Chapter 154:

Not until the blinding light had completely faded, and Rowan slowly opened his eyes, did he find the scenery around him restored to exactly what it had been before.

The broken ancient archway. The scattered ruins nearby.

They were clearly back on the island where Duel Academy stood.

A glance to the side showed Alexis Rhodes, still unconscious, her head resting against his shoulder.

Jaden, Syrus, and the perpetually squint-eyed Professor Banner lay scattered nearby among the ruins, all of them still out cold, showing no sign of waking anytime soon.

Rowan raised an eyebrow, puzzled.

"Don't worry. They've simply crossed the boundary between the two worlds twice in quick succession, and their bodies haven't adjusted yet. That's all it is. They'll come around again in a little while."

At that moment, a familiar figure rose up from the deck slot at Rowan's waist, a composed woman in black robes, offering the explanation unprompted.

Clearly his newest Duel Spirit, Gravekeeper's Assailant.

"Guess we're just waiting here a bit, then." Rowan nodded, understanding.

Then, looking at the young woman now hovering in front of him, he scratched his cheek and worked up the nerve to ask something that felt a little awkward.

"Come to think of it, I still don't actually know your name. Calling you 'Gravekeeper's Assailant' the whole time feels a bit off."

At that, she blinked, faintly flustered.

"In our clan, one's identity is decided the moment they're born," she said, a touch embarrassed.

"So my name has simply always been Gravekeeper's Assailant. Only those who leave our lands as outcasts ever choose a new one for themselves."

"But if you'd like something easier to call me by, please use the same name as my missing older sister. Ishizu."

"Ishizu..." A flicker of confusion crossed Rowan's face as he rubbed his chin, turning the name over in his head.

That name rang a bell. He was sure he'd heard it somewhere before.

Then it clicked.

Wasn't that the name of the woman who'd once known the King of Games, Yugi Muto, the keeper of one of the Seven Millennium Items, the Millennium Necklace, the one with the power to glimpse the future?

If he remembered right, her name had been Ishizu too.

And come to think of it, that Ishizu had also claimed descent from a real-world clan of tomb guardians, though she herself had never been a Duel Spirit.

Still, given how this world worked, it wasn't as if humans never became Duel Spirits, or were never reincarnated as one.

It occurred to Rowan that there might genuinely be some connection between this young woman and the Ishizu he remembered.

After all, living proof of past life power was currently sprawled out on the ground not far away, snoring peacefully.

Yes. None other than Jaden Yuki himself.

"..."

While Rowan was still turning the thought over, Alexis, resting against him, began to stir and slowly came around.

She noticed him almost immediately, and the memory of everything that had happened came rushing back.

"Rowan, are we... back? Back from over there?"

She tensed for a moment before steadying herself, sitting up and glancing around to take stock of things.

Compared to the first time she'd woken up like this, back during the Darkness incident, and found herself leaning against him, she handled it far more naturally this time.

Just a brief flash of embarrassment.

"We're back, all right. Just not sure how much time's passed out here while we were gone."

Rowan shook his head.

He'd already checked the sky and found it was still roughly midday.

If it was the same day, that meant only a few hours had passed in the Duel Spirit world.

But if time flowed at a different pace over there...

Then there was really no telling how long they'd actually been gone.

That pocket dimension kept three suns hanging permanently overhead, with no clear line between day and night, no real sense of passing time at all.

"Finally. We're back."

Around then, the squint-eyed Professor Banner, Jaden, and Syrus all began stirring awake as well, each of them looking like survivors freshly returned from the brink, thrilled just to see daylight again.

As for Professor Banner's performance in all this, Rowan could only call it a little too convenient.

It wasn't hard to tell the man hadn't actually been out for very long at all.

He'd come around not long after Rowan himself had gotten back and woken first.

Well.

He was a genuine alchemy master carrying one of the Seven Stars' own Shadow Charms.

Of course he'd bounce back fast.

"Let's head back to the dorm! I could really go for some of that pickled dried fish from Slifer Red right about now!"

Jaden's stomach growled with sudden, ravenous energy as he made the suggestion.

"Professor Banner came along with us this time. Even if we head back to Slifer Red, there's not going to be any food waiting for you there."

It took Rowan exactly one sentence to hand Jaden a devastating dose of reality.

Jaden froze on the spot as if struck by lightning, then crumpled straight to the ground, every last drop of motivation draining out of him at once.

From peak enthusiasm to utter despair, in the time it took to say one sentence.

"Wait, what?!"

Syrus and Chumley both let out a horrified cry the instant it sank in.

"Slifer Red's kitchen is basically a lost cause right now. I'll send Camula on ahead and see if she can still talk Ms. Dorothy into sparing a proper boxed lunch."

Rowan mused this out loud, casually delivering a second devastating blow to Jaden and the others.

Money, and a vampire maid to run errands. Some people really could just live like that.

"Rowan, please, for the professor's sake, for all our sakes, bring back some real food!"

The squint-eyed Professor Banner and Jaden's whole group dropped to their knees in perfect unison, hands pressed together, eyes brimming with tears, begging Rowan directly.

Off to the side, Alexis could only watch, caught somewhere between laughing and crying, throwing the lot of them an exasperated glance.