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Commander Kaoru Mizusaki know why she never has a date. And not just because her friend and captain has never passed up an opportunity to tell her. As a matter of fact, she can't help being acutely aware of exactly why she hasn't had a date since the academy.
"Mizusaki."
She looks up from her desk to see her captain, Darzana Magbaredge, standing in in the doorway. In a moment, all the paperwork on her workspace desk becomes secondary. If her captain needs her, then it's more important. "Captain?"
Magbaredge holds up a very specific deck of cards. "We could use a break. Meet me in the ready room in ten minutes?"
Mizusaki nods. "I'll be there."
Paperwork can wait.
She enters the ready room exactly seven minutes later.
Captain Magbaredge, looking up from her tea, raises an eyebrow. "You're early."
"I'm trying to be more punctual, ma'am." Mizusaki says as she sits opposite. She takes her own deck of cards from her pocket and begins to shuffle them.
Magbaredge sets her tea down and reaches for the deck in front of her. Eyebrow still raised. "Are you now? Interesting."
They don't bother offering each other the chance to cut their deck. They haven't done that since the Wadatsumi. Too much trust between them.
"Would you like me to make the first move?" Mizusaki offers.
"Feel free." Magbaredge takes another sip of tea, eyes intent on the cards in her hand.
Mizusaki draws and considers her turn. "I'll place two cards face down in my spell and trap card zone, then summon Yellow Gadget in attack position. When Yellow Gadget is summoned, I'm allowed to search my deck for Green Gadget and place it in my hand."
She fans her deck, finds shows the card to Magbaredge before putting it with the other cards in her hand, and shuffles her deck.
The captain smiles. "You changed your deck?"
"I've been considering a more aggressive strategy."
"Is that the end of your turn?"
"It is."
Magbaredge draws, thinks for just a second before placing down a monster. "I summon the Skilled Dark Magician in attack position, then play Foolish Burial. This card lets me send any monster from my deck to the graveyard, and I choose the Dark Magician. Moreover, whenever a spell card is played, I place one spell counter on the Skilled Dark Magician."
She takes a smooth translucent stone and places it on the monster card in front of her.
"In my battle phase, I attack your Yellow Gadget."
Mizusaki flips over one of her face down cards. "I activate Negate Attack."
Magbaredge chuckles. "There's the commander I know. I'll end my turn."
A few rounds pass, with Mizusaki steadily loosing ground as she always does. She never has been able to beat Magbaredge at this game. Not because she isn't good, just because the captain is on another level. That's never stopped her from agreeing to every match offered.
"I activate the field spell Union Hangar. Once activated, it lets me search my deck for a union monster to add to my hand. I choose the Z-Metal Tank. I summon it, then banish all three of my monsters to summon XYZ-Dragon Cannon."
"Not bad." Magbaredge remains unflappable.
"In my battle phase, I'll use my Dragon Cannon to attack your Dark Magician."
"Destroying it, and dealing an additional three hundred damage to my life points. However..." Her lips quirk up in a relaxed smile. "That puts the count of Dark Magicians in my graveyard up to three, bringing my Dark Magician Girl's attack up to two thousand nine hundred. One hundred more than your Dragon Cannon."
Mizusaki blanches. How had she missed that?
"You know," The captain loves seeing that cute, fretful expression on her XO's face. She's almost loathe to alleviate it, but she doesn't want this match to be too easy. "Your monster does let your discard a card to destroy one of mine. Don't forget that."
Mizusaki stares hard at the three cards in her hand. "I'll end my turn."
Magbaredge raises her eyebrows. That was a surprise. "Just like that?"
"Just like that."
She relaxes. "Shall I tell you why you can't get a date?"
Mizusaki already knows why. She's reminded why every time her captain steps into the room. Every time her captain smiles or laughs. Every time her captain is focused, intent and intense, on a new problem. Every time her captain relaxes and teases her. Every time her captain looks at her with fondness in her eyes.
Magbaredge continues, "It's because you don't seize opportunities when they're presented to you."
That isn't it, but Mizusaki plays along. "Is it wrong to focus on my longterm strategy, ma'am?"
"No strategy survives contact with the enemy. And if you fail to take advantage in the moment, you won't survive to your strategy's endgame."
"I see."
Near the end of the match, Mizusaki has 700 life points left, five cards in hand, and her XYZ-Dragon Cannon just lost its Heavy Mech Support Platform. Her deck is dwindling. Magbaredge is also nearing the end of her deck, but she's 2600 life points up, and she has four monsters, Magical Exemplar, the Dark Magician, the Dark Magician Girl, and the Dark Magician of Chaos.
"That will be the end of my battle phase." The captain says. "But not my turn."
Mizusaki perks up, a little concerned with what that could mean.
"You really have been playing more aggressively, but you can't seem to drop that conservative streak of yours." She motions to the five cards still in Mizusaki's hand. The cards she still hasn't played, even at this point in the game. "I'm going to activate Exchange. This card allows us to see each other's hand, and select one card from it to add to our own."
Mizusaki doesn't hesitate. She flips her last face-down trap card. "Magic Jammer. By discarding a card from my hand, I can negate your spell card's activation and destroy it."
The card she discards is Gravity Blaster. An equip card that would be very useful in this circumstance.
Magbaredge narrows her eyes. "What are you protecting?"
Mizusaki is nervous, clearly. A bead of sweat shows on her forehead. "A last ditch effort, ma'am."
The captain glances at the board state. "Well, it better be good, all things considered." She motions for Mizusaki to take her turn.
The commander takes a deep breath before drawing a card. She keeps her eyes closed until it's placed into her hand. Then she opens them.
Her eyes widen and a grin splits across her face. Magbaredge doesn't think she's ever seen Mizusaki make a face that expressive before.
She slams down her hand of cards. The five pieces of Exodia the Forbidden One.
In shock, Magbaredge lets her cards fall from her hand. "Your aggressive strategy was-"
"A distraction! While I thinned my deck in order to search for the cards I needed to win."
The captain starts to laugh. "You've finally beaten me."
Mizusaki lets herself bask in this feeling. It was a risky strategy, and she knew it. But the worst case scenario was that she lost again, just like she always did.
"It's not the best way to build an Exodia deck." Her captain comments as her laughter starts to ebb.
"If you knew I had Exodia, you would have stopped me. I needed you to think it was a beatdown strategy that you were keeping at bay."
She nods, then smiles. "I suppose it worked out, didn't it? Shall I tell you the real reason you can't get a date, Mizusaki?"
"I already know the real reason, ma'am."
"Oh?"
"It's because I'm already in love with someone. And for very many very good reasons, I'm afraid to make the first move." Mizusaki starts collecting her cards. "It's a risky thing to do, because if it goes wrong, my heart will be broken, and my relationship with someone I care about very deeply may be irreparable."
Magbaredge narrows her eyes. "And I suppose this person is unlikely to make the first move theirself?"
"In all the time I've known them, they've always preferred to go second." Mizusaki pats her deck back into her pocket.
Magbaredge has her own cards in order shortly. She moves to stand next to Mizusaki. "You're worried that, if you move first, you'll lose. But if you don't, nothing will change. And unless you do something, you'll remain hopeless romantically. Perhaps a more bold strategy, like the one you used today, would serve you better."
There's a quiet moment between them. Then, Kaoru Mizusaki locks eyes with Darzana Magbaredge.
"Would you like me to make the first move?" Kaoru offers.
Drazana smiles. "Feel free."