"Kevin, what kind of person do you think your older sister is?"
At the High-Level Spirit Research Society, Aisha—bored and flipping through Advanced Xyz Overlay Theory—suddenly remembered something and asked the equally idle Kevin.
"Why the sudden question, Aisha Carlos?"
Every time Kaima Seth came up, Kevin instinctively grew alert.
"Just curious. I heard from Irena-senpai once that the Seth family and Kaima-senpai's situation is pretty complicated."
It had already been a month since Luca's imprisonment.
At first, when word spread that Luca Slint had been sentenced for involvement in Shadow Games, the students could hardly believe that such an innocent, adorable girl had gone astray. However, with the trial's outcome fully public, its authenticity far surpassed mere gossip.
Faced with the verdict, no matter how charming or popular Luca had been, most could only sigh, "What a shame. She had such a promising future as a duelist, but she chose to dabble in Shadow Games and brought ruin upon herself."
Aisha's interest in Kaima Seth stemmed mostly from her behavior during the trial… it had piqued her curiosity.
Despite being a girl, Kaima had been raised as the heir of a noble house.
And whether in dueling or handling affairs, Kaima was always decisive and ruthless.
Even so, her decisiveness wasn't reckless—it was tempered with control and composure beyond her years.
"If you want to know what kind of person my sister is, all I can tell you is that she's overly strict and stubborn."
"Strict with you? I mean, back during the freshman challenge, she really did beat you badly."
"No, she's even stricter with herself. So much so that even someone like Father can't find fault with her. You could say she's the perfect heir to our family."
"I see... the perfect heir."
From what Kevin said, Kaima's actions really did seem to always prioritize the Seth family.
Whether it was disciplining Kevin during the Freshman Challenge or sending Luca Slint—of the Slint family—to prison to extract political gains, everything Kaima did seemed guided by what benefited the Seth family most.
"So Kevin, you don't plan to inherit the dukedom?"
"Not interested. I just want to become the strongest duelist."
Still buried in Advanced Fusion Theory, Kevin, as a soul-connected friend who'd never met his counterpart face to face, shared much in common with his "rival," Miles.
"Same here. I have no interest in inheritance either."
Sprawled on the tatami mat, Aisha lazily covered her face with the book.
Though the Carlos family was a fallen noble line, they still had a minor fief. Technically, Aisha could have been heir to it.
That said, speaking of perfect heirs… Aisha's older sister Alice was no less exceptional.
Academics, etiquette, social skills, land management... Alice was flawless in every quality required of a family successor.
If only she had Spirit Eyes… that one regret aside, Alice had always been a superhero in Aisha's eyes.
Sometimes Aisha even fantasized: if Alice had inherited the Spirit Eyes, then the burden of reviving the Carlos name wouldn't fall on her. She could just laze around guilt-free.
"Ah, I just want to stay a student forever~"
No responsibilities, only the present to care about—being a student might truly be the happiest time in life.
Anyhow, the wheels of time wouldn't stop for Aisha, and they even seemed to spin faster when least expected. Before she knew it, the year was ending, and the first-year curriculum at Fusion Academy was nearing completion.
In these past few months, Aisha's summoning course had, as Miles put it, "achieved a Kuriboh grand slam."
Every summoning lesson, she summoned none other than a Level 1 monster: Kuriboh.
By the end, even Miles had never seen some of the bizarre Kuriboh variants she managed to call forth.
"Maybe it's because the Pharaoh recognized her, and now the Kuribohs have blessed her too?"
Though the exact cause was unknown, summoning Kuribohs with actual effects was definitely better than summoning useless low-level vanillas.
At semester's end, Fusion Academy offered more than just stressful finals. It had one other major event:
Fusion Academy's School Festival.
"Wait, even Duel Academies have school festivals? Aw, man… pass! No threes!"
At the boundary of the Soul Room, a small table had somehow appeared, letting Miles and Dark Aisha kill time with card games.
"Of course, Miles. Though this is my first time attending one, too."
Held annually at year's end, the school festival was the academy's biggest celebration—students' ultimate party.
Every club set up booths to showcase their semester achievements, which were then judged.
For example, the Magic Club's success with their Transformation Potion prints pretty much guaranteed them this year's Best Club Award. Other groups, like the Cyber Dragon Struggle Society or the Dragon Girl Appreciation Club, had their own bizarre yet entertaining ideas.
But the main events of the festival—those beloved staples of Fusion Academy—were two signature activities.
First: the Class Year Team Duel Challenge.
Unlike the midterm exhibition matches, this was serious.
Each homeroom picked their top three students to represent their grade in a 1v1 duel series, and each victory from your grade earned every student in that year 100 Skill Credits.
Naturally, 1v1 duels favored second-years, who had more experience; So the bonus rewards were lavish enough to shake the halls.
Any first-year who managed to defeat a second-year got a random A-rank Spell Card.
Given that those were worth nearly 400 Spell Points, first-year representatives always fought with everything they had.
High risk, high reward. And so, in festival history, first-years hadn't always lost.
Kaima and Irena had both scored wins, narrowly avoiding Alester in the brackets.
Second: the other big event everyone cared about—
Fusion Academy's Miss Campus Pageant.
...
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