Chapter 75: You're Jack Atlas
Rin Seiya noticed him in the doorway and shifted over on the sofa, making room without looking away from the screen.
"Sit down, junior."
"What did you actually want from me, senpai?"
"Club activities, obviously."
"And... what are the club activities?"
"Watching."
Simple enough. The club was called the Historical Film Appreciation Society, so watching films was a reasonable answer. It was just that these particular films happened to be episodes of Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's.
"Where did you even get all of these?"
Amano hadn't sat down yet. He was scanning the storage cabinet along the wall—shelf after shelf of what looked like a complete archive of 5D's episodes.
Inside the Tower, Yu-Gi-Oh! anime occupied a strange category. The Eva system seemed to have quietly classified it as historical record—documented events from the real world, filed away as actual history rather than fiction. References appeared in textbooks, scattered in fragments. But a complete, physical archive of episodes? Amano had never heard of anything like that existing anywhere in the Tower.
"My dad gave it to me for my birthday when I was ten. He's a historical researcher."
Rin's eyes hadn't moved from the screen. She clearly wasn't planning to miss anything.
If it had been a birthday gift at ten, she'd watched these episodes dozens of times by now. And she still looked like she was seeing them for the first time.
Must be genuinely good, Amano thought.
The episode on screen was one he half-remembered. Season one of 5D's. The Fortune Cup finals. Yusei Fudo versus Jack Atlas.
"Get over here, it's almost the best part!"
Rin patted the empty cushion beside her with noticeable impatience.
Amano sat down.
And that was how he ended up watching Yu-Gi-Oh! anime at ten o'clock at night with the strongest duelist in Synchro Academy.
The episode ended. The ED started playing.
Amano sat back.
Damn. That was good.
He hadn't watched 5D's in eighteen years. Coming back to it now—and to one of the stronger arcs in the series at that—hit differently than he expected. The nostalgia alone was enough, but the actual storytelling held up.
"These episodes are my absolute favorite stretch of the whole series!" Rin finally turned away from the screen during the gap between the ED and next episode's OP. "The way Yusei and Jack's relationship builds—rivals but more than rivals, the history between them, and then the emotional weight when they finally face each other properly—I never get tired of it. What do you think?"
"I'm with you," Amano said. "The early tension, the unresolved conflict, and then the duel where everything finally comes out—it's hard to watch that without feeling something."
Rin's eyes lit up.
"You really do get it! The next episode is even better—should we skip the OP? No, no, the OP is part of building the mood. We have to watch it."
Amano felt a quiet recognition settle over him.
This was the feeling of watching something with people who cared about it the same way you did. The kind of conversation he used to have with friends in his previous life, staying up late to pick apart plots and characters and moments that hit harder than they probably should have.
He hadn't expected to find that here. He definitely hadn't expected to find it with a girl who had a fanbase large enough to fill an auditorium.
Academy City's most celebrated duelist was, underneath everything, an anime enthusiast who had been watching the same series on repeat since she was ten years old.
He opened the system interface on reflex. Rin Seiya's head showed nothing. No affection counter. No notification. Just blank space where the number should have been.
Why me, out of everyone?
"Can I ask you something, senpai? Why specifically me for the club?"
The room had been empty before he arrived. That was obvious. No traces of anyone else having been here recently.
The question seemed to land somewhere more significant than Rin had expected. She reached for the remote and paused the OP mid-frame.
"Can I tell you?"
"Go ahead."
Rin shifted her gaze downward, watching her own toes move absently against the sofa cushion.
"I think I'm Yusei Fudo."
Amano kept his expression neutral.
That was a statement that would have sounded unhinged from most people. Significant second-hand embarrassment potential. The kind of thing you'd say when you were eleven and immediately regret at twenty.
Except.
Rin Seiya had Stardust Dragon. In a world where card fields were determined by genetic profile, where what you could summon was literally encoded in your biology—she had Stardust Dragon. She could achieve Clear Mind standing still. She could Accel Synchro for Shooting Star Dragon.
If anyone alive had earned the right to make that comparison without irony, it was her.
"My parents were always busy with work, so 5D's was basically my whole world growing up. I watched it every day. I've watched it so many times that somewhere along the way I stopped seeing a difference between myself and Yusei. Or maybe I wanted to become him. The way he fights, the way he connects with people—" She paused. "Does that sound strange?"
"Not really," Amano said. "You use the same deck. You've clearly got the same field. That's not coincidence."
"And you—" Rin looked up suddenly, eyes sharp and direct. "I think you're Jack Atlas."
Amano pointed at himself.
"You're the first person I've ever seen Synchro Summon Red Dragon Archfiend. In the entire history of Synchro Academy, it's never been done. That's not random. That's fate."
She was talking about the entrance exam duel against Chiha. The Red Dragon Archfiend summon that had brought the house down.
Amano didn't argue with the logic out loud, but internally he was already running through the issue. He wasn't limited to Red Dragon Archfiend. The Dragon Extra Deck the system had given him included Stardust Dragon as well. If she wanted to watch him summon Stardust, he could do that.
Then again—hadn't Jack Atlas Synchro Summoned Stardust Dragon in the anime at some point? Maybe that wasn't actually a counterargument.
"The bond between Yusei and Jack—rivals who push each other, destiny drawing them together—that's what I've been looking for my whole dueling life." Rin's voice was quieter now. "Does this cause you trouble? Me deciding you're my Jack Atlas?"
"Trouble's not quite the right word," Amano said. "Confused, maybe."
Because up until tonight, he genuinely had no explanation for why she'd been paying attention to him at all.
"So what do you actually want from me, senpai?"
If she was framing this as a destined rivalry, that was a significant gap in current reality—there was essentially no chance he could beat Synchro Academy's rank three in a straight duel right now. Unless she just wanted him to lose dramatically for the aesthetic.
"Nothing specific right now." Rin picked up the remote again. "I just want you to join the club. Come watch 5D's with me sometimes. We can talk about it after. That's all."
That was a remarkably low bar. Amano couldn't think of a single reason to say no.
Because it was genuinely good television. Both the show and the company.
He checked the time on his Eva terminal.
10:15 PM.
Shio's message was already in his inbox asking where he was.
"I can't stay too late. My sister's waiting. Two episodes a night, maximum."
Twenty-five minutes each. Two episodes had him home before eleven. That was workable.
"You're the best, junior!" Rin aimed the remote at the screen. "Then let's not waste any more time—hitting play now!"
They watched two episodes.
Then one more.
Then another.
Amano kept telling himself each one would be the last. Rin never once suggested stopping. The Fortune Cup arc rolled into the Dark Signers arc and the episodes kept coming and neither of them said anything about it being late.
When Amano finally checked the time again, it was 2:45 AM.