Five 1x3

"Good vibes/Bad remix"

Written sketch

 * Written sketch

Summary

 * Kazuo is conflicted and wanders off by himself. Some of his background is revealed. He meets his designer friend.
 * Hanaoka spies on Kazuo. Meanwhile, Koji seeks and talks to Silence.
 * Amidst the momentary peace, the Phantom Thief strikes a second time.

Updated details

 * Chapter begins with a young boy and a young girl about to play a chess match inside Nexus. The chess pieces manifest as icons as tall as the players, with customizable skin. The girl's skins is pretty rad, but when the boy's show up, they're absolutely fanservice-ish, with sexist female appearances, which upsets the girl and the remaining female classmates. Turns out it's a teacher with her class, encouraging them to play games that help develop their logic. She says that's fine, because when you're having fun, you can learn much faster. She comments about how interesting it is that we can use entertainment like this.
 * Title page, then cut to Kazuo.
 * Kazuo is at home, in bed, with a depressed look. He looks at a message from Kim telling him he's got one week, and that it's his last chance. He covers his head with his pillow and cringes, cursing it all and nearly crying. Iry knocks on his door and they interact. Iry asks if he used his designs for a scheme again, referring to the fake tournament from chapter 1, which Kazuo tries to dodge. More is revealed on Iry and about his relationship with Kazuo, revealing some more details about Kazuo's story. Ultimately, Iry is very concerned with Kazuo and says he's not the same person lately, and worried, asks him for real if he's done anything to cross the line lately (this will be better worded, but it's meant to indirectly ask if he's involved in more serious stuff, i.e., the Ghost Thief episode).
 * Hanaoka is very briefly shown to be watching over Kazuo.
 * Koji meets "Silence" in the same room from chapter 1. Koji says it's a fancy room and wonders why he never knew about it, with "Silence" mentioning that only people he allows to be there and find it, because he's not welcome there. After some short talk, they get to the riding subject, with "Silence" commenting he loves seeing Koji ride. He says Koji must've practiced a lot to get at that level so young. Koji gives Kank's Vitralux example, saying how going that tiny distance farther every day pays off. Koji then mentions about the "Winner Five". He comments about how those people are all very talented, though he dares say there's not even among the top 10 players around. "If you want a 'Winner Five', aren't there more capable people around? Why did you choose the five of us?". "Silence" smiles, and after a pause, he says: "It must be the five of you." "Silence" and Koji actually keep talking, but the rest of it is not shown, keeping it open.
 * Note: In the above conversation, some hints may be dropped about the whole technology of Red being related to the Silver attack.
 * Cuts to Nexus. It shows people playing games, happily (shows another nice example of a mentally/physically stimulating game). A peaceful officer is patrolling carelessly, ending with a sudden shot of the Thief appearing right next to him.

Featured games
This chapter shows different game modalities being played in Nexus.

The beginning of a chess match is shown.

Also, the prototype of a volleyball court is shown.

Featured Duel: Koji Fujibayashi vs unnamed duelist
A short bit of a Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel is shown from a flashback.

Koji's turn


 * His opponent controls "High-Tech Puppeteer GP", "High-Tech Puppeteer MT" and three "High-Tech Marionette Tokens", all in Attack Position. He explains that he won't be able to lay a finger on his puppeteers while he controls the puppets. He also controls a face-down card.
 * Contact Fusions "Ritual Beast Ulti-Apelio".
 * Activates "Mystical Space Typhoon" to destroy his opponent's face-down "Token Stampede".
 * His opponent activates "Synchro Transmission", turning "High-Tech Puppeteer GP" and one Token into "High-Tech Master of Puppets".
 * Koji activates "Incapacity", preventing the effect of "Master of Puppets" from destroying "Ulti-Apelio".

Rest of the duel is not shown.

Featured Volleyball Match: Iry vs Kazuo
This is a prototype match, with the following additional rules:
 * Since it's 1v1, each player is allowed three touches in the ball.
 * Each set is 15 points.
 * The field is a special Nexus field with weak and strong areas, like the floor is a darts board. If the player hits the ball on certain spots or ways, they may score more points in a single hit.
 * The field also contains bonuses the player can collect by hitting the ball there, distributed in strategic places, like a really high spot on the player's own field (if the player sets that high for themselves), or close the opponent's line (if they manage to hit so perfectly).

First serve: Iry

Iry uses a regular upperhand serve, but Kazuo fails miserably to receive it (Iry 1x0 Kazuo).

Second serve: Iry

Iry uses a regular upperhand serve, but Kazuo fails miserably to receive it (Iry 2x0 Kazuo).

Third serve: Iry

Iry decides to go easy on Kazuo, so he barely passes the ball ahead the net. Kazuo akwardly receives it, sending it straight back to Iry. Iry sets high with the first touch, earning a bonus, followed by a spike Kazuo fails to reach. Since Iry hit a special spot by Kazuo's line, he earns two points (Iry 4x0 Kazuo).

Fourth serve: Iry

Iry gets distracted talking to Kazuo and misses his serve (Iry 4x1 Kazuo).

Fifth serve: Kazuo

Kazuo hits a weak underhand serve. Iry receives skilfully, sets to himself, but decides to deliver a weak spike to give Kazuo a chance. Kazuo receives awkwardly, and tries to set to himself as well like Iry did to collect bonuses, but fails to spike it (Iry 5x1 Kazuo).

Sixth serve: Iry

Remained of the match is not shown.

Featured cards
New cards are in italic.