Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

"No, Minazuki-kun, you've been enrolled for a year now, and you still haven't memorized the dormitory assignments?" The passerby standing opposite the pink-haired boy, Minazuki-kun, tugged at his blue uniform and complained, "The Obelisk-Blue dormitory where I am is the dormitory for top students. The Sun God-Yellow dormitory is just a little better than the Osiris-Red dormitory."

"Those who care about trivial details will become idiots who can't draw cards." A glint flashed in Minazuki Kon's eyes. "Good opportunity, I'll seize the first strike!"

"Ah, here it comes! Minazuki's trash talk is a distraction tactic to seize the initiative!"

"Damn it! It was because of this move that I lost to him in last month's duel test!"

"There's no other way. Going first allows you to set trap cards and launch summons, while going second only gives you the option to enter the battle phase. Going first gives you a better gaming experience, while going second only means you get tortured. Of course, you have to go first!"

The students in the audience were discussing the duel on the field, and seeing that Mizuki-kun from the Sun God-Yellow dormitory was attracting so much attention, Kira Aoki, the head teacher of the Sun God-Yellow dormitory, couldn't help but rub his temples.

There's a saying that the students who leave the deepest impression on teachers are often those with strong personalities who are considered "bad" or "mischievous." The more mischievous they are, the more memorable they become, sometimes even more so than the well-behaved, high-achieving students. On the other hand, it's the average students, whose grades are neither too good nor too bad and who don't cause much trouble, who are hard for teachers to remember.

In Duel Academy, Osiris Red's students are the underachievers, Obelisk Blue's students are the high achievers, while Aurora Yellow's students are the kind who don't leave a lasting impression. The best example is a certain student named Six-Fold Egg who hasn't even enrolled yet. It was precisely because of this unassuming intuition that Kira Aoki chose to become Aurora Yellow's dormitory head teacher.

However, although he was assigned to the Osiris-Red dormitory upon enrollment, after intensive study of dueling knowledge over half a year, the first-year student Minazuki Jun successfully moved from the Osiris-Red dormitory to the Sun God-Yellow dormitory in the midterm exam, becoming the first student in the Duel Academy's dormitory grading system to complete the dormitory upgrade.

Of course, some people strive to improve themselves, while others fall from the top due to regression. Although there is no upper limit to the number of students in the three dormitories of the Duel Academy, there is a lower limit to the score. Two students who were assigned to Obelisk-Blue when they entered the academy had good strength in duels, but their knowledge of dueling was terrible. At the same time that Minazuki Jun was promoted from Osiris-Red to Apollo-Yellow, the two of them were ruthlessly demoted to Yellow Dormitory by Chronos, the teacher of Blue Dormitory.

Returning to Minazuki Kon, just as Kira Aoki, the headmaster of the Yellow Dormitory, cherished a low-key and peaceful life, Minazuki Kon was equally flamboyant, effortlessly becoming the center of attention. To paraphrase Principal Kobayashi Hayato's assessment of Minazuki Kon when he was promoted to the Yellow Dormitory, "If there were duels where the duelists would enter the arena in a circus-like fashion, Minazuki Kon would be a natural fit for that kind of action duel, because the audience would immediately notice his presence."

Since he moved to the Yellow Dormitory six months ago, Aoki has never felt so tired. He would rather go back to the planning department of the Kaiba Group and continue to face the endless overtime work caused by the president, Seto Kaiba, than make the Taiyo-Yellow Dormitory the focus of the campus time and time again because of Minazuki-kun's antics.

In particular, he couldn't send the students back to the Osiris-Red dormitory, given that Mizuki-kun was performing exceptionally well.

Fortunately, the torment of the past six months is almost over. After today's final exams, Minazuki's combined score in dueling theory and practice should be enough for him to be promoted to Obelisk-Blue. Rather than his own preference for a peaceful life like a plant, Professor Chronos, the head teacher of the Blue Dormitory, is more suited to Minazuki's "striving for excellence" spirit.

Watching Minazuki-kun Special Summon three White Rabbits with a "Hellish Rampage Summon," and then use the Field Spell Card "Mind's Eye Temple" and the Normal Spell Card "Triangle Attack" to give the three White Rabbits the ability to bypass the opponent's monsters and attack directly, with each attack dealing a constant 1000 damage, even Aoki's stiff face couldn't help but show a smile.

"Well, have you seen how powerful I am now!" The victorious Minazuki pointed at his opponent, who was kneeling on the ground, humiliated by being kicked to death by the frail [Little White Rabbit], and arrogantly declared, "This is the invincible 'Little White Rabbit Dark Infinite Break' combo!"

"The winner is Minazuki from the Sun God-Yellow Dorm. However, Mitsukasa from the Obelisk-Blue Dorm, you also passed your final exam, but you still need to improve your deck's defensive capabilities, such as adding more cards like [Magic Cylinder]."

Hayato stepped onto the dueling platform and announced the final exam results for both duelists. After a pause, he looked at Minazuki Kon and said, "Also, with your theoretical test score of 85 and your practical test score of 95, Minazuki Kon's average score is exactly 90. Congratulations on being promoted to the Obelisk-Blue dormitory."

"What?! Why did my theory get a full fifteen points deducted, and why did I get five points deducted even though I won the duel completely?"

Faced with Minazuki's confusion, Hayato shrugged: "First of all, in the multiple-choice section of the theory test, you actually chose the option to use [Winged Kuriboh] to block the attack of [Ancient Mechanical Titan] for the fourth question. Didn't you know that the effect of [Winged Kuriboh] is activated after it is destroyed? And [Ancient Mechanical Titan] had already cleared your basic points by then. Also, in the fill-in-the-blank question, you wrote [颉颃胜负] as '吉亢胜负'. As punishment, you will have to take an extra cultural class taught by Vice Principal Samejima next semester."

"Then, in terms of dueling practice, everything else is acceptable, but you didn't shout 'Tamashi' when you summoned 'Little Rabbit' and you didn't shout the move name when you attacked. The impression was too bad, so I'm deducting five points from your presentation score."

"Reporting to the principal! Not everyone is like you, having every monster as their own Tamashii. My Soul Card is the invincible [Lion Warlock]. Besides, I clearly added the move name after the attack!" Minazuki Jun retorted.

"It's like taking birth control pills when you're pregnant. If the other side is already using G to start drawing cards, will it be useful if you only use Graveyard Finger then?" Hayato refuted Minazuki's rebuttal. "Anyway, you'll be reporting to Professor Chronos after the start of the next semester."

Kira Aoki, who was in the audience, was about to smile when he heard Hayato's words, but then he heard Minazuki Kon continue to protest: "Reporting to the principal, I don't want to move up to the dormitory. Professor Chronos is too ugly. Kira-sensei is much more handsome."

As she spoke, noticing the surprised look on Kira Aoki's face in the stands, Minazuki-kun gave him a thumbs up and said loudly, "Don't worry, Kira-sensei, I really like the Yellow Dormitory and won't leave easily!"

"Get out of here!" Kira Aoki roared inwardly, his face expressionless. Although the school could demote unqualified students to other dormitories, promotion required the students' own wishes, meaning that even Principal Kobayashi Hayato couldn't stop Minazuki Kon from staying in the Sun God-Yellow dormitory.

This means that next semester, and even for the next few years, I will have to continue to endure the unusually high level of attention that Mizuki-kun brings to the Huang dormitory!

"But Mizuki-kun, although Professor Chronos, the headmaster of the Obelisk-Blue Dormitory, is not good at cooking, he hired a group of chefs to provide meals for the students in the Blue Dormitory. Moreover, outstanding students in the Blue Dormitory can receive scholarships provided by me, the principal."

Hayato said casually, and the next second after he finished speaking, Minazuki-kun, who had just been giving a thumbs-up to the audience, suddenly turned around and said, "Reporting to the principal, I want to go to the Blue Dormitory!"

'Don't change your tune so quickly!' Kira Aoki said, resting his forehead on his hand. 'While I'm happy he's gone, this subtle sense of defeat...'

After stepping off the stage, Hayato sat in the first row of the audience, watching the next group of students take the stage for their final duel. They drew cards to start the battle, but then he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He took it out and saw a message in a chat group.

He handed the scoreboard to Samejima and Hayato, who were also watching the game, and then opened his phone to check the detailed information.

[Blue Eye Must Instantly Beat Red Eye]: Woohoo! Take off! (Photo: Jonouchi holding a trophy) @All Members

[Spinning and Jumping with My Eyes Closed]: Spring Tournament Champion? Wow, Jonouchi, this is your first trophy since becoming a professional duelist, right?

[Honda Forward 4]: Wow, Jonouchi!

【Shining Bakura-chan】: Wow, Jonouchi is amazing!

[Dice Girl]: Wow, Jonouchi!

[Recruiting Game Talents]: Wow, City is amazing... Wait a minute, who is this dice girl?

[Dice Girl]: It's me, it's me, Otogi.

【Blue-Eyes Will Instantly Destroy Red-Eyes】: Otogi? Why did you change your name to that?

[Dice Girl]: You're right, but "Bo O Gate" is a turn-based tabletop multiplayer online role-playing game independently developed by Otogi Studio and published by International Illusion Society. I forgot the rest.

[Blue Eyes Will Definitely Beat Red Eyes]: Oh right, you set up a game studio last year to develop a game. That game seems to be quite popular. I've seen Ryuzaki and Kajiki Ryota often playing it together online, and Hayato seems to play it too. Your name and avatar, could they be a personification of the dice from that game?

[Dice Girl]: That's right. Because many events in the game rely on dice, my account has almost a million followers. Many people have wished for great dice rolls in the comments section.

【Blue Eyes Must Instantly Kill Red Eyes】: Playing "Bo O Gate", fast forward to the "Don't Laugh Challenge".

[Spinning and jumping with my eyes closed]: Compared to Otogi, I'm actually more curious about your name, Jonouchi. Wasn't it "Red-Eyes will definitely kill Blue-Eyes" last month? Why did you suddenly change it?

【Blue Eyes Must Instantly Kill Red Eyes】: Don't ask anymore. That scoundrel Kaiba schemed against me, saying that the professional duelist training program also included the operation of a public account. He took my account, changed its name, and locked the name change!

【Shining Bakura-chan】：Le

[Recruiting Game Talent]: Le

【Steel Tank, One-Hit Mas】: Happy. It fits my stereotypical prejudice against the Seahorse.

[Honda Forward 4]: This photo is wrong. If you're holding the trophy with both hands, are you taking a selfie with your feet?

[Dice Girl]: You've spotted the blind spot, Honda.

【The Lava Demon is Hungry】: Wrong. It must be Jonouchi who took out his phone at superluminal speed and took a picture of himself from a second ago.

[Honda Forward 4]: Malik, you know about faster-than-light speeds!

[Blue Eyes Must Instantly Kill Red Eyes]: Oh, actually, it was Mai who filmed it for me. Didn't you guys watch the finals? It was a duel between Mai and me.

【The Lava Demon is Hungry】: Didn't watch it, afraid of being bombarded with dog food (a Chinese slang term for witnessing romantic scenes).

[Honda Forward 4]: Didn't watch it, unless Shizuka and I become...

[Steel Tank, One Strike Musk]: Didn't watch it, I'm taking final exams at school.

[Game Talent Recruitment in Progress]: Haven't checked, I'm taking final exams at school.

【Darling is recruiting me!】: I haven't seen it, I'm having final exams at school.

[Blue Eyes Will Definitely Beat Red Eyes]: Rebecca-chan, Your Name...

[Spinning and jumping with my eyes closed]: Shameless!

【Darling is recruiting me!】: Hmph, you old woman, are you just jealous of me? Jealous that Darling and I can be in the same school, spending our nights together?

【Spinning and Jumping with My Eyes Closed】: Who taught you to use those two idioms like that? Wait a minute, from the same school? I didn't know you and the game were in the same school!

【Darling, recruit me!】: Of course you don't know! I secretly transferred to Darling's school last year. I'm the genius girl Rebecca; I can easily get accepted by any school. Even the newly built Duel Academy invited me!

[Steel Tank, One-Hit Mas]: It's not the main Duel Academy campus where I am. It's other branch campuses that Kaiba saw were doing well at Duel Academy, so he started building them all over the world, and even affiliated middle schools. The one that invited Rebecca is probably the branch in America.

[Honda Forward 4]: Speaking of Haima, I remember Hayato also pulled me into the group chat, but why hasn't he said anything?

【Brues is the best】: Hmph, because only the weak gather together. @【Darling, recruit me!】My promise still stands. You're welcome to join the Haima Group anytime you're interested.

【Darling Recruits Me!】: Thank you, President Kaiba, but I still prefer to stay by Darling's side. Besides, compared to someone else, I'm already making a "love child" with Darling! @【Spinning, Jumping, Eyes Closed】

[Spinning and jumping with eyes closed]: You're playing a game?!

[Game Talent Recruiting]: It's not like what Rebecca said! Don't say things that are so easily misunderstood, Rebecca! I just wanted to make a game, and Rebecca, who is very good at coding, volunteered to join the studio.

[Steel Tank, One-Hit Musk]: Oh, I see. That's all then. Sorry, officer, I dialed the wrong number. No one here has relationships with minors.

[Lava Demon is Hungry]: Tsk, brother-in-law, you're still faster!

Putting down his phone, Hayato watched as another group of students completed their dueling practice test in the arena. Samejima stepped in to announce the results in his place. Hayato opened the thermos in front of him and took a sip of the iced cola inside: "Yay, yay, another peaceful year."

Chapter 1044 The Peace and Tranquility of 2003

“Fujiwara Yusuke, Tenjouin Fubuki, Oyama Hei…” In the principal’s office, Hayato looked at the list of students who enrolled this year and read out the names from top to bottom. He sighed, “Nearly half of the students were assigned to Obelisk-Blue. The quality of this year’s freshmen is really high.”

“Of course, but Hayato, did you forget someone’s name?” Samejima, sitting opposite him, suddenly said somewhat awkwardly, “I remember there should be, it seems, other very good students among the new students this year.”

“For example, Ryo Marufuji?” Hayato put down the student list in his hand, and Samejima could see that in the overall grades column, “Ryo Marufuji”’s name was only below “Yusuke Fujiwara”, between him and “Fubuki Tenjouin”. It was clear that Hayato had deliberately skipped “Ryo Marufuji”’s name. “Mr. Samejima, why don’t you just be frank and say that you are looking forward to your former student’s enrollment?”

"Haha, you know my personality, I'm relatively reserved."

Seeing the name of his former disciple, whom he cared about, appear at the top of the list and knowing that the disciple had been assigned to the Obelisk-Blue dormitory with excellent grades, Samejima, who was already very confident in the disciple's strength, put aside his slight worry and scratched the back of his head somewhat embarrassedly.

“I’ve always suspected that it’s because you subconsciously like to scratch your head that you went bald so early, Mr. Samejima.” Looking at Samejima, who suddenly froze because of his words, Hayato glanced at the report in his hand. “However, although the enrollment situation of the Duel Academy’s main campus, the Eastern, Western and Southern branches is quite good, the enrollment situation of the Northern branch, which was built the latest, is not very good this year.”

"Principal Fumio Ichinose of the Northern Branch School said that perhaps setting up a small shop at the Northern Branch School, just like at our main campus, could boost enrollment. Therefore, he'd like to ask Auntie Tomie, the shopkeeper from our school, to come and help out—"

"A pound of pears (objection)!" Samejima suddenly slammed his hand on the table and said excitedly, "Although the Northern Branch is the last Duel Academy branch to be built and start enrolling students, it also means that the Northern Branch currently has the latest and most advanced supporting facilities. If I remember correctly, the Northern Branch is located in a cold region and even has a special submarine specially customized from the Anasis Shipping Group for transporting supplies."

"The enrollment situation at the Northern Branch School, which has such good conditions, is not very good. I think it must be because Ichinose is incompetent and negligent. Even if we send Miss Tomie there, it won't make a difference!"

After saying that, fearing that Hayato might misunderstand, Samejima added, "This is a conclusion I have drawn based on my management experience over the past few years as the school's vice principal, and there is absolutely no bias or selfishness involved."

Seeing Samejima, who had just said she was reserved, suddenly speaking eloquently about the situation at the Northern Branch School and arguing vehemently against their aid application, Hayato teased, "You'd better really be."

"But even if you weren't so excited, I wouldn't have agreed to Principal Ichinose's request. After all, the environments of the various branches of Duel Academy are all different. Aunt Tomie's experience in running a small shop at the main campus is not applicable to the northern branch, which is covered in ice and snow all year round. At least, her idea of ​​'card-drawing bread' is not suitable; it tastes better at room temperature."

As Hayato spoke, he patted a sealed bag on his table, which contained "card-drawing bread" that he had bought from Aunt Tomie, the shopkeeper at the Duel Academy.

The so-called "card-drawing bread" is actually a packaged food consisting of two slices of bread sandwiching a filling. From crepes and fried noodles to pizza, salted fish, durian, and cilantro, the filling between the two slices of bread in each bag is basically different. And because it is sandwiched between two slices of bread, it is impossible to tell what the filling is from the identical outer packaging. Just like a duelist drawing cards, you can never predict what kind of card you will draw next.

The shopkeeper, Aunt Duomei, raises a golden chicken. Because it only lays one egg a day, it is called the "Golden Egg." The top prize in the "Draw Card Bread" game is a golden bread with the "Golden Egg" inside. It is quite a challenge to draw the golden bread from among the many "Draw Card Breads," but the students at the school are very happy to do so because they are confident in their ability to draw cards.

Hayato, despite his incredible ability to easily draw the Golden Bread, wouldn't risk competing with the students for it. Instead, he deliberately avoids the Golden Bread and chooses his fillings based on his daily mood. For example, today's bread, though unopened, contains a pineapple pizza filling that would make Professor Chronos faint—Hayato wasn't exaggerating, as Professor Chronos had indeed bought "card-drawing bread" before and fainted after eating the strawberry jam pasta filling, requiring him to be taken to the infirmary by Ms. Ayukawa Megumi. Since then, he hasn't bought "card-drawing bread" again.

It's worth mentioning that the current record holder for consecutive draws of the Golden Bread is Minazuki from the Obelisk-Blue dormitory, a second-year student—who will be a third-year student after the start of the new semester. Although his card-drawing ability is not particularly outstanding and he often draws odd flavors like sesame paste and brown sugar, he came up with the idea of ​​increasing the probability of drawing it by increasing the base number. Although he is often forced to eat more than a dozen odd flavored breads, he has maintained the record of drawing the Golden Bread twenty times in a row.

—Then on the twenty-first day, Hayato, on a whim, wanted to eat golden bread and interrupted his record.

However, if the card-drawing bread, which is very popular at the Duel Academy headquarters, were to go to the Northern Branch, it would definitely not be as popular as it is here. First of all, the special geographical environment of the Northern Branch causes low temperatures all year round. If the signature Golden Chicken were taken there, it would probably be frozen. Not to mention that the fillings such as fried noodles would definitely not taste as good when they are cold.

The same applies to other management experience. Even if Aunt Tomie went to the Northern Branch School, she probably wouldn't be able to make full use of her experience. Of course, Hayato would refuse Principal Ichinose's request.

However, it is a fact that the Northern Branch School has the lowest enrollment among the several dueling academies, and Hayato would not sit idly by in the face of the Northern Branch School's plea for help in such a predicament. He came up with an idea.

"Let's have a Chunin Exam... no, let's have a competition!" Hayato suddenly said, tapping his fist against his palm. "Let the Northern Branch select a student representative, and then let our headquarters select a student representative. Let's join forces and hold a duel tournament."

"The main problem with the enrollment of the Northern Branch is that it was the last to be built and has the lowest exposure. Letting the students of the Northern Branch compete with the students of the main campus can not only show the outside world that the Northern Branch also has sufficient ability to cultivate students, but also divert some of the excess enrollment resources of the main campus to the Northern Branch."

Hayato tapped his finger on the table. "It might be hard to see results from just one event, but holding it every year and doing it multiple times could boost enrollment at the Northern Branch School. Also, perhaps we could try to get this tournament on television for publicity."

“A duel, huh? That sounds like a good idea.” Samejima stroked his chin. “But even though it’s a friendly match, adding some stakes might make it more exciting. I’ll leave that to Principal Ichinose to discuss.”