Chapter 87: Expulsion Duel
"That's the general situation, Amano-san."
After Nakajima was imprisoned, Shio's class got a new homeroom teacher—Furukawa, a young man in his twenties.
From Furukawa-sensei, Amano learned the full story.
Furukawa was young and motivated. He wasn't going to be irresponsible like Nakajima, the jaded forty-something who'd avoided all accountability. Instead, he'd actively engaged with the situation, trying to resolve the bullying.
But even kids could harbor malice that rivaled adults.
The other two in Akiyama's group had been scared into submission by Shio. Akiyama himself appeared to comply with Furukawa-sensei's mediation on the surface, but behind the scenes he continued his petty harassment.
Today's incident was a perfect example.
The target remained Shiyue—Akiyama knew Shio was too tough to mess with directly.
And Shio kept stepping in every time Shiyue was about to be bullied.
"Amano-san, your sister is a genuinely kind child. As her homeroom teacher, I understand that better than the other faculty."
The other teachers feared Shio purely because they'd seen what happened to Nakajima. They avoided her like a plague carrier.
Amano finally relaxed.
He'd known it. Shio would never bully other students. No matter how willful or competitive she was at home, as her brother he knew better than anyone—Shio's nature was fundamentally kind and just.
"But the reason I asked you to come today is that there's something requiring your presence."
"What is it?"
"Amano Shio has applied for a Contract Duel through the Eva system."
"Contract Duel?"
"Yes. A Contract Duel between her and Akiyama. And Eva has approved it. That's why I needed both guardians present as witnesses."
"What are the contract terms?"
At the question about terms, Furukawa-sensei's expression grew deeply troubled—as if the whole thing defied reason.
"The loser—gets expelled."
"Expelled? Determining a student's expulsion through a duel? Eva actually approves that kind of thing?"
It was absurd. Staking expulsion on a card game.
Actually—thinking about it—in a world where everyone had duelist brain, it made a certain sense.
The anime Yu-Gi-Oh! GX had featured plenty of "lose and get expelled" duels involving protagonist Judai Yuki.
"And the other side agreed?"
"Akiyama agreed as well."
"Does he know what deck Shio uses?"
The question stumped Furukawa-sensei.
Middle school had been in session a week and hadn't held any practical duel courses yet. The entire curriculum was theory-heavy with minimal actual dueling.
"Is there a problem with Amano Shio's deck?"
"Not a problem, exactly."
No problem was the biggest problem.
That Cyber Dragon deck would be overkill even against high school students. Putting a middle schooler against it was just cruel.
His sister really had gone from superfan to villain arc.
"Since both sides have agreed, I'm willing to witness this duel as her guardian. Whatever the outcome, I'll accept it."
"I apologize, Amano-san. The academy and we as teachers handled this poorly. That's why things escalated this far."
In Furukawa-sensei's view, Shio had a real chance of losing and getting expelled.
Even though she'd applied for the duel herself, anyone with eyes could see—this was Shio's desperate measure to protect Shiyue from further bullying.
If a kind child got expelled for protecting a bullying victim, both the school and the teacher bore responsibility.
"I understand, Furukawa-sensei. Bullying is a complicated problem that exists in schools everywhere. It's a persistent affliction that's extremely difficult to solve. Maybe Shio understood that, and that's why she made this decision."
Simplifying a complex problem with the most straightforward solution. Like knights in ancient duels—cards as swords, the loser leaves the field.
The duel was scheduled for after middle school dismissal.
Plenty of students wanting to watch the spectacle would probably show up for this expulsion duel.
Amano was led to the middle school's dedicated duel arena.
Shio, waiting for the duel to start, suddenly spotted her brother and looked momentarily flustered.
"Brother—what are you doing here?"
"It's fine. Furukawa-sensei already told me everything."
Amano reached out and ruffled Shio's hair.
This was when a big brother needed to give his little sister maximum support.
"You did well, Shio. If I were in your position, I couldn't think of a better solution."
"Brother!" Being validated by Amano and getting headpats—Shio felt invincible now.
"Go do what you think is right, Shio!"
"So that's Amano-san's older brother." The timid girl following behind Shio had to be Shiyue, the bullying victim. "He's—kind of handsome."
"Told you my brother's super handsome! And really good at dueling! Shiyue, you know Kaiba Chiha? My brother totally—"
"Hmph, so you're Amano Shio's guardian?"
A shrill, acidic voice cut off Shio's boasting about her brother.
"I heard you used to pick through garbage in the lower districts? You're her brother, and your parents can't even be bothered to show up—what kind of upbringing is that?"
Amano's brow furrowed with displeasure as he looked at the middle-aged woman. She wore expensive clothes that couldn't quite hide her slightly overweight figure.
"And you are?"
"I'm Akiyama Sho's mother. You people from the lower districts are just full of violent tendencies, aren't you? That sister of yours injured my little Sho—did you know that?"
"Did you know your Akiyama Sho was bullying other students first?" Amano gestured toward Shiyue. "Do other children's injuries not count?"
"What does that have to do with my little Sho? My child has been obedient and well-behaved since birth. He'd never randomly bully anyone. You know that girl has no mother and her father's a drunk, right? Maybe he's the one hitting her."
Amano had heard about Shiyue's father from Furukawa-sensei.
The Akiyama family ran a logistics company. Shiyue's father was an ordinary employee there. That power dynamic was exactly why Shiyue hadn't dared fight back.
"Dad—Dad would never hit me." Shiyue tugged at Amano's sleeve.
A bully child with this kind of parent made perfect sense.
Amano was increasingly convinced Shio's decision had been absolutely correct. Better to strike decisively than waste words on this woman.
"Since both guardians are present, we'll begin the Contract Duel now," Furukawa-sensei announced.
As expected, a sizable crowd of middle school students had gathered to watch.
Most had come for the spectacle after hearing rumors—wanting to see what kind of ruthless character the infamous transfer student bully really was.
Shio and Akiyama Sho took positions on opposite sides of the duel field.
"That girl's the rumored bully?"
"She doesn't look like a bully at all. She's actually cute."
"Don't be fooled by cute appearances! I heard she hit a teacher!"
"Really? Lucky teacher."
"Bro, you got issues?"
Obviously these discussants didn't know the truth.
The students who actually knew about the bullying—Shio's classmates—were all present without exception. But the atmosphere around them was eerily silent.
They'd avoided Shiyue like the plague when she was being bullied. Feared getting targeted themselves if they helped.
But when someone actually stood up, spoke out against the injustice, challenged the dark disease festering in their classroom—
Without any coordination, every single Class 3-7 student had come.
Maybe this battle was the righteous judgment they'd been waiting for all along.
But none of them had earned the right to cheer for Shio.
Because when they'd chosen to look away, in that moment, they'd become accomplices to the bullying.
[EVA: DUEL APPROVED]
[DUELIST — AMANO SHIO]
[DUELIST — AKIYAMA SHO]
[DATA NETWORK CONNECTED, DUEL FIELD GENERATED]
[DUEL TYPE — CONTRACT DUEL]
[PROUD DUELISTS — LET VICTORY AND DEFEAT WEIGH YOUR SOULS IN THE BALANCE!]
[DUEL!!]
"My turn—draw!"
Akiyama won first move. After reviewing his hand, he confidently slapped a monster card onto his Duel Disk.
"I Normal Summon in Attack Position—Ax Raider!"
[Ax Raider] [4-Star / EARTH / Warrior / Normal] [ATK: 1700 / DEF: 1150]
[An axe-wielding warrior. Single-handed axe strikes pack considerable power.]
The monster materialized through the Duel Disk projection, swinging its axe twice through empty air.
Holy shit. Real Ax Raider showed up.