Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

"However, where is that device?"

Hayato didn't answer, but instead addressed the pool in front of him, saying, "Speak to me, Hayato Kobayashi, the greatest of the four Duel Monsters!"

As Hayato delivered his lines, amidst the astonished gazes of those around him, the fountain in the center of the garden sank into the ground, followed by the rise of a strange device. Inside that cylindrical glass capsule, whose shape bore a striking resemblance to the life support pods used by Kagemaru in the past, was overflowing with dueling energy, with only about one-tenth of the top empty.

"I don't even know where to begin complaining." Malik's mouth hung open, looking utterly astonished. "Just one duel between you and Seto Kaiba could generate so much energy? And after a week of use, you've only used up so little? And—don't think I didn't recognize that line from 'Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets'!"

"Mind your own business with Duel Monsters."

Hayato took out a card and casually tossed it into the glass chamber in front of him. The dueling energy suddenly began to decrease at a visible rate, seemingly being completely absorbed by the card Hayato had thrown. Meanwhile, the blank card gradually filled with color due to the influx of large amounts of dueling energy, and words slowly began to appear.

Meanwhile, as Hayato was holding the extra energy cards, Manjoume was in a terrible predicament at Duel Academy.

"Because of Hayato-sensei's impromptu extracurricular activity, and then the 'GeneX Tournament' which is about to start, I completely forgot about the important things!" Manjoume clutched his head, looking utterly devastated. "My brother and the others are arriving at Duel Academy tomorrow!?"

Chapter 1529 Artificial Aircraft Are Not Safe

"It's been a long day~without you my friend~"

"And I'll tell you all about it when I see you again~"

Although Manjoume had a sorrowful expression, the slightly distorted background music played at 2.5x speed inexplicably gave off a funny feeling. Looking at Manjoume standing alone on the dock, Judai and the others couldn't help but want to laugh.

"Laugh if you want, it's just a little bit of hardship," Manjoume said dejectedly. "Laughter and such don't matter anymore. Because I've been away from the academy for a month, my reputation hasn't circulated among the first-year students at all. Plus, I haven't had time to get the second and third-year students to cooperate with me yet. I can't possibly fool my brother and the others."

"It doesn't matter anymore..."

"Even though you look so dejected, Manjoume, it's just that you were caught bragging to your parents. Why do you look like the sky is falling?" Marufuji Sho said, puzzled. "And that background music..."

"It was me who put it on! It was me, it was me!" Judai excitedly raised one hand. "I even asked on the forum. It seems like the brothers of Manjoume came by helicopter, right? People on the forum said that this song has the magical effect of making helicopters travel to their destination."

"Brother, you'd better not believe too much what you read online. Who knows if they're just making some kind of immoral, hellish joke?" Jianshan complained, looking at the news scrolling on the music player behind Wan Zhangmu, which said that Kobe Bryant, who became the NBA's scoring champion this year, announced that he would change his jersey number from 8 to 24. "Besides, I've always felt that helicopters are a very dangerous mode of transportation because people can't fly in the sky like pterosaurs."

“You’re right, so why didn’t you swim back to Duel Academy before? After all, ships aren’t very safe.” Marufuji Sho, who had always been at odds with Kenzan, said, pausing slightly before adding, “After all, there have been disasters like the Titanic in history, haven’t there?”

"For humans, yes, but for the lobsters and scallops in the ship's kitchen at the time, wasn't it a miracle of life?"

"Huh? You, who have nothing but dinosaurs in your head, are finally starting to include crustaceans.

"What did Ammonite do to you?" Kenzan looked at Marufuji Sho with displeasure. "Besides, you've been provoking me for no reason since just now, just because you've been promoted to the Yellow Dorm now!?"

Pulling at his brand-new Apollo-Yellow Dormitory uniform, Marufuji Sho said smugly, "After all, I can't wait to give you some pointers as a 'Yellow Dormitory senior,' Kenzan~"

Asuka, Fubuki, and Manjoume, who are all Obelisk-Blue, don't really need to change dorms. Edward, who just arrived at Duel Academy and was assigned to the guest dormitory where they lived, can also be classified as a Blue dormitory. So, the "upgrade to another dormitory" reward that Hayato left for them is strictly speaking only useful for Kenzan and Misawa in the Yellow dormitory, and Jaden and Marufuji Sho in the Red dormitory.

Upon returning to Duel Academy, Marufuji Sho couldn't wait to find Kira Aoki, who was still at the school and hadn't gone on his business trip, to take the exam to upgrade his dormitory. Soon, Kira-sensei arranged for a student from the Yellow Dormitory to be Marufuji Sho's opponent in a duel. If he won, he could upgrade to the Yellow Dormitory.

His opponent was none other than Yoji Ohara, who had once teamed up with Susumu Ohara, a game designer who aspired to be like Yugi Muto, to form the "Giants of the Night Duelist," a team that hunted down top students.

In the past, he was unable to adapt to the tension and pressure from his opponents in the hyper-realistic duels. Even with a strong deck and a decent dueling mindset, he couldn't fully utilize his abilities, which resulted in him being bullied and oppressed by some of the people in the Obelisk-Blue dormitory because he was always at the level of Apollo-Yellow. In order to take revenge, he commanded the dull-witted Ohara to fight as his puppet and hunt down the cards of the bullies.

However, that was almost a year ago, during the last school year. After that duel with Jaden, Ohara learned that duelists must face challenges with dignity. With the help of Ohara, with whom he had a deep friendship, he worked hard to overcome his long-standing shortcomings and strived to become a true duelist.

After a perilous duel with Ohara, Marufuji Sho successfully defeated the true identity of the "Giant Duelist of the Night," a legend in the academy whose true nature remains unknown, and was thus promoted to the Yellow Dormitory.

"Now that you've been promoted to the yellow dormitory... then you should move out of the red dormitory, hey! What's with you staying in Big Brother's room all this time?!" Kenzan glared at Marufuji Sho with displeasure.

"Yuki Judai is the man who can be my older brother. What right do you have to say such things when you're just hanging around in our dorm too!" Marufuji Sho retorted, glaring back at Kenzan without backing down. Although he was usually timid, when it came to Judai, he would never allow Kenzan to take away his "number one underling" status!

"We're all from the Yellow Dorm, but not a single one of us wants to stay there..." Misawa couldn't help but complain. "Is the Yellow Dorm some kind of dangerous place? My low profile and the fact that my name is often misremembered might be related to that... No, that doesn't make sense. It's just superstition."

"So, you mean 40% off... No.3, that's just your imagination." Judai waved his hand, but then asked curiously, "But why didn't you take the test to get into the Blue Dorm?"

“It’s a very simple question, Judai, and the answer is obvious.” Misawa pointed to himself. “What level would my strength be in the Sun God-Yellow dormitory? And how would my strength compare to Manjoume and Tenjouin from the Blue dormitory?”

"You're definitely the strongest in the Yellow Dorm, right? Although Kagurazaka and the others are strong too, they still can't compare to you, especially when you're prepared." Judai said without hesitation. "Isn't there a saying in the Yellow Dorm, 'Don't make a duel with Misawa Sora in advance'? Your ability to gather information and analyze data is well-known in both the Red and Blue Dorms."

"However, compared to the Blue Dorm, Manjoume, Fubuki, and Asuka... hmm, it's a bit hard to judge."

“This hesitation is the answer, Judai. Even though the Yellow Dorm is ultimately a tier below Obelisk-Blue in terms of ranking, not as excellent as the Blue Dorm but not as bad as the Red Dorm either, giving people a sense of ‘mediocre’, at least in the Yellow Dorm, my strength allows me to retain some uniqueness and representativeness.” Misawa said with a helpless expression, “But if I move up to the Blue Dorm, wouldn’t I suddenly become ‘just another face in the crowd’?”

"The so-called 'better to be a big fish in a small pond than a small fish in a big pond'?" Asuka summarized.

Judai, who was well-versed in "The Art of Speaking," completely broke Misawa's defenses with just one sentence: "What you're saying is, even if you hadn't been promoted to the Blue Dorm, you still wouldn't have had much of a presence, would you?"

"Well......"

“I also have important reasons, big brother.” Seeing that Judai had turned his gaze away from the dejected Misawa and looked at him, Kenzan patted his chest and said, “Although I wouldn’t deliberately break the school rules and be demoted to the red dormitory, I have no intention of changing dorms until you are promoted to the blue dormitory.”

"And why did you stay in the Red Dormitory, brother?"

"Because I really love the red dorm uniform! Don't you think this red is so passionate and energetic? It's a perfect color for a hero!" As the only one among everyone present still wearing the red dorm uniform, Jaden proudly raised his sleeve to show it off. "Super cool!"

"That's the only thing that hasn't improved since the start of the semester..." After a pause, Manjoume turned around with an annoyed look on his face. "But, the fact that you guys keep arguing around me is really annoying. Hey, are you guys too idle? Why doesn't the school give you more homework?"

At this moment, Manjou's thoughts were surprisingly aligned with Hayato's, and they completely forgot that they were also students and that they had a lot of homework to do.

"And yet, I'm still so troubled by my brother's arrival... Ugh, just kill me already..."

"Alright, alright, don't get so excited, Manjoume-kun~" At this time, it was Fubuki, the eldest among the group, who had to step in and comfort Manjoume, saying, "Just being anxious won't help and won't change reality. If it were useful, I would have been anxious already."

Is this supposed to be comforting?

Manjoume made a sarcastic remark, and as soon as he finished speaking, a black dot suddenly appeared at the edge of his vision, rapidly rising above the sea level and gradually enlarging, as if some flying object was flying in from a distance.

“Something’s coming! Tch, I told you playing this background music was pointless.” Wan Zhangmu casually turned off the speakers playing “See You Again,” his face resolute. “It’s finally come. This moment has arrived.”

"Don't worry, Manjoume. Although there's a high chance we'll be exposed, we've already taken your money, so we won't stop helping you just because the success rate isn't high." Patting Manjoume on the shoulder, Judai said earnestly, "Acting is something I'm very good at."

"When you say things like that, you should at least try to correct the way you address people," Manjoume retorted. "Not Manjoume, but Mr. Manjoume!"

"Hi~ Ten Thousand Eyes Lightning~"

Just as Jaden said, although Hayato's activities made Manjoume less likely to set up the school to make it clear that "Manjoume is now the leader of the academy," Jaden and the others were not there just to laugh at Manjoume. Instead, they would help him out and play the role of his underlings—it wouldn't be too late to laugh at Manjoume after the truth was revealed.

"I have to call anyone other than my eldest brother 'elder brother'... and this is the first task he gave me." Kenzan said with a headache. "Anyway, I just need to transfer the respect I have for my tenth elder brother to Manjoume-senpai, right?"

"If anyone doesn't perform well, don't blame us for laughing at them," Marufuji Sho said, looking at Kenzan provocatively. Kenzan naturally looked back at him: "Senior, you are the one. Let me see how good you are as a subordinate."

"In this aspect, you're the one person I absolutely cannot lose to!" x2

Asuka sighed and rubbed her forehead. "You boys can get so competitive even in a place like this... So should I call Junko and Momoe over?"

Looking at the speed at which the black dot in the distance was growing larger, it should still be some time before it reaches the helipad at the dock. Wan Zhangmu waved his hand: "No, if everyone appeared at the dock all at once, it would be a big flaw, wouldn't it? It's precisely to let my 'little brothers' and 'admirers' appear little by little that we can create the feeling that I am already the leader of the entire school, right?"

However, as the black dot magnified, everyone gradually realized that it wasn't a helicopter as they had initially thought, but a seaplane capable of gliding and landing on water. But ultimately, it would definitely land on the dock. The group then began the final confirmation process before the "official performance."

“First, Kenzan-san and Marufuji-san will play the roles of Manjoume’s underlings and welcome Manjoume’s brothers here. Then, the admirers will appear to present Manjoume with flowers and express their admiration.” Fubuki looked at Misawa and Judai, who were in charge of playing the roles of admirers, nodded, and then looked at Asuka. “It would be more appropriate for the female fans to appear next.”

"And what about you, brother?" Asuka glanced at Fubuki, who had changed back into her black trench coat, and teased, "You wouldn't happen to be playing—"

"That's right! It's Manjoume's rival, who fell into darkness because he was jealous of how popular he was with the ladies. It's Ten~ Uein-da!" Although she was wearing a black trench coat from the "Darkness" era, Fubuki's personality was as lively as ever. She grinned and showed her clean teeth while giving Asuka a thumbs up.

After pausing, Fubuki felt that the pose didn't quite suit her current aura, so she changed her posture, solemnly raised the Duel Disk, and recited her prepared lines: "Hey! Banjou Lightning, your days of ruling Duel Academy are over. Give me back the fans whose hearts you stole!"

"If you want it, come and take it yourself. You know the rules of Duel Academy." Manjoume recited his lines, which he and Fubuki had designed together for an entire night. These lines not only fit his image as a "leader of Duel Academy" but also added credibility by having his opponent speak for him.

"They're coming!" As the plane approached the vicinity of Duel Academy Island, the "万" (wan) logo of the Manjoume Foundation printed on the belly of the plane was clearly visible. Manjoume called out and stood at the very front of the dock.

The seaplane gradually descended to the sea surface. As its speed decreased, the plane skimmed the surface and began to decelerate rapidly, approaching the dock.

The waves crashed against his face, but Wan Zhangmu showed no fear as he watched the plane finally stop and adjust its orientation, aligning the cabin door with the shore and extending the gangway for disembarking.

The hatch slowly opened, and Wan Zhangmu recited the lines he had long memorized, even opening his arms wide with the gesture: "Welcome to my kingdom, bro—who are you!?"

The first person to step off the plane from the Manjoume Group was not one of his brothers, as Manjoume had assumed, but a completely unfamiliar man with long blue hair.

"Is this... Duel Academy?" As if visiting Duel Academy for the first time, the man straightened his white suit, ignored the stares of the crowd on the shore, and confidently and somewhat arrogantly stepped off the plane.

Chapter 1530 The World of Card Players: Is there anything wrong with solving problems by playing cards?

At the dock, before the plane came to a stop, Jaden and the others had already evacuated, leaving only Kenzan, Manjoume, and Sho.

Meanwhile, Kenzan and Sho, who were playing the roles of Manjoume's underlings, did not recognize the man in front of them, nor did they know why Manjoume stopped reciting his lines halfway through. However, they still dutifully fulfilled their duties as underlings and enthusiastically recited the pre-arranged welcome lines.

Because of their rivalry, the two shouted at each other with increasingly loud voices: "Welcome Mr. Manjoume Nagasaku and Mr. Manjoume Seiji to the Duel Academy—"

"Stop it! This guy isn't my brother!" Manjoume quickly stopped the two fake henchmen behind him from shouting. "Besides, are you blind? He's just one person, how could he be two of my brothers!"

"Huh? That's asking for too much, and how were we supposed to know—" Before Kenzan could finish speaking, Marufuji Sho, taking advantage of his height, raised his elbow and interrupted Kenzan, saying as Kenzan clutched his waist, "I'm so sorry! Lord Manjoume!"

Oh right, I'm still playing the role of Manjoume-senpai's underling.

Once he realized what was happening, Kenzan glared at Marufuji Sho, who was taking the opportunity to enhance his role as a lackey, and bowed even more respectfully than Marufuji Sho, apologizing, "Red bean paste private horse race!"

"Wow, casting these two as underlings was definitely the right choice." Hiding nearby with Judai and Fubuki, Asuka looked at the group on the dock with a rather subtle expression, then poked Judai next to her with her finger, "Do they usually treat you like that, Judai?"

"While it's not quite as 'involution' as it is now, it's pretty close." Judai sighed helplessly. "Sometimes I can't do anything about Sho and Kenzan. They could have just stopped being my underlings. But since they treat me like an older brother, I have to act like one."

"Shall we go outside now, Fubuki?"

"Wait a minute, Manjoume-chan seems to be questioning the person who got off the plane? Things have changed a bit, Judai." Fubuki shook her head, signaling Judai to wait a little longer.

"Who are you? What are you doing getting off a plane from the Manjoume Group?" Looking at Saiou, who was arrogant and only interested in admiring the scenery, Manjoume said with displeasure, "Could you be a thief—"

"How incredibly rude, Jun!" A middle-aged man with a cold face followed Saiou off the plane and looked at Manjoume with a serious expression, saying, "With your appearance, are you still considered one of the three Manjoume brothers?"

"N-Nagasaku-nii?" Manjoume recognized the other person immediately; it was clearly his elder brother, Manjoume Nagasaku. He quickly said, "No, I was just, right, I was questioning this stranger who appeared on our Manjoume Corporation's plane as a leader of the Duel Academy."

As he spoke, Manjoume rapidly formed hand seals behind his back. Although it was somewhat dazzling, Kenzan and Sho, standing behind him, managed to understand the general meaning. The two imposter henchmen then began shouting their welcome speech again. However, because of the earlier interruption by Saiou's appearance, their welcome was far from synchronized this time.

According to the script, the next part should have been the scene where Manjoume's female fans and admirers, "attracted by the cheers, express their admiration for Manjoume," but Judai and Fubuki didn't get a chance to appear. Manjoume Chosaku looked at Manjoume Jun and said disappointedly, "Do you think this will make me happy, Jun, by using such fake things to appease me?"

"What do you mean by 'perfunctory'... I don't understand what you're saying, brother?" Wan Zhangmu had a vague sense of unease, but he stubbornly refused to admit it and continued to argue.

Manjoume, his face grim, pointed at the long-haired man watching the scene unfold and said, "This is Mr. Saiou, from the famous Saiou Fortune Telling House. Do you think I'd be fooled by you? Accurate? On the way here, Mr. Saiou already exposed your lies, fabricated for your pointless pride, with his divination!"

"The Saiou Fortune Telling Shop?" Kenzan behind Manjoume whispered to Marufuji Sho with some curiosity, "I remember the owner of the Saiou Fortune Telling Shop was named Saiou Mijuchi, which sounds like a woman's name. So it was a man?"

"No, Saiou Misuzu is my younger sister. It is true that she is running and managing the Saiou fortune-telling shop now, but it was originally founded by her and me."

Although Kenzan spoke very softly, even Manjou Jun couldn't hear him clearly, but Saiou seemed to hear him perfectly. He even interrupted Kenzan immediately after he finished speaking, making it seem as if Saiou had known what Kenzan was going to say beforehand.

He paused for a moment, then continued, "However, because I personally cannot balance my career and hobby, I am no longer working as a fortune teller at the fortune-telling shop."

“Even so, your abilities are undeniable, and you are quite famous in our social class, Mr. Saiou.” Manjoume Nagasaku turned his head, his expression instantly changing to a gentle and respectful one, and looked at Saiou, saying, “However, I am truly sorry, Mr. Saiou, my performance was laughable to you, please do not take it to heart.”

“No, I think your brother, Mr. Manjoume, is quite an interesting person.” Holding a Duel Monster card in his hand, Saiou flipped the card over to reveal the card name on the front, “A Tarot card hint—【Secret Power XII - The Hanged Man】, don’t you think it’s a very interesting card that suits your brother very well?”

“It is indeed very interesting.” It was unclear whether Manjoume Chosaku truly thought so or was just echoing Saiou, but when he looked at Manjoume Jun, his expression changed once again, with a look of utter disappointment. “You have completely disgraced Manjoume, Jun! You should know your shame!”

"Sigh, I really don't know what to say about you, Jun." Another male voice rang out. Manjoume looked over and saw his second brother, Manjoume Seiji, also getting off the plane, looking at him with a helpless expression. "One lie requires more lies to cover it up. The so-called 'one lie makes ten lies', why didn't you just tell the truth from the beginning?"

"Hmm..." Manjoume was also somewhat annoyed. If he had known he would be exposed right away, he wouldn't have asked Judai and the others for help. After all, he had paid several tickets as payment. If Judai and the others' acting was bad and they were exposed, he would accept it, since he could shift the blame to someone else. But "being divined to know the truth"? What kind of detective novel would have that kind of supernatural ability? Even a third-rate novelist wouldn't use such an outrageous setting!