"Yes." Cronos sat in the headmaster's seat, hands clasped together, looking quite conflicted, "There is one thing... no, perhaps many things I need your help with, Tenjo."
He glanced to the side, and Tenjo Hikari followed his gaze to see the massive wall-sized TV screen in the headmaster's office.
At this moment, several images were playing on the screen.
There were dimensions like the "Ancient Gear Factory" dimension, which had good relations with the academy, as well as some other known dimensions.
"It's about the new semester's coursework... that's right, it's related to [Dimensions]," Cronos began.
He knew very well that Tenjo Hikari and Caesar Ryo were completely different types.
Both were standard "academy types" Duelists, able to remain clear-headed no matter what happened during a duel.
However, unlike Caesar Ryo, Tenjo Hikari had more direct and clear pursuits.
As a teacher, he would not cultivate Tenjo Hikari the same way he did with Caesar Ryo. So, even if he was pressured by Instructor Napoleon, he wouldn't tell Tenjo Hikari what happened—just congratulate him on his promotion to a higher academy.
"Congratulations on your promotion to the Blue Academy; you deserve it."
"Thank you for your help," Tenjo Hikari said, "However, there's no need to change dorms. I'd rather stay in my previous dorm; Teacher Kabayama helps me a lot in daily life."
"That's not a problem," Cronos nodded.
Before he sponsored Tenjo Hikari's schooling and helped him with gemstone sales and card recovery, Kabayama had taken care of Tenjo Hikari's everyday needs, so he understood Tenjo's thoughts.
He also knew very well that Teacher Kabayama was a person afraid of loneliness. If Student Tenjo, the Academy Chief of Yellow Academy, suddenly moved to Blue Academy, Kabayama would likely feel quite upset.
He didn't want to be pestered by the Curry Demon.
With business settled, Cronos officially got to the main point.
First, even though Duel Academy has been less focused because of Caesar Ryo's consecutive losses in professional tournaments, it's not as though no one is interested—it just means the level of attention has decreased.
At least in these couple of years, the operations of Duel Academy have been on an upward trend. Even going back to before Caesar Ryo enrolled, the academy was on the rise.
The reason is simple: "Dimension Travel" is the world's biggest and most compelling topic, and Duel Academy enables students to travel through dimensions and explore other dimensions, which is a huge treasure for regular people and most businesses.
Caesar Ryo's fame was but a huge catalyst. While his losses have lessened others' enthusiasm, it doesn't mean there isn't any enthusiasm.
After all, after dueling with Ed, Caesar went up against several other professional duelists. Though it wasn't a string of crushing victories like before, he still managed wins and losses. Even against duelists heavily targeting him with their cards, Caesar Ryo could still win with his "Duelist's Right Hand."
Hearing this, Tenjo Hikari subtly sighed in relief.
In the original work, Caesar's successive defeats after his duel with Ed were due not only to his emotional state exploding but also to two other points. First, professional duelists crazily targeted him with cards, and second, Saiou Takuma's "Divination" also played a role.
In this world, Ed was already set to join the Fusion Department. His duel with Caesar Ryo was more serious, so post-duel, even though Marufuji Ryo was a bit downcast, he quickly got over it.
All in all, Tenjo Hikari kept an eye on the recent league reports and deduced that his mental state should be fine.
However, because he's not "invincible," the enthusiasm has somewhat declined, both outside and within Duel Academy.
Regardless, at least outsiders won't think "any Duel Academy student will do" like before.
The future paths for Red Academy students after graduation have become a big issue again.
And the matter Cronos wanted to discuss was related to that.
Since Tenjo Hikari won, naturally, the Red Academy wouldn't be abolished.
In fact, Cronos wasn't worried about the futures of Tenjo Hikari or Yuki Judai after graduation.
Tenjo Hikari, for instance, has already become an "Absolute Fusion Master" and has endorsement ads. There's no worry about his future. Others, however, cause concern for him and the headmaster.
Of course—mainly for the headmaster.
Cronos himself was somewhat dissatisfied with Red Academy students, although not as extremely as Napoleon.
Most of the Red Academy students were in a state of giving up.
"For this, the headmaster came up with a good idea."
"...What did Principal Samejima think of this time?"
Tenjo Hikari mentally cursed, 'Crap.'
Though Principal Samejima is a good person, respected in the Duel World and able to have conversations with all sorts of people, there is one terrifying "characterization" about him—none of the things he tries to implement ever go as planned and always end disastrously in the end.
Not to mention distant events like the Three Phantasm, the White Society, the destructive little prince of a kingdom—these were all his doings. The Three Phantasm can't entirely be blamed on him, as he was deceived, but the rest were all his creations.
Especially the later "Evil Root GX Tournament," it was something everyone shook their heads at.
So when Tenjo Hikari took a deep breath and mentally prepared himself, Cronos continued.
"The headmaster contacted some of his old friends, the board members of the school, and went to smooth relations with Kaiba Company," Cronos said. "He believes that the reason Red Academy students don't progress isn't just a lack of effort; the biggest factor might be a lack of opportunities and ways to improve...
So, this year, he prepared to expand the scale and form of the academy's Dimension Gate, planning to..."
Tenjo Hikari could barely hear the rest; he felt himself going deaf.
'There we go.'
After hearing Cronos out, he lightly tapped his forehead to wake himself up.
Well, this was also something destined to happen in the original. It's just that because this world already has Dimension Gates, it makes it more reasonable, and it happened a bit sooner.
Sometimes he wondered who the actual host of the Wave of Light was.
Saiou?
Doesn't seem like it.
Fortunately, since the world already had thorough research into dimensions, Principal Samejima wasn't careless as in the original work. He'd probably arrange for people to conduct large-scale dimension travels later on to some academies and friendly dimensions designated by Kaiba Company for students' "internships."
After all, that work was the most popular in the world.
Cronos telling Tenjo Hikari this in advance wasn't to have him help or look after the students—which was the teachers' job.
He told Tenjo this to let him know he would have the opportunity to explore some unknown dimensions during the collective academy internship.
Oh—
Just say that earlier!
It would have been good to get to the point sooner!
Great, then.
Tenjo Hikari nodded.
So, this is the special privilege of an "Academy Chief"?
"Lastly..." Cronos's face broke into a smile, "Student Tenjo, you have always been a student I am proud of. Stick to your thoughts, and know I take pride in you."
"...Thank you, Professor. You are also the professor I respect the most in the school."
He truly supported Cronos as headmaster.
After the conversation, Tenjo Hikari walked out of the headmaster's office and immediately saw two slender, graceful figures in gold and silver.
The more imposing one smirked as Tenjo emerged and bluntly voiced her thoughts: "We've been waiting for you, Tenjo Hikari!"
"We're about to fall asleep."
"Come on, let's have that duel we agreed upon long ago!"
It was the Tyler Sisters. After their duel with Teacher Rocks and the venue disbanded, they came to the headmaster's office.
Tenjo Hikari lightly knocked his head.
Almost forgot about them.
Today, he had already used up his "Super Polymerization" absorption times...
However—
Just in time.
He wanted to try using advanced Alchemy to control Super Polymerization to see if he could increase its absorption of Duel Energy.
Since he learned some D-wheel modification knowledge from Yusei, he'd advanced further in Alchemy and wanted to experiment with more Super Polymerization possibilities.
After all, leaving these two elite Fusion Army members, the "invincible" tag duelists, just in the academy was not ideal.
"Tag duel, huh? Sure, but wait a moment while I find a friend."
"A friend, huh? Haha, your friends have already decided. They are at the dueling arena waiting for you."
Can't miss out on cards, those guys...
"Who is it?" Tenjo Hikari asked first.
"Uh, who was it again? What's his name?" the older sister asked.
"A pretty imposing guy in black attire," the younger sister replied.
It's Thunder, huh—