Syrus groggily opened his eyes, struggling to sit up.
He was starting to regret downing that huge bottle of cola before bed. Even though every other part of his body was extremely reluctant to leave the warmth of his bed and blankets, his bladder disagreed.
He could only get up unwillingly, yawning as he groped his way out of bed to relieve himself in the bathroom.
Half-asleep and half-awake, he got out of bed, but suddenly noticed something strange. The light was still on under the bed.
Peeking over, he was surprised to find that Jaden, who usually fell asleep at the drop of a hat and snored so loudly all night that nothing could wake him, was actually still awake tonight—a rare occurrence.
Not only awake, but his bed was covered in a messy spread of cards, as if he was seriously studying something.
Noticing Syrus getting up, Jaden finally looked up.
"Sy, going to the bathroom?"
"Yeah, yeah."
Syrus rubbed his eyes, a bit puzzled.
"Why aren't you sleeping yet, big bro?"
"Oh, I just had some ideas and wanted to study my deck a bit."
"Oh, okay."
Syrus nodded in confusion and left the room.
Slifer Red dorms didn't have private bathrooms. If you wanted to use the toilet, you had to walk down the hallway to the public bathroom at the end of each floor.
Back when Professor Lyman was still around, Syrus had gotten lost one night and ended up in Lyman's room by mistake.
Syrus felt strange about it, and the walk woke him up quite a bit.
Studying decks in the middle of the night instead of sleeping—if this were the research maniac Misawa, it wouldn't be surprising. But Jaden?
It was as if he'd been possessed.
Actually, Syrus could somewhat sense that Jaden had changed a little.
It was hard to spot during the day. He was still the same cheerful optimist, passionate about everything, able to get fired up over anything, especially duels. Just mentioning duels would make him extremely excited, as if nothing else in life mattered as long as he had cards.
But, as someone who lived with him day in and day out, Syrus could feel that things weren't quite the same as before. Last semester, the Jaden he knew was truly carefree, full of hope for life as long as he could duel. But now, he could vaguely sense that Jaden was just trying hard to make himself seem like he was the same as before—or at least, part of him was.
But in those seemingly carefree, optimistic eyes, there was now occasionally a trace of heaviness that didn't match the rest of him.
…
"Kuri kuri~"
Winged Kuriboh floated beside him.
"Partner?" Jaden smiled, "I know, I know. Just a little longer, then I'll go to sleep. Anyway, vacation is almost here, there are no more classes, so staying up late isn't a big deal."
He yawned lazily as he spoke.
Joey had left the island again yesterday. Jaden actually felt he got along pretty well with the legendary "Gambling King." But Joey seemed busy; yesterday, after a phone call, he rushed off for something urgent, saying he'd be back in a couple of days.
Right now, in front of Jaden, at the center of his scattered cards, was "Elemental HERO Terra Firma." He stared at Gaia, momentarily lost in thought.
"Say, if it were Mr. Koyo, wouldn't he be much better at this than me?"
Winged Kuriboh drooped its eyes: "Kuri."
"Haha, just saying."
Jaden smiled.
"Recently, after following Kira to the Spirit World, I've seen more and more. Those oppressed by the Supreme King, people whose living space has been squeezed to almost nothing… and that Supreme King is probably the darkness in my own heart.
Just thinking about it makes me uneasy. Kira was right—dueling isn't always fun after all. Mr. Koyo entrusted his HERO to me, so I can't just muddle through and be complacent anymore."
"Kuri."
Winged Kuriboh patted his shoulder with its snowy little wings, as if comforting him.
But suddenly, it let out a sharp "Kuri!" and shot up into the air, flapping its wings.
"What?"
Jaden looked at it in confusion.
"Kuri! Kuri kuri!"
Winged Kuriboh urgently flapped its wings, flying toward the window.
"You mean… someone's coming? For us?" Jaden was stunned. "An enemy?"
By now, Jaden was a battle-hardened veteran, no longer just an ordinary student. He instantly became alert, following Winged Kuriboh out of the dorm and running into the woods behind the building.
He dashed along the forest path, quickly arriving at a warehouse near the academy's lakeshore.
This was a warehouse by the Duel Academy's shore, used for unloading goods; people rarely came here.
Jaden, following Winged Kuriboh, hid behind a bush to observe, and saw a figure emerging from the bushes on the other side, heading toward the warehouse.
It was late at night, the forest was dark, and there were no streetlights. Jaden could barely make out the figure, but couldn't see any details. He just felt that the person's behavior was suspicious—clearly not up to anything good.
Fired up, Jaden dashed forward without a second thought.
He was surprisingly athletic, often called a natural sports genius by the teachers. His sprinting was incredibly fast; in the blink of an eye, he was behind the person and tackled them to the ground, pinning them down.
The person turned around, startled by the footsteps, but it was too late to dodge. Jaden tackled them, straddling them.
"Who are you? Why are you sneaking into Duel Academy—wait, Chazz?"
Jaden froze mid-punch, awkwardly realizing he was in a rather embarrassing pose on top of Chazz, who was covering his face, looking quite miserable.
"Jaden, what the hell are you doing!?" Chazz glared.
Why the hell are you jumping on me in the middle of the night!?
"Uh…"
Jaden scratched his head and looked at Winged Kuriboh.
"My partner said there was a suspicious person sneaking into the academy…"
Winged Kuriboh: "Kuri!"
It signaled: "Don't pin this on me! I said someone was sneaking in, but I never said it was this guy."
It was Jaden himself who saw the shadow and assumed it was an intruder.
"Well… can't help it. Chazz just looked suspicious, that's all."
"It's Chazz Thunder! And who's suspicious here? If anything, you're the suspicious one!"
Chazz roared.
"And can you get off me first? You enjoying this or what?"
"Haha, sorry, sorry."
Jaden got up and tried to help him, but Chazz slapped his hand away and got up himself, brushing off the dirt.
"Did a spirit guide you here? Same for me," Chazz said, holding up his "Light and Darkness Dragon" card.
"Light and Darkness called you here? Mine was Winged Kuriboh."
As soon as Jaden finished speaking, they both sensed a change in the atmosphere. A surge of dark energy swept over them, darkness almost consuming everything—even the stars were blotted out.
"You're all here. Heh, excellent, excellent."
A man slowly emerged from the surging darkness, coldly surveying them.
"With the White Feather Spirit and Mart's feather, it seems today will be my day of resurrection!"