Chapter 91: Public Execution of Chazz

Everyone turned at the sound of that familiar voice.

Chancellor Sheppard, Alexis, Principal Foster, Chazz, and the rest of the North Academy delegation all looked toward the arena entrance to find Rowan strolling in with a toothpick still dangling from the corner of his mouth, wearing the unmistakable expression of a man who had just finished a very satisfying breakfast. Jaden, Syrus, and Chumley trailed in behind him, equally full and equally unhurried.

...

The corners of Chancellor Sheppard's eyes twitched.

Everyone else was fighting the same impulse.

You're telling me you came late because you stayed up too long last night?

"Chancellor Sheppard. I'm not late, am I?" Rowan noticed the accumulated stares, had the decency to look mildly sheepish, and dry-coughed once in Sheppard's direction.

"No, Rowan. Your timing is perfectly fine." Sheppard replied with the patience of a man who needed this particular student to win him a prize from Ms. Dorothy and was therefore choosing his battles carefully.

Which was also, to be fair, the literal truth. Rowan had not technically been late. He had simply arrived at the precise last possible moment and not a second before.

"Rowan! So you're Duel Academy's representative after all!"

Chazz spotted him and his entire bearing ignited. The crooked grin that spread across his face was the grin of someone who had been waiting a long time for this.

Rowan looked at him and privately thought: what's with the face?

"Looks like we made it just in time too!"

Before Jaden and the others could fully process the revelation that North Academy's representative was Chazz Princeton of all people, a completely unfamiliar pair of voices rang out from the arena entrance.

Two men in sharp business suits walked in together, their features carrying a faint resemblance to Chazz in the jaw and brow. Each carried a briefcase stamped with the Princeton family crest. Behind them, a small television crew followed with equipment cases and cameras.

"Those are... Chazz's two brothers?"

Rowan squinted at them, something stirring in the back of his memory. The face shape, the logo. He put it together quietly and muttered to himself.

It came back to him a moment later. He had completely forgotten about this part. During the inter-school match between Duel Academy and North Academy, Chazz's brothers were supposed to show up with a television crew and broadcast the entire thing to the dueling world. A publicity stunt to build Chazz's name in the professional scene.

The difference was that in the original timeline, Chazz had been facing Jaden. Not him.

"Big bro, second bro, what are you two doing at Duel Academy?!" Chazz stared at his brothers in open shock. Nobody had told him anything about this.

"Isn't it obvious?" Chazz's elder brother, Slade Princeton, adjusted the cuffs of his black suit and smiled with a clenched fist. "We're here to broadcast this match between Duel Academy and North Academy to the entire world. The plan we swore to as brothers."

"The plan?" Chancellor Sheppard blinked. Principal Foster blinked. Alexis and most of the people nearby blinked along with them.

Even Chazz looked blank.

"The Princeton family commercial empire!" Chazz's second brother, Jagger Princeton, declared with matching intensity, jabbing a finger forward.

"Big bro conquering the business world. Me taking over finance. And you making the Princeton name legendary in dueling, obviously. That's how it was always going to be." He swept his arm wide. "So we arranged for the dueling world's premier network to broadcast this match live to every corner of the globe. And we've already secured permission from Duel Academy's founder beforehand."

The two brothers delivered that last line in perfect unison, as though they had rehearsed it.

"Rich people really do whatever they want," Rowan muttered, mouth pulling sideways. He had a strong urge to shake them down on the spot.

He didn't even need to guess how they'd gotten the founder's approval. Princeton Group money, applied liberally, in the direction of whoever needed convincing.

"Pfft."

Alexis, standing nearby and catching every word, brought a hand up to cover her mouth before the laugh could fully escape. Then she turned to Rowan with genuine curiosity.

"So now the whole world is watching. Doesn't that worry you even a little? Losing in front of a global broadcast audience?"

She had, for just a moment after hearing the news, felt something close to concern on his behalf. The pressure of it seemed like it could genuinely get to someone.

She kept that part to herself.

"It's a public execution either way," Rowan said, lifting one shoulder in a shrug. "Whether it's broadcast or not doesn't really change anything for me."

If he had to put his current mindset into a single sentence: he'd eaten a good breakfast, Chazz was right there, and he had nothing better to do.

He wasn't going to lose. The one getting publicly executed on a worldwide feed was going to be Chazz.

"Rowan, I am not losing to you again. Not this time."

Chazz had been mid-sentence with his brothers when Rowan's comment reached him. A vein surfaced on his forehead. He turned with his jaw set.

"Since the founder has already given his blessing, and Rowan has no objections, let's proceed with the match under these arrangements."

Chancellor Sheppard stepped forward alongside Principal Foster, read the room, and made the call. He turned and gave Professor Crowler a nod: you're hosting.

Within a few minutes the arena had reorganized itself. Alexis and the bulk of the Duel Academy students filled the spectator sections alongside Sheppard and the faculty. Rowan and Chazz took their positions on the dueling platform.

Between them, standing in the center of the field and performing his MC duties with an unusual degree of formality, was Professor Crowler.

Compared to Rowan, who looked like he was waiting for a bus, Crowler was visibly suffering. The television cameras were pointed directly at him. His face had gone rigid.

…