"What did you just say—'Headmistress'? What do you mean by that?" Alexis blinked her wide eyes, confusion written all over her face.
Everyone in the world knew Hoshino was the Headmistress… except her.
Ignoring Alexis's puzzled question, Akasha fixed her sharp gaze on Hoshino.
"Hoshino-nee, you're lying to me, aren't you? You just made up that ridiculous excuse because you like Alexis more!"
"Akasha, I would never—"
"I don't care! Anyway, I won the Duel! So Alexis, you're not allowed to get close to Hoshino-nee again! And seriously—kissing therapy? That's way too weird! Only Jaden would believe something like that!"
"(°ヘ°) Hey, why am I suddenly getting dragged into this?" Jaden scratched his head, looking adorably clueless.
It was true—vampiric corruption, magical overload—those kinds of things sounded unbelievable to most people. But Akasha's increasingly hysterical tone made Hoshino realize something was off.
"Akasha… are you being influenced by something strange?"
At first, it had only been a faint sense of wrongness. But ever since the Duel began, Akasha's behavior had grown more and more unnatural.
And considering that after leaving the Rare Hunters, Akasha had become deeply opposed to Shadow Games—her deliberately setting up a Duel Field with effects similar to a Shadow Game was already a huge red flag.
"Akasha, can you explain to me how you even knew there was a Duel Arena hidden deep inside this hot spring inn?"
"Ah, um…" Akasha stammered, dodging Hoshino's gaze, clearly hiding something.
"—It was the Yuki-onna! This girl has been bewitched by the Shadow Rider Yuki-onna."
A deep, magnetic voice echoed through the icy cavern, resonating throughout the sealed space.
Hoshino immediately tensed, her expression turning serious.
"That arrogant tone—like the world owes him a million dollars…! Kaiba, is that you!?"
Jaden's eyes sparkled. "Kaiba? Kaiba-san's here too!?"
"Heh heh heh heh… That's right! It is I!"
"'It is I'?" Hoshino's ahoge curled into a question mark above her head.
Heavy boots struck the ice floor as a tall figure emerged slowly from the shadows—dragging along some mysterious object behind him.
"It is I—the Hero of justice… Kaibaman!"
"≖_≖???"
Now her ahoge split into three curls as Hoshino stared at him with an utterly dumbfounded look.
"Kaiba, have you completely lost your mind!?"
The man before her, aside from the exaggerated coat and long hair, wore a Blue-Eyes White Dragon-themed helmet that covered half his face.
If not for that unmistakable voice, Hoshino would never have believed that this power-ranger-looking hero wannabe was actually the proud and arrogant Seto Kaiba she knew.
"Kaiba… you mean that Kaiba?" Alexis covered her mouth in shock. "The duelist Pegasus once called the third strongest in the world—the Duel King's rival—Seto Kaiba!?"
Back when she first fell in love with Duel Monsters, Alexis had watched the live broadcast of Hoshino's final battle with Kaiba. Since then, she had deeply admired the man who once stood as the Duel King's rival.
Kaibaman raised a hand dramatically and sternly declared, "Incorrect! I am not Seto Kaiba! I am… the Hero of justice—Kaibaman!"
Hoshino twitched at the corner of her mouth. "No, no, no—you're definitely Seto Kaiba. I'd recognize that voice even if you were turned to dust!"
Besides, "Hero of justice" was a phrase Hoshino herself had once said during her Duel against Gekko Tenma—clearly Kaiba had just stolen it and slapped it onto himself.
"Aaah! Let go of me, you brute! Have you no pity for a beautiful woman!?"
A shrill cry came from behind Kaibaman. Only then did everyone realize he had dragged someone out with him.
"Kaiba—what did you mean earlier? That Akasha was bewitched by the Yuki-onna?"
"I'll say it again—it's Kaibaman!"
With no mercy whatsoever, Kaibaman hurled the alluring innkeeper he'd been dragging right in front of everyone.
"From the very beginning, this Yuki-onna had infiltrated this hot spring, waiting for a chance to strike. Naturally, she is one of the Shadows Rider, just like the vampire Camula!"
Hoshino blinked in disbelief. "Ehh?! The innkeeper lady is one of them—and she's a Yuki-onna!?"
Yuki-onna—one of Japan's legends. A beautiful snow spirit who lured men lost in snow-covered mountains into secluded places with her charm… and froze them completely with a single kiss, preserving them forever like works of art.
Hoshino's Duel Disk snapped open. Since the enemy was one of the Shadow Rider, there was no avoiding it—she would have to handle this herself.
"Help! Please, someone save me from this brute!"
The Yuki-onna, thrown roughly to the floor, scrambled to Akasha's feet, begging for help—her once elegant allure replaced entirely by fear.
Hoshino and Jaden exchanged looks.
"Why is this one already terrified before we've even started the Duel?"
Kaibaman crossed his arms proudly. "Hmph! Because while you were all wasting time on trivial duels for trivial reasons, I—the Hero of justice—had already utterly crushed her!"
"Huh? Kaiba, you actually defeated her yourself? I knew you'd never give up Duel Monsters!"
Hoshino recalled seeing the dusty, long-abandoned Duel Disk in Kaiba's office yesterday and had worried about his state of mind. But seeing this now… maybe she'd been overthinking it.
Kaibaman huffed. "You disappoint me greatly, Hoshino Chiyuki! As the Headmistress of Duel Academy, you've neglected your duties and allowed the Shadow Rider to act freely right under your nose! Were you truly just here to soak in the hot springs?"
"Headmistress… Hoshino… Chiyuki?!"
Alexis's eyes widened as she stared blankly at Hoshino, as if she had just been hit with a truth too shocking to process.
It had been a long time since Kaiba had called her by her full name, and the sound of it sent a chill down Hoshino's spine.
It felt exactly like when your mom suddenly calls you by your full name at home—you just know you're in serious trouble.
"S-sorry! Who could've guessed that the hot springs would actually be tied to them? Besides, what else are you supposed to do at a hot spring—if not take a bath, hehe~" Hoshino laughed awkwardly.
"But since you've already beaten one of them, there shouldn't be any more trouble now, right?"
"That wasn't a duel—it was a massacre…" The trembling Yuki-onna clung to Akasha's ankle, her voice shaking. "That man's power… it rivals that of the Sacred Beasts themselves!"
Her body shivered violently—clearly, her encounter with Kaibaman had left her deeply traumatized.
"Please, Akasha! You remember our deal, don't you? I'm begging you—defeat that man in my place!"