The festival only lasted a single day. Once it ended, students would either return home or remain on campus for the break.
After the duel, Dark Magician Girl had approached Hikaru Amagi, greeted him with a bright smile, then told him to bring Jaden along and meet her later that night.
Once she left, most students dispersed. Professor Crowler contacted Nurse Emi Ayukawa from Obelisk Blue, asking her to help arrange a place for Serena to stay.
Ayukawa, the Academy's nurse and head of the girls' dormitory in Obelisk Blue, was a notorious fangirl of Fubuki Tenjoin—a full-blown face-chaser with zero interest in teaching Duel Monsters. But when it came to dueling? Her Poison Burn deck was infamous. Some even said she was more twisted than Fubuki himself.
Despite her oddball personality, she agreed without hesitation once Crowler and Fubuki both asked. She began preparations to house Serena in the girls' dorm until the middle school department could retrieve her.
"No need for all that," Serena said around a mouthful of ribs, chewing messily in the firelight.
The Academy's evening festival included a bonfire party. Asuka Tenjoin and her two friends had cosplayed the Harpie Lady Sisters, while Fubuki flitted around snapping photos, saying he'd sell them to his sister's fan club to cover his living expenses for the next year.
Serena had been dragged into the group by Hikaru and the others, and without a trace of politeness, devoured the ribs Obelisk Blue was handing out.
"I just need a clean room," she said between bites. "I don't care about a table or bed. If there's a window I can close, that's good enough."
"What are you saying? A girl should have a little refinement in her life!" Nurse Ayukawa scolded, rubbing Serena's hair.
"Really?" Serena swallowed. "But a Duelist doesn't need any of that, right?"
"Who told you that!?"
"...My dad."
???
Chazz, Bastion, Zane—every nearby guy exchanged glances of wide-eyed disbelief.
"Serena," Hikaru asked, frowning, "can you tell us your story?"
"Yeah, Serena!" Jaden chimed in. "You gotta have a bed. And tempura!"
"Don't teach her weird stuff, Jaden!" Chazz barked, slapping the table.
"My story?" Serena tilted her head, chewing thoughtfully. Then, without fanfare, she began.
She'd always been an orphan, at least for as long as she could remember. Life in the slums had been harsh and lonely—until one day, a group of men in purple uniforms and masks found her. They brought her before a cold-eyed man and told her, "This is your father."
Serena hadn't felt anything toward the word father—she'd wandered so long she'd long assumed she had none. But when she saw the man, something stirred inside her. Some primal resonance, something rooted in blood. For the first time, she felt a pull. Maybe... maybe it really was her father.
They brought her to the Academy's middle division, gave her clothes, a Duel Disk, and taught her to duel. Told her that in this world, dueling was truth—and Fusion was the highest, most noble form of summoning. All others were wrong. All others had to be corrected.
"They don't seem to believe that all that much," Bastion muttered. "Not based on what I saw from the Fusion Army."
"Besides," Zane crossed his arms, "even Hikaru doesn't forbid other summoning styles. He's good friends with Haruto Kokugawa from the Xyz world—they train together all the time in Tsudone City."
"Wait, what!? Hikaru, you never told me that!" Jaden howled. "Next year I have to go to Tsudone City!"
"Shut it, Jaden," Chazz snapped. "Let her finish."
Serena blinked but continued.
She'd been found a year ago and enrolled as a first-year student. She trained alone, day after day, until eventually, under Reiji Akaba's command, she followed the research division into the alternate dimensions.
There, she subsisted on nutritional supplements, practiced martial arts, observed Duel Spirits... and spent most of her time in a locked room, staring at the walls.
Or more accurately, she spent most of her time simply waiting. Alone.
"Education? Cultivation?"
"More like abuse and imprisonment!" Chazz leapt to his feet, livid. "Sending a girl your age into alternate dimensions—how's your body even supposed to handle Spirit pressure!? And he calls himself your father!?"
"Right?" Serena said nonchalantly, finishing the last of her ribs. Then she turned to Hikaru, eyes suddenly gleaming. "But that time—when I saw you face that experimental Duel Spirit without backing down... and beat the Cyclops Duelist using Fusion... Everyone thought you were going to lose, but you reversed it in a flash!"
"And then something about... unleashing ultimate power?"
"You must be the ultimate Fusion Duelist. Can you teach me?"
She hadn't witnessed the actual moment Hikaru used Super Polymerization—the lab had nearly collapsed then—but she'd heard his shout, and she'd seen the duel. After escaping back to the human world, she'd made it her mission to find him and learn.
Maybe... if she did, her father would finally smile.
Maybe he'd be proud of her.
Maybe he'd accept her.
Even if Reiji Akaba never saw her as human—even after the DNA test proved their connection—Serena couldn't stop yearning for his recognition.
The boys—none of them truly orphans, but all with lives that might as well have been—sat in stunned silence. There was nothing they could say.
"Mamma mia!" Professor Crowler, who'd been listening the whole time, shot to his feet. He'd always suspected Akaba was unhinged, but this?
"This is outrageous! I won't tolerate any student at Duel Academy having their rights stolen—even if it's by her so-called father!"
"I'm contacting KaibaCorp immediately! We'll escalate this to the investigations division, the curriculum board, the trustees!"
He was furious. Not as a Duelist—but as a teacher.
"Well said, Professor!" Zane nodded.
"In moments like this," Hikaru added softly, "Crowler-sensei really is someone you can trust."
Whatever Akaba Reiji's game was, so long as Serena wasn't in his hands, those schemes were doomed to remain just that—schemes.
And if he thought he could pull off the dirty tricks from Arc-V here in this world?
Well... KaibaCorp would show him what real muscle looks like.
As the bonfire died down, Ayukawa led the now-stuffed Serena toward the dorms—though Serena kept insisting she wanted a rematch with Hikaru before bed. Hikaru, glancing up at the stars, nudged Jaden.
"Let's go."
Time to head for the meeting place Dark Magician Girl had set.
What surprises would the real deal have waiting for him tonight?
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For this week I will do more release depending on the power stones !
100 Power Stones = 1 chapter (in addition to the daily update)
So give stones if you want mooooar !