With the new week, Yumi's long-awaited card-making class finally began.
Duel Academy wasn't just about creating duelists; it also nurtured all kinds of talents related to the game. Take Chumley Huffington, for example. After years of failing as a duelist, he quit to become a card designer, and the Academy supported that. They valued related skills just as much.
The classes started with the basics. The first few lessons were pure theory, followed by hands-on practice copying existing cards. No one jumped straight into original designs. Everyone began with replication. Only after countless copies could a student even begin to understand what made a card work. Only then did real creativity begin.
And copying wasn't necessarily easier than creating. While it was simple to duplicate common, low-power Spell or Trap cards, it was an entirely different story for monsters, especially the strong ones. The more iconic the monster, the harder it was to replicate. That's part of why so many legendary monsters were one-of-a-kind.
Once card-making began, Yumi took every chance to visit Professor Lyman with questions. His conclusion had been right; despite being known for teaching alchemy, Lyman was a top-tier card designer. In fact, alchemy and card design turned out to be more closely linked than Yumi had expected.
Eventually, Lyman gave him full access to the alchemy lab, a place he rarely used himself anyway.
Though Lyman wasn't strict about attendance or discipline, he quickly noticed Yumi's unique talent. So, little by little, he began sharing knowledge beyond the curriculum. Sometimes he'd offer in-person demonstrations, other times he'd correct Yumi's form while absentmindedly stroking his cat.
As Yumi's understanding grew, so did his printing ability.
Now he sat in the lab, feet propped on the table, casually holding a freshly printed card.
Sky Striker HERO - Yumi
That's right. One of his first self-made cards was a fusion of Sky Striker and HERO archetypes, a support card themed after himself.
It didn't have an effect yet, just a Normal Monster, but he'd gotten the design down.
He slid the card into his duel disk.
Light burst out, and from it emerged a near-perfect copy of himself, only dressed in Sky Striker-style gear. Black and white tones with a magenta base. A long, magenta coat flowed behind him, sleeves folded neatly to the wrist.
Honestly... It was just Yumi wearing a different set of clothing.
Why did he go for this, you may ask?
Check the card, Kaibaman, and tell him that it isn't President Kaiba printing himself onto a card to support his White Bride.
If the President can do it, why can't I?
Still, one problem remained: what effect should he give it?
Sure, he likes good cards that can support his deck, but he doesn't want to add too much, making the card broken. That would just drain away the joy of dueling if a single card could carry the entire duel.
Like how the field spell Golden Castle of Stromberg, shown in the DM anime, is what he considers a broken cheat card. Even cards with an instant win condition are something he dislikes.
What's the point in playing cards with you if I can just cheese out Exdoia during turn one?
With how many draw engines there are in the game, one could easily draw through a deck of 40 cards in one turn and complete Exodia.
Which is why even with the power to print cards, Yumi never tries printing broken or instant-win cards.
Back then, when he opened up a Red-Eyes Black Dragon, he immediately recalled the powerful boss monster.
Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon.
A powerful boss monster that can't be destroyed or targeted by card effects. It can destroy opponents' monsters and inflict effect damage equal to the destroyed monster's ATK, and it has a quick effect to negate card effects by simply discarding a card in your hand, then it gains a permanent 1000 ATK boost.
And it's super easy to bring out with just one card.
So Yumi just handed that Red-Eyes to his and Momoyo's younger sister, Kazuko Kawakami, who was also living with them at the temple.
He doesn't need the reminder that he could create a broken card that drains all of the fun.
"Hmm… what kind of effect should I give you?" Yumi muttered, staring at his card.
"How should I know? I'm just your Avatar," his card-self said, rolling its eyes.
"I wasn't asking you."
"Then don't talk to yourself."
"Tch! You're not as cute as Raye or Roze."
"Duh! I'm you!"
They bantered back and forth for a while before eventually sitting down to brainstorm ideas together.
Eventually, Professor Lyman has to come and tell him that he needs to return to class.
"I'm taking sick leave," Yumi replied with a lazy grin.
Lyman raised an eyebrow. "You don't look sick."
"Card fever."
Lyman sighed, but said nothing more. For a student this talented, he was willing to look the other way.
After his recent victories against Midori-sensei and Zane-senpai, Yumi had amassed a considerable amount of Spirit Energy. So he used the time to craft new cards, only leaving the lab once he had an entirely new deck in hand.
...
With winter break starting and most students heading home, the island felt eerily empty.
What surprised Yumi, however, was...
"What's with that dumb look?" Celina asked, sitting beside Professor Lyman and Chumley, who was grilling mochi over a charcoal fire while Jaden and Syrus were off dueling nearby.
From what she had told him, Celina had a large family waiting back home. Naturally, he assumed she'd want to spend the holidays with them.
"I'm just surprised, that's all. You mentioned you have a bunch of siblings. Why are you still here?" Yumi asked, raising an eyebrow.
Celina rolled her eyes before giving him a light punch to the shoulder.
"Oi! If your sister didn't smile when she sent up that black and white picture of you and lit three incense sticks, I might have assumed you ditched us and died somewhere."
"Wait, Momo-nee did what now?"
Chumley pointed to the corner of the room.
Sure enough, there it was, a black-and-white portrait of Yumi, propped up with three incense sticks gently burning before it.
Yumi didn't look offended at all. Instead, he just clicked his tongue.
"Tch! Momo-nee couldn't even bring some fruit or anything for her young brother. Was-"
"Is that the ghost of my little brother, back to visit the poor big sister he left behind?" A slender yet strong arm suddenly wrapped around his neck from behind, dragging him into a playful chokehold and pressing his face into her chest.
"M-Momo-nee…?" Yumi wheezed, barely able to breathe.
Meanwhile, Celina turned to the newest arrival.
"Alexis? You're still on the island too?"
Alexis stepped forward with Zane beside her. "Yeah. Most of the Obelisk Blue girls left for the break, but since you're still here, I figured I'd stay and keep you company," she said casually, masking her real reason.
She couldn't really tell her friend that she actually wants to spend some time with her dormmate and Jaden.
Ever since winning the Miss Academy contest, Alexis had somehow been catapulted into idol status. Both guys and girls fawned over her nonstop, even though she never asked for it.
These two Slifer Reds never looked at her like many other students did, mostly because one didn't care and the other didn't understand, but still, she enjoyed the feeling of being treated like a regular girl more than the school mascot.
Watching Momoyo still strangling Yumi, Alexis grew a bit concerned since even when her brother was around, they had never done anything like this before.
"Uh... is that even okay? It doesn't look safe."
"She doesn't seem to mind it," Zane replied flatly.
"He doesn't seem to mind it," Celina said at the same time.
They both paused.
Then, slowly turning toward each other, they nodded with solemn understanding. Without a word, they shook hands like two veterans who had just recognized the trauma in each other's eyes.
Zane had always been labeled a genius duelist. But whenever he faced Momoyo, he felt like she deserved the title.
Celina had been top of her class at a middle school dedicated to training duelists from a young age. Yet, the moment she arrived at Duel Academy, she found herself struggling to keep up with Yumi's talent.
Both Zane and Celina had been frustrated by these two walking disasters, but neither of them could deny one thing: being around them was strangely… fun.
While Zane brooded over how Momoyo's playstyle defied logic, he couldn't help but enjoy her chaotic presence.
While Celina trained relentlessly to match Yumi, she found herself drawn to his absurd genius and maybe even admired him for it, though she'd never admit that out loud.
That's just how the world worked. Those who chased strength were inevitably drawn to those who already had it.
At that moment, Celina and Zane looked like kindred spirits, siblings in suffering. The two sat down together, sipping warm tea and chatting like old comrades about how to survive their respective toxic duelists.
Syrus: "..."
Syrus sees Zane talking and sharing his 'experience' with Celina, feels betrayed.
He stopped caring about the duel with Jaden and now has an expression of.
Big brother! You're supposed to be my brother, not her! Why won't you acknowledge me like her!? It's not fair!
Or what some might know as:
Notice me Senpai.jpg
Of course, he still doesn't have the courage to say it out loud, seeing that he hasn't moved past his fear of misusing the Spell "Power Bond". In the anime, he overcame this fear by partnering with Jaden in the punishment tag duel, where he found the courage to use Power Bond and turn the tide of a losing game.
Sadly, that duel never happened, and if Jaden really teamed up with Syrus, then they might have really lost that duel. Fortunately, Jaden has a strong teammate backing him up.
"S-Someone!" a panicked voice cried out, just before a student burst through the doors of the Slifer Red dining hall and collapsed on the floor.
All eyes turned toward the fallen figure, an Obelisk Blue student, trembling and gasping for air.
Jaden quickly approached. "Hey, what happened to you?"
"J-Jinzo…" the boy stammered, voice barely above a whisper. "H-He's after me!"
Professor Lyman's expression changed. He recognized the boy. "Torrey?"
"Y-You study Duel Spirits… you know how they work, right?" Torrey pleaded, clutching tightly to Lyman's leg as though it were the only thing anchoring him to reality.
Seeing the confused looks from others, Lyman knelt down and gently tried to calm him. "Easy now, Torrey. Start from the beginning."
Torrey's story came tumbling out in fragmented breaths.
There had been a club on campus, one that studied Duel Monster spirits. A group of three students had taken things a step too far. They attempted a summoning ritual, hoping to contact a duel spirit. Ideally, a talkative one like Dark Magician Girl, or even a low-level fluffball like Kuriboh. Instead, they summoned Jinzo.
The ritual succeeded… partially. Jinzo appeared, but not in full physical form. To complete his manifestation, he needed souls, three, to be exact.
But instead of taking them by force, Jinzo asked politely if the trio would offer up three sacrifices.
Assuming he meant cards, the students eagerly agreed.
And Jinzo manifested… as per the agreement.
Two days later, two of the students vanished without a trace.
The third realized, far too late, that sacrifices hadn't meant cards, it had meant them.
Terrified, the survivor fled into the night, running until he somehow ended up here at Slifer Red.
As the story ended, silence filled the room, followed by the barely stifled giggles of Yumi and Momoyo.
After hearing the story, it sounded more funny than horrifying.
This situation to them felt something like this.
Ancient Spirit: To summon me, you need three- (spirits)
Three idiots: Okay.
Ancient Spirit: ....
Zane and Celina acted fast. Seeing where this was headed, they each grabbed one of them, Zane hauling Momoyo by the arm, and Celina scooping up Yumi in a princess carry, and rushed them out the door before they could mentally destroy what little remained of Torrey's dignity.
Outside, the second the door shut, Momoyo elbowed Zane in the gut.
"Idiot. Don't just grab a girl like that. If you were a girl, maybe I'd allow it."
Zane doubled over. "You cracked a rib…"
"I hit your stomach, not your chest. Don't be dramatic."
Zane considered pointing out that the cracked rib was likely from last time she hit him, but decided against it. One more word and he might end up with two cracked ribs.
So it's best to say nothing.
He knew what would happen when she was pissed, and he wasn't stupid enough to make that mistake again.
"Hey, why did they suddenly turn off the light?" Yumi noticed the light back in the room was turned off, causing the other three to turn back toward the door.
Sensing something was off, Zane pushed open the door, seeing that everyone was gone.
"What the… where'd they all go?" Celina murmured, stepping in cautiously.
"They can't be far," Zane muttered, scanning the now-empty room.
"…Is the mochi ready yet?" Momoyo asked.
"Almost," Yumi replied.
The other two whipped around to see the siblings, not even slightly concerned, calmly grilling mochi on a charcoal stove that Chumley and Lyman had left behind.
Yumi looked relaxed. He knew this event; it happened in the anime, and Jaden handled it solo, so there is nothing he needs to worry about.
Momoyo also looks relaxed. She just didn't feel like running around in the cold night chasing after people she didn't care about.
Celina whispered, "Zane-senpai… what should we do now?"
Zane sighed. "Let's go find the others. Clearly, they aren't going to."
As Zane jogged off, Celina followed close behind. Before he could even glance back, the two mochi chefs had already tuned them out, lost in their own world.
With Jinzo now on the loose, and duel spirits proving to be more than myth, Yumi turned to Momoyo and began explaining the other spirits, those already inside her deck, and the one he carried himself.