"Misawa's injured?"
Returning from the [Mountain] dimension, Hikaru Amagi and Atticus Rhodes had been planning to share their latest discoveries with their friends—only to find the Fusion Club room nearly empty, with only one or two classmates waiting for them.
"Yes, Master," Serena explained, pointing to her forehead. "I heard he was attacked by a Duel Spirit during a dimensional expedition and hit his head. Everyone went to check on him, so I stayed behind to wait for you."
Hikaru and Atticus exchanged glances, said nothing more, and quickly followed their classmates to the campus infirmary.
One of the rooms in the infirmary was completely packed with students crowding outside, chattering and jostling for space to ask about Misawa's condition.
Some were genuinely concerned for their classmate; others were likely drawn by curiosity. This was, after all, the first reported "Dimensional Injury Incident" this year. Even students not yet eligible for dimensional fieldwork—like the second-years soon would be—wanted to know exactly what had happened.
Hikaru even spotted a few non-Fusion students sneaking in to eavesdrop.
"Alright, alright, what are you all doing here? Cramming in like this will disturb the patient's rest! If you want to know more, wait until he's discharged—or pick a representative to ask questions!" Ms. Shizune (Ms. Nyanagawa) inhaled sharply before shouting the crowd away. The students, not wanting to cross a teacher, gradually dispersed. In the end, only a few of Misawa's close friends from the Fusion Club and Hikaru's group remained.
After waving off the departing students, Hikaru entered the room and spotted Daichi Misawa.
He didn't look seriously injured. His face was flushed with color, and the gash on his forehead had clearly been stitched and bandaged by the school nurse. He was sitting upright in bed, tucked under a blanket, wearing an awkward expression.
Beside him, Alexis Rhodes was peeling an apple. Chazz Princeton had one arm raised mid-argument with Jaden Yuki about something or other.
"Hikaru, Atticus, you're here?" Alexis was the first to notice them. She finished slicing the apple, speared a piece with a fork, and smiled as she turned toward them. The rest of the room followed her gaze.
She jogged over to Atticus and looked him over with concern. "You didn't run into anything dangerous out there, did you?"
She seemed especially worried about her brother.
After all, Atticus had only recently returned to being a "normal student" after his mysterious disappearance—and not even for as long as he was missing. Now that Misawa had been injured, of course Alexis was concerned Atticus might have been in danger too.
"Hahaha, Alexis, you wouldn't believe it! We were flying through the skies of [Mountain] being chased by flocks of birds and dragons. If our luck had turned, we'd have fallen straight out of the sky!"
"What?!"
"And if we had fallen, we'd have had the honor of landing on Thunder Dragon of the Sky's squishy scales—don't you think we kind of missed out, Hikaru? The next time we go, the guardian might've changed!"
He grinned sideways, teasing as always.
"Ugh! Brother!" Alexis smacked him in the side.
"Ow ow ow! Alexis!" Atticus howled theatrically, exaggerating the pain.
Seeing them safe and in one piece, the rest of the room visibly relaxed.
"So what happened?" Hikaru asked curiously.
Before Jaden could answer, Misawa beat him to it. "I'm not sure. After our duel with the spirit ended, one of them suddenly went berserk and charged at Jaden."
"Misawa shoved me aside and took the hit on the forehead," Jaden added with a rare somber expression.
"How could that happen?" Hikaru muttered, eyes narrowing slightly.
He scanned the room. He could see the Duel Spirits—Captain Gold, Avian, Burstinatrix, and Bubbleman—gathered protectively nearby, each visibly upset. Kuriboh nestled quietly against Jaden's side, trying to comfort him.
His question was directed as much at them as it was at the humans.
With spirits like those, how could this kind of injury have even occurred?
"At the time, that Duel Spirit just suddenly snapped," said Captain Gold solemnly. "I… was caught up in the joy of being reunited with my comrade. I let my guard down. It's my failure that Misawa got hurt."
Hikaru frowned.
Was that really all?
These were [HERO] spirits—protecting others was their specialty. Even if they were momentarily distracted, something still didn't add up.
He turned to Chazz.
Chazz rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Personally, I think there's something off about all this."
He muttered under his breath, "Jaden said he saw a blinding white light just before the Spirit went berserk. Said it didn't look like the Spirit he first encountered. I'm thinking… maybe some kind of spirit-world anomaly?"
"A white light?" Hikaru's eyes narrowed. "Jaden, you sure?"
"Eh… not really," Jaden said, clutching his head, clearly frustrated. "My mind went totally blank. I was freaking out too much to really remember. That spirit got taken away afterward—I didn't get another look."
"But when we left the dimension… I swear I heard something. A voice or something. But when I asked Misawa, he said he didn't hear anything."
"What?! You didn't say that before!" Chazz smacked him upside the head. "Use that thick skull of yours for once!"
"I did! And Misawa said he didn't hear it either!"
"What kind of voice was it?!"
"I don't know! It sounded familiar but… I couldn't make out the words…" Jaden stared blankly, ignoring Chazz's grip as his expression grew distant.
"…I see," Hikaru murmured.
Looks like it really was [Yubel].
A Duel Spirit so powerful it could alter the very minds of others—so devoted to Jaden that it would harm anyone who hurt or even saddened him.
In the original timeline, Yubel had been sealed away by Jaden himself, sent into space on a KaibaCorp rocket.
But here… Jaden hadn't done that.
Instead, he had sent his self-made cards and hopes drifting into the spirit world at random.
Which meant—Yubel might now appear much earlier than before.
That… was a problem.
Hikaru didn't know what state Yubel was in, but judging from the mention of a "white light," it had probably already merged with the Light of Destruction.
He turned to look out the infirmary window, at the massive Integration Club building in the distance, and sighed internally.
What a chaotic world this was.
And worse still—from second year onward, even ordinary students would begin participating in dimensional fieldwork.
A situation even more dangerous than in the original story—where Yubel would indiscriminately harm everyone around Jaden just to secure his exclusive affection.
Out loud, Hikaru forced a grin and teased, "Hey Ghost-boy, you ought to be proud. Normally nobody even remembers you're around, but look! So many classmates worried about you today! You've never been this visible in your life!"
"Hey!!" Misawa rolled his eyes. "I'm an injured man here!"
"Come on, just admit it—you're secretly loving the attention!"
"Uhh…" Misawa actually stopped to consider it seriously.
Which nearly made Hikaru lose his composure.
Wait… didn't Misawa once give up a match in the original series and voluntarily join the Society of Light because of something like this?
"Don't take that seriously, Daichi! I was joking!"
"Huh? Oh! Hahaha—yeah, yeah, totally just playing along!"