"Won't you stay in the living world a little longer?"
After dueling with everyone, Youmi asked Abidos the Third.
"There are still many fun things in the living world. If you just return to the heavens like this, won't you feel any regret?"
On the golden ark, Abidos the Third shook his head while holding his mask, his face already wearing a deeply satisfied expression. "No. Becoming overly attached to the beauty of the human world is not a mindset befitting us who are dead."
"A senior in the Underworld who was also a Pharaoh once taught me this."
"However… if you ask whether I have any regrets at all, then it wouldn't be true to say I have none."
Abidos the Third pointed at Youmi.
"I can sense it. You are not an existence that belongs to this world, are you? Thinking that a hundred years from now I won't be able to duel a Duelist like you fills me with quite a bit of regret."
"Well, there's nothing I can do about that…"
Youmi said, sheepishly tugging at his hair. "When you get down to it, I'm just a traveler. Even if I can stay here for quite a long time, I'm still ultimately just a passerby."
"I can't make a promise with you to fight again in the future."
"Sorry. Though Kaiba seems to have developed some kind of facility that can go to the Underworld…"
Abidos nodded thoughtfully. "People who come to the Underworld?"
"I see. When I was in the Underworld, I would occasionally hear rumors like how the High Priest Set wore something especially strange to court today."
"The most recent time I heard something like that should have been right before I came here, correct?"
"So it turns out that that one's reincarnation developed technology that can cross between worlds. Truly impressive."
"The people of the living world have already obtained such power now, huh~"
The corner of Youmi's mouth twitched slightly, clearly not expecting that kind of response. "That guy wouldn't still be going down to the Underworld to play cards with Atem even after more than four years, would he? That's some seriously deep love."
"Wait, hold on a second. You two are chatting away pretty enthusiastically, but could you explain to me what you mean by saying Youmi is something like… not an existence of this world?"
Interrupting their conversation, an utterly out-of-the-loop Alexis spoke up to ask.
"Ah, I completely forgot that you're probably the only one who doesn't know about that. I'll explain it later. Before that, let's first send off the 'Undefeated Pharaoh' back to the heavens~"
After everyone finished dueling Abidos the Third, time continued to move forward.
The identities of the remaining two members of the mysterious "Seven Stars" were still unknown for the time being.
Although Youmi knew that Professor Banner was the final "Seven Stars," he didn't want to tear his face with him just yet.
But this led to a problem.
Earlier, Chazz had reclaimed Jaden's key and dueled, causing Jaden's key to absorb enough dueling energy.
Now, what was entrusted to Jaden was Professor Banner's key, which had not yet been activated.
Alexis, having spent this period consistently taking care of Atticus, had reduced her number of duels, and her key hadn't made much progress either.
Shadow Duels, duels that wager one's soul, could accumulate a massive amount of energy.
Bastion, who hadn't conducted a Shadow Duel with Tania, had gone on to challenge others to duels several times afterward and finally managed to make his key emit light.
And Jaden… for some reason, even though he had dueled enough times, his key showed no change at all.
"Regarding this issue, after my brother woke up, he told me some things that are really worth paying attention to."
Yesterday, Alexis's brother, Atticus, finally regained full consciousness.
Even though he would instinctively feel fear when seeing Youmi, it was probably because taking full damage from the shadow duel was still a bit too much, but he had woken up nonetheless.
That Atticus told Alexis a certain piece of info.
Professor Banner was highly suspicious.
Recalling what Atticus had said, Alexis said, "My brother was dragged into the Dark World during a test duel conducted in the old dormitory. And the organizer of that test duel was Professor Banner."
Zane nodded and said, "In other words, Professor Banner is actually connected to this matter… While we can't assert it outright, we can be certain that Professor Banner has been hiding something from us, right? After all, he's never mentioned Atticus's situation to us up to now."
"Then is this the reason my key still hasn't lit up? Like, did Professor Banner do something behind the scenes or something?"
Jaden said as he stood up, as if having made some sort of decision. "Alright, then I'll go duel Professor Banner. If I win, I'll make him tell me the truth!"
Chazz crossed one leg over the other, hands clasped behind his head, and shot Jaden a sideways glance. "Idiot, Jaden. What are you going to do if you lose?"
"Then I'll just play another round~"
bang!
Taken aback by Jaden's utterly thoughtless answer, Chazz toppled straight onto the ground.
"Hey, Professor Banner might be involved with Shadow Games. Don't do something so brainless. If you lose in a Shadow Duel and lose your soul, what are you going to do then?"
Rubbing the back of his head, Chazz got up from the ground and walked straight to stand in front of Jaden.
"Huh? Chazz, could it be that you're worried about me?"
"Who'd worry about an idiot like you? You should just ascend to the heavens together with that Abidos the whatever guy!"
Ignoring the bickering between the two of them, Bastion thought for a moment and put forward his own idea. "For now, let's choose to stay put."
"Since the Seven Stars aren't taking the initiative to attack, we can first accumulate energy through duels."
"If Jaden's key can't be activated, then the Seven Stars likewise won't be able to open the Seven Stars Gate."
"That said, Youmi, what do you think? You know more about the 'Seven Stars' than any of us."
Professor Crowler wore a speechless expression. "Y'know, I'm the guiding teacher here, yet it feels like I haven't played any role at all, mamma mia."
"Ah, me… I think it'd be better to properly wait for them to come to us. If we take the initiative, we'll just be beating the grass and startling the snake."
"The other side won't stay idle forever anyway, and there's nothing wrong with us continuing to conserve our strength."
"More importantly, isn't the school festival about to start? We might as well take this opportunity to relax a bit~"
Youmi took out a school festival flyer.
"So far, the Seven Stars haven't managed to take even a single key from us. Everyone's already done their best, so it's about time we enjoyed ourselves, right?"
"Speaking of which, Syrus and the others even suggested doing something like Cosplay Duels. Don't you all plan on participating and relaxing a little?"
Alexis's interest was piqued, and she nodded. "Cosplay? That sounds pretty interesting…"
"My brother's basically recovered by now too, so I hope he can join in as well."
"Zane, are you planning to participate?"
"Ah, though if it's you… wouldn't cosplaying Cyber End Dragon or Cyber Dragon Infinity be pretty troublesome?"
"Do I really look like someone who's that obsessed with Cyber End Dragon and Infinity to you? That's quite the stereotype…" Zane sighed, which was rare for him.
"I'm not particularly interested in this, but… well, I'll still participate."
"As for the cosplay itself, you'll find out sooner or later. What about you, Alexis?"
After a brief moment of thought, Alexis gave her answer. "As for me… I'll probably ask Jasmine and Mindy to wear Harpie Lady Sisters outfits with me, I guess? What about everyone else?"
Jumping down from his chair, Youmi pointed at himself. He had deliberately not worn his school uniform today, instead wearing the same outfit as Fallen of Albaz. "Pretty convenient, right~"
"That's cheating…" Bastion muttered awkwardly, his face flushing slightly. "As for me… um…"
Alexis's gossip radar immediately reacted. "Oh~ looks like it's not cosplaying your own Elementsabers. Could it be related to that lady who looks pretty hot?"
"If you didn't point that out, I'd be very happy…"
Professor Crowler fell silent, seemingly pondering whether or not he should participate in the event being hosted by the Slifer Red dorm.
At that moment, his phone rang.
"Hello, hello, it's me. Ah, so it's Principal Sheppard~ Mm-hmm, I got it, y'know."
After briefly speaking with Principal Sheppard, Professor Crowler hung up the phone, cleared his throat, and said to Youmi:
"Let's set the school festival aside for now. Mr. Slade Princeton, whom you arranged a duel with earlier, has sent over the restrictions for your match."
"Tomorrow is the agreed-upon date, so make use of this time to work on your Deck construction."
Youmi blinked, having no recollection at all of provoking Slade Princeton a few days ago. "Ah, so there was someone like that."
"I completely forgot. Then what requirements did the other side provide?"
"Construct your Deck without using monsters with 500 or more Attack, and without using Equip Spells or Traps that increase Attack, y'know."
...
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