It did not take long for Phil and Jean to adapt to life in the Kitamori household. The first few weeks were tense. Phil couldn’t help but keep one eye peeled for the police, or even the yakuza. He had no idea exactly how much information either organization had on him, or what importance may or may not have been placed on his head.

  To the police, he was probably nothing much more than a scruffy weirdo who bolted from a burning nightclub – hardly much different than all the other people who'd run from the scene to avoid the Mac and the flames. To the yakuza, it was half and half. He couldn’t be sure how many people in what was left of the Mori family knew he had something to do with Guriko’s death.

  No doubt the group they’d fought outside Burger World had an idea, but beyond that? Were they still searching? Did the deaths of Guriko, Chet, and the two men Jean and Tilla faced lead to their upper echelons being decimated, or damaged to the point where the yakuza family was forced to reorganize instead of chasing grudges? It was impossible to tell with what little information Phil had at his fingertips.

  Then there was the duel parlor. The cops had their hands full with that one. The building was in ruins after Mac’s rampage. No one knew the specifics of what had gone down in the hidden arena. There were no survivors to tell the tale. Only the upper duel parlor was able to reveal its story, with several of the gamblers closest to the doors being able to flee before Mac found the gas line behind the bar to turn the parlor into a smoking crater.

  There were all sorts of questions being asked in the news. Who was Mac N’ Cheese? Why was he there? Why did he suddenly go crazy? What was happening in the concealed level underneath the parlor? Phil had his own questions about the glowing tattoos, the coincidental timing of the rampage, and the freezer full of hanging corpses. None of them were close to being answered.

  Nonetheless, neither the police nor the yakuza had come knocking on the Kitamori’s front door. The situation remained calm, or at least relatively calm, considering that the Kitamori’s were rather… energetic at times. Phil only needed to stay one night on the squishy plaid couch in the living room before the storage room was fit for human habitation.

  Meanwhile, Jean had happily begun living in Tilla’s room. He hadn’t needed much convincing, only the barest excuse of the rest of the house being too crowded for him to bunk anywhere else. Phil, of course, never got around to mentioning that his room had enough space to share. The room, as well-worn as it was, had more than enough space for Phil and Lumina both to stretch out.

  Starting as a grimy, run-down storage space, Phil had put all his efforts into transforming it once he realized no one was chasing him from the Blue Friday incident. The dust-covered walls and floor were first. Phil spent hours going over them with a mop and broom, helped even by Lumina, who had scraped up enough magic power to spend a little bit on something as trivial as this.

  Then the walls were painted, covered in a nice robin’s-egg blue from paint cans found in the corner of the garage hiding right behind an old broken-down Volkswagen Type-2 van. The color was more on Lumina’s insistence, so she didn’t have to stare at some boring ol’ grimy white wall way into the wee hours of the night. The van was set aside for later consideration. Phil always had a soft spot for those old 70s-style hippie vans.

  There wasn’t much furniture inside the old storage room. All of the items Phil and Jean had bought to fill up their first apartment had burned to ash (other than the portrait that Tilla had stuffed a duel spirit inside), so once more he was forced to start from scratch. A battered three-legged table was rescued from the garage to be the centerpiece of the room. Lumina somehow managed to find a rather nice futon for herself to lay on the floor, while Phil, after finding an eyepatch in a forgotten corner of the room, explored his pirate side by stealing a net from the Domino City harbor and hanging it from the ceiling as a hammock. He was never caught for that heinous crime.

  That was the extent of their decoration. A three-legged table, a comfy futon on the ground (of which Phil refused to explain the purpose whenever he was asked), and a stolen hammock. Neither Phil nor Lumina were of the mind to do much more to their space. It was a sort of, ‘we’ll know it when we see it’ approach to decoration. As of yet, they were still to see anything worth bringing back.

  Still, it was kind of nostalgic. The last time they’d been roomies was back at the academy several years ago. Even now, Phil half-expected the rest of the guys to come strolling around the corner to see what was up. They'd then go off to the cafeteria to check out the menu for the day, or they'd swing by the girl's dorms to grab Alexis and Rose before heading off to the library to duel. Lumina would start some tea up and Chumley would grill up some sandwiches in that always-present electric grill of his. They’d make it a party, or a picnic, or some strange combination of the two that would always end up in wild antics powered by Jaden’s inexhaustible energy.

  Happy memories.

  However, this bustling new home still managed to provide its fair share of those. The foremost of which was one that saw Jean leaning against Phil’s door frame, several months after the events of Blue Friday. Spring was in the air, though it was yet to fully begin. The snow was gone, warmth was spreading through the town, and all the blood, smoke, and grime they’d experienced over the winter felt like nothing but a fading bad dream.

  “Bonjour.”

  There was an electric tension in the air. Phil hardly dared to look up. He had a pretty solid guess what was on Jean’s mind. It was something he knew was only a matter of time. A few small children of the Kitamori family ran past, forcing Jean to cast a hasty look around to make sure he didn’t accidentally step on one of the little buggers. That would be unfortunate. Heavens knew Phil had to watch his step as well. Those kids were experts at getting underfoot at the most unexpected of times.

  “Reiko took Tilla out for a girl’s day.” Jean roguishly grinned.

  Phil matched that grin with one of his own. Yup. He knew it. If he was a betting man, Phil would put cold hard cash on Reiko's 'girl's day' being an intentional cover for an extremely important activity.

  “Would you mind helping me shop for a ring?”

  Phil smacked his palm into Jean’s waiting hand. Behind Phil, unheard by all but him, Lumina began to roll around on the ground, a blush on her cheeks while she frantically muttered “It’s finally happening! It’s finally happening!” Over and over again.

  “Damn right I’d be down for that!”

  -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

  Phil eagerly breathed the Spring air in, filling his lungs to their limit before letting it all out. Bliss. This was what life was about. Strolling down Main Street without a care in the world with your brother and your invisible best friend.

  The only problem? It turned out that both Phil and Jean were kind of hopeless with the whole 'ring-buying' thing. Phil had never even been on a single date before. Jean had never made it this far, this being the first time he’d stayed in one place longer than a few weeks. That didn’t tend to make relationships last very long. Lumina was a tiny bit better than them in that aspect, but as a duel spirit the way she thought was a little bit different… and the one time she’d been proposed to was by Raiden, who according to Lumina just went with a simple silver ring without any decorations or gems. She liked the ring, but it hadn’t worked out for long, apparently, though the two were still decent enough work friends. Lumina shrugged him off the singular time Phil tried to press her for details. He could get the hint. She didn’t want to talk about it. Phil respected that.

  “Let’s go through this again.” Phil sighed. They were outside a jewelry store, having struck out yet again. “It’s been what, three months, maybe four months since you two got together?”

  “Oui.”

  “You love her to death, you want to marry her, and the feelings are mutual. She likes darker, gothic clothing and keeps her hair simple. She doesn’t really wear much in the way of jewelry. Tilla isn’t stuck-up. Meanwhile, we have a decent stack of cash but we can’t go super crazy.”

  “Oui.”

  Phil helplessly shrugged. That was the situation in a nutshell. “Right. I think we can ignore all the fancy rings, but that still leaves a shitton of options.”

  “Your invisible friend feels the same?”

  Phil glanced over at Lumina. She was looking intently through the window of the jewelry store, but she didn’t indicate that anything was popping out at her.

  “Seems to be the case.”

  Jean closed his eyes with mild frustration. “Argh, and this isn’t something I can just put on a wall and throw darts at until I hit a target. This will be Tilla’s! It has to be perfect for her! This is much more complicated than I could have ever imagined.”

  “We’re shit at this.” Phil sagely agreed. It felt like his earlier optimism was flushed right down the drain where it belonged.

  At least, until a familiar voice spoke up.

  “Bad at what?”

  Both the men turned around in unison. Their eyes sparkled like they'd finally spotted a savior from the terrible problem before them. Even Lumina looked away from the window to glance at the speaker.

  “Tea!” Phil called out in welcome surprise. With her were Yugi, Joey, and even Solomon Muto. They were all in casual wear, clearly out to enjoy the weather for what it was. The old man was looking quite spry for his age. If Phil hadn’t known beforehand, it would have been impossible for him to tell that Solomon had spent several weeks in the hospital recuperating from the injuries Death-T inflicted upon him. Furthermore, a second look showed a wellspring of strength still burbling up in the deepest parts of Solomon’s gaze. This old man was by no means out of the game just yet.

  "We're ring shopping," Phil explained without a second of hesitation. "This scoundrel over here is planning on proposing to Tilla soon. We hit a bit of a roadblock, to be honest. Too many choices, not enough ways to narrow things down."

  “Ring shopping!” Tea exclaimed. She looked at Jean with a huge grin. “You and Tilla are so cute together! Here, I’ll help!”

  Tea’s eyes were like a puppy begging for scraps, ones that couldn’t be refused by even the most cold-hearted man in the world. Phil stepped aside just in time for Tea to surge forward, grabbing Jean’s hand in hers and marching into the jewelry store like a woman ready to face a most dangerous battlefield. Phil was left watching in awe with the rest.

  “Hey Yuges,” Phil said with a wicked grin toward Yugi’s direction in his best fake-New York accent, “That Tea there, you’d best be paying attention for when you’re getting a ring for her.”

  Amidst Yugi’s frantic denials, which only convinced Phil further of what he already knew about the boy having a crush on Tea, Solomon sidled his way up next to Phil. Together, while listening to the pleasant backdrop of a high school boy trying to deny his crush on a girl, they watched Jean and Tea steadily work their way through the store with ruthless efficiency. Even from where he stood, Phil could tell Tea knew exactly how to go about this.

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  “You’ll be glad to hear Arthur’s situation is much better now. He is hale, hearty, and his house is more beautiful than ever. You should make time to visit him soon.”

  Phil let a smile cross his face. “Good. He put that money to good use then? I still feel bad for all the trouble we gave the guy.”

  Solomon remained silent for a bit before answering. “He did.” Phil knew for sure by the way he spoke that Solomon and Arthur had a very good guess where the money came from.

  “I understand you two have found a new place to live.” Solomon casually brushed past the awkward topic. It was surprising. The elderly man didn’t seem to approve of the money’s source, but he didn’t seem all too interested in pressing deeper if Phil truly didn’t want to talk about it.

  “Yeah. Tilla had a friend, Reiko Kitamori, who’s letting us crash at her place for cheap.”

  “Ohohoho… so that’s it…” Solomon gave an enigmatic laugh. Once again, Solomon didn’t press for details and abruptly changed the topic.

  “Lately Duel Monsters has become quite popular in Japan.”

  Phil tilted his head slightly. “Yeah. Hell of a game.”

  “It makes this old man wonder… what could be done to make it spread further? To let more people of all kinds from all different places find enjoyment in it?”

  Phil and Solomon continued to watch through the window of the jewelry store. Tea could be seen standing in front of the smallest display case, where she beckoned Jean to join her. Had they finally found something? Yugi and Joey were nearby, not even paying attention. Joey was still pretty darn interested in razzing his friend about Tea, and Yugi was playing a pretty solid defensive game.

  “I have been thinking recently, it might be interesting to task someone in showcasing all the different strategies one can use in Duel Monsters.”

  Phil made a noise of understanding. “That would let people know there’s more to the game than ‘my attack points are bigger than yours’. There’s strategy to it.”

  “Well, attack points are important, but yes.” Solomon chuckled. His hand drifted upward to stroke at his short grey beard. "I would need a duelist who is extremely flexible with their playstyle and is interested in fighting through the tournament scene. I was wondering… would you be interested? I cannot pay much, but there will be some compensation. Of course, if you win any tournaments, the prizes are all yours.”

  Maybe part of the reason behind the offer was simple charity, but Phil found Solomon’s words hard to deny. He was essentially offering a store sponsorship with a revolving pool of decks. Phil had already given some thought to going through the burgeoning tournament circuit across Japan. Even ignoring the regular tournament prize pools, he knew Duelist Kingdom was going to start soonish. Phil had no plans to steal the cash prize from Joey, but if he could make it to the castle stage, even if he still lost he could use it to build a reputation that could be leveraged to get him into more exclusive tournaments. Battle City, for example. Ignoring the magic shit going on with that one, it would still be a solid tournament to be in.

  Plus being able to duel against Yami Yugi would be awesome.

  “You got yourself a duelist. Want me to get a full chest tattoo of the Kame Game logo? Any time a duel gets intense I can rip my shirt off to get the crowd roaring!” Phil turned and shook Solomon’s hand. The old man gave a beaming smile back, right at the same moment that Phil could see Jean deciding on a ring.

  “Ohohoho! Running into you here truly has worked out for us all! I think… maybe let’s put the tattoo on hold. Still, the thought of you with one, it’s a funny one!” Solomon exclaimed.

  Phil began to answer, but he bit his words back before they spilled from his lips. Duelist Kingdom… should he warn Solomon about Pegasus’s first duel with Yugi? What would happen if he did? The butterfly effect had already caused Tea to keep working at Burger World longer than she had in the canon. That in of itself was pretty harmless. But if he warned them about Pegasus, would that create more problems? At the end of the day, Yugi had indeed won. Solomon’s soul was rescued, along with Mokuba’s and Kaiba’s.

  Plus, why would they believe him? Phil was on great terms with Solomon and Yugi, but this was dealing with future knowledge, for fuck’s sake. Forget Solomon believing him, even Phil wouldn’t believe himself if their positions were swapped. Other than Yami Yugi’s penalty games and that weird shit with Shadi, there wasn’t much magic going on with their world at this moment. At least nothing to the level of future sight. Not until Duelist Kingdom got well underway would that change.

  But there would still be changes. Phil planned to be present on the island, which obviously wasn’t canon. Would that butterfly things even more? As long as he was careful with his opponents and who he went after for star chips, it shouldn’t… at least he assumed. He could focus down eliminators like PaniK (but not actually PaniK since he was Yugi’s prey) for bulk chip gain. And if Solomon wasn’t carded, would Yugi even bother to go? Would he still get the invite from Pegasus in the first place if he won their initial duel? Considering Yami Yugi’s personality, Pegasus might not even be in good enough shape to card someone if the flamboyant millionaire lost.

  Wait… would Duelist Kingdom even happen at all in that case? If Phil remembered correctly, its only purpose was to get Pegasus the solid vision tech owned by Kaiba Corp. The Big Five controlling the corporation made Yugi’s defeat their condition for handing it over. No point in running the tournament if Pegasus lost to Yugi in the TV match.

  Fuck. It hadn’t been like this last time around. Phil hadn’t known enough about GX to take care of most matters in advance other than when he dealt with Tragoedia. He could feel his wariness of the butterfly effect locked in a bitter struggle with his concern over Solomon. What if warning Solomon caused Pegasus to yoink one of Yugi’s other friends? Hell, with her luck, Tea would probably get carded if that happened. Phil couldn’t be everywhere at once.

  Warn Yugi, which could change the outcome of the TV match, which could change if Duelist Kingdom even happens. Warn Solomon, which could change who gets carded. Yugi would be easier. No future knowledge needed with that one, just a firm reminder of the dogshit time rules put in place for that duel. But it would still be a change.

  In the end, Phil kept his mouth closed. According to Professor Crowler, getting carded didn't hurt and Duelist Kingdom needed to happen in a way that wouldn’t cause unforeseen developments. Heck, even going past Yugi’s crew, the tournament ended up being major character development for Pegasus himself. Compared to how he’d been in the original manga, Pegasus in the GX timeline had seemed to be an actually decent person compared to the callous man he used to be.

  Phil still felt bad about staying silent. Solomon had done him and Jean a solid more than once by now. And… he was just going to sit back and let it happen. No. Duelist Kingdom needed to happen. For Pegasus and Kaiba to become better people. Same with Mai Valentine. For Serenity to get back her eyesight. And considering Phil’s luck, if it didn’t happen, fate would probably find some way to replace it with an even deadlier event out of sheer spite.

  After Jean and Tea exited the store, the two groups went on their separate ways, with Solomon telling Phil to stop by the shop first thing tomorrow morning to pick up a few different decks to use. The old man refused to elaborate any further, claiming it would ruin the surprise.

  Once Jean revealed the ring he’d purchased with Tea’s help, Phil could only laugh. It was extremely simplistic, just a warm gold band sitting leisurely on the man’s palm. After all those hours of agonizing, quibbling, thinking, and going back and forth, it was just a simple ring. Yet, in simplicity, there was beauty.

  “You sure it’ll fit?” Phil checked just in case.

  Jean barked out a laugh. “Of course! Last night when she was sleeping, I measured Tilla’s ring finger! This should be a perfect fit!”

  Phil could hardly keep a straight face as the mental image of Jean sneaking around the room with a tiny tape measure, terrified of Tilla waking up before he was done, flashed through his mind. Like a scruffy Santa Claus. Santa Jean. Would that make Phil and Lumina the reindeer or the elves?

  “Clever lad.”

  Jean took the compliment with a smile. “Now all I need is to ask the question! If she says yes, then we can figure out where to go…”

  “A honeymoon…” Phil narrowed his eyes. That was a most important question provided Tilla said yes. He was sure she would say yes. Money was tight but there were good options both inside and outside the country.

  “Well, best of luck with that. Not much I can help with, but let me know if I can. It’ll be a yes, by the way. Tilla will say yes. I know she will. She’ll love the ring, she’ll say yes. You’ve got this dude.”

  “Oui.”

  -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

  Black flames. A soul as ancient as the items themselves. A failed scrying spell. Human greed. Those images and feelings flitted past the eyes of Ishizu Ishtar like those of a slideshow. The past, seen through the power of the Millennium Necklace. The future, seen through the power of the Millennium Necklace. The present, seen through her own eyes. All three paths converged to provide a picture, as hazy as it may be. Only then would it be up to her own ability to understand.

  Understand. She understood Domino City practically hummed with magic. Two sides, the fantastic and the mundane. At times they were opposite sides of a coin, at times they were practically merged. Understand. Ishizu understood many of the changes were caused by the gradual reappearance of the Millennium Items. The eye, given to Maximillion Pegasus. The pendant, said by Shadi to be under the control of a worthy boy. The necklace, under her control. The ring, still missing. The key and scale, both still with Shadi himself.

  And the rod, taken by her brother in his madness after he murdered their father.

  Ishizu blinked away her rising emotions. They would not make understanding the past, present, or future any easier. Neither would she fully bury them, as walking that path would lead only to self-destruction. They would merely be set aside for her to shoulder at a later, more appropriate date. Something had caused an ancient soul to make two rather clear moves over the Winter. Her thoughts on the matter had only been solidified once the news in the papers made its way to her hands. A massacre at a gambling parlor and a nightclub burning with strange black flames. On the surface, both events were caused by one man with a bizarre name.

  Ishizu sensed there was more. The soul felt familiar. It felt… Egyptian. Ancient Egyptian. Moreover, it felt to almost resonate slightly with the items. Ishizu wouldn’t have noticed such faint resonance if she hadn’t been paying such close attention to Domino City in her attempts to locate her brother.

  Ishizu gently closed her eyes. The floor rocked beneath her, not through magic, but through turbulence. It was a natural consequence of flying by plane to Japan, in order to fulfil her official role as the Secretary General of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities in the Domino City Museum. Her unofficial role was, of course, to search for traces of the Rare Hunters, and by that, also discover the location of Marik Ishtar.

  What else could be seen? Past the shell of the private airplane sent to collect her. Past the turbulence. Past the darkness of the ocean below, and the lights of the cities ahead. The man did not work alone. There was more. He was no longer in Domino City. His presence there was no longer necessary.

  It was a name. A name brought to her by the winds of fate itself as it whispered its secrets into the holder of the Millennium Necklace.

  “The Sons of Kul Elna.” Ishizu whispered to herself.

  A conspicuous name. Were they truly from that time? How would they have survived the creation of the items, when the entire village of Kul Elna was massacred to fuel that dark ritual? No. There had only been one survivor back then if the records were correct. The Thief King Bakura. There was no one else. Spirits? Leftovers of the old world who still clung to life, no matter how faint their grasp remained? Or it was a misplaced homage by mortal men who knew not of what they invoked? There was power in names, after all.

  Ishizu continued to keep her eyes closed. There was more. Past the malevolent mage. Another soul that did not belong. It was…

  Her vision was no longer far-reaching. Ishizu was peering into a black void without end. There were neither stars nor planets present. No light. No movement. No hope. She let out a gasp. For the briefest of moments, even Ishizu had felt like she couldn’t breathe.

  Movement sprung from nothing. A flash of green, followed by a face. A face covered in warts, amphibian-like in nature.

  “A frog?”

  If Ishizu was not as well-practiced in scrying as she was, she might have assumed it was a fault in her abilities or that of the artifact she wore. But it had been many years since she’d claimed the power of the Millennium Necklace in that dark, blood-soaked room. The same room where her father was murdered by the hands of Marik Ishtar – no, by the hands of the monster he had warped into. Her little brother, that kind, caring soul, was still in there somewhere. Even if he was buried under an endless sea of hatred.

  It was a simple green frog, rotating in the center of the void. A blank expression was fixed on its face, and it wore no clothes other than a simple green jacket. As it rotated, Ishizu was able to see the words ‘Frog Inc. Anti-Spyware Division’ emblazoned on the back.

  The frog turned once more. Its mouth opened. Wider and wider, past what Ishizu ever thought would be possible for any creature. A scream tore from its mouth, one sounding like that of a cross between a banshee’s howl and a tortured wolf.

  The next thing Ishizu saw was the rest of the airplane’s cabin. She was on one knee on the floor, having been forced out of her chair by the impact.

  “A duel spirit…” Ishizu muttered to herself. A stream of warm liquid dripped down her face to create a small stain on her long, cream-colored dress. She brought a finger up to wipe at it almost absentmindedly, widening her eyes upon seeing a small smear of blood once her hand pulled away. Her nose was bleeding from the backlash. “A strong one to force away my gaze. Not at its full strength. Wounded? But recovering. The distance… was another factor. It felt… ready for me? No. Ready for someone. That spirit has experience with scrying countermeasures.”

  She glanced out the window. There was nothing to see other than clouds and the sea stretching out into infinity. “Five more hours.” Ishizu spoke to herself. As she stared out the window, she gracefully dabbed at her nose with a handkerchief. No matter. The master of that duel spirit was in Domino City, no doubt about that. And when she was within the range of the same city as that person, would their scrying countermeasures still be enough to rebuff her efforts?

  Unlikely. That was what the experience of Ishizu Ishtar told her. She would only need to take some care not to appear as an aggressor. The only question then would be if that person could be an ally… or an enemy.

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