"Oh, I see."
Then she slowly walked out of the alley.
"I seem to have heard something I wasn't supposed to hear?"
A cool voice rang out. Nero abruptly turned her head and saw a familiar figure standing outside the alley at some unknown point, looking at her with a complicated expression.
"It doesn't matter. It's not something worth hiding." Nero looked at the newcomer calmly. "Why are you here, then? Are you planning to sell your deck to me?"
Hara Shichi looked at the girl before him and shook his head. "No, I came to invite you."
"Invite me?" Nero's long eyelashes trembled slightly. "Invite me to what?"
"I'm inviting you to deal with the Crimson Lotus Society with me." Hara Shichi stated his purpose. "You don't look like someone lacking rare cards, do you? Why stay in a club centered around Card Gambling Duels?"
"Even though you just wagered your own deck in a duel against me?" Nero looked at Hara Shichi in confusion.
Hara Shichi froze for a moment, then said helplessly, "Honestly, when I first came to this academy and heard there was a club throwing its weight around through Card Gambling Duels, I thought it was pretty funny."
"With Card Gambling Duels, couldn't you just refuse?"
"No matter how much they pestered you, threatened you, or tempted you, as long as you refused, they couldn't exactly rob you outright, could they?"
"But recently, I understood why duelists agreed to such absurd Card Gambling Duels."
The image of that girl surfaced in Hara Shichi's mind. With a solemn expression, he said, "Because sometimes, you can't back down."
"As a duelist—no, as a friend, or something else—when you encounter something you want to protect, you cannot, and absolutely will not, back down."
"So, are you willing to help me fight the Crimson Lotus Society? If you agree, I can return your deck to you." Hara Shichi took out Nero's deck and held it out to her.
Nero lowered her head and fell silent for a moment. Then she pushed Hara Shichi's hand away and said flatly:
"No. I refuse."
The Omniscient, Omnipotent Ai
"Say, A-Qi, you're not one of those hopelessly dense guys, are you?"
Ai said this in the quiet dormitory late at night.
"What standard are you using to define that? Does such a bizarre standard even exist?"
Honestly, this was the second time Hara Shichi had heard the term "hopelessly dense guy" from a woman. The last time a girl had called him that was probably... high school?
Though he was in high school now, wasn't he?
But judging by his age, Hara Shichi should have been in his final year of high school.
"Come to think of it, I seem to have gained two extra years."
Actually, he had not.
Time did not reverse just because someone transmigrated.
"A standard? I don't know the exact standard either, but you just went up to a girl, said a pile of incomprehensible nonsense, then held out your hand and said something as arrogant and rude as, 'If you want your deck back, hurry up and join me.' Of course she rejected you."
"If you're asking someone for help, you should properly say, 'Please help me,'" Ai said, poking Hara Shichi in the forehead.
"Didn't I say that?" Hara Shichi looked shocked.
"No. All I saw was some villain holding a deck and trying to threaten a little girl." Ai tipped her entire body upside down, like that upside-down hanging person submerged in nutrient fluid from some light novel Hara Shichi had once read. Even the pale blue dress wrapped around her delicate body defied physics and did not flip over.
"But I like this version of you too, A-Qi. You've got that bad-boy vibe. Maybe that little girl's heart was pounding when you charmed her."
Ai was naturally teasing him. It was obvious from her little face, barely able to suppress her laughter.
"All right, laugh if you want to." Hara Shichi rolled his eyes irritably.
"The question now is how to gather five people." Hara Shichi tried to steer the conversation back on track.
"No... not five." Ai held out five fair fingers toward Hara Shichi, then folded down her thumb. After thinking for a moment, she folded down her index finger too. "Three. There's you, Yukikaze, and we still need three more."
"Yukikaze? I don't really want to..."
"Are you going to hide something this important from your friend?" Ai interrupted him.
"No, I'm not planning to hide it. It's just that success would be fine, but if we fail... those guys will definitely target her." Nothing in the world was one hundred percent certain. No duelist could keep winning forever.
So they had to prepare for failure in advance.
"Then Yukikaze can just cheer us on from the audience, right?" Hara Shichi said uncertainly.
"Wouldn't that be cruel?" Ai asked in a low voice.
"Cruel?"
"She'll definitely feel guilty for being unable to help. That sense of powerlessness, of only being able to sit in the audience... Watching several duelists you found from who knows where fight alongside you. It would be one thing if she were an unrelated bystander, but she's a duelist too, isn't she?"
"..."
"Ai."
After remaining silent for a while, Hara Shichi spoke.
"Hmm?"
"You're surprisingly considerate, aren't you?"
"Huh? Who do you think I am? I'm a god." Ai arrogantly raised her chin. "And from what I've observed, Yukikaze isn't weak. At the very least, she has the strength to fight."
"Mm, then we need three more." Hara Shichi nodded.
"Add Julie too, and we'll only need two." Ai folded down another finger.
"Julie? Will she agree?" Hara Shichi acknowledged Julie's strength, but unlike with Nero, he had no reward in hand that could make Julie agree to his request.
"Idiot, as long as your attitude is sincere, she'll definitely agree." Ai finally could not help looking down on her partner.
"Why?"
"Just go ask her."
"..."
"So that's what happened."
The next day, Hara Shichi told Yukikaze everything that had happened yesterday, exactly as it had occurred—except for Ai's part.
It was not because he did not trust Yukikaze. He simply instinctively felt that it would be better not to tell anyone about Ai.
"Mm, so that's how it is... Wait? Huh?!" Yukikaze initially responded calmly, but her little face soon turned flustered.
"Hara Shichi wants to take down the Crimson Lotus Society?!"
"A five-versus-five elimination match?"
"You want me to help too?!"
Yukikaze was completely frazzled. Only after patting her slightly raised chest several times did she calm down. "Aren't you afraid I'll hold you back, Hara Shichi?"
"It'll be fine. Didn't you nearly beat Nero?" Hara Shichi encouraged Yukikaze.
"But Nero is a first-year student. The Crimson Lotus Society will probably send third-years when the time comes, right?" Yukikaze said timidly.
"It's okay. I believe you can win."
"Really?"
"Really."
"You really believe I can win?"
"I really believe you can win."
"You're really not just looking for someone to make up the numbers?" Yukikaze looked at Hara Shichi with watery eyes.
Looking at the girl before him, Hara Shichi felt guilt welling up inside him.
Did he really believe Yukikaze could win?
"I..." Hara Shichi was about to give his answer when an index finger gently pressed against his lips.
"All right, you don't need to say it. Of course I'll help you." Yukikaze had looked pitiful just moments ago, yet now her face was brimming with a smile. Girls truly were strange, unfathomable creatures.
"But if I lose, you're not allowed to get angry at me, Hara Shichi." Yukikaze blinked playfully.
"How could I possibly do something like that?" Hara Shichi shrugged.
"All right, all right... Next, we're going to invite Senior Julie, right? No time to waste, let's get going." Without giving Hara Shichi time to react, Yukikaze lightly turned around and started walking forward, leaving only a faint fragrance in the air.
"What were you about to say?" Ai could not help asking.
"I was going to say that I believe Yukikaze will win," Hara Shichi said.
"Seriously?" Ai tilted her head.
"Why wouldn't I be serious?" Hara Shichi asked in return.
"I see..." Ai looked at Yukikaze walking away and murmured.
Ai was a god, an omniscient and omnipotent god.
So she had seen it.
In that instant, the girl had backed down. She was afraid to hear the answer.
Whether it was a cruel truth or a well-intentioned lie, she probably could not accept either.
But even so.
Even so, she had answered Hara Shichi's request.
Because she wanted to help, because she could not stand by and do nothing.
But was it really all right to have such an insecure girl, such a timid yet brave girl, face an opponent that powerful?
If she lost, how much pressure would those delicate shoulders have to bear?
Ai did not know.
The omniscient, omnipotent god was a lie.
It was a counterfeit created by humanity.
A Powerful Duelist Must Be Able to Defeat Duel Spirits
Duelist Academy seemed to give preferential treatment to outstanding students.
No, every school probably gave preferential treatment to outstanding students.
When the teacher saw that the students requesting leave were Hara Shichi and Yukikaze, who had recently become well-known in the class, he did not even ask for a reason. He merely waved his hand to indicate that he would approve the leave slips.
He even took out a TT from his wallet and forcibly stuffed it into Hara Shichi's hand.
It made Yukikaze blush for quite a while.
Yet what surprised Hara Shichi even more was that when they found Julie, she was sitting in a corner of the library, flipping through an unfamiliar book.
"This isn't some unfamiliar book. It's the Duel Spirit Compendium written by the famous Duel King xxx. It contains the habitats, methods of taming, and effects of all kinds of Duel Spirits," Julie said irritably.
"Who is xxx? And are you planning to go into the wilderness and tame Duel Spirits?" Hara Shichi complained.
"I heard it's a dialect from that Duel King's hometown. Since it was never formally written down, he created this unique script himself." Julie glanced sideways at Hara Shichi. "If I can't gamble for cards, then I can only obtain powerful cards by taming Duel Spirits."
"Card Printing?" Hara Shichi offered.
"Heh. Do you think everyone is like you?" Julie sneered.
"Then... how about using Credits to exchange for cards at the academy shop?" Yukikaze tried to join the conversation.
"You mean spending precious Credits on a bunch of card packs that might not contain anything useful?" Julie scoffed.
Students could use Credits to exchange for cards within the academy.
However, they were not cards sold at clearly marked prices, but... card packs.
Although the card packs had illustrations indicating their general themes... what one could pull depended entirely on luck.
Simply put, the lucky got luckier, while the unlucky got nothing.
"Huh? I think it's pretty good. I pulled a card like Book of Moon."
Before you continue