Chapter 180

"Since that place is where Alexis's brother turned into a Seven Stars Shadow Duelist in the first place, control over that ritual space right now is almost certainly in the hands of the Seven Stars faction."

In response to the questioning looks from Alexis and the others, Rowan thought back over what he remembered and answered with complete confidence.

"So once the last two remaining Seven Stars Shadow Duelists show themselves, all we'd need to do is make Atticus's memory the wager for the Shadow Duel."

Rowan remembered that, in the original course of events, the sealed-away portion of his future brother-in-law's memory had ended up in the hands of the man he'd once demoralized and left unconscious, only for that poor unlucky soul to get swallowed whole into the ritual space himself: the fake Shadow Duelist, Titan.

"So in the end, we still need to go through the danger of another Shadow Duel just to get my brother's memory back."

Alexis's expression turned heavy as she spoke.

But in that same moment, she found herself almost hoping the last two Seven Stars Shadow Duelists would show up sooner rather than later.

So they could hurry up, take one of them down, and get her brother's memory back for good.

Because otherwise, even with Rowan's method having jogged loose some of her brother's memories from his time as a Shadow Duelist, everything about her and the rest of their family before all that remained a complete blank to him.

And that blank kept eating at him, over and over.

"Don't worry. I'll help out when the time comes." Rowan gave Alexis a reassuring thumbs up.

Then, without waiting for her to respond, he waved a hand and was already heading off ahead of everyone else.

"Well, since there's nothing else to handle here, I think I'll go catch some sun."

The past few days had been one Seven Stars incident after another, back to back. It was rare to make it this far into the day without something happening.

Naturally, Rowan intended to make the most of the unusually calm weather and take his round Kuriboh out for some sunbathing.

As for Alexis, she was obviously staying behind at the infirmary to keep an eye on her brother.

"Eh?"

Before Alexis could even get a word out, all she caught was Rowan's back as he strolled out of the infirmary.

"You know, Alexis, that guy really does come through when it actually matters."

Jasmine, one of the two close friends who tended to trail after Alexis, her hair cut in a short red bob, watched the whole scene unfold and spoke up.

"Right? For once, I felt something other than terror thinking about that awful Underworld deck of his. Actually kind of cool, honestly." Mindy nodded along.

Then she glanced over at Jaden, Bastion, and Chazz, still standing off to the side, and added with a hint of disdain.

"At the very least, way cooler than those guys, who couldn't even be bothered to say something."

Sure, Shadow Duels were dangerous business, and it was pretty understandable not to make grand promises about them.

But offering a word or two of comfort wouldn't have killed anyone.

"..." Jaden, Bastion, and the others, caught completely off guard by the sudden accusation, all froze with blank expressions.

Then, almost immediately, a flustered urge to defend themselves kicked in.

They'd have loved to say something too, honestly.

Except their Spirit Keys were already gone!

They had absolutely no way to even participate in whatever Shadow Duel came next against the remaining two duelists.

Even if they wanted to say something reassuring, they didn't have the standing to back it up.

If they tried pulling the same kind of comforting speech Rowan just had, wouldn't that just make them liars?

"Well, it's not that we don't want to help. It's just that our Spirit Keys have already been taken. There's really no way for us to get involved in what comes next."

Bastion raised a sheepish hand and admitted it honestly.

"Same here." Jaden scratched his head, looking equally awkward.

"Although, if Atticus is willing to hand his Spirit Key over to me, and let me duel in his place, I'd absolutely help out!"

Even as he said it, Jaden's face lit up with sudden enthusiasm.

The fighting spirit in him, always itching for another duel, flared right back to life.

Ever since the whole business with Tania, he'd been dying to get back in the ring himself.

"No, letting someone else hold my key for me, that's not going to happen..." Alexis shut the suggestion down immediately.

Given her personality, there was no way she'd hand off a responsibility that was rightfully hers to someone else.

And especially not to someone who wasn't Rowan.

"Huh, wait, doesn't Chazz still have his key though?" Syrus suddenly noticed Chazz, standing right beside him, throwing an arm up defensively, and blurted it out.

"..." Chazz went rigid on the spot.

He very much wanted to take this spiky-haired little guy standing next to him, who had the same haircut as him no less, and give him a piece of his mind.

Especially once he felt everyone else's eyes turn on him with the exact same look of suspicion.

Chazz stiffened even further.

"Of course I'll help with getting Atticus's memory back. I just figured if I said anything, I'd obviously get turned down, so I didn't bother bringing it up."

Chazz finally admitted, looking distinctly put out.

"I was just letting Rowan have his moment to look cool, that's all!"

"But since you've all already said your piece, I suppose I won't hold back either!"

Putting on his most confident face, Chazz kept his hands on his hips and threw one arm up, pointing dramatically at the sky.

"Atticus! When it comes to your brother's memory, just leave it to The Chazz! Chazz it up!"

By the time Chazz finished delivering his line with a satisfied smirk...

He turned around, only to find, to his utter bewilderment, that the entire infirmary classroom was completely empty except for him.

Everyone else had already slipped away, who knew how long ago, right while he'd had his eyes closed and his hands on his hips, striking his pose.

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