The duel began quickly.
The matchup was Jaden and Chazz against Professor Banner and another Spellcaster spirit.
It appeared to be the Witch of Seasonal Flowers. Whether she was an old friend of Banner's or a spirit he had met after arriving in the Spellcaster Domain was unclear.
Surprisingly, even in the end, Banner didn't call on Aleister the Invoker, who seemed to be on very close terms with him.
Once the duel started, Aleister came over to Hikaru's side and simply watched, occasionally tossing Hikaru a question out of nowhere.
Hikaru watched the duel while fielding the questions, and gradually pieced things together.
The duel with Jaden and Chazz was a test of combat ability.
His own "test," on the other hand, was an assessment of support skills: his abilities outside of dueling.
After all, his dueling had already earned the recognition of many people. Beyond that, Banner and Aleister had probably been secretly watching many of his other duels. They likely felt there was no need to test his dueling ability any further.
As they talked, Aleister suddenly shifted the conversation.
"Hikaru. Right now, you, Jaden, and Chazz are all away from Duel Academy. If something unexpected happened at Duel Academy, what would you do?"
"Something unexpected?"
"Strange forces, resurrected evil spirits, interdimensional invaders appearing from who knows where, or maybe some hot-tempered spirit from another dimension. If something like that suddenly showed up, what would you do?"
Hikaru fell silent for a moment, then broke into a smile. "I used to worry constantly that Serena might get ambushed by Fusion Army operatives one day. And then she actually went and snuck into the Fusion Army's headquarters on her own. So..."
Duel Academy, Main Campus.
Accompanied by a chorus of ship horns, vessels arrived one after another at the island housing Duel Academy's headquarters.
"Wahaha, so this is the main campus!" Jesse from the Nordic branch bounded ashore with excitement. "Jaden, here I come!"
"The island where that man resides." Adrian Gecko stepped off his ship from the Eastern branch, taking in the academy's atmosphere in silence.
Beyond them, ships from the Americas branch, the Western branch, the Northern branch, all arrived at Duel Academy one after another.
Setting aside the branch representatives who were wandering the island or getting acquainted with local students, the professors from each branch school filed into Duel Academy's main campus principal's office.
Inside, Professor Crowler looked haggard. Months of hard work, constantly evaluating and analyzing the "Fusion Army teacher" group, handling negotiations with instructors from other academies, managing the effort to rehabilitate the school's reputation through students like Hikaru, and more recently, devoting time and energy to shielding Hikaru from the spotlight of his growing fame, had all taken their toll.
Beside him, Vice-Chancellor Bonaparte, serving as interim assistant principal, was dabbing at his forehead with a handkerchief.
Despite his history of opposing Crowler, the "students" under Crowler's guidance had performed so brilliantly during this period, and his own trusted Society of Light had lost to Hikaru. In that situation, anything he said would be wrong. With Crowler now formally transitioning into the role of principal, there was nothing Bonaparte could do but throw himself into assisting wholeheartedly.
The workload had been so crushing that he seemed to have lost quite a bit of weight.
"Ahem." Bonaparte watched several professors from other branches enter the office, waited for them to settle, grew increasingly nervous, but began his explanation as planned.
The upcoming semester would feature a term-long "Duel Academy Representative Exchange." In addition to regular coursework, all professors would undergo several "Professor Rating" assessments under the observation of Duel Academy headquarters' administrators, namely himself and Professor Crowler. Only those who met the required benchmark scores across all assessments would be allowed to continue as branch campus representatives.
"Why should we submit to your evaluations?" One professor voiced his displeasure.
After all, though they were branch campus professors, their rank was equivalent to headquarters professors. Each had the authority to determine their own academy's research and development direction. This particular speaker, for instance, was a professor who had been promoting Synchro Summoning at his academy.
"Now, now, let's all calm down. Evaluations happen every year. I'm sure Medici won't make things difficult for us." A professor who seemed like a peacemaker tried to smooth things over, though he didn't bother using a proper title and casually dropped Bonaparte's surname, making it clear he didn't hold the headquarters staff in particularly high regard.
Bonaparte dabbed his handkerchief again and continued. "This is the result of discussions coordinated with KaibaCorp."
"Enough." Suddenly, a man with the bearing of a viper stepped forward. The protesting professors immediately fell silent.
Because the man who had stepped forward was simply too imposing, and far too well-known.
Professor Viper!
Among all the professors, he was the famous "military duelist." His terrifying "Venom Deck" was the stuff of legend. In their annual duels, almost none of the other professors had ever defeated him.
"Oh! Professor Viper!" Bonaparte called out excitedly.
He's actually on our side. Wonderful!
Professor Crowler couldn't help but feel relieved.
Mama mia. As expected of Professor Viper, the man who refused to collaborate with Leo Akaba. Truly dependable.
"As teachers, as professors, and as the highest-ranking officials of our branch campuses, it is only right that we accept headquarters' evaluations under these special circumstances. It's nothing to make a fuss about."
"Tch." "Hmph."
"Already sucking up to the future principal?"
"That Viper guy."
They were all the same rank. No one was above anyone else. Being treated as "suspects under investigation" right out of the gate was naturally unacceptable. But since someone had already spoken in favor, continuing to argue would only make them look unreasonable, or worse, invite suspicion from KaibaCorp about ties to Leo Akaba. So they dropped their objections.
After all, the review was just an annoyance. They had nothing to do with Leo Akaba and wouldn't suffer for it.
Once Viper and the others had settled down, he put on a smile and said to Professor Crowler, "Now then, Professor Crowler, I hear your star pupil Hikaru established a Fusion Division. Apparently it even defeated Leo Akaba's own club and claimed 'Fusion' as its own. Would it be possible for you to show us around?"
"Of course." Crowler's opinion of Professor Viper shot up even higher the moment he brought this up.
After all, that was the club his prized student Hikaru had built!
The other professors also grew curious.
As educators, they might have rivalries and disputes among themselves, but when it came to students, there was only a sense of responsibility and a desire to guide.
"However, Hikaru submitted a request form today. He should be off on a dimensional expedition, so he won't be at the academy."
"Is that so?" Professor Viper narrowed his eyes and smiled, sounding very disappointed. "What a shame. It seems we'll have to wait until the term starts to meet these outstanding students."
Regardless, since the topic had come up, Crowler was eager to show off the Fusion Division's achievements. He led the branch campus professors to the Fusion Division.
The moment they arrived, Professor Viper's smile deepened with satisfaction.
Magnificent. Perfect. Every last one of them was a duelist brimming with excellent duel energy.
Even the ordinary members probably produced impressive amounts of duel energy. Wonderful.
Now then, Yu...
Just as he was about to call for Yubel, something caught his eye: a bizarre stuffed toy sitting on the front desk.
It was a strange purple squid plush, its body pierced by numerous blades. It looked deeply unsettling. Combined with the faintly red-glowing eyes, it was even more eerie, the kind of thing that could make a child burst into tears.
Why would a student club have such a creepy doll on display?
He glanced around the Fusion Division's ground-floor hall.
There were also a griffon plush and a hound plush?
The aesthetic seemed to match Leo Akaba's subordinates' "Frightfur" toys.
He recalled that Leo Akaba's club members had also used these kinds of dolls to lure new students into joining.
But why did these stuffed toys give him a faint, inexplicable chill down his spine?!