Chapter 51

"Huh?! We're going in...!"

The moment Rowan finished speaking and headed off in the direction Alexis had gone, Syrus nearly jumped out of his skin.

He'd been counting on Rowan refusing to go in, and Jaden agreeing, and everyone just heading back.

"Bro, what do we do now?" Syrus turned to Jaden with a look of pure misery.

"Since Rowan said he'd catch up, let's just head in without him!"

Jaden watched Rowan's retreating figure for a moment before pivoting toward the abandoned dorm with renewed enthusiasm.

"Of course no further questions needed..." Syrus and Chumley exchanged a tired glance and followed him inside.

...

Deeper in the wooded grove.

"That guy. Seriously insufferable. Doesn't listen to a word anyone says."

Alexis walked a few paces with a slight frown creasing her brow, then slowed. Stopped.

Couldn't quite shake the unease settling in her chest.

She turned around.

Setting aside everything else, even if he were just any random Duel Academy student, she couldn't exactly walk away without checking.

And he wasn't just anyone.

He was... someone she'd dueled. For a while now.

She wasn't sure why, but somewhere underneath it all, she didn't want Rowan ending up like her brother, swallowed by whatever was inside that dorm.

Whoosh.

Just as Alexis turned to go back, a figure stepped into her path.

Tall. Built like a wall.

Draped head to toe in a black trench coat, face hidden behind a dark bat-shaped mask.

A low, cold laugh scraped out from beneath it.

"You'll do just fine as bait. To draw out the one they call Rowan, and pull him into... a Shadow Game."

The words had barely landed before the man lunged forward, reaching for her, ready to knock her out and drag her off as a hostage.

Alexis was no fragile flower. She was the Queen of Obelisk Blue.

But the attack came fast and without warning, and for just a fraction of a second, her body didn't catch up to her mind.

Whoosh.

Then something heavy and black came sailing through the air from behind her.

A thick block of dark wood, hurled at speed.

Thud.

It cracked squarely against the top of the masked man's hat-covered head.

He lurched, stumbling mid-reach, stars bursting across his vision.

"Bastard..."

Alexis snapped back into herself.

Her expression went cold as she planted her foot and drove a sharp kick straight into him.

"AUGH!"

The man folded like a shrimp, shrieking as he crumpled to the ground.

"...Hss."

Rowan had just stepped out of the tree line. He froze. Drew a slow breath through his teeth.

A deeply instinctive chill ran through him.

For a long moment he genuinely reconsidered whether he needed to walk over there at all.

"Ah..." Alexis spotted him. Clocked the way he'd gone very still. Realized, immediately, what he must have seen.

Her face went red.

That was... not exactly the image of grace and poise she usually projected.

"Right. I didn't see anything." Rowan cleared his throat, eyes sliding pointedly elsewhere.

Then he pivoted and gestured toward the man still folded on the ground, groaning in a way that suggested he remained very much a going concern.

"Anyway. Maybe we deal with the not-quite-down assailant first."

"Oh no."

The man in the black trench coat, Titan, went rigid under his mask. He didn't wait for anything else.

He shoved through the pain, lurched upright, and bolted into the dark trees in whatever direction happened to be away.

And he was fast. Absurdly fast.

Not much slower than Professor Crowler had been that night he'd gone diving through the bushes.

This guy isn't from the same school of thought as Crowler, is he? Rowan thought, deeply unimpressed.

"Don't you dare run!" Alexis started after him immediately, face tight with irritation. She hadn't finished settling that score.

"No need to go that way, Alexis."

Rowan stopped her with a word.

Through the Kuriboh's senses, he already knew exactly where Titan was heading.

"But..." She pulled up short, visibly reluctant.

The frustration hadn't left her face at all.

"The man who just tried to grab you didn't keep running in the direction he took off. He changed course almost immediately. He's heading for the abandoned dorm."

Rowan laid it out plainly.

He wasn't trying to call off the chase.

He just didn't want her running the wrong way.

Because according to what the Kuriboh had picked up, Titan hadn't fled at all.

He'd simply calculated that Rowan would still end up at the abandoned dorm eventually, and repositioned to wait there instead.

Rowan had to give the man credit.

Truly, staggeringly committed to the job.

He'd just taken a self-defense kick to somewhere he was never going to forget, and instead of limping away to recover, he'd circled back to finish what he'd been hired to do.

Rowan almost felt moved.

"How could you possibly know that?" Alexis looked at him with open curiosity.

It was pitch dark in these woods. He shouldn't have been able to track anyone any better than she could.

"Don't worry about the details. Call it good eyesight." Rowan waved a hand and left it at that.

Being able to perceive Duel Monster spirits wasn't exactly a classified secret. He wasn't bothered about anyone finding out.

In the dueling world, rumors like that had floated around for years, tied to the legend of Duel King Yugi Muto.

It wasn't common, but he wasn't the only one.

More people would come to know that Duel Monster spirits were real, in time.

The ones who could actually awaken to them, though. That would always be a short list.

"...Alright."

Alexis gave a small, uncertain nod and didn't press further.

Then, for once, she was the one who made the suggestion.

"Then let's head over to the abandoned dorm together. With that attacker in the mix now, something unexpected might already be happening."