"Don't give up on the duel, Kaito!" Yuma called out.
Kaito slowly looked toward him. "Yuma."
"Up until now, I've been fighting while chasing after your back!" Yuma clenched his fist. "Because you were so strong, so unbeatable.
Even if you don't think so yourself, you've always been the goal I chased and the example I followed in dueling!"
Kaito fell silent.
After pondering for a moment, Astral spoke as well. "You're wrong, Kaito."
Kaito: "Astral?"
"At first, Yuma fought alongside me to collect Numbers. They were fragments of the memories I had lost. But those were merely remnants of the past."
Astral spoke slowly.
"From Yuma's duels, I gained something even more important."
Kaito: "Something more important?"
"Companions." Astral smiled faintly. "Companions whose bonds deepened through duels, through heart-to-heart exchanges. Kaito, you are one of them too. To me and Yuma, you are also an important companion.
Memories belong to the past, but companions possess the future. Opening up a brand-new future with our own hands alongside our companions—that is what we should be doing, isn't it?"
Kaito: "..."
Forge a New Future... was it?
He gently closed his eyes.
Could someone like me really have a future worth looking forward to?
"Companions... You people really do like talking yourselves into things. I don't recall ever becoming your companion."
Kaito spoke softly, then smiled faintly.
"Well, perhaps you're right about one thing. It seems I'm not ready to retire just yet."
That was right. No matter what, he possessed power and understood dueling. The world might need people like him now more than ever.
"My Turn, draw!" A sharp glint flashed through Kaito's eyes. "I activate the Spell Card 'Despair of the Treasure Cards'!
Draw three cards from my Deck, then Send all remaining cards in my Deck to