt contempt for me and the rest of people, of humans. Are they even human? Are they aliens? Have I been abducted? Ah, how frustrating! I need to search for more information as soon as possible. Hm, but first". I weighed my options.

Despite the many questions swirling in my mind, I decided to click on the "-CONTINUE-" option next.

#Click#

Seeing the big picture of the problem would help me establish priorities. That was my reasoning.

The black screen was replaced by another black screen with bigger white letters.

In the missions menu, there were two tabs. The first was black with white letters, and the second was white with black letters.

"Hm. Let's see. Oh, apparently there are only two active missions. I see, first is the main mission and then, then there's this one". I weighed my options.

"-SIDE MISSION #1-".

Then, my index finger pressed on the title of the second mission on the mission list.

#Click#

A new screen replaced the previous mission list. It was a white screen with black letters that was quite annoying to read.

My eyes immediately scanned its contents.

"SECONDARY MISSION #1: -BEGINNINGS-!: A KING OF GAMES IS ALWAYS AT THE TOP OF THE WORLD SCENE IN HIS GAME, AND THAT'S WHY YOUR FIRST GREAT TASK WILL BE TO EARN A NAME FOR YOURSELF WITHIN YOUR OWN NATION! REQUIREMENT: FINISH AMONG THE TOP FOUR DUELISTS IN JAPAN DURING THE NEXT NATIONAL DUEL MONSTERS TOURNAMENT! PDA: THE NATIONAL TOURNAMENT BEGINS IN 35 DAYS, 5 HOURS, 25 MINUTES, AND COUNTING! GOOD LUCK, ABERRANT HOMINID, BECAUSE YOU WILL NEED IT, UNLESS YOU WANT TO DIE AND, THEREFORE, FORGET ANOTHER OF YOUR PRECIOUS MEMORIES!".

My expression turned gloomy after a brief reading of the mission at hand.

"This-this is crazy". I complained.

I was blank for several minutes. During that time, my mind weighed all the options I had to the fullest capacity. Naturally, in the end, I did not reach any satisfactory conclusion, and that was stressful enough.

Consequently, I closed the window by clicking on the 'X' located in the upper right corner of my visual field. Everything related to my holographic nightmare disappeared at that moment, but my problems were still there, waiting to bite me in the hand around the corner.

"God help me". I sighed.

My stomach began to churn uncomfortably. I had a bad feeling about the whole thing, and rightly so. Learning a game that I was unfamiliar with, and inside the margin of a single month, sounded like too little time. Especially since I was now an orphan with not a single yen to my name. Those cards used to play Duel Monsters would surely not be free, and, to make matters worse, it was to be assumed that one would have to pay some kind of registration fee to participate in a national competition. Considering some of the more pressing aspects of the matter, I already felt defeated and convinced that there were other circumstances that I had not yet timed.

"Damn it! What the hell is the National Duel Monsters Tournament, and how does one enter it?!". I screamed in impotence and frustration.

The outlook didn't look very good for me at all. I quickly figured that I would need to die at least three times to come up with a good enough plan to complete that devilish side mission.

"Huh? The National Duel Monsters Tournament? Hotaru, do you also want to participate in it?! Ha! Didn't you say you hated Duel Monsters because it was 'a game for kids'?! Haha! You're a hy-hyptaocrite!". Kotsuzuka exclaimed.

My heart almost jumped out of my mouth due to his sudden appearance behind my back. Fortunately, I managed to calm down in the end. 'Damn brat.' However, I couldn't help but inwardly curse him either.

I quickly turned around to face the terrifying sight of the unpleasant brat called Kotsuzuka.

"Huh? Hyptaocrite? You mean, hypocrite, fool. Oh, whatever". I sighed.

Ignoring the boy's nonsense, it seemed that Kotsuzuka could be useful to me for the time being.

"Uh, haha, yes, yes, that. Oh, by the way, now that you're no longer sick, you have to come with me". Kotsuzuka said.

Then the boy took me by the arm to lead the way without even explaining beforehand why he needed me.

"Argh!". I groaned.

Naturally, the silly boy had to drag me by the right arm.

"Huh?! Ho-Hotaru, what happened to your hand?! You're bleeding!". Kotsuzuka exclaimed.

Just what I needed, wasting more time on unnecessary and unproductive explanations. As soon as Kotsuzuka saw my bloody fist, he let go of my hand as if I had the damn leprosy. The cowardly kid was completely pale, and yet, contrary to expectations, the whole situation was more scary than funny, that's how ugly it was.

"Oh, this? It's nothing, just a little scratch. Hehe. Calm down, will you? There's no need to make a fuss about it... Hey, hey, let go of me! What do you think you're doing, idiot?!". I protested.

Unfortunately, dealing with teenagers was not as simple as a walk in the park, much to my eternal frustration. Kotsuzuka grabbed my other arm and then hurriedly dragged me towards the exit.

"Tsk, damn it". I cursed silently.

Now all that was left was to wait and see what the little bastard had in mind for dragging me through the damn orphanage at that speed.

#Grouw#

I was in a bad mood, feeling tired, smelling like someone who hadn't showered in three days, and had a ravenous hunger, if the sound of my stomach was any indication.

"What a day, God. What a day". I muttered, rolling my eyes.

I desperately hoped that this day would never repeat itself, ironically, that was my greatest hope, for the sake of my sanity.

"Hurry up, hurry up, or Mrs. Koizumi will scold me because of you!". Kotsuzuka clarified.

I sighed and nodded. Life was always like this at the bottom of the pit.

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To be continued...