Yu-Gi-Oh! Heroes

Just when Manjōme was about to say something else, Coach Napoleon, who was standing on the stage next to Principal Samejima, held the microphone and began to inform everyone of the next procedures.

As the champion of the GX competition, Saotome Rei was chosen as the representative of the first-year students.

Next, it was her turn to go on stage and give a speech.

Under the gazes of many people, some envious and some admiring, a beautiful girl wearing a special Osiris red uniform and with long black hair that reached her waist and casually draped behind her stepped out from the front of the freshmen team and walked towards the stage.

The girl in love, bathed in everyone's gaze, walked to the front of the stage with bright eyes and confidence, determination and persistence, and took the microphone handed to her by Mr. Ayukawa.

"Oh! It's coming, it's coming!"

Seeing the only girl in Osiris Red walk up to the stage, the crowd burst into cheers.

Yusei and Yuki Judai also showed an interested expression and looked at this girl who had a close relationship with their group in the past.

"Teacher, we freshmen will abide by the rules of the Duel Academy... We will feel honored as duelists and respect our opponents... and we swear that we will improve every day..."

"…And that's all. Freshman representative, Rei Saotome."

Like a model honor student, Saotome Rei raised one hand, ignored the gazes from the people around her, and spoke the oath word by word as the representative of the freshmen.

After finishing her oath, she returned the microphone to the teacher, and then as she walked off the stage, she secretly winked playfully at Youxing who was looking at her in the crowd.

"Youxing, Xiaoli seems to be winking at you!"

Noticing the little action of his junior schoolmate Saotome Rei, Yuki Judai, who was standing next to Yusei, nudged Yusei's body with his elbow and teased him with a smile.

At this moment, Yuki Judai couldn't help but recall the amazing feat performed by Saotome Rei, who was still an elementary school student when Caesar was still in the academy.

At that time, in pursuit of love, she tried her best to sneak into the Duel Academy, and then by chance, she made an agreement to meet again with Yousei who defeated her.

Youxing: “…”

Yusei just nodded slightly at this.

Among the women who are currently close to him, Miss Yui is one, Asuka is one, and this persistent junior high school girl may also be considered one.

"The freshman representative has finished his oath... Next, this year I still hope that everyone in Duel Academy can continue to work hard and live in harmony."

Spreading his arms in front of him, Principal Samejima followed Rei Saotome and made another announcement: "...Duel Academy, which is committed to the development of duels, has established branches all over the world. This year, during the period when the new students are enrolled, we will also welcome the top students from the branches all over the world."

"…the top students from each branch?"

"So... the champion or first place of each branch, right?"

"...How amazing! So many amazing people came at once!"

Hearing what Principal Samejima said, everyone couldn't help but show excitement on their faces.

Manjōmu, who had left Duel Academy before, once returned to Duel Academy as a representative of one of the northern branches, with the attitude of a king.

Today, representatives from other branches will come here together for friendly exchanges and learning.

The scale of this time is undoubtedly much larger than before.

"Well, let me introduce the representatives of each branch next~"

Looking at the warm welcoming attitude shown by the students, Principal Samejima narrowed his eyes slightly and nodded with satisfaction.

Afterwards, after his explanation, everyone learned the identities of the people who walked onto the stage one after another.

These people, including Professor Cobra, are the representatives of the Duel Academy who had rushed here from all over the world on a luxury cruise ship arranged by the Seahorse Group.

They are:

Amon Garem, the representative of the Eastern Branch of Duel Academy;

Representative of Western Branch – Austin O’Brien;

Representative of the Southern Branch—Jim Claudel Cook;

And lastly, the Northern Branch representative – John Anderson.

Every time Principal Samejima read out the name of a representative, applause would break out from the audience, and a corresponding representative would walk out from the backstage.

Amon, the hedgehog-headed young man with glasses, the serious O'Brien, and Jim carrying the crocodile "Kallen", all three of them are like this without exception.

But when the name of John Anderson, the last person marked as a "ghost" by Amon, came to mind, no one came out from the backstage.

Principal Samejima: "...Hmm? John? Where is he?"

Professor Chronos: "Uh...what happened?"

Coach Napoleon: "Why isn't anyone coming out?"

Amon: "Heh... is it really a ghost?"

Manjomu: "John? John Anderson... Could it be that John who has the [Gemmon] deck?"

Looking at this unexpected scene, everyone couldn't help but whisper.

"Eh? John isn't..."

"Yes, that's the guy we saw before."

Hearing Principal Samejima calling out John's name, Judai Yuki in the audience was stunned and couldn't help but look at Yusei beside him.

And Youxing nodded at the right time, confirming his guess.

The young man with blue hair that they met on the rooftop before was none other than John Anderson, the representative of the northern branch of the Duel Academy mentioned by Principal Samejima, a duelist using the [Gemmon] deck.

"Manjomu, do you know who this John is?"

Noticing Manzhang's reaction, Youxing turned around and asked him.

"Ah, that's natural."

Nodding, Manjome began to explain, "In the past, Manjome Group used all its financial resources to purchase the card of Hogemon from Fantasy International."

"Senior Wanzhangmu, why are you doing this again!" Upon hearing that Wanzhangmu was planning to use money to buy the rare card, Jianshan couldn't help but cast a teasing look at him.

"…I've already said it's a thing of the past!"

Wanzhangmu twitched his mouth, gave Jianshan a fierce look, then cleared his throat and continued to explain: "...According to the ancient text books found by the International Fantasy Society, Caesar, who once ruled the Roman Empire, collected seven of the most precious gems from all over the world in order to create a seal of the Roman Empire's dominance over the world. He planned to make them into stone tablets and pass them down forever."

"However, the gems were encountered in a storm while being transported to Rome, and disappeared into the depths of the ocean."

"Later, those gems were found by President Becas of the International Fantasy Society, and seven different cards were made based on the composition of those gems..."

"That's... the Jade Beast, right?!" After hearing this, everyone instantly understood the origin of these cards and the value they represented.

No wonder, no wonder even the multinational corporation Manjomu Group wants to take these cards for themselves...

The value of the cards themselves is one thing, but more importantly, they are symbols of identity!

That was the gem specially selected by Caesar, the Emperor of the Roman Empire that dominated Europe at that time, as a mark of his dominance!

"...Anyway, regarding these [Gem Beast] cards, President Pegasus was unwilling to exchange them for money and rejected the request of the Manjome Group... He finally gave these cards to the young champion of a certain competition."

A look of reminiscence appeared on his face, and he recalled the scene when he was rejected. He couldn't help but let out a sigh of regret.

"That young champion..."

"Yes, that's John Anderson."

Looking at Yusei and Yuki Judai who were looking at him, Manjyoume nodded affirmatively.

"Awesome! That guy named John actually has such a powerful card!" Yuki Judai clenched his fists excitedly and couldn't help but exclaimed, "It feels like I'm going to duel with that guy!"

"But he doesn't seem to have come here. Could he have gotten lost?"

With a smile, Youxing said casually.

No way, no way? There are really no people who are so bad at finding their way that they don’t even look at the signposts and get lost, right?

——Click!

Just as Youxing was teasing John, the door of the auditorium where the freshman ceremony was being held was suddenly pushed open from the outside.

The blue-haired boy who looked out of breath, John Anderson, appeared in everyone's sight with an apologetic look on his face.

"Oh, I'm late, I'm so sorry, I'm a direction idiot, I couldn't find the way for a while..."

As if he heard Principal Samejima on the stage calling his name, John walked in, touching the back of his head with an apologetic look on his face, and quickened his pace to join the group of branch school representatives on the stage.

John, who arrived late, smiled friendly at the branch school representatives who were looking at him, such as Amon, Jim, and O'Brien.

"Well, let me introduce again the representative of the northern branch of Duel Academy - John Anderson!" Seeing John appear, Principal Samejima once again introduced his identity to everyone.

Amon: "So, the 'ghost' also has a true face."

O’Brien: “Well…”

Jim: "Hey, are you John? Hello! My friend~"

In response to John's initiative to show goodwill, the three people who were representatives of various branches gave different types of responses.

Amon was teasing, O'Brien remained silent, and Jim extended his arm in a friendly manner and shook John's hand enthusiastically.

As Jim greeted John, the crocodile "Kalen" on his back also made a gurgling sound from his throat.

663 New Spaceman VS Gemmon

"…Then, in addition to these four students, there is another one who needs to be introduced. He is coming from the Western Branch as a special lecturer this year - Professor Cobra!"

On the podium, after introducing four students from different branches, Principal Samejima took the finale and introduced the teacher who was specially invited by him to Duel Academy to provide guidance.

Professor Cobra, who was specially invited by Principal Samejima, is a tall and burly man who looks like a soldier. He is intimidating without even getting angry and has a serious personality.

Professor Cobra just stood there and did nothing, which made Yusei subconsciously think of the generals in those war movies.

This guy...is not simple.

"...Everyone, I should have said hello here today, but I think that saying those words will have no effect."

Glancing at the people who were looking at him, Professor Cobra continued, "...I prefer actual combat to boring conversations, and this is my unshakable teaching policy."

"Hmm...actual combat? It seems like he's a very easy-to-talk-to teacher."

No need to listen to long passages of nonsense, but to directly engage in actual combat, this just happens to be in line with Yuki Judai's personal ideas.

Therefore, Yuki Judai's first impression of Professor Cobra was relatively good.

"So……"

Seeing that no one raised any objections, Professor Cobra struck while the iron was hot and stretched out his arms in front of his body: "... Without further ado, let's get into the so-called actual combat! The two parties in the duel will be chosen by my preference."

Principal Samejima: “…Hmm?”

Professor Chronos: "Show...show contest?!"

Coach Napoleon: "I have never heard of such a competition! What is going on?"

"That's it. I will decide who will participate in the war."

Ignoring the surprised looks on the teachers' faces, Professor Cobra began to think about the candidates for the duel.

For him, the most interesting candidate at the moment is...

"John Anderson!"

John: "Huh? Me?"

"And...Yujo Judai!"

Recalling the agreement he had made with that adult, Professor Cobra called out Yuki Judai's name without hesitation.

Unlike Yusei, Yuki Judai is the one that the adult specifically chooses, so no matter what, Professor Cobra must choose Yuki Judai.

And after that, while the two of them were dueling, he, Professor Cobra, had something else that he had to deal with as soon as possible.

Yugi Judai: "...Ah? Me? I'm so lucky to be able to duel with the legendary Gem Beast Card right from the start, right?"

When Yuki Judai's name was called, after a brief moment of surprise, an expression of great excitement suddenly appeared on his face.

Just now, when he heard Manjomu talk about the origin of those [Gem Beast] cards, he thought how great it would be if he could have a duel with John.

And soon, this opportunity was before him.

This kind of thing can probably only be described as good luck.

……