#nurseshipping

   She put down her handbag then sat down with a swing of her hips, entering the booth from the side. She hefted one leg over the other and sat at a slight angle, perfect to keep an eye on the people who came and went whilst maintaining a conversation with Shizuka. 

   Mai was so cool to Shizuka. Her swagger, her demeanour, her charisma. Shizuka really wished she could be like that, so effortlessly suave in leather and lace. 

   “So, you want to get better at Duel Monsters, eh?” Mai asked.

   “Yes, absolutely.” Shizuka replied, a little too quickly. She clasped her hands together and bent across the table.

   Mai laughed at her over-exuberance. It made her blush. She receded off the table slightly and embarrassed, pushed the menu closer to Mai. Mai picked it up and pursed her lips together. She skimmed the menu and then glanced to Shizuka out of the corner of her eye.

   “Well, I know what I want.” Mai said.

   “Me too.” Shizuka replied. 

   She had been sitting here for five or so minutes already, through no fault of Mai’s. Though Mai coming fashionably late would be on theme with her mystique, the truth was that Shizuka had come early. Mai had arrived on the dot.

   “Perfect.” Mai said. “Then let’s get this show on the road.”

   She set the menu down and put both her boots on the ground. She hailed over a waitress who took their orders. Shizuka was going to get a strawberry milkshake with whipped cream on top and Mai was going to get some black coffee. They both picked out some slices of cake from the selection the waitress rattled off to have as a snack.

   The waitress left as quickly as she came and Mai got serious.

   Mai batted her lashes and Shizuka’s heart quaked in her chest. She handed over her deck of Duel Monster cards and immediately felt everything drop. She knew her deck wasn’t going to be good, especially to champion material like Mai but still. It was her deck, it was vulnerable to open it up to criticism – of which Mai had plenty.

   “I’m not really sensing a theme but,” Mai’s voice turned playfully sharp, “you have good taste.”

   “Th-Thanks?” Shizuka chirped.

   Mai plucked a particular card off the stack, “Oh, and by the way, Shadow Tamer?” she teased. “Girl, you are too young to have a card like this one in your deck.”

   Shizuka blushed. Yes… Shadow Tamer was a very salacious card given how scantily clad the character depicted was but she was gorgeous. Blue hair, a bodacious rack. Shizuka knew that, eventually, she would be scolded for having such a sadomasochistic icon in her deck but she couldn’t help herself. Shadow Tamer gave her a very unusual, near effervescent feeling in her heart – and maybe something wet feeling down below.

   Shizuka knew what she liked but she was still developing the reasons why she liked what she liked. The innocent ones were easy enough. She was a teenage girl, of course she liked cute cards but she liked cool cards, too. Cards which were in chains and ropes and shiny leather. She also really liked Mai.

   Even with Mai sitting directly across from her, shuffling her cards… Shizuka couldn’t believe that they were sitting here. Together. On a not date. If anything it was a play date. After all, her brother had coordinated it at her relentless begging. He had complained each and every time Shizuka brought up wanting to be mentored by Mai. As far as he was concerned, Shizuka had the best duelist around at her beck and call: him.

   He was wrong. Very wrong.

   It wasn’t just skill, it was appeal, too. Her brother and his friends were all geeks and dorks. Not that there was anything wrong with that, Shizuka took in their footsteps but she was sick of it. She wanted to grow her own spine and find a new way in the world now that she had a new lease on life after her operation.

    Mai fit that bill to a tee. She was a stunning woman and Shizuka was in quite the conundrum with her. She didn’t know if she wanted to be Mai or be on Mai.

   Mai had left a spectacular impression on Shizuka from the moment that Shizuka had laid eyes on Mai as part of the Battle City duels. Shizuka was head over heels as soon as she heard Mai’s smooth and sultry voice and to meet her afterwards, with her vision back, Shizuka didn’t know what to do with herself. She absolutely matched all expectations Shizuka could have dreamed up and then exceeded them.

   Simply put, Shizuka had an enormous crush on Mai but it was obvious to her, Mai only saw her as a dweeby little sister. The same as everyone else but still, she was a good sport if nothing else. Or at least since abandoning her roots as a lone wolf, according to what stories Shizuka had relayed to her regarding Pegasus’ Duelist Kingdom.

   So, she counted her lucky stars that Mai wanted to hang out with her at all. Duel Monsters really was her passion.

   As such, Mai got even prettier when she started talking about this passion. Her eyes lit up, her tone of voice got animated. She threw her all into giving Shizuka some advice.

   “I think you need to settle on an archetype, or a deck theme to build around.” Mai said. “Good cards can only take you so far if they don’t have any synergy.”

   Shizuka nodded. That was quite a reasonable statement, and a pretty obvious one, too. Ugh, she was just like her meat head brother in that department.

   “Like, how I have the Harpie cards or the Amazoness cards. I’m sure there’s a theme which would suit you.” Mai said and she picked out another couple of cards. “These two can be used in something called Nurse Burn.”

   She laid down the cards titled Bad Reaction to Simochi and Darklord Marie. She tapped Marie’s face. The sound of the tapping gave Shizuka a shiver down her spine. There was just something about how Mai handled cards and her long, slender fingers which gave Shizuka the tingles.

   “Okay, well maybe not Marie but Marie’s friend Darklord Nurse Reflector can. She’s what puts the nurse in Nurse Burn. Reflector’s effect is nasty and can turn things which should benefit your opponent into a bane.” Mai said.

   “Wow, interesting, I had no idea.” Shizuka replied.

   “It is. There are all kinds of strategies for all kinds of people. Spell focused strategies, trap focused strategies, and then dozens of monster based strategies. Think about what appeals to you, what says something about you.” Mai lectured her. “You’ll find the right one for you, eventually. It’s just like falling in love. You have to try all kinds of people first to know what you like.” She poked her tongue out at Shizuka.

   Shizuka’s face went red. Was it possible that Mai knew about her feelings? Or was she just that easy to tease?

   It was hard to tell. It seemed like it could go either way given how free Shizuka was with her emotions, she was practically eating out of Mai’s hand as she took upon all this advice.

   Though any introspection, or lecture, was halted when they were interrupted by the waitress. She had come back with their orders on a silver platter. She placed their drinks down and their plates in front of them.

   “I’ll look forward to duelling you one day, Shizuka.” Mai told her as she daintily picked up her mug of coffee. “I’m sure you will blossom into a fine duelist once you know what kind of strategy you want to pursue.” She took a sip of her coffee.

   “Thank you, I will do my best to study and find what appeals to me.” Shizuka replied.

   “Good girl.” Mai purred. 

   Shizuka could have imploded into a mushy gushy mess of hormones and girlishness. 

   Mai giggled at Shizuka’s expense, her cup of coffee shaky in her hand as she set it down to keep chatting, “Oh, and if you need any more tips on timing, priority, all the nitty-gritty, I can keep busting out the books.

   “Pl-Please.” Shizuka sputtered. “I want to learn everything that you know.”

   “With pleasure.” Mai replied.

   In between bites of cake and unsweetened coffee, Mai explained to Shizuka all the terms and jargon that made her head spin. The differences between trigger effects and ignition effects. She was like a walking, talking dictionary and Shizuka did her best to keep up even though she felt like she was well out of her depth in her request to get better at dueling. Even so, it made her really happy.

   Mai was sparkling in the midday sun, her hair tousled by the air conditioning of the cafe. She was completely and totally in her element as a teacher and mentor. Shizuka couldn’t get enough of it and Mai seemed quite pleased to have such a captive (and captivated) audience.