While Yumi and Jaden stood face-to-face, their Duel Disks activated, Burst Wingman and Flame Wingman stood in front of their respective masters.
Not far away, beneath the shade of a tree, Alexis, Celina, and Rio sat together, chatting as they watched the duel unfold.
Off to the side, Reginald stood with arms crossed, glaring at Yumi from afar.
"Say, Celina," Alexis began casually, "what's it like sharing a room with Yumi?"
The girls' attention flicked back toward the duel, where Burst Wingman sliced through Flame Wingman, then Jaden to flip his Hero Signal, summoning Bubbleman.
Celina rubbed her chin, thinking carefully. "Honestly… it's not as bad as I thought it would be."
"Not as bad?" Alexis teased, raising a brow.
"Well, at first, I assumed he'd be like every other teen boy, loud, awkward, annoying. But he's… different." Her voice softened as she admitted, "He doesn't act like some hormone-driven teenager. He's calm, and that calmness makes you feel like everything's going to be fine when he's around."
Alexis and Rio exchanged glances, both nodding. They knew what she meant. Alexis remembered the event in the abandoned dorm. When she was captured, Yumi was the one who saved her. Rio thought back to when she'd been possessed by that Earthbound hard-to-kill chicken; Yumi had known exactly what to do to free her.
Their gazes drifted toward him again, just as Yumi summoned Inferno to take out Jaden's Darkbright, only for a surge of black electricity to recoil and destroy Inferno too.
Celina crossed her arms, frowning. "Still, his personality is kind of awful… but he's not a bad person."
Alexis smirked. "Zane says he's no different from Momoyo."
Rio blinked. "Zane? You mean the Obelisk Blue one?"
"Yep." Alexis nodded.
"No surprise. Those siblings aren't too different," Celina muttered.
Rio tilted her head, eyes narrowing slightly. "Say, Celina… what exactly is your relationship with Yumi?"
Celina stiffened. "We're just roommates." She answered far too quickly.
"You don't seem like just roommates," Rio pressed, watching her closely.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Celina asked defensively.
"Well… didn't you turn down your promotion to Ra Yellow because of him?"
"W–what?!" Celina shrieked, her cheeks heating up. "That's not true! I only stayed in Slifer because I figured my strength would grow faster here!"
Neither Alexis nor Rio looked convinced. Even Celina didn't buy her own excuse.
The truth was obvious: Yumi had become her "special supplier," handing her cards that fit her deck, and he was the best partner she had for testing new strategies. If she moved up to Ra Yellow, she'd lose that exclusive advantage. And she knew the moment she vacated her dorm, Jaden would probably swoop in to move into her room just to be near his AIBO.
Not to mention, the other Slifer girls were constantly pestering Yumi. If Celina weren't there to fend them off, who knew what would happen? And if she stayed in Ra but kept visiting him, rumors would spread fast.
"Reaaally~?" Alexis and Rio asked together, their skeptical smiles making Celina's blush deepen.
"Would you two quit it already?!" Celina snapped, glaring at them.
Rio smirked. "In that case, how about we swap rooms? You've always wanted to be in Obelisk Blue anyway. We could just trade."
"Sorry, no. If I show up in Blue like that, no one would take me seriously," Celina huffed.
"Then how about I move into your room instead?" Rio suggested.
"I don't think the teachers would ever approve that," Alexis interjected before Celina could explode.
Meanwhile, Reginald growled from the sidelines. "Yu↑mi↓ Uzu↓shi↑!" His voice dripped with frustration as his glare intensified.
Back on the field, the duel reached its peak.
Jaden used Miracle Fusion to fuse Sparkman and Flame Wingman into Shining Flare Wingman, while Yumi used Bounce Spell to take Jaden's spell and fuse his Sparkman and Burst Wingman into Shining Blaze Wingman.
The two monsters clashed in a spectacular blaze, Jaden activating Final Fusion to force a draw. But before the explosion could end the match, a Clear Kuriboh hopped from Yumi's hand, taking the hit with a cheerful squeak.
...
Later that night, while Yumi was busy adjusting his duel disk, Celina had gone out to spend time with her friend.
Without warning, a massive, ominous figure materialized, its reptilian body topped with the face of an alligator, gripping a colossal scythe. It crept up behind Yumi and raised the weapon high.
The blade swung down, but Dark Law burst from Yumi's shadow, catching the scythe mid-swing.
The reptile's eyes widened at the sudden defender, but it quickly regained focus and pressed its attack against the armored warrior.
Clang!
The strike was intercepted again, this time by another figure clad in gleaming white armor, its green skin glowing faintly, wings of burning light unfurled behind it.
Before it could retreat, an energy barrier snapped into place, boxing it in. Two more figures advanced, Raye in her Kagari armor and Roze in her Shizuku gear, their presence cutting off its escape.
Panic set in. It turned toward the window, only to freeze as an icy chill swept across the room. Absolute Zero stood tall, arms crossed.
It spun again, desperate, only to find its path blocked by The Earth.
At first, the Tyrant Neptune mistook it for Terra Firma and felt a fleeting moment of relief, perhaps a brother had come to aid it. But when The Earth merely stared back, offering no help, its scaly face paled. More duel spirits appeared one after another, surrounding it like hunters closing in on their prey.
"Done causing trouble?" Yumi finally asked, golden eyes locking onto the cornered tyrant.
Neptune's hands trembled as it gripped its scythe. "H-How… how do you command so many spirits!?"
"That's none of your concern," Yumi said calmly, voice steady but edged. "So I'll ask once, will you cooperate?"
Neptune hesitated. As a tyrant, it knew when to bow and when to fight. With Reginald, it had only ever half-acknowledged him, choosing to bide its time and see if he'd prove worthy. And though Yumi's strength had impressed it in their duel, being tossed aside by Reginald for Mercury had stoked its fury.
That was why it attacked. But now… now it realized Yumi wasn't just strong. He was a hidden boss, a spirit master with an army at his back.
Mercury, you bastard! Neptune cursed inwardly. If you knew this guy was a hidden boss, why didn't you warn me first!?
Outwardly, the reptile lowered its scythe, then bowed its head. "Forgive me for my earlier offense, master."
Yumi smiled faintly. "Good. I look forward to working together."
One by one, the spirits, Neptune included, returned to their cards, leaving the room in silence once more.
...
"Hey, have you heard about the tennis club captain, Harrington Rosewood?" Celina asked. "Rumor has it he's as strong as Zane Truesdale."
"Just a rumor," Yumi replied lazily.
He barely remembered who Rosewood was, just that the guy used a gimmicky tennis-themed deck from the GX anime, built around Life Point reduction and some ridiculous anime-only win condition. The duels were practically tennis matches with cards.
"Yeah, but Jaden dueled him the other day and won. People said they saw Rosewood crying on a cliff at sunset, shouting 'I hate dueling!' or something."
Yumi smirked. "He lost to Jaden and already broke down? Weak." He leaned back on his bed, arms folded behind his head.
To him, Jaden, although a strong duelist with a protagonist halo, is currently only good at dueling and performing divine draw to a certain level. Still nowhere near the level of Season 4 Jaden, who can OTK his opponent in just one turn, although most of those opponents are weak and nameless duelist anyway.
Still, they were at least Obelisk Blue students.
Celina giggled. "Alexis was annoyed about the whole thing."
"And why's that?" Yumi asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Apparently the winner got Alexis as their fiancée. Jaden won but then turned around and asked her what 'fiancée' even means."
Yumi didn't find this surprising, since Jaden, during the first season, was still pretty dumb when it came to other subjects besides playing cards.
Celina continues to share a few more interesting information with Yumi.
There are even rumors about this Giant, that duels students, more specifically Obelisk Blue students, who wear a coat made out of the jackets of the defeated Obelisk Blues, who, after defeating their opponents, would take their rarest card, or if serious, their entire deck.
The rumors began after one Obelisk lost to him, but then, soon after, in only a few days, the rumor began spreading like wildfire. Obelisks left to right, dropping like flies. And they couldn't catch him; he dueled in the night and was bigger than a house.
It also made the Obelisk's look like jerks that can't hold a deck properly and got in because of their parents, which was partially true. And Doctor Crowler did not like that, not one bit.
Hearing these rumors, Yumi suddenly began to doubt whether Duel Academy's Obelisk Blue were truly elite students or just simply students who have a good background and rich backing.
Still, the Obelisk Blues angry at being mocked, started taking it out on the other dorms, pulling pranks, picking fights, and generally making everyone's lives miserable.
...
Today, when she woke up and realized class would start in ten minutes, Celina had no choice but to move fast. First order of business: she kicked Yumi off the bed.
"Up! We're late!"
With her hair tied and uniform half-straight, she rushed to get dressed, though Yumi, somehow, was already ready and waiting. The two bolted straight for class.
Unfortunately, the Obelisks had decided it was their mission to ruin her morning. Buckets of water balanced on doors, fake gum that shocked her fingers, stealing her seat right before she sat down, and worst of all, almost stealing her deck. By the time class ended, Celina was fuming.
Yumi was able to calm her down while barely keeping himself sane since he has been the one closest to her, and also getting caught up in a few of their pranks.
As the two try to leave, they run into the group of four Obelisk Blue students.
The group seemed to notice the two, and then she remembered that they were the ones making her day worse. Yumi is still trying to be her voice of reason, since he doesn't want her to suffer in detention... again.
"Oh, look, it's the Slifer Slackers!"
And then, like a branch, she snapped, "What! You wanna say that again?!" she yelled out, making everyone take a step back, "You wanna repeat that!? You fucking prick! Huh!? You wanna fucking start something?! Come on! Let's go! Four on four! RED VERSUS BLUE! No camp kills, I will FUCK you up!"
The Obelisks looked at each other. Maybe it wasn't a good idea to make her angry, of all people. One of them stepped out, "Ju-just calm down." But seeing Celina's anger wasn't fading, they turned and tried to run.
Suddenly, a metallic snap echoed. A claw-like hook shot out, clamped tightly around the Obelisk's left wrist. Everyone turned, seeing that the device was mounted to Yumi's duel disk.
Tucking the metal cable, Yumi forced him to stay back with his duel disk raised.
"Why the rush? You're man enough to pick on a girl, you won't refuse a challenge from someone who is weaker than her, right?" Yumi asks with a smile, speaking loud enough for everyone to hear.
Though intrigued by the metal claw on Yumi's duel disk, the other also noticed what Yumi just said.
The Obelisk tried to tear the claw free, but the mechanism held firm.
"What's the matter?" Yumi's tone dripped with mockery. "You spend all day bullying a girl, and now she is pissed, and someone is standing up for her, the first thing you do is try to run? Is this the honor and pride of Obelisk Blue nowadays?"
This angered a few Obelisk students watching, but after hearing what he said, they knew better than to step in and defend the Obelisk student being criticized.
After all, the Obelisk Blues are considered the elite and some of the best students in Duel Academy, to actively pick on a Slifer Red, then when that Slifer Red fights back, running is not only shameful but also a slap to the face of the other Obelisk Blues.
This is like you pick on others, and when they fight back, you run with your tail behind your leg.
"I-I lost my deck! I can't duel you!" the boy stammered, sweat beading under the weight of everyone's stares.
"You lost your deck?" Yumi blinked in fake surprise. Then his grin widened. "Ah, so that's why you tried to steal hers earlier. Is this what Obelisk Blues are now?"
He pressed his hand to his chest, voice carrying like a declaration."We, the Slifer Reds, even with our poor score and weak deck, would never even think of stealing other people's decks. Is this why the Obelisk calls us slackers or scums? Is it because we don't steal other people's decks?"
The glare on the Obelisk student only intensified, and now many Slifer Red students who came to watch the drama quickly stood behind Slifer and Celina, taking the moral high ground to shame this Obelisk Blue.
"It was just a prank, we're eventually going to give it back!" He pleaded desperately, feeling even more anxious now that so many eyes are on him; his friends have all run, leaving him behind to face this public execution.
"Oh? But you don't even know her name. If her deck disappeared, how exactly would she 'get it back'?" Yumi's voice was cold steel.
"I-I didn't steal anything!"
"Attempted theft doesn't count? So we have to wait until you succeed before calling it what it is?" Yumi pressed harder.
The boy broke, collapsing to his knees, sobbing. Pathetic.
Yumi clicked his tongue. "Crying? Really? What a disappointment." With a flick, the claw retracted. He turned to the crowd, voice dripping with sarcasm. "Show's over. Would any elite Obelisk kindly escort this fine gentleman back to his room? If he keeps bawling like this, people might start to question the Academy's standards."
With that, he walked off, Celina followed close behind. A small wave of Slifer Reds followed, too, buzzing with pride and satisfaction.
After taking a good distance away, the group quickly dispersed, going back to doing what they originally planned to do.
By the time they returned to the dorms, the story had already spread like wildfire. Word of mouth in Duel Academy was as fast as any official announcement.
Some of Celina's friends, even those from Obelisk Blue, hurried over to apologize and comfort her for the incident, worried that this would affect their friendship. And to help fix the cracked image of the Obelisk.
"How is my beloved little bro doing?" Momoyo quickly wrapped her arms around Yumi's neck, pulling him into her chest before squeezing him.
"Say, I heard about what happened today. Not bad." She said with a smile, unbothered by today's event.
Sure, people would look at Obelisk Blue a bit differently now, but that didn't bother her since the one who is most likely to represent the Obelisk to make a public apology is going to be Zane. Or the student council would do it, since the president is also an Obelisk.
She ruffled his hair with a mischievous smile. "So, how about tweaking your big sister's duel disk? Give me that fancy claw-hook too."
Yumi rolled his eyes. "Tch! What for? Planning to chain up Zane or something?"
Zane: "!!!"
Across the room, Zane, who had come to check on the situation, froze in place.