Duels should be played with a smile.

"Yes, at first I just wanted to follow in the footsteps of that legendary dean and see if I could open up new possibilities for my path, which was almost dead end. I never expected..."

Halfway through her sentence, Asuka suddenly stopped, squinting as she looked at Caesar repeatedly until he became somewhat uncomfortable, before she finally smiled.

"What?"

"It's nothing." Asuka still had a faint smile on her face: "It's just that you seem to have changed quite a bit."

"Have I changed a lot?"

Caesar felt that Asuka was mocking him. Compared to before, the biggest change in him was that he had only seen another path to take. How could he compare to Asuka?

“It is indeed very big. Think about it, Caesar, who used to be unable to keep a low profile even if he wanted to in the academy, became more approachable after returning from a trip to the Hyperdimension. You can't even tell that he is a person nicknamed ‘Caesar’.”

"If such a change isn't considered significant, then what kind of change would be?"

Caesar, no, it should be said that Marufuji Ryo fell silent immediately.

He suddenly remembered that he was always called Caesar at the academy, and not many people even knew his real name. When he first graduated, his students called him Teacher Caesar, not Teacher Marufuji.

During his training in the superdimensional realm, he seemed to have almost never heard his master call him Caesar; instead, he was always addressed by his real name.

“Now that you mention it, things have indeed changed a lot.” Caesar shook his head and smiled wryly. “I feel like I’ve learned a lot from my master, but I was always missing a crucial point, but I think I’ve found it now.”

"After all these years, I had almost forgotten that 'I' am 'me'. Fortunately, your words reminded me of that."

Caesar, who had been sitting in his seat with a somewhat wary posture, suddenly relaxed completely, leaning back against the seat back, and the air around him seemed to gradually move.

Asuka felt that this world was truly amazing. In a short period of time, she was able to experience many things she had never imagined before, to reunite with an old friend by chance, and to change her old friend's temperament drastically with just a few words.

It was all too wonderful, too coincidental. She felt that such a wonderful encounter was probably a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

But the next second, she realized that her assessment of the wonder of this world was still too conservative.

"It's good that we found it!"

The voice coming from behind was somewhat familiar, yet utterly unfamiliar, as if it came from the depths of memory, from the distant past.

This strange sense of disorientation prevented Asuka from immediately turning around to check who was speaking; instead, she fell into deep thought.

However, her thoughts were soon interrupted.

She remembered.

"Curry, Curry!"

Sometimes, meaningless calls are more likely to be captured and remembered by the brain.

Asuka felt a mix of emotions at that moment.

She didn't turn around, but like Caesar, leaned back in her seat and sighed with some emotion.

"What kind of day is today? I feel like I'm going to use up all the luck I have in this lifetime in one go."

"It's not that exaggerated," Judai replied casually, unsure of what else to say.

In the cabin, which wasn't very crowded, a strange atmosphere permeated the space between the three people who were sitting very close together.

Unbeknownst to them, there were also invisible threads, like unbroken lotus roots, clinging to the three of them.

None of the three spoke first, as if they were afraid of breaking the rare atmosphere, or perhaps they were afraid of feeling awkward if they spoke.

Judai is somewhat confused right now.

He never imagined that he would actually run into Asuka and Caesar.

Since he became the overlord, his former classmates have become estranged, either actively or passively, for various reasons.

Even now, after he has taken off the armor called "Overlord," he can no longer communicate simply with his old friends as he used to.

He was pondering how he should approach these two former friends.

Not only him, but Asuka and Caesar were also thinking about this question.

Three people are pondering the same question.

In the end, all these thoughts turned into a sigh.

Ah, it's been a long time.

"haven't seen you for a long time."

"Yes, it's been a long time."

Then, silence fell again.

Asuka and Caesar were having a nice chat, but as soon as he opened his mouth, all three of them were speechless. If it weren't for the strange and unusual things he had experienced recently, which had improved Jaden's mindset, he might have started to wonder if he really shouldn't have spoken up.

Fortunately, the group had been classmates and friends for a long time, and with the help of Winged Kuriboh to liven up the atmosphere, the atmosphere between the three of them finally became less cold before the plane was about to reach its destination.

At the very least, they can have normal conversations without any problem. They just don't talk much. Judai and Caesar weren't exactly talkative to begin with, and Asuka has become much more reserved after what happened recently. It's already quite good that these people can even speak now.

There was a slight awkwardness during the casual conversation, but once these three people, who all had some responsibilities to bear, started talking about serious matters, the initial embarrassment disappeared.

“What Asuka said is very important. It seems to be closely related to the series of events we are currently experiencing. Let’s go and discuss it with the current ‘Overlord’ after we return to the academy.”

When the topic of the Overlord came up, Jaden couldn't help but smile. Having served as the Overlord and then stepped down, he had a new understanding of the position. However, he was now more interested in seeing if the Super Magician had become haggard due to his many affairs.

"Speaking of which, Judai, how did you..." Asuka hesitated, seeing that Judai had regained five or six tenths of her former cheerfulness, she was naturally happy, but she couldn't understand why Judai would abandon that burden.

Caesar joined in, equally interested in the question.

"Well... a lot has happened, so to sum it up simply is... the world is so big, I want to go see it."

"?"

"?"

Two question marks appeared above Asuka and Caesar's heads. This summary... can't be called insightful, it's just nonsense.

"Well, you can find out the specifics yourselves. I'll just tell you a little more inside information at most." Judai declined the offer to reveal more, somewhat embarrassed.

After all... he couldn't very well say that he fought a game with a "teacher" who came from some unknown timeline or world, and that he was chained into surrendering 5 times, and that winning was more painful than losing?

In a harmonious atmosphere, time often flies by. It didn't feel like long had passed when an announcement came over the loudspeaker.

"Dear passengers, this flight is about to arrive at its destination..."

A short while later, the plane landed at the airport outside the Fusion Academy. The three, who had seemingly reconciled, got off the plane together, chatting and laughing, and left the airport.

None of the three of them were carefree teenagers anymore; a single flight was enough time for them to repair their relationship to the most basic level.

Sitting on the airport shuttle bus to the college, the three of them remained silent, resting with their eyes closed, until the "beep beep beep" notification sound woke them up.

The duel disks of all three players lit up with indicator lights, signaling that important news had just arrived.

Judai immediately checked, and as expected, it was the same person who sent the anonymous message before, except this time there was no riddle.

"Someone needs your original, super-fusion power. Go to 'that place' behind the academy and wait there."

The somewhat commanding tone made Judai frown; he couldn't even remember the last time he'd seen a message with this kind of attitude.

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of Asuka and Caesar. Their movements were similar to Judai's, and their expressions were also very alike—both were frowning and staring at the information.

The notification sound that rang at the same time just now had already hinted at a lot. After reading their own information, Caesar and Asuka also looked up and looked at Judai.

"If I'm not mistaken, we all received an anonymous message, and it was something like telling us to go to the back hill of the school?"

“...Yes.” Caesar nodded slightly.

"Hoo—" Judai took a deep breath and slapped his face with one hand, as if he was too ashamed to face anyone.

"I have a pretty good idea of ​​what's going on. No one else would like to pull this kind of trick... Anyway, once we get to the academy... never mind, I don't see you guys need any accommodations. I only have a backpack, so let's head straight to the back mountain."

Rolling his eyes, Jaden thought of the guy who had left a deep impression on him in various ways, and clenched his fists secretly.

'You better not let me catch you, or else... hmph! I'll make sure you experience the ultimate humiliation!'

Asuka and Caesar were confused about what was going on, but they both noticed Jaden, who was lost in his fantasy and almost burst out laughing.

The two exchanged a glance, shrugged, and nodded in unison—this guy's starting to keep us in suspense, so let's go check it out.

When was the last time the three of them acted together?

The airport wasn't far from the academy. Half an hour later, the three arrived at the academy gate. After some commotion, Judai, still carrying the backpack, led Asuka and Caesar to "that place" on the back mountain of the academy.

This place was once the sealing place of the Three Phantom Demons, and also the sealing place of Yata-u.

After another round of trouble, the three of them arrived at the sealed land, only to see something that looked like a teleportation portal shining brightly.

"Let's go take a look?" Judai gestured with his lips.

"Walk."

"Row."

Thirty seconds later.

Snapped--

The portal has closed.

The person is gone too.

After an unknown amount of time, three people fell out from the other side of the portal.

In front of them was another group of people.

"Good grief, I let you turn the tables and you still chased me all the way to the Synchro Dimension?"

"Tell me, are you here today to respect your teacher or to betray your master and ancestors?"

----

"The Miscellaneous Fish and the Horse Girl Never Die from a Horse Jump"

Arch-Tempered is on his way to Treson.

Stage Girls, Daily Evolution

It turns out I have no talent for coming up with book titles or writing book summaries.

This further proves that I'm a lazy dog ​​and don't want to type.

When I'm writing Uma Musume, earning 2000 coins a day while just lazing around seems pretty good.

Anyway, it'll just be something I write for myself anyway.

Marie Antoinette readers become Marie Antoinette authors, and Marie Antoinette authors in turn give rise to Marie Antoinette readers—this is probably the endless cycle of Marie Antoinette.