[i][u][b]Kei's Room[/b][/u]

[color=9C5F25]"It was way too weird! I felt sore all over!"[/color] Kei complained on the phone to his best friend. [color=9C5F25]"And the way he was acting wasn't normal... the guy at your place too, right? You said he was a regular, never aggressive like that before!"[/color]

Kei's deck was sprawled out in front of him at the desk, the boy himself carefully looking over his cards as he was chatting. [color=9C5F25]"The hospital...? Would they even let you in?"[/color] he asked over the phone. He kicked back and furrowed his brow a little. [color=9C5F25]"I can't just sit still, either! I'm going to go back to the place where I found the other guy. It's possible they may be more of them."[/color] Wobbling his desk chair on its hind legs a bit, he continued: [color=9C5F25]"Hey, did you see something weird with their cards too? Like some kinda... some kinda black fog rising up out of them after the duel? The guy's ace monster even slowly burnt away, like it was- wh- whoa!"[/color]

Aiya on the other end of the phone was met with a crash and the clicking of Kei's phone hitting the floor as the boy managed to kick his chair back far enough for it to tip over and send him sprawling over the floor. He quickly nabbed his phone again. [color=9C5F25]"O-oi, no laughing!"[/color] he said to the snickering girl on the other end, red to his ears from embarrassment even if she couldn't see it. And, after a bit of banter, both clearly knew what they wanted to do the next day.[/i][hr]

The weather was cloudy, not a ray of sunshine able to pierce the sky-cast veil of grey. Kei, oddball that he was, wandered the streets like some kind of yakuza reject. Hands in his pockets, slouched gait and suspicious gazes thrown to his left and right. He'd look like he was picking a fight, but the sight was a bit too comical to take seriously. Some people that passed the guy gave him a suspicious or curious glance, but none had a duel disk strapped firmly on their arm like he did. The basic gist was: Kei'd been walking around for an hour, was getting absolutely nowhere and got [i]extremely[/i] bored.

At the limit of his patience, Kei cast his head skywards and yelled [color=9C5F25]"Come on out already! I don't have all day!"[/color] to nobody in particular. Before Kei could get someone to call the cops on him for being a sassy lost child, however, something whizzed by his face and lodged itself into the edge of the sidewalk he stood on. First, Kei jumped back in surprise. Second, he looked at what had just flew past him; A Red Ogre card. Kei picked it up in a daze, then realised what it meant. He turned around to see a shadow dashing into a nearby alley. [color=9C5F25]"Hey! Hold it!"[/color] he yelled after the mysterious figure.

Obviously, Kei didn't only tell them to stop: the boy had launched into a full sprint after the figure. Much less exhausted than the day before, Kei was able to keep up this time. At the same time however, he couldn't help but feel like he was being lured. The figure made no attempt to outpace Kei, with the boy always managing to catch sight of their back ducking into the next street. Eventually, after what seemed like a maze of back alleys and shortcuts, Kei managed to pin the perp into a corner. Their back was turned, so the boy didn't have a face to pin to the long, flowing white hair yet. [color=9C5F25]"You can't run away anymore! You have something to with all of this, right? Tell me what you know!"[/color] Kei demanded of the mysterious person.

[color=CBCDCF]"What [i]I[/i] know?"[/color] a somehow familiar, male voice shot back at Kei. [color=CBCDCF]"Haha... don't play dumb with me, spirit. I won't let you take any more victims,"[/color] the man said with contempt in his voice. He turned around, revealing himself to be Shinrei; regional champion for the past two-and-now years.

[color=9C5F25]"S-... Shinrei?"[/color] Kei stammered out his words. [color=9C5F25]"I saw your match only yesterday... there's no way you're behind all this!"[/color] he shouted in disbelief. Shinrei, for his part, just raised up his arm to fold out his duel disk.

[color=CBCDCF]"Keep pretending. I'll erase you all the same,"[/color] he said to threaten the boy.

At that moment, something in Kei screamed to run away. A faint voice, crying out that this person was dangerous. It tried to warn Kei, warn him that he couldn't take him on as an opponent. The boy didn't listen. He just put on a smirk of misplaced confidence. [color=9C5F25]"That's fine by me... I've been wanting to get to the top of the regional tournament and take your title! You're on!"[/color]

Kei's duel disk whirred to life. A passing breeze made both their clothes flutter in the wind.

[b][color=9C5F25]"DU[/color][color=CBCDCF]EL!"[/color][/b]