Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

However, as soon as he took a step, the space tunnel that Jaden and the others had used suddenly disappeared.

"Although his performance was just so-so, I have to admit that that immature brat named Yuki Judai did rekindle some of the fighting passion that I had finally managed to calm down." Kaiba Man moved his hand away from a button on the Duel Disk, deactivated the optical camouflage to reveal the original appearance of the Duel Disk, and turned to look at "Nine of Bamboo".

"It's not complete boredom, but it's not enough to vent all my energy either. This limbo is really uncomfortable. Since you happen to be here, I might as well let you be my opponent in venting."

The helmet shaped like the Blue-Eyes White Dragon on his head had somehow come loose and was removed by the Seahorse Man. His long hair also vanished into thin air, revealing his original short brown hair. The Seahorse Man's face was full of expectant smiles, which were not gentle but rather extremely aggressive and full of fighting spirit!

"Although I won't defeat you in public and reclaim the crown that should have been mine long ago, let me see if you've lost your sharp claws while I've been away, having been with cattle and sheep all this time!"

The figure of [Blue-Eyes White Dragon] reappears. Even if the opponent is an acquaintance, she will still dedicate all her power to help "Kaiba Man" fight.

— Twenty minutes later.

Hayato, soaking in the hot spring, leaned against the shore, watching Jaden and the others leave the hot spring carrying hot spring eggs. He muttered to himself, "That Seto guy is really cunning. Even though he was injured in his duel with Jaden, he didn't care about saving face and held back more than one trick. He even secretly made a Blue-Eyes Jet Dragon. It seems that the Kaiba Corporation's technology has finally reached the point where they can make their own cards."

"I almost got one-shotted, but luckily I'm a bit better and managed to get an Ultimate Dragon Magister using [Super Fusion]." Hayato complained, stretching his neck. "But all the [Blue-Eyes] monsters are ridiculously tall, I had to keep my neck craning the whole time. I need to soak in a hot spring to relieve the fatigue."

Spotting a passing bamboo tube, Hayato casually blocked the vent, forcing Professor Chronos, who was underwater, to surface. He originally had things to do today, but now he just wanted to relax in the hot springs, so he decided to just conscript Professor Chronos to do "that."

Even if Professor Chronos is unwilling, it doesn't matter, because Hayato, as the principal, has unlimited power!

Chapter 1206 Intruder D...David

“Ma come può essere (What a mess this is)...”

At the dock built on the island of Duel Academy, Professor Chronos held a tablet computer in his hand, shielding his forehead from the sun, and casually complained, "Theoretically, I was also a patient injured in the 'Seven Stars' incident, so what?"

"Almost all the teachers and students are on holiday, but I, a member of the aristocracy, am still here working under the scorching sun. What a misfortune..."

Meanwhile, on the tablet in Professor Chronos's hand, Hayato's voice responded to his complaint: "There's nothing we can do. There aren't many teachers in the school qualified enough to represent Duel Academy in welcoming the exchange students. Professor Aoki from the Yellow Dorm is away on a business trip, and you know the situation in the Red Dorm. So, the only person we can rely on is you, Professor Chronos."

“Even if you say that, Principal Hayato… well, anyway, the rest of the work is almost done, and the transportation of the pre-shipped supplies has been arranged. The school staff will put the things where they need to go, and we're just waiting for the students to arrive.” Professor Chronos, shielding his eyes from the sun with his body, looked at the tablet. “But, just how long will it take for them to arrive, Anano?”

"It should have been a while. Although the ship carrying supplies departed earlier than the students, the cruise ship carrying the exchange students will not dock. It will only pass by Duel Academy Island. They will transfer to the transport helicopter on the cruise ship at the end of the journey to get to the island."

On the tablet, Hayato, who was video chatting with Professor Chronos, spoke while making a dragging motion, as if remotely controlling something to transmit it to Professor Chronos. "Before the exchange students arrive, let's look at the students' information to pass the time."

On Professor Chronos's tablet, an electronic file was opened, displaying a screen full of portraits, each accompanied by a student's name. Each portrait was also framed in four large boxes to indicate which college the students came from.

“Etherias Natsu Dragneel, Allen Walker, Eren Yeager…” Because of the large number of students, Professor Chronos had to rub his temples after only glancing at the densely packed list and reading out a few names. “As a way to pass the time, this file is far too extensive. Oh no, are there really that many exchange students this year?”

"Because the original purpose of the Duel Academy Exchange Tournament was simply to divert the surplus student resources from the main academy to the northern branch school where there was a relative shortage of students, the initial exchange tournament was almost entirely held between the main academy and the northern branch school. In fact, the so-called 'exchange tournament' was just a matter of each academy sending one student representative to duel for a while and that was it."

Hayato's avatar made a scratching motion and popped out from a corner of the electronic archive covering the entire tablet. "However, after several years of this event, the other colleges aren't stupid. They can't help but see the tempting traffic during the annual exchange competition. So, several colleges simply sent people to participate, and the students also sent as many as possible to ride the wave of popularity."

"In the end, it resulted in everyone sending more people, so everyone wanted to cramm as many as possible to make a name for themselves in this exchange competition. That's how it ended up with this many people." Turning his head, as if Hayato on the screen could also see the image on Professor Chronos's tablet, he stroked his chin and said, "But having so many people is really outrageous. Let's leave it at that for this year. Starting next year, I plan to introduce a strict rule to limit the number of students each academy can send."

"Won't the other college principals have objections?"

"Hmph, who dares to disobey me, who possesses Bayeri... I mean, who possesses [Hellfire Machine - Bayeri]? As the headmaster of this headquarters, my power is limitless!"

Upon hearing Hayato's catchphrase as the principal, Professor Chronos sighed and said, "Whatever, at least let me know which of these students deserve special attention."

"That's simple, just do it like this." With a flick of his finger, Professor Chronos watched as Hayato flicked the large number of avatars off the screen, leaving only one or two student avatars in the boxes representing each branch school.

Because of the reading habits he had developed at the Duel Academy over the years, Professor Chronos first looked at the top right corner, intending to browse through the students' files in the order of top right to bottom right, then top left, and bottom left.

The first thing that caught his eye was the blue frame representing the Northern Branch School located in Scandinavia. There were two student representatives in the frame, but one of the students' pictures had a gray cross on it.

Before Professor Chronos could express his doubts, as if guessing what he was going to say, Hayato spoke up first: "The recruitment of students at the Northern Branch has always been a problem. Even with the support of the exchange competition, we can only recruit a sufficient number of students each year, but the quality of the students is hard to describe. However, this year the Northern Branch has managed to recruit an outstanding student."

"John Anderson, I saw that kid when he was just a little brat. He definitely has some talent in Duel Monsters. If he didn't have to worry about his family who's holding him back all the time, he'd probably be even stronger." Hayato shrugged, then added, "Principal Ichise of the Northern Branch is counting on him to bring honor to the school in the Duel Monsters tournament this year, but..."

"But?" Professor Chronos asked curiously.

"His deck was a gift from Pegasus, a unique deck consisting of seven rare cards called 'Crystal Beasts'. However, Pegasus, that lazy dog ​​and procrastinator, has been dragging his feet on completing the last core card that can control the seven 'Crystal Beasts', 'Crystal God,' saying stupid things like 'I won't have any inspiration until I find the 'Crystal God' tablet.'"

Showing no respect whatsoever to the legendary "Father of Duel Monsters" in the eyes of the world, Hayato continued, "Then the boy named John got so impatient that his cards joined in, as if they sensed the location of the [Gem God] tablet."

"Now even Pegasus has no excuse to slack off. He has to take John to Egypt to find the stone tablet. The time for excavating the stone tablet and making the cards will probably take at least a year. Even if John only needs to find the stone tablet, he won't be able to make it back for this year's competition."

After hearing Hayato's words, even Professor Chronos couldn't help but smile and say, "No wonder there's an 'X' on this student named John Anderson's profile picture. Although we haven't met yet, I can imagine that Principal Ichise must be feeling terrible. Poor thing."

It's almost human nature to enjoy gloating and watching others suffer misfortune, and even Professor Chronos is no exception. Moreover, as the Northern Branch School, which has the most exchanges with the main campus, Principal Ichise is a familiar face to the main campus. Every teacher who knows the inside story is very interested in the "struggle" between Ichise and the main campus's vice principal, Samejima, and is naturally happy to see Principal Ichise suffer a setback before the exchange match even begins.

As for the student's portrait next to John Anderson, Professor Chronos didn't pay any attention to it. Although the other person's name was "Edogawa Yuri," and the character "Yu" in his name made him seem impressive, one look at his hairstyle and you could tell that his skill level was just so-so, and he didn't look like someone who was good at playing cards at all.

It seems that after losing the brilliant student John Anderson, whom they had finally managed to recruit, the Northern Campus will probably just be there to make a token appearance and serve as a stepping stone for other colleges.

Thinking this, Professor Chronos lowered his gaze to the red box representing the Southern Branch School, located in Africa in the Southern Hemisphere, only to find that it was even worse than the Northern Branch School, as it didn't even have a single avatar.

"John Anderson from the Northern Campus left after confirming his participation in the competition as an exchange student, so his profile picture has an X. The Southern Campus also had a second-year honor student—Jim Crocodile Cook—but in April of this year, when the fossil of an ancient crocodile dating back 2.5 million years was discovered in Niger, Jim, who was working part-time as an archaeologist, took several months off to participate in archaeological work there. As a result, the Southern Campus doesn't even have a single student worth paying special attention to this time."

Knowing that Professor Chronos's next target was the yellow box representing the Eastern Branch School located in Eurasia, Hayato said in advance, "The Eastern Branch School is similar. The Kaiba Group recently received a large order, which the Manjoume Group couldn't handle and had to give up to the Gallam Group in Europe to cooperate with the Kaiba Group. As a result, Amon Gallam, the adopted son of Ptah Gallam, the chairman of the Gallam Group, also took leave for the sake of his family business."

Don't ask why such a large conglomerate as the Gallamy Corporation would need a student council member who didn't even finish high school to lead it. In Hayato's memory, Ptah Gallamy was just a vain young master with little ability, while his biological son, Sid Gallamy, seemed to be just a kid under ten years old. On the contrary, Amon Gallamy, who was adopted by Ptah, had outstanding talent. It seemed that the Gallamy Corporation really couldn't complete its cooperation with the Kaiba Corporation without Amon Gallamy.

In Hayato's memory, three of the four academy representatives who were supposed to appear in the exchange competition the year after next have already confirmed they won't be able to participate this year. How could the last representative from the Western Division—Ossin O'Brien—be an exception? Keep in mind, this is the end of 2005; global peace doesn't mean local conflicts don't exist. Ossin O'Brien, like his father Ixer O'Brien, is a mercenary. Unlike most people, he actually goes abroad to fight during long holidays; right now, he's still in Iraq, eating dust (not Ash Blossom).

However, there wasn't a single person Hayato recognized in the file. At least there were two college representatives from the Western Division in America that Hayato vaguely remembered, and they were highlighted. Professor Chronos had already seen the two and read out their names: "Representatives of the Western Division, Ricky Mackenzie and David Labb."

“Mackenzie?” Professor Chronos emphasized the last name, Riki Mackenzie, as if it sounded familiar.

Hayato reminded him, "I remember it was the year before last? Didn't you meet Paul, the Dean of Studies of the Western Branch, at that exchange competition? His last name is also Mackenzie, and Rachel Mackenzie is his daughter."

"So she's Professor Paul's daughter. I think Riki also participated in the exchange competition back then, but she was eliminated early on, so she didn't have a particularly outstanding performance. Did she participate in the exchange competition again before graduation?" Professor Chronos recalled the past. "I remember that the students from the main campus were the ones who eliminated her back then?"

“If you remember correctly, she’s a student from the main campus, and also a first-year student from the Obelisk-Blue dormitory, Tenjouin Fubuki.” Hayato said, pointing to David Labbum next to him, “This one over here is also from the main campus. Two years ago, he also participated in the exchange competition and was eliminated by the main campus student representative. It was Fubuki who did it too.”

"It seems like they've come with ill intentions this time. Are they here for revenge against Fubuki? Since the academy headquarters has blocked the news, they probably don't even know that Tenjouin Fubuki has been missing for a year and only recently returned to the school. I wonder if they'll be too eager to take action against Fubuki, who is still lying in bed."

"I have confidence in Fubuki-kun because, like Ryo, he is a student I am proud of."

—At this moment, in the school clinic, Tenjouin Fubuki, who had finally regained some consciousness and energy, fell into a coma again after playfully slapping the school doctor, Ayukawa Megumi, leaving a clear handprint on her face.—

As Professor Chronos was speaking, he suddenly heard a sound and instinctively turned his head. He saw a large transport helicopter flying from the distant sky toward the Duel Academy's island pier. The signal it emitted indicated that the helicopter was the means of transportation used by the exchange students for this exchange competition.

After the helicopter landed, the cabin door slowly opened, and Professor Chronos saw a suitcase being thrown directly out of the cabin and onto the ground. Then, a boy wearing a uniform that resembled a military uniform and a navy cap made an exaggerated leap out of the cabin door and landed lightly.

Chapter 1207 Duel, isn't that amazing?

Slowly standing up, the first boy to step out of the cabin glanced at the central volcano of Duel Academy Island in the distance and exclaimed, "Wow, what a dangerous island!"

"There's still smoke rising from the mountain. Could it suddenly erupt?" he muttered to himself, ignoring Professor Chronos who was waiting for them on the pier's helipad, as if speaking to someone else. "What do you think, Mark?"

“First of all, my last name is Mackenzie, pronounce it correctly, Mackenzie~” Another person walked out of the open helicopter door. It was clear that the boy had just spoken to him. The girl, who was also dressed in a uniform that resembled a military uniform, was wearing a hat that looked like a flight attendant’s hat. She was also looking at the volcano in the distance. “Although theoretically there shouldn’t be any changes, it seems more imposing than it was two years ago, that volcano.”

"Yeah, you bet." The boy pulled down his hat. "Or maybe, what's changed isn't the volcano, but us students?"

“No, that volcano has indeed changed, because someone had a rather intense duel there before.” The strong winds whipped up by the helicopter rotors on the ground subsided as the rotors slowed down. Professor Chronos, who had overheard the two students’ conversation, walked behind them and said, “The specific mechanism is unknown, but the end result is that the long-dormant volcano was awakened by the duel and became active again.”

"A duel, isn't that amazing?"

Professor Kronos recognized the two as David Labbour and Ricky Mackenzie, the two exchange students he had just reviewed and highlighted in their electronic files. He was always very kind and enthusiastic towards high-achieving students.

Upon hearing the visitor's quirk, David Labborg seemed to recognize Professor Chronos and greeted him warmly, "Oh! Professor Chronos! It's been a long time!"

"By the way, you just said that the volcano was awakened because of the duels? You've actually started joking around."

Hearing David's words, Riki Mackenzie said, "I don't think Professor Chronos is joking but stating the facts seriously. Although I'm not sure if it's a secret, Professor Chronos, can you tell us whose duel managed to awaken such a miraculous thing as a volcano? I'm very curious."

Rachel's words piqued David's interest, and he couldn't help but ask Professor Chronos, "Could it be Huki Tingjoin?"

“Well, theoretically, it is indeed Fubuki Tenjouin. But David, your accent hasn’t improved much.” Professor Chronos corrected David when he mispronounced “Hoki Tingjoin,” which is Fubuki Tenjouin’s name. He didn’t keep it a secret and revealed that one of the people who participated in that duel was indeed Fubuki.

As the head of the academic affairs department, Professor Chronos naturally learned how Fubuki returned to school afterward. Although she was wearing a mask and being controlled by "Darkness" to duel Jaden, it was indeed Fubuki herself. While the "Seven Stars" incident had certain confidentiality requirements, the duel between Fubuki and Jaden was not, so Professor Chronos readily revealed it to Riki and David.

Speaking of which, although Fubuki, who had been missing for a year, was not punished for being away from school for an extended period—after all, his departure was not voluntary—he was unable to return to his third year due to missing a whole year of classes. Instead, he remained in his second year and had to repeat a year, meaning he couldn't graduate at the end of this academic year with Marufuji Ryo, who was in the same grade back then.

As for the details of Fubuki's disappearance, since her physical condition is unpredictable—meaning she has the energy to flirt with girls after waking up, but will immediately collapse with her mouth open and eyes closed when she is slightly tired—a detailed inquiry has not yet been conducted.

When Riki and David heard Professor Chronos confirm that one of the participants in that duel was indeed Fubuki, their earlier doubts vanished instantly, replaced by expressions of complete acceptance.

“I see. It’s no surprise that it’s a duel between Huki Tingjoin, who is known as ‘King’.” David Labborg said with an expectant look. “Two years have passed. Has he become even stronger? How much has the gap between us narrowed? I really look forward to dueling with him again.”

Compared to David, who was focused on the duel, Riki, who was standing to the side, blushed on her fair cheeks after recalling her encounter with Fubuki in the exchange competition two years ago. She remained silent, leaving no one to guess what she was thinking.

In a short while, the students on the helicopter disembarked one by one. Even without any organization, they gathered in groups according to their respective colleges around the rather spacious helipad. David and Riki, who stood out and were talking to Professor Chronos instead of standing with their fellow students from the Western branch, seemed a bit out of place.

The last to emerge from the cabin were the students from the Northern Branch Campus. Unlike the students from other branches, who mostly interacted on an equal footing, Professor Chronos immediately spotted a large man dressed in a fur coat and gold chain, looking like a nouveau riche. Behind him, some Northern Branch Campus students carried bags and others carried suitcases, following him like his underlings.

"What? Is it really this hot here at headquarters? Tch, I knew I shouldn't have worn so many clothes." He had barely finished complaining when the big guy's underlings, without him even asking, immediately helped him change into a relatively cool outfit.

"It may sound strange for me to say this, as I don't have much life experience, but I've never seen such an arrogant person in my life."

Hearing David's words, Ricky also snapped out of her strange reverie. She glanced at the big guy from the Northern Branch School and said contemptuously, "Hey, haven't you seen it now? That arrogant style, it's obviously the same arrogant guys from the Northern Branch School. Even though the person has changed, they are still exactly the same as they were two years ago."

Because of the student body at the Northern Branch Campus, they couldn't implement a dormitory allocation system like the main campus. After all, there are only so many students in each grade, and further allocation would leave no room for anyone else. However, this doesn't mean there's no class distinction there. On the contrary, the absence of overt class divisions through dormitory allocations makes the class system at the Northern Branch Campus even more brutal.

In summary, it all boils down to four words: "might makes right." Whether you're a first-year or third-year student, as long as you're strong enough to defeat everyone else and become the strongest in the academy, you can become the "student leader" of the Northern Branch. You'll have almost unlimited power in the academy and can command all the other students to do things the way you want.

Judging from the attitude of the student from the northern branch next to that big guy, the other party seemed to be this year's student leader, or in other words, the strongest in the academy, at least on the surface.

The student leaders of the Northern Branch School, as the theoretically strongest, are often the first choice for the exchange competition. However, because they dominate and act arrogantly in the academy, they often have a great misunderstanding of their own strength. They think that if they are the strongest in the academy, they will definitely be the strongest in other academies as well. With such thoughts, they are often destined to be eliminated in the first round of the annual exchange competition.

Ironically, most of the student leaders are third-year students, and they rarely have the opportunity to tell the younger students in the academy how big the world is. As a result, the performance of the student leaders of the Northern Branch School is always the same, just like Tu Hengyu who automatically thaws out every year during the Spring Festival: making grand pronouncements when they arrive at the Duel Academy, remaining silent after the duel begins, and talking nonsense after the competition ends.

Not only David and Ricky from the Western branch campus, but also students from the Eastern and Southern branches who had previously participated in the exchange competition were looking at the students from the Northern branch campus with the same disdainful eyes, completely ignoring them, given the Northern branch campus's past performance.

If the representatives from the Northern Branch were truly capable, would they have waited until this year to become student leaders and participate in the exchange competition? Instead of worrying about the other side, they should be focusing on competing against the other two colleges and the geniuses from the main campus.

“Edogawa Yuri from the Northern Branch School…” Holding the tablet and opening the electronic files, Professor Chronos restored the hidden profile pictures after canceling the “marked as important” status. He hadn’t forgotten why he was here. After counting the number of people to confirm that everything was accurate, he said, “So, all forty exchange students have been confirmed. They are all here now, Nano-ne.”

—Don't ask why a helicopter can carry more than forty people. Just look at the "KC" mark on the side of the helicopter and you'll know the answer. This is the world's number one technological strength of the Kaiba Group. Not long ago, a certain Mr. Kaiba who insisted that he was not human even took out a Duel Monster card called "Blue-Eyes Jet Dragon," which was transformed from a jet and had a somewhat aerodynamic shape, and played cards with Hayato.

Led by Professor Chronos, the students, who had already traveled by helicopter, did not continue to take buses or other means of transportation. Instead, they walked like first-year students, from the outlying island to the bridge leading to the main island, passing through dense forests and the Osiris-Red dormitory on the cliff, all the way to the main entrance of the academy.

This can also be seen as a way to familiarize them with the geographical environment of Duel Academy, since this exchange competition will require these exchange students to stay on Duel Academy Island for more than a month.

It was already noon, but Jaden, who is usually an early riser, had just woken up because he stayed up all night watching the latest theatrical anime DVD. After washing up, he stepped out of his dormitory and saw a long line of exchange students passing by on the road in the distance. He tilted his head in confusion.

Yawning, Maeda Hayato walked out of the dormitory behind Jaden. After seeing the students in the distance wearing their respective school uniforms, as well as the students from the Northern Branch who didn't have uniforms at all due to funding issues, he casually remarked, "Speaking of which, it really is time for the exchange competition."

"Exchange competition? What's that?" Jaden asked, somewhat puzzled.

Behind Jaden, Manjoume, who was also yawning, walked out. After hearing Jaden's words, he raised an eyebrow and said with disdain, "Didn't Hayato-sensei just mention this a few days ago? Have you already forgotten?"

"Hehehe, I completely forgot."

Why would Manjoume from the Blue Dorm appear in the Red Dorm? Perhaps the question is who brought that movie disc. While Manjoume initially only wanted to show it off to Judai, boasting about getting a newly released limited edition disc, Judai's reaction of "Wow, thank you so much, Manjoume, for bringing it to watch with us" led Manjoume to seemingly resist, but actually reluctantly agree to stay up all night with Judai and the others in the Red Dorm, even sleeping on a makeshift bed on the floor.

"No way! How can I, a top student, associate with these lousy students from the Red Dormitory!" Upon waking, Manjoume somewhat regretted his inexplicable plan from the previous day and made up his mind, "At least I can't sleep on the floor; that's too undignified! I'm going to build my own villa right next to the Red Dormitory!"

“In the beginning, the exchange competition seemed to be just a way for the main campus and the northern branch campus to each select a student representative to duel with each other to promote the Duel Academy. However, with the increasing number of exchange students now, Principal Kobayashi has specially modified the rules of the exchange competition.” Holding up a finger, Maeda Hayato explained to Judai again, “By submitting your Duel Disk at the registration desk, you can participate in the special selection competition.”