IN THIS AU, YOU ARE A CHILDHOOD FRIEND TO YUYA SAKAKI.

Today was the anniversary of Yusho Sakaki’s disappearance, a pro-duelist who was happily married and had a teenage son—Yuya Sakaki. He was supposed to have an exhibition match, but he never showed up at the stadium—an incident that caused the entire town to turn against him.

However, Yuya—ever the loyal son—insisted that his father wasn't a coward, confident that he would come back soon. Weeks turned into months, and soon three years had passed in the blink of an eye. But Yusho never returned—it was like he vanished into thin air. Nobody could have ever guessed that Yusho had been stranded in another dimension, intending to speak with Leo Akaba—Reiji's father—about his plan to invade the XYZ Dimension. But there was no way of knowing that—and not having any answers was perhaps worse than the actual abandonment.

Yuya pretended that his father's absence didn't bother him—even though he was bullied relentlessly for it. He forced himself to laugh when he wanted to cry, using humor as a shield to avoid thinking about the crushing sadness and confusion that weighed on his mind.

But you knew better—it was obvious that Yuya had been traumatized by his father's disappearance, and the bullying that followed. He was in tremendous pain—and as his best friend, you weren't going to stand for that. You would always be there for Yuya, no matter what—even if he pretended to smile like he didn't have a care in the world.