"If we're meeting on the lake behind the girls' dorm, I don't need to row any further..."
Jiang He felt a bit better after seeing the message from Alexis and the others on his Duel PDA. He relaxed and waited in place.
"Hey, Jiang He! You're here too?"
Before the boat from the Obelisk Blue girls' dormitory could arrive, Jiang He heard a familiar, energetic, yet dim-witted voice from behind.
He raised an eyebrow and turned to see a figure with chestnut-colored hair in a red jacket, rowing a boat toward him. It was Jaden, that hot-headed idiot. Behind him in the rowing boat was a burly guy with a large nose who looked like a human koala. He was wearing the red-and-white uniform of a senior Slifer Red student.
It was Chumley, Jaden and Syrus's other roommate.
"What are you guys doing here?" Jiang He asked, surprised.
No matter how he looked at it, even if Alexis had messaged Jaden to ensure Jiang He would show up, the timing was too perfect. Jaden and the others should have only just started rowing! They shouldn't have reached him this quickly.
"It's Syrus. He sent a short message telling me to come save him," Jaden replied, showing his Duel PDA to Jiang He. He still seemed to have no idea what was actually happening.
"He's got a bit of wit in him..." Jiang He muttered, looking at the screen that read: SOS, Blue Girls' Dorm.
Managing to send a distress signal under the noses of Alexis and her two friends was an achievement in itself.
"Was Jiang He called here by Syrus's SOS too?" Chumley chimed in from the back.
"Cough... something like that. But my message didn't come from Syrus," Jiang He lied without blinking. He certainly couldn't admit that he knew exactly what was going on or that he had been lurking nearby the whole time.
"Ah, someone's coming!" Jaden shouted, pointing ahead.
Jiang He turned back toward the Obelisk Blue girls' dorm. Soon, a small boat rowed into view.
The unfortunate Syrus was acting as the laborer, rowing the boat while looking miserable.
"Big Brother..." Syrus sobbed toward Jaden.
"Syrus, what's going on?" Jaden looked at the boat in confusion. Alexis and her two friends were standing behind Syrus, who was tied up with a rope.
"Well... it's a long story. Or maybe a short one..." Syrus had a pained expression. He didn't know how to explain he'd been lured by a clumsy fake love letter, hadn't even read the contents, and was now taking the fall for a peeper in a black wetsuit who had escaped into the water. It was too embarrassing to say, especially in front of Jiang He.
"I didn't expect you to get here so fast, Jiang He," Alexis said with a smile, noticing him. She ignored the oddity of his speed and greeted him. However, a glimmer of battle intent was already beginning to burn in her eyes.
She didn't link Jaden's presence to Syrus's SOS; she assumed Jiang He had called Jaden along. To her, it just seemed like they had rowed very quickly. It was a perfect storm of coincidences and misunderstandings.
"So, what exactly happened?" Jiang He asked solemnly, pretending to be ignorant.
"This guy was behind our Obelisk Blue dormitory, trying to peep at the showers. We caught him," Jasmine and Mindy explained, prompted by a look from Alexis. "If the Academy finds out, he'll definitely be expelled."
"What?!" Jaden and Chumley were stunned.
"I told you, I wasn't peeping! I was tricked! The real peeper in the black wetsuit jumped into the water!" Syrus argued helplessly.
"Whether that's true or not, Syrus was caught behind the girls' dorm. That's a fact that's hard to explain away," Alexis said, her lips curling into a smile as she looked at Jiang He. "However, if you duel me and win, we'll let this matter drop. How about it?"
"Then let me duel you!" Jaden shouted, his addiction to cards flaring up as he raised his Duel Disk.
"No. My only target right now is Jiang He," Alexis rejected him immediately, her battle intent focused solely on the boy before her. Jaden might have beaten Professor Crowler, but she was far more interested in Jiang He and his secret.
"No way...!" Jaden groaned, clutching his head in despair. An elite Obelisk Blue opponent was right there, yet he wasn't the protagonist of this duel. For a card gamer, having no cards to play was worse than heartbreak.
All eyes fell on Jiang He, waiting for his answer.
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