[center][h3][b][u]Synchro[/u][/b][/h3][hr][sup]In scene: Masaru Chinen & Hyousuke Murakana[/sup][/center]
Worthless.

If Masaru had to sum this entire charade put forth by the school up in a single word, it was that one. He's known nothing [i]but[/i] the pair-up system since coming to the academy, having spent his last two years getting familiar with its intricacies as he dueled like the faceless mook he was. Those memories are awful; being stuck at the bottom, wanting desperately to improve and yet never reaching the heights you struggled to reach. Now that he was at the top, standing as the sole ruler of the mountain, it felt hollow and empty, having to rely on some other faction to even have a sliver of a chance of getting anywhere...

It's almost as if his dorm wasn't considered good enough. He hated that thought.

"Hey, you think we should go get Keitaro?"

The boy perked up at the question posed by one of his dorm-mates, namely by Hyousuke. After the announcement was over, he seemed to have nonchalantly kicked himself away from the comfortable spot against the founding principal's statue so he could stroll on over. Masaru had wrung away from his fellow top Synchro students as to avoid them, watching from a remote spot in the courtyard, so Hyou's sudden appearance was met with a scowl.

"And why do [i]you[/i] suddenly care?" Masaru asked warily.

"Well, 'cause you look like you want to be anywhere 'cept here!" Hyou answered with a laugh, taking a step forward and throwing his arm around Masaru. The latter was too stunned to push him away in the moment.

"C'mon man, you need to loosen up. Besides, if we don't find him, who knows what trouble he's kicking up?"

"Fine, I get it! Just... get your hands off me."

Masaru pushed Hyou away and started to pace off, with the other boy trailing after with calm steps. Knowing Kei, they both had a pretty good feeling he was stirring up stuff in the Ruins like he usually did. Unless someone happened to look in the direction of the not-so-dynamic duo, they could slip away relatively easily from the crowd.