Yu-Gi-Oh! ME - Stage 001

A Small Cherry Tree's life Is the first chapter of Yu-Gi-Oh! ME manga, it was first published on WEBTOON In May 17, 2021 then on Pixiv in May 21,2021. Yurie Totsumi seeks to become better at dueling as well as a Psychic duelist, but Hata Totsumi stands in her way. Later on, she insists on reaching to her goal, to which Hata responded with his Duel Disk challenging her to a Duel...

Major Events

 * Yurie receives a strange mail, addressing to her to join to Saku Academy, not missing her chance, she persuades Hata to enroll, to his refusal.
 * A depressed Yurie tries to manipulate a sunflower, but she fails, and takes a nap.
 * Yurie having flashbacks of her parents and her friends, in her dream sequenced,she unleashes Hinn from her prison, acuiring her first Duel Guardian Sprit.
 * Yurie tries to convince that one cannot just be afraid forever, Hata challenges her to a Duel in order to see if she can prove that she is strong enough to go down the path she has chosen.

Summary
Introducing the world of Birta city, as a small town in has taken s to a whole new level. Yurie looks up to Saku Academy from a distance, and laments her lacking Psychic powers and her current Dueling skills, she heads back home telling herself that she's just a Normal girl. As she reaches her house, she notices the mailman pitching something to their inbox, she sneaks to grab a promotional brochure that advertises Saku Academy, which brings joy to her as she learns she can finally make a change to her life. The happy Yurie goes and tell Hata Totsumi that she desires to enroll to Saku Academy, to the latter's dismay and refusal, claiming that she would be endangered and potentially get killed by other and better Psychic Duelists. After a futile attempt to convince Hata, Yurie is distraught, she heads back to her bedroom, wondering if she's even worth protecting, then she grabs her Deck, and wonders if she can prove Hata wrong by trying to make her pet flower grow, after all her attempts, Yurie only made the flower lose petals, gets burned out, and lays in her bed. Yurie becomes disappointed in herself, and realizes maybe she's indeed a normal girl, and misses Hana Bloom, she stares at the flower long enough to fall asleep, and dreams back to her childhood when she cried as she lost to Hana, Yui Totsumi and Kengo Totsumi cheer her up, and give her unknown cards to get better. Later, after her parents passed away, at the age of 13, Yurie gets bullied by two bullies, who proceed to torment her as far as making a joke about her dead parents, angered, Yurie becomes a rutheless beast, grabs a nearby iron pipe and strikes the two bullies down. Kaido and Amber find her, and are shocked by the turn of events, noting that Yurie wasn't one of the kidnapped children, but are determined to bring the cheerful Yurie they one knew back, after losing in a 2-vs-1 Duel, Yurie regains composure, and starts feeling remorse and guilt for what she has done, Kaido and Amber ease her sorrow, and tell her that she's not a monster, but their friend, as Yurie takes their hands, the dream ends, and Yurie gets drown in a strange vision, where she encounters a large door, the door tells only the one with purified soul can grab this power, but the ill-natured holder will be accursed, a silhouetted form of a card she possesses resonates with her left arm, Yurie is told that she can either unleash the trapped soul, or leave things as they are and condemn that soul for a possibly worse fate. Yurie is hesitant at first, then she gathers courage and unlocks the door, finally, the spirit is freed, and proceeds to bond with Yurie who wakes up from a weird dream, and realizes, what happened might be real as her left arm is throbbing with pain. As she goes to get some treatment, she spotted Hata at her bedroom door, whom the latter claims that he was going to call her for dinner, Yurie tells him that what he said might be right, but her mind to go to Saku Academy hasn't changed, reminded of their mother, Hata hesitantly agrees if Yurie defeats him in a Duel. Now, Yurie's fate and future is on the line, if she loses, she might be protected for a longer period!!!

Featured Cards:
The cards that debuted here are in italic.

Trivia:

 * This chapter initially has gone through several different early concepts, while they were scrapped, some elements were integrated here.
 * The ""Red-Eyes" vs "Invoked"" match up in the magazine Hata reads is a reference to real life OCG/TCG events, and a jab at " potential" joked by the community considering the archetype itself barely if ever reaches such potential.
 * The two bullies that tormented Yurie resemble the same two bullies from Tolland.
 * The Yurie approaching Kaido scene in the flashback is similar to how DIO approached Jotaro in JoJo's Bizzarre Adventures.