Chapter 73

"I was the one bringing joy into their lives. If they've stopped smiling, that's hardly my fault."

Rowan didn't bother sitting up.

He stayed exactly where he was, reclined in his spectator seat, offering his rebuttal with the energy of someone who found the whole accusation deeply unreasonable.

Alexis laughed before she could stop herself.

"Still, it's a shame," she said, the amusement fading into something more reflective. "We won the duel, but I never got to use the trap I prepared specifically for it."

She reached into the card holder at her waist and drew out a single card between two fingers, holding it up for him to see.

The illustration showed a mustachioed figure discreetly sliding a bribe into another man's sleeve.

Dark Bribe. Negate the activation of a Spell or Trap Card and destroy it. The opponent draws one card as compensation.

Rowan understood her thinking immediately.

She had been ready to use it the moment anyone tried to disrupt his face-down cards, a way to shield his traps and keep the setup intact.

He had guessed before the duel that her set card was probably some kind of counter or protection, though with so many cards that fit that profile, he hadn't narrowed it down to which one specifically.

"That was a thoughtful choice," Rowan said, nodding.

"Thought... thoughtful, he says...!"

Alexis's face went red with surprising speed.

She recovered almost as quickly, turning away toward the field with a light toss of her head.

"I simply didn't want to lose a Tag Duel and get expelled in front of everyone. That's all."

Rowan looked at her for a moment.

He was aware that Alexis ran cold on the surface and considerably warmer underneath, that the ice queen reputation was largely a function of posture rather than character. He knew that.

But he had just complimented her deck construction. A normal, straightforward compliment about a card choice.

And she had gone red.

Over that.

Is this still the same person who runs the girls' dorm at Obelisk Blue?

Something felt slightly off. He turned it over.

During the duel as well, there had been moments when her manner toward him felt subtly different from how she treated other Academy students.

He hadn't examined it closely at the time, but sitting here now...

Could there be a possibility that she treats me a little differently?

Surely he wasn't that lucky.

He decided to observe the situation at a comfortable distance and see what developed.

"Kree-kree."

The small spherical chestnut creature materialized beside him, chirping softly to get his attention.

It indicated, in its roundabout way, that it had noticed something over the past few days: a degree of particular attention from the woman beside him that exceeded what it typically registered from other people.

"A little more than average?" Rowan murmured, parsing the description.

So, an above-average level of interest. Not a declaration, not certainty, just a slightly elevated baseline.

He filed it away. The creature's readings came from the days prior rather than right now, so the sample wasn't current.

"It looks like Jaden and Syrus are about to stage a comeback."

Alexis was watching the field, and her tone had shifted back to the match. Rowan followed her gaze and set the other matter aside for now.

On the platform, Syrus was drawing a card.

Jaden had apparently said something to him, because Syrus's posture had gone from clenched to resolved, and when he looked at what he'd drawn, his expression lit up with the kind of relief that only came from pulling exactly what you needed.

"That reaction," Rowan said. "He drew Power Bond."

It wasn't a guess with much uncertainty behind it.

He hadn't claimed Syrus's Vehicle deck from the system today, even though it had been one of the three decks the daily refresh had offered, but he knew the deck well enough.

Power Bond was its centerpiece: send the Fusion Materials for a Machine-Type Fusion Monster from your hand and field to the Graveyard, Special Summon that Fusion Monster, and double its ATK.

The downside was that at the end of the turn, you took damage equal to that doubled ATK.

A card with a real cost. But if the duel ended in the same turn, or if the damage could be avoided through other means, it was devastating.

At the moment, the Paradox Brothers had rebuilt their field into the same configuration as before: all three guardians assembled, Gate Guardian standing at 3750 ATK, nothing else.

For that specific board state, Power Bond didn't need to be clever. It just needed to hit.

And that was exactly what happened.

Syrus activated Power Bond. Jaden's Elemental HERO Tempest on the field and two of Syrus's machine monsters from his hand went to the Graveyard as materials.

UFOroid Fighter hit the field at 4000 ATK, then doubled to 8000 under Power Bond's effect.

It tore straight through Gate Guardian.

Jaden flipped his face-down: De-Fusion, a Quick-Play Spell.

UFOroid Fighter split back into its component monsters. The pieces hit directly.

The Paradox Brothers' remaining Life Points went to zero.

Full 8000 LP OTK.

"...We lost. Again?!"

The brothers knelt on the platform, leaning against each other, their expressions carrying the particular misery of people who could not fully accept what had just happened.

Legendary Tag Duel specialists, they had been called.

They had arrived at Duel Academy and walked immediately into two consecutive losses.

And then, before either of them had time to fully process that indignity:

"That was a fun duel!"

Jaden beamed at them, completely natural, not a trace of irony.

The Paradox Brothers went very still.

Then both their faces flushed the exact same shade as before, teeth gritted, the expression of men who had bitten into something deeply unpleasant and found the taste familiar.

The memory of a few minutes ago was still fresh.

And now they understood.

They understood completely.

This was, in fact, the tradition. The established custom of Duel Academy.

It had to be.

There was no other explanation for why this student, grinning and waving cheerfully at them from the spectator area with his most radiant expression, and that student, standing on the platform with the same line delivered with genuine warmth, sounded absolutely identical.

Chancellor Sheppard looked on from below, and even his bald head seemed to project a kind of exhausted worry.

He could already see it. He could already see exactly what was going to happen to the Academy's reputation.