"Hoshino! I came to the Festival this year too!"
Mana dashed toward Hoshino and threw herself into her arms, wearing a mischievous smile.
"Come on, let me see—how's your development going? Did you shrink again recently?"
Annoying!
Ever since discovering that her body was aging in reverse, Mana had never missed a chance to tease herself about it.
Buried in Mana's soft, face-cream-scented embrace, Hoshino felt a wave of nostalgia and fired back with her own tease. "You really haven't changed at all, Mana. Well, I guess that's normal—since you're already dead."
"So mean! Calling me a dead person is too much. Mana at least counts as half a Spirit, okay?"
"I've never seen anyone brag about themselves so shamelessly. Anyway, didn't the others come with you?"
Ever since Yugi left for America, Mana had stayed behind in Domino City and taken over Hoshino's old role, becoming the new poster girl of the shop.
Sticking out her tongue playfully, Mana replied, "Mana got too excited and ran ahead. Jonouchi and Honda won't arrive until this afternoon. Anzu and Bakura should be here by noon."
They were all working adults now—they couldn't just run off to play whenever they wanted like Mana could.
Especially Jonouchi, who'd become the ace of the Pro Duel League, with Honda as his personal bodyguard—they were both nearly as busy as Kaiba these days.
Tugging Hoshino's sleeve, Uria looked visibly troubled.
"Hoshino… I smell something. Something that doesn't smell… human."
"!!!∑(ﾟДﾟノ)ノ W-Wait—did Mana's 'not human anymore' thing get exposed that quickly?!"
Mana, you're human! Even if you're from the Memory World, don't just casually stop being human!
But exchanging a glance with Uria, Hoshino understood what "not human" actually referred to—the Shadow Rider had probably infiltrated the academy during the festival.
She scanned the surroundings but couldn't help sighing.
With the academy packed full of visitors, trying to find them in this crowd was basically searching for a needle in a haystack. And with Mana's Dark Magician Girl cosplay drawing attention everywhere she went, even if the Shadow Rider were watching from the shadows, they wouldn't be able to detect it.
"What a cute little girl~ hmm? Hoshino, is she your daughter? Want anything to eat? Big sister can buy it for you~"
Completely overwhelmed by Uria's appearance, Mana almost pulled out her not-so-full wallet to treat her.
"How could I possibly have a daughter this big?!" Hoshino snapped back. "And if you really want to win her over, instead of feeding her, slapping her twice would probably work better."
Right after she said that, Hoshino lightly tapped her fist on Uria's small red head. The girl immediately showed a blissful expression—as if the taiyaki she was holding no longer mattered.
"(」゜ロ゜)」Eh?! Why?!"
"Ahhhh!! It's my wife! Dark Magician Girl!!"
From the crowd, Syrus unleashed the shriek of a 10-years-unbathed otaku. Moments later, the Slifer Red trinity—Jaden and Minazuki included—appeared beside him, each dressed in special cosplay outfits.
"Jaden, Minazuki? What are you two wearing?"
"It's for the Cosplay Duel Tournament, of course! The Red Dorm's festival event—didn't you personally approve it, Sensei?" Jaden, cosplaying as Elemental HERO Sparkman, swung his toy Electrum Gun with pride.
"Cosplay Duel Tournament? …Oh right, that was a thing." Hoshino crossed her arms, struggling to remember approving it.
Since the Red Dorm had nothing interesting to propose, they settled for a half-lazy festival event: duel while cosplaying.
"So Minazuki, you're cosplaying the Celtic Guardian? You're gonna end up as cannon fodder…"
"Heh heh, that's where you're wrong, Headmistress." Minazuki proudly displayed his cheap plastic longsword. "I'm cosplaying the upgraded Celtic Guardian—the Obnoxious Celtic Guard! I won't get taken out that easily!"
"But wow, this Dark Magician Girl cosplay is way too accurate. Like she literally walked right out of the card!" Minazuki exclaimed, eyes glued to Mana.
Jaden looked completely unfazed. "That's Mana-san. Long time no see!"
"Hmm?!" —Minazuki.EXE has crashed
"Jaden, you bastard! Just how many cute girls do you know?!" Minazuki's plastic sword—burning with jealousy—came crashing down on Jaden.
But maybe because the sword was too cheap, or because Celtic Guardian's ATK was 200 points lower than Sparkman's, the moment it made contact with Jaden's armor, the blade snapped in half.
The spectacle immediately attracted even more cosplay enthusiasts from the crowd.
"Whoa! A perfect recreation of the iconic scene—Celtic Guardian gets wrecked again!"
"This is true cosplay dedication. Not just the appearance, but even the soul of the character is recreated flawlessly."
"Ten out of ten for this Celtic Guardian."
Receiving unexpected praise, Syrus couldn't help admiring him. "As expected of Minazuki. He achieved something we never could."
"Found her! Dark Magician Girl! Don't let her escape, capisce?!"
Finally, Crowler burst out from the crowd, panicked, latching tightly onto Mana's wrist.
"Eh—pervert?!" The sudden situation startled Mana so much she nearly screamed.
And with Crowler's already-warped anxious expression, if Hoshino hadn't stepped in immediately, Mana definitely would have.
"Crowler, even if the cosplay is perfect, you can't just grab her like that!"
As a hardcore Dark Magician Girl fanboy, Syrus bravely stepped between Crowler and Mana, completely unafraid of authority.
Hoshino added, "Calm down, Crowler. That's three years minimum, no upper limit."
Even so, Crowler remained deadly serious, furiously demanding,
"You deck-thief! Hurry up and return Mr. Yugi's precious deck, pronto!"
"Mr. Yugi's deck?" Jaden frowned. "Wasn't it scheduled to be displayed today?"
"Exactly, ora no ne!" Cronos complained. "But just earlier—when I left the deck on my office desk and went to the bathroom for a moment—it was stolen, ora no ne!"
Hoshino followed up, "Are you sure the deck was stolen? Couldn't you have misplaced it?"
"It's absolutely true, Headmistress!" Crowler nodded firmly. "I checked the office surveillance footage, and the culprit was the Dark Magician Girl. She took the deck the moment I stepped out!"
The innocent Mana frantically shook her head.
"I didn't steal anything! And even if I did, why would I steal the Pharaoh's deck anyway?!"
"If the theft happened recently, then Mana is definitely innocent," Hoshino concluded. "She's been with me the whole time."
Minazuki added, "Then the culprit must be another Dark Magician Girl."
"Unforgivable!" Syrus fumed, stomping the ground. "How dare someone use the adorable Dark Magician Girl's image for crime!"
"Anyway, our top priority is retrieving the deck. We can't let today's afternoon exhibition be affected," Hoshino signaled to everyone.
The upcoming display of a legendary duelist's real deck was a massive attraction. Many duelists had traveled all the way to Duel Academy Island just to see it with their own eyes.
If something went wrong now, the academy would drown in public criticism—and Kaiba would definitely grill them to death afterward.
Jaden suggested, "Since we know the culprit disguised themselves as Dark Magician Girl, we just have to look for anyone cosplaying her at the festival!"
"But even if we find a Dark Magician Girl, how do we know she's the thief? What if she's just innocent like Mana?"
Mana still hadn't recovered from being startled earlier by Crowler.
"Hoshino… I think I know who would steal the deck," Uria whispered, leaning closer. "Among the Shadow Rider, there's one who specializes in disguising as Duel Spirits and is extremely skilled at using other people's decks."
"Extremely skilled at using someone else's deck?" Hoshino's eye twitched. That kind of person… sounded suspiciously like someone from Twitter.
"Can you locate them, Uria?"
"No. Not from afar. But if I get close enough, I can sniff them out!"
"That'll be a huge help."
Finding a needle in a haystack was nearly impossible—but with a clear target and a way to confirm authenticity, the difficulty dropped significantly.
Thus, to ensure the afternoon deck exhibition proceeded smoothly, everyone immediately abandoned their festival fun and launched a large-scale Dark Magician Girl hunt.
"Dark Magician Girl spotted—over there!"
Jaden pointed excitedly at the back of a Dark Magician Girl waiting at a takoyaki stand.
Syrus and Minazuki charged forward at full force, tackling her like they were arresting a criminal. Of course—not because they wanted to take advantage of her.
"Ahh my, Syrus, Minazuki—what are you two doing?"
A familiar voice floated up from beneath them. Their faces instantly drained of color, turning a sickly shade of purple.
"M-Ms. Dorothy?!"
Dorothy—Duel Academy's "Card Goddess," age sixty-eight, well-endowed, and known as Principal Sheppard's secret crush.
Every year during the school festival, she cosplayed as Dark Magician Girl. She was one of the academy's most iconic Dark Magician Girl cosplayers.
"Young boys really are bold these days~" Dorothy chuckled seductively, touching her cheek.
Hoshino turned away coldly. "Ignore those two idiots. Let's look elsewhere."
Naturally, the area with the most cosplay was the Red Dorm, where the cosplay duel tournament was being held.
"Someone's even cosplaying Solemn Judgment. This is ridiculous, ora no ne," Crowler snorted.
Spectators commented:
"Someone's cosplaying Pot of Greed—that's incredibly accurate!"
"Sen… Senpai?"
Wearing a Harpie Lady costume, Alexis blushed deeply. In the first-year Blue Dorm, only she and Akasha were beautiful girls.
And since Slifer Red had almost no female students, their cosplay lineup was weak. Jaden had begged Akasha and Alexis to help attract more visitors.
Hoshino praised, "It suits you well, Alexis. Very sexy~"
Alexis wanted to disappear into the crowd.
"N-No one told me you'd be here! Being seen like this… so embarrassing… I should've copied Akasha instead…"
"Hoshino-nee, you came too! I didn't expect Red's event to be this lively!"
Akasha appeared wrapped in thick blankets, holding a holy sword—clearly cosplaying Altria. With her blonde hair and natural advantages, her Saber cosplay drew quite a crowd.
After all, in this world, King Arthur technically is a Duel Monster. So this was fine.
"Akasha's gotten so cool-looking!" Mana waved enthusiastically.
"And Mana hasn't changed at all—still the perfect Dark Magician Girl!"
"…Has 'Dark Magician Girl' become an adjective now?"
"But you know," Akasha continued, "there's another Dark Magician Girl cosplayer whose accuracy is as good as yours, Mana!"
"As good as Mana?!"
Hoshino instantly tensed. Anyone matching Mana's authenticity had to be their target.
"Where is she?"
Pointing toward the crowd gathered in front of Red's duel arena, Akasha explained:
"She's participating in the cosplay duel tournament. Her accuracy is top-notch, and she's super strong too. She already has three straight wins—even Blue students were crushed by her!"
Inside the circle, an adorable Dark Magician Girl basked in the cheers of the spectators.
At the same time, she played her finishing card:
"Spell Card—Dark Burning Magic! I destroy all your monsters! With this, the duel is mine~!"