Early morning at the academy, in the Chancellor's office.
"Professor Viper actually had such a plot…"
Chancellor Sheppard sat with his fingers interlaced under his chin, his expression a bit dazed.
Sunlight from the window shined on his smooth, bald head, making it look from a distance as if it were radiating golden light.
Just last night, he had learned of Professor Viper's scheme.
The KaibaCorp investigation team that Kira had called in had thoroughly searched Viper's former facility, and from the leftover data there, they uncovered his terrifying plan to hold a "Duel of Death" tournament at the academy.
Apparently, he wanted to use the life force of the academy's faculty and students to resurrect a terrifying, evil spirit.
The search team had also found a large number of wristwatch-like devices in the facility. According to KaibaCorp's appraisal, these devices would put an enormous physical strain on any Duelist wearing them, leaving them exhausted or comatose after a duel, with permanent side effects—and in severe cases, even risking their lives.
If things had really gone that far, it would've been a disastrous incident that was nearly impossible to clean up.
And with the current evidence, all they knew was that Professor Viper wanted to collect energy to resurrect that terrible spirit. As for what that spirit would do after being resurrected, or what further threats it might pose, that remained unknown.
But it was foreseeable that the situation could have been far worse than it was now.
On top of that, Chancellor Sheppard was supposed to go on a business trip in a few days. If that had happened, he might once again have been absent when the academy got hit by disaster…
Thinking of that, he couldn't help rubbing his temples, a lingering fear in his heart.
Thank goodness the academy had Kira, who saw through Viper's plot in advance. Otherwise, who knew how it all would've ended.
But what was with this academy, anyway? Why did it keep attracting all kinds of monsters and conspiracies?
Just as he was thinking this, the door to the office opened. Crowler and Bonaparte walked in side by side.
"I've said it from the beginning, we're an elite academy!" Bonaparte shouted. "Do you understand what 'elite academy' means? It means we only cultivate the very top elites. There's no place here for laggards and dead weight!"
Crowler snapped, "Even so, you can't just abolish the Red Dorm outright!"
Bonaparte: "And why not?"
Crowler: "If you scrap the Red Dorm now, what then? Are you going to scrap the next worst-performing dorm afterward too?"
Bonaparte shot back confidently, "That depends on the situation!"
The two of them bickered nonstop, apparently having argued all the way here, so wrapped up in it that they didn't even realize they'd entered the Chancellor's office.
The noise was giving the Chancellor a headache. He frowned. "You two… I don't have the mood for this right now. Quiet down."
But the two professors were mid-argument, and didn't hear him at all.
Crowler: "I've long been fed up with you!"
Bonaparte rolled up his sleeves. "Oh yeah? What a coincidence, me too. You look just like a Pot of Greed. You don't have the dignity of a professor at all."
Crowler exploded, "Who are you calling a Pot of Greed!?"
Their voices got louder and louder, completely ignoring the Chancellor.
Sheppard closed his eyes, gathering himself for a few seconds like a volcano building pressure.
Then, in the next second, he erupted.
"That's enough!"
He slammed the desk and stood up.
"Enough shouting! Get out, both of you, get out!"
Only then did the two professors jump in shock, clutching each other in fright like comrades in misfortune.
"Mama mia—!"
—
After lunch that day, Kira was planning to take Jim, who'd just been dragged onto his pirate ship, to visit the lab.
He had high hopes for Jim. Not only in terms of dueling ability, but research potential as well—especially in the field of exploration and excavation.
As mentioned before, Jim was a maniac for archaeology, as evidenced by his Fossil deck. And as everyone knew, in the world of Yu-Gi-Oh, archaeologists could dig up some long-lost top-tier tablet or a seemingly ordinary monster's broken, overpowered new form at any time.
Archaeology was a field worth paying a lot of attention to. However, although Kira's lab had grown quite large by now, it still focused mainly on card development, and hadn't really gotten into exploring ruins and the like. He had always been interested in it, though. With Jim joining, he might actually consider setting up a new team for that later.
Leaving the cafeteria, they'd only walked a short distance when they ran into Jaden and his friends, who were in the middle of a heated discussion.
Seeing Kira and Jim from afar, their faces all lit up.
"Oh, it's Kira and the new guy!"
Jaden waved enthusiastically.
"Did you hear? Big news!"
"What kind of big news?" Kira asked, puzzled.
"Um…" Syrus poked Jaden. "It's still just a rumor, right? I don't think it's confirmed yet…"
"Huh? Is that so?" Jaden scratched his head.
Kira asked, "What's going on?"
"It's about Professors Crowler and Bonaparte," Syrus said. "I heard people say they might be getting fired."
Jim wasn't familiar with the main campus faculty, so he didn't react much. But Kira raised an eyebrow.
That sudden?
"Well, it's not that weird."
Chazz crossed his arms and snorted.
"Those two have pissed off plenty of students here. A lot of people complain about them. It wouldn't be impossible for them to get impeached."
Syrus squinted at him. "Mainly because after you got demoted from the Blue Dorm to the Slifer Red, they did a complete 180 on how they treated you."
Chazz's old face flushed red, and he turned his head away. "Shut up!"
Kira frowned.
If things followed the original story, then putting aside Bonaparte, Crowler definitely wasn't fired by the end. Could the timeline have shifted because of his own presence?
Hmm, wait.
He vaguely remembered there being some standalone episode where the two of them almost got fired…
"Ah, look—are those two over there?"
Jaden's underling, Kenzan, pointed toward the riverside.
Everyone followed his finger and looked. There, in a deserted spot by the river, sat two figures, one tall and thin, one short and fat, shoulders pressed together, leaning side by side by the water. Their backs looked so desolate…
"Looks like them!"
The group rushed over in a swarm.
"Professor!"
"Professor Crowler! Professor Bonaparte!"
The two professors listlessly raised their heads, glanced at them, and then drooped their heads again, staring down at the blue sea below like they'd just been dumped.
Seeing their reactions, the students were already mostly convinced the rumor was true.
"So…" Jaden asked tentatively, "is the rumor true? Are you really getting fired?"
The two professors nearly toppled right into the ocean.
"NANI? How did you find out!?"
…