Prologue
Tamao Suzumi sat alone in her room at the Strawberry Dorms on Astraea Island. She was usually alone, but it was more painful than before. Painful because she had lost the girl that she had fallen in love with. That year at St. Miator Duel Academy had started out as the best year that Tamao ever had, for she had finally gotten a roommate. Her name was Nagisa Aoi, and when Tamao saw her, it was love at first sight. Nagisa was the cutest, perhaps most beautiful girl that Tamao had ever seen. She had red hair, reddish-brown eyes, and smooth soft skin. Tamao had become fast friends with Nagisa, and she wanted to become something more, but there was something that got in Tamao’s way. That something was another girl named Shizuma Hanazono, and not only was she one of the island’s strongest duelists, but also quite beautiful. Shizuma’s silver hair, golden eyes, and porcelain skin had captivated Nagisa from the very beginning.
For awhile it seemed like Tamao had no chance at winning Nagisa’s heart, but then something happened that seemed to change everything. One awful weekend Shizuma took Nagisa to her private villa on the island, and it seemed like it was all over. Then Nagisa came back from the villa heartbroken, for it seemed that Shizuma was only using Nagisa to replace someone that she had lost. Tamao was there to comfort Nagisa of course, and Tamao thought that she once again had a chance at winning Nagisa’s heart. Things got even better for Tamao when the student council president of Miator at that time, Miyuki Rokujo, had entered her and Nagisa in the Etoile Tournament together. Tamao was overjoyed because she thought that by being the tournament together, she and Nagisa could become closer than they had been, that Nagisa would finally love her.
It all turned bad again though. Just before the last duel of the tournament, Nagisa showed up full of anger, and challenged Tamao to a duel, and Tamao had no choice but to accept. During that duel, Nagisa made her true feelings known to Tamao. She more or less told Tamao that she could never love her, that she was just a pathetic lonely girl who thought that she could make Nagisa love her. In the end Tamao realized that Nagisa was right. It was foolish to think that she could somehow make Nagisa fall in love with her, that she could somehow replace Shizuma in Nagisa’s heart. That was indeed a foolish girl’s fantasy, a delusion.
Tamao blacked out after that duel for some reason. She awoke a week and a half after the tournament, and was horrified to learn about what had happened while she was out. Though Tamao had to admit that she wasn’t surprised, she had learned that Shizuma and Nagisa had gotten back together. There were also rumors that Shizuma and Nagisa’s love had somehow helped a visiting pro duelist named Jaden Yuki destroy an ancient Egyptian demon, but Tamao didn’t really believe that. The point though was that Shizuma and Nagisa were back together, and outside of classes they were practically inseparable. About five days after Jaden Yuki left, Nagisa told Tamao that she had gotten into a study abroad program and that she would be leaving as soon as Shizuma had graduated that year.
Before Nagisa left, she told Tamao that she was sorry about how things turned out, and that she would always think of Tamao as a best friend. That was all that Tamao ever was to Nagisa, and that was all that she would ever be, and never anything more. Tamao was actually a little glad that Nagisa had left. For it hurt too much to have Nagisa share the same room with her and never have Nagisa as her own. In fact if Nagisa hadn’t left on that study abroad program, Tamao probably would’ve dropped out of the academy. The only way that Tamao was going to get over Nagisa and let go of the hopeless notion that they would become more than friends was to get away from Nagisa. There were still several times when Tamao thought about Nagisa, and how their love could never be. The pain had lessened somewhat though, even though Nagisa had left only a few days ago.
What didn’t help Tamao though was that it seemed like everyone around her had found love. Even Yaya Nanto, a student from St. Spica Duel Academy that had also fallen in love with someone that would never consider her as more than a best friend, had found a new girl to love. Everybody had someone except for Tamao. Once again Tamao was alone, just like always. I didn’t seem fair to Tamao. The blue haired girl’s thoughts were interrupted when she heard a knock on her door. Tamao got up from where she was sitting on her bed and opened the door. The person on the other side was Chiyo Tsukidate, a shy Miator student with short navy blue hair that Nagisa and Tamao had befriended earlier that year.
“Oh, hello Chiyo.” Tamao greeted with an insincere smile. “What brings you here?”
“Um, hi Tamao.” Chiyo greeted back. “I just came to give you this package that came for you.”
“Thank you.” Tamao said as she took the package that Chiyo handed her. “Do you know who it’s from?”
“Not really.” Chiyo replied. “How have you been doing since Nagisa left?”
“I’m doing alright.” Tamao lied. “If there’s nothing else I’d like to be alone right now.”
“Oh, okay. I’ll see you later then.” Chiyo said and turned to leave.
Tamao went back into her room, closing the door firmly behind her. She sat back down on her bed and unwrapped the package that Chiyo gave her. As it turned out, the package was from Tamao’s father. Tamao rarely got to see her father most of the time when she was home. The reason for that was because her father was an archeologist and was usually away excavating some ancient ruin. The area of study that Tamao’s father was most interested in however was the lost city of Atlantis. He would go all over the world looking for evidence of the lost city; it was an obsession of his.
As a result of his search, Tamao’s father had become somewhat of an authority on the fabled lost city. Because of this, the U.S. Navy had asked her father to investigate a newly discovered underwater ruin off the coast of Florida. That investigation went on for about a decade, and Tamao rarely saw or heard from her father at all. So Tamao was greatly surprised to receive a package from him. The first item that Tamao found in the package was a letter from her father.
‘My dearest daughter, I know that I have not been in your life much these past ten years, and for that I am profoundly sorry. I only wish that I could tell you the reason why I have been away from you for so long, but due to certain government restrictions I cannot say much. All I can tell you is that I have been living my dream. The discoveries that I have made have been beyond my wildest imagination. Even though it most likely goes against the restrictions I am under, as well as the principles of my profession, I wish to share with you some of the treasures that I have found on the deep ocean floor. One of the artifacts I think you will find to be an interesting puzzle. The other is simply something that I think a beautiful girl like you deserves. I know that these two items don’t make up for my long absence, but I hope that they at least begin to say how sorry I am for not being around to see you grow up. ~ Your loving father.’
Tamao put the letter aside and looked at the two items that her father had sent her. The first item appeared to be part of some sort of stone mural that depicted a yellow reptilian eye of some kind. Tamao assumed that the object was the interesting puzzle that her father was referring to. Tamao did enjoy puzzles at times, though she couldn’t begin to figure out how to solve the puzzle from her father at the moment. The second item in the package was a silver ring with a finely cut green stone on the top. The ring seemed to be too big to fit on Tamao’s hand, but as she looked at it, the stone on the ring flashed and she was amazed to see that it seemed to shrink down to a perfect fit.
Against her better judgment, Tamao slipped the ring onto her left ring finger. As soon as she put the ring on, a brilliant green light filled the room. When the light finally faded, Tamao was amazed to see a Duel Monsters card floating in front of her. It was a Spell card that had some sort of green circle with a unicursal hexagram in the center and a line of some sort of ancient text repeating around the edge as the illustration. It seemed to Tamao to be some sort of mystic symbol. Tamao read the name of the card, “The Seal of Orichalcos.” Tamao took the card with her right hand, and the moment she touched it she felt some sort of strange power running through her. Tamao’s eyes changed from blue to a light green. At that point Tamao started to once again reflect on how unfair the world seemed to be. About how she was always alone while others had someone to love, and it occurred to Tamao that this “gift” from her father was just what she needed to set the world right.
