Sofiane tossed and turned the whole night. Against his wishes, his brain decided to come up with a dozen potential ripostes to Xiuquan’s inevitable taunting, several embarrassing memories involving him and his former teammates, and a couple crippling episodes of self-doubt and existential crisis. Right around when light was beginning to penetrate his bedroom’s dark red silk curtains, he finally managed to get to sleep.

Tap tap.

“Sofiane, it’s almost time to go. The second day of the tournament starts in half an hour,” Shuixing said. Ordinarily comforting, her soft, dulcet voice that morning was the herald of the end times. Would it really be that bad if he stayed in and forfeited? Everyone else could come up with a plan B to get a hold of Yuna, not everything would be ruined if he dropped out of the tournament for a few more hours of sleep.

BANG, BANG.

“Get up, dickhead, or I’ll kick the door down and dump a keg of beer on top of you,” Natsuko said.

“Which is sticky and uncomfortable,” Pechorin added.

Summoned forth by sheer spite, Sofiane slipped out of bed and into his qipao which lay crumpled on the floor. There was no time for a shower. He was locked into showing up looking like a dumpster fire, so the best thing to do was to play into that.

Sofiane opened the door. “You got any whiskey left, Firecrotch?”

“You tryna day drink?” Natsuko asked, somehow looking better than Sofiane did.

“No, I’m trying to look like I was up all night partying. It’s an aesthetic,” he said, snatching the mostly-empty bottle from Natsuko and going back inside and throwing an untied bathrobe over the qipao and putting on some slippers.

“How do I look?” Sofiane said.

“Even worse than normal,” Natsuko said.

“I don’t think that’s our main concern,” Shuixing said.

“Oh, trust me, it is. If I look pathetic and tired, that kills our image as villainous status quo upsetters. We become a pity story. But partying cuz we were overconfident? Golden. We want anger, not compassion. Now, no more dilly-dallying,” Sofiane said, slippers scuffing as he trudged out of the hotel room.

The concentration necessary to keep from not dropping his cards and whiskey bottle was enough to distract Sofiane from thinking about certain things until they were within sight of the card parlor. The closer they got, the more these certain things crept back into his thoughts.

“Shui, what kind of deck does he have?”

“Metal-Lightning-Earth,” Shuixing said. “It works by building up one or two really strong monsters by adding artifacts and bonuses to them and protecting them with abilities to prevent them from being removed.

Sofioane rubbed his eyes and groaned. He didn’t know what the answer to that strategy was and his sleep-deprived neurons weren’t lining up to tell him.

In the daytime, the Heavenly Card Parlor looked much less like a gala and more like the borderline-casino it usually was. The games hadn’t started, but most competitors were seated with their cards out, ready to play.

Sofiane bumped into the doorframe on the way inside.

“Good morning, Mr. De La Nuit. Your opponent is awaiting you,” said a receptionist. “Shall I escort you?”

Sofiane mumbled something and allowed himself to be guided to the table where his former teammate was waiting with a leg across his knee and his arm thrown over the chair. Xiuquan’s silk robes were pinned like a toga, leaving one arm and shoulder bare with tree roots bursting out of them like racing dolphins. Neatly-cut, mossy green hair came down to his shoulders.

He smiled and reached out a hand from his seat. “Hello there, Sofiane. What a surprise to see you under these circumstances.”

Sofiane sat down, plunked the whiskey bottle on the table, and gave a curt handshake. “Xiuquan.”

“Erm, sir, outside drinks are not permitted on the premises,” said one of the two judges seated on either side of the two players. Sofiane noticed none of the other players had two judges.

“Oh yeah? One sec.” Sofiane uncorked the bottle, chugged the couple of shots that were left, wiped his lips, and slammed the bottle back down. “There. It’s an inside drink now.”

Xiuquan laughed. “Still have your sense of humor, I see. And your aesthetic sensibility.”

“Surely you didn’t expect me to be a completely different person just because I left the team, did you? I don’t base my personality off my coworkers,” Sofiane said.

Xiuquan looked over at Natsuko sitting cross-legged and wearing sunglasses for her hangover while sipping a bloody mary she’d splurged on at Heavenly Card Parlor prices.

“I would think no such thing. It’s just that, well, lifestyles have to change when material circumstances do. There’s less need to be up and ready if you have no dungeons to crawl through or quests to complete, so sleep schedules loosen up. Simple as that. I mean nothing by pointing out, just an observation,” Xiuquan said.

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

Shuixing, watching, thought Sofiane’s former teammate rather forthright and cordial. She had expected someone more antagonistic. Sofiane disagreed.

“Dick,” he muttered.

Xiuquan laughed. “No one gets very far on the Use-Rankings by denying reality, Sofi. You and I both know that. In fact, I seem to recall you saying something similar when we dropped Harbin from the party. I want you to know, I have no problem with you as a person. Clearly you are still a riot to party with,” he said, eyeing the bathrobe and slippers.

“But if our party fought uphill against reality, we wouldn’t stay on top for long. And once the Celestials are done with us, we’re out for good. I suspect you’re here playing cards rather than looking for an edge because you’ve resigned yourself to that fact.”

Before Sofiane could get a word in, the judges announced the beginning of the first match. The two former teammates cut each other’s cards and drew. Something about Sofiane’s slow and reluctant draw told Shuixing something was wrong.

“Erm, Pechorin?” she said.

“Some use that name,” Pechorin replied.

“Could you… do some investigating and see if there is something we can do to, um, give Sofiane some sort of advantage?”

He folded his arms and nodded. “I believe I can help you cheat, yes.”

The word “cheat” made the judge and participant at another table turn around and glance at them. Though, a moment later, Shuixing realized they were really watching Sofiane and Xiuquan’s match. And now that she was looking, so were a lot of tables.

“Jeez, Sofiane wasn’t kidding about the villain narrative thing. Everyone’s paying a lot of attention to us,” Shuixing said, talking even softer than normal so that only Natsuko and Pechorin could hear her.

“Hmm? Wha—? Sorry, I zoned out,” Natsuko said. Shuixing was 90% certain her friend had nodded off briefly given her open mouth gape, though it was hard to tell with the sunglasses on.

“Please try to focus, Natsu,” Shuixing said.

“I’m trying, I just also happen to be failing,” Natsuko said with a yawn and a stretch before returning to sipping her bloody mary.

Seeing Pechorin had left to do… whatever it was he intended to do, Shuixing turned back to the game in progress. It was only three turns in, but it was clear who was winning.

“When did you start playing, Sofi?” Xiuquan asked. “I’m only curious, because I’ve never seen experienced players try to kill Snob Goblin by attacking it before.”

Sofiane grit his teeth. Shuixing had made a mental note of that card, since it stated that any damage dealt to it would force the attacking player to discard that many of their own cards. In one turn, Sofiane had thrown away his entire board and half of his hand. She had factored it into her strategizing, but hadn’t warned Sofiane since he should’ve read any unfamiliar cards.

“Don’t worry, it’s not like you won’t have plenty of time to improve,” Xiuquan said with a chuckle.

The game was lost at that point. The two of them played out the rest, but Sofiane’s board was essentially reset, putting him too far behind to string together a combo or even do anything about Xiuquan’s ramping power until his Snob Goblin was attacking Sofiane directly for 25 out of his 50 health per turn.

Game one to Xiuquan. Around 80% the parlor floor breathed a collective sigh of relief and another 20% swallowed hard.

“Ready to go again?” Xiuquan asked.

Sofiane’s eyes looked deader than when Natsuko had sniped the demon in the abandoned dungeon with her bottle.

“C-Can I have a second? We’re allowed a break between games, right?” Sofiane asked the two judges.

One judge nodded. “Five minutes maximum.”

“My time is worth a little bit more than yours, so please do not waste too much of it,” Xiuquan said.

Shuixing was starting to understand why Sofiane had called him a dick. Shooting out of his chair, Sofiane grabbed Shuixing and dragged her out into a thoroughfare between card tables.

“I’m screwed, Shui. I can’t focus and he’s clearly better than me. His deck is better, he’s got more experience, and he’s in my damn head! I don’t know what the hell I can do,” Sofiane said.

“It’s only the last one that matters, Sofi. You’ve just gotta put aside your history with him. He’s not any better than us if you strip away the aura,” she said.

“But he is, that’s the thing! He’s in, and I’m out, and he knows it. There’s something indisputable about that. Remember Daisy walking in yesterday? There are some auras that you can’t bargain or twist or reinterpret,” Sofiane said. He grabbed Shuixing’s dress by the collar and shook her. “He. Is. Better. Than. Us.”

“W-Would you have said that before Koyon was summoned?” Shuixing asked.

“No, because we were on the same level then!”

“Hardly anything has really changed. He’s still the same person and you’re still the—” Shuixing paused. Sofiane had in fact changed since they met him two weeks ago. But that wasn’t what he needed to hear. “Y-You’re still the same too. Forget about any auras or unscientific nonsense like that. Just focus on the raw forces. The universe as it is.”

At some point, Shuixing had switched into teaching mode because it was how she made herself sound more convincing. She had to keep that ball rolling or lose the momentum.

“Think about it in— in matter and energy, right? There is nothing but the cards on the table a-and the abstract numbers they represent and the probabilistic outcomes of certain draws and shuffles, so if you—”

“I-I think I got it, Shui. I’ll try,” he said, cutting her physics lesson short.

“One minute,” a judge announced.

“Shit! Quick, what was our strategy for him?” Sofiane said.

“Um! Um! Shoot!” Shuixing snapped her fingers. Her brain was a really long train. It liked very long, very slow curves, not sharp turns. “He— he uh… you need abnormal removals. Take your sideboard cards and switch out for artifact removal a-and— um, board wipes! We’re okay with wiping our own board so long as he doesn’t have anything to build up. Got it?”

“Yeah, sure,” Sofiane said, returning to the table to play the second match.

Shuixing had still seen fear in his expression. Her words died at the foot of whatever mental blockage still had Sofiane in its clutches. She needed something tangible. Something physical that could breach through the murky film that his mind had placed over the real world.

Pechorin was still missing, so Natsuko would have to do it. She tapped her friend on her shoulder, causing her to jerk.

“I wasn’t sleeping!”

“I have a job for you,” Shuixing said.

Natsuko lowered her sunglasses. “Does it require more than two functioning brain cells?”

“No, I need you to walk over to Xiuquan and spill your drink on him.”

Natsuko grinned wickedly and in mock offense said, “Ms. He, that is alcohol abuse!”

“I’ve never known that to stop you before,” Shuixing replied.