What's her ace card?

Yes, the Book of Moon Yukikaze had given Hara Shichi earlier had come from a card pack in the academy store.

"Someone even pulled Monster Reborn and Fairy Tail - Kaguya," Julie said helplessly. "And even if you pull a good card, so what? Some cards just don't fit your deck at all, so there's no way to add them."

"Then trade with friends," Yukikaze said as if it were obvious. "Maybe a card in your hand is just what your friend needs, while a card in their hand is something you can use."

"..."

"And if you don't have one, you can make a few more friends. If everyone gets together, maybe you can trade for the cards you want."

"..."

Yukikaze, stop talking. Haven't you noticed Julie's face has gone dark? Hara Shichi secretly tugged on Yukikaze's sleeve, but unfortunately, it was already too late.

"Ah, right. I don't have any friends. I'm a loner. Does that make sense to you now? If you understand, then please leave. Honestly, you two have been annoying me since earlier, buzzing around like flies..."

Yes, Julie had no friends.

Though no one knew why, she apparently blamed herself for it.

"Huh? Aren't we friends?" Yukikaze asked, looking shocked.

"Huh? Since when did I become your friend?" Julie looked even more shocked.

"Didn't you comfort me by the lake behind the mountain that time?" Yukikaze offered as an example.

"You were just crying so noisily that it annoyed me," Julie said impatiently.

"What about the apology letter and candy you put in my mailbox this morning?" Yukikaze asked, blinking.

"What?!" Hara Shichi stared wide-eyed at Julie, as though asking, You actually did something like that?

"I... that was only because you apologized to me... No, wait, I sent it anonymously... Ah!" Julie spoke too quickly and nearly bit her tongue.

"My parents always like writing to me, so I check my mailbox every morning," Yukikaze said, sticking out her tongue. "And as for being anonymous... you admitted it yourself, so it isn't anonymous anymore."

"I never expected Yukikaze to have such a 'clever' side," Ai could not help saying.

"Why do I find that a little scary..." Hara Shichi said, twitching the corner of his mouth.

"Anyway... it's just... forget it. I didn't apologize for you. I only did it to forgive myself," Julie said, turning her face away.

"Say, you didn't write one to every single person, did you?" Hara Shichi suddenly asked.

"Mm," Julie answered softly.

"And every one was anonymous?"

"Mm."

"Are you an idiot? If it's anonymous, they can't feel your sincerity at all. They'll only be confused," Hara Shichi said as he looked at the purple-haired girl hanging her head before him.

"If I wrote my real name, it would only make them angry," Julie said mockingly. "Besides, I already sold their decks. I used the money from the fifty-fifty split to buy new cards. Unless I sell my current deck... no, even if I sold it, I still couldn't buy back everyone's decks. And even if I could... they wouldn't be the original cards anymore."

"How should I put it? I'm just half-hearted. I want to atone, but I can't bear to give up my own deck. All I can do is write a few useless anonymous apology letters to comfort myself."

"No one will forgive me."

"I forgive you," Yukikaze said, taking Julie's hand.

"That's only because I never took your deck," Julie said coldly.

"That's right. No one will forgive you," Hara Shichi said. "A single apology letter is completely useless aside from giving you some self-comfort."

"Hara Shichi..." Yukikaze looked into his firm eyes, and the words she had wanted to use to persuade him caught in her throat.

"Honestly, I didn't care before about what you did to the other students," Hara Shichi said flatly. "To put it bluntly, those people had nothing to do with me. If they were foolish enough to agree to a Card Gambling Duel, they should take responsibility for their own actions."

"But now I understand that I was the foolish one for casually drawing conclusions on my own." Hara Shichi pointed at Julie. "And you did indeed do something unforgivable."

"But that is ultimately your own business. Whether you want to be forgiven or throw it all behind you, it has nothing to do with me."

"However..."

As he spoke, Hara Shichi extended his hand. "Since you want comfort, that means you feel guilty, doesn't it?"

"In that case, I have a proposal. Do you want to hear it?"

"What?" Julie raised her head to look at Hara Shichi.

"Let's take down the Crimson Lotus Society together," Hara Shichi said. "The old victims can no longer be saved, so let's stop new victims from appearing."

"You... didn't come to find me just for this, did you?" Julie asked suspiciously.

"It's different." Hara Shichi shook his head. "Before coming here, I was thinking about what I could use to move you. I even prepared a speech to beg you."

"But now I realize I was wrong."

Hara Shichi smiled. "We've been comrades on the same front from the very beginning."

"You really dare to say that... What if I refuse?"

"Then I'll beg you. Do you need me to recite the speech I prepared right now?"

"Forget it. It sounds like it'd be disgusting, so don't." Julie sighed and reached out her hand.

"I accept your proposal."

What Is Her Trump Card?

"Five against five? And against the starting team?!"

"Keep your voice down. This is the library."

Though aside from a librarian reading a book, only Hara Shichi, the other two girls, and a spirit remained in the library.

"Do you even know what the starting team represents?" Julie asked irritably. "They're the ones representing the entire academy in competition. In a sense, they're the five strongest people in the academy!"

"Can you give me a more concrete idea? Like, how many of you can each of them beat?" Hara Shichi asked seriously.

"Heh. I admit I'm no match for them, but even you would at most be evenly matched against them," Julie said calmly. "If it's Crimson Lotus... the odds would be one to nine."

"Are there any recordings or information?" Hara Shichi asked.

"The National Higher Academy Tournament is in a month. The board wiped all their previous records long ago," Julie said, propping up her chin with half-lidded eyes. "But since I used to be part of the Crimson Lotus Society, I roughly know what decks those five use."

"You know?"

"Not their exact decklists, though."

Julie stretched lazily. Under Yukikaze and Hara Shichi's expectant gazes, her red lips parted. "First is third-year senior Kazuko Kurosawa. She uses a Blackwing deck focused on Synchro Summoning. Her trump card is Blackwing - Armor Master, which cannot be destroyed by battle, takes no battle damage, and can reduce an opponent's monster's ATK and DEF to 0."

"Doesn't that just have one less effect than your Dragon Death?" Hara Shichi complained.

"Most of the time, people use battle destruction, okay? Not everyone has monsters that can destroy the opponent's cards with effects!" Perhaps recalling the Pudding Princess in Hara Shichi's hand, Julie's brows furrowed slightly.

"Sorry, Senior Julie, please continue. Hara Shichi, stop interrupting," Yukikaze hurriedly said, trying to smooth things over.

"Fine, but you don't need to call me Senior. Just call me Julie."

"It feels a little impolite to call you by name... Julie-chan?" Yukikaze asked, tilting her head.

"No. That's kind of gross," Julie said, her face full of black lines.

"Okay, then keep going, Big Sister Julie."

"You should just call me Senior..."

And so, that was how her form of address was decided.

"Then there's third-year senior Akiya Taniguchi. He uses a powerful OTK deck called Cyber Dragon. His trump card, Cyber End Dragon, has a whopping 4,000 ATK!"

"Isn't that thing just a White Board?"

Julie said nothing, merely gazing quietly at Hara Shichi with her dark red eyes.

Hara Shichi raised both hands in surrender.

"Sorry, I couldn't help it. Go on."

"Next is Emil, who also uses a Fusion deck. His deck is a Gem-Knight deck. I heard he's the eldest son of a declining dueling family. His trump card is Gem-Knight Prism, which can send one 'Gem-Knight' card from his hand to the Graveyard to target one face-up card on the field and destroy it. I heard he actually has a Gem-Knight Master Diamond as well, but his Duel Power level is too low to use it."

"..."

Julie watched Hara Shichi put on a poker face, then impatiently kicked his shin. "If you want to say something, just say it."

"Why is his name Emil?"

"How would I know?!"

"What about the others? What decks do the other two use?" Yukikaze asked curiously.

"Then there's Senior Lekti Eisenach. She uses a Weather deck, and her trump card is... Skill Drain."

"..."

"..."

"Are you sure?" Hara Shichi said, twitching the corner of his mouth.

"Who uses a Trap Card as their trump card?" Yukikaze was even more dumbfounded. She had seen Skill Drain before. Its terrifying effect... could a student really use something like that?

"I heard that because Skill Drain is so powerful, every time she uses it, she coughs up blood from forcing herself to control it," Julie said, seemingly recalling something unpleasant. "That's why someone gave her an elegant nickname."

"Blood-Soaked Duelist?" Hara Shichi guessed.

"Sickly Princess?" Yukikaze guessed as well.

"Walking Tomato Juice."

"..."

"..."

"As for the final one, and the strongest one, the president of the Crimson Lotus Society—Crimson Lotus. The deck she uses... I can't really describe it. But without question, her skill is far beyond what the other four can match. A duelist of that level shouldn't be at an academy at all."

"You've never watched her duel?" Hara Shichi asked curiously.

"I have, but that's exactly why I don't know how to describe her deck."

Julie's expression turned grave. A bead of cold sweat seeped from her forehead and slowly slid down her delicate cheek before falling onto the floor.

"Do you know... the Barrier Statue series?" Julie asked.

"I've heard of those." Yukikaze raised her hand to answer. "They're monster cards that were discovered only a couple of years ago, right? I heard that as long as they're on the field, they lock down Special Summons except for monsters of their own Attribute. I wanted to add one to my deck too, but Barrier Statue of the Torrent only has 1,000 ATK and takes up your Normal Summon, so I decided against it."

"Exactly. Since it only has 1,000 ATK, no one thinks highly of it, and it isn't too expensive on the Black Market... But what if you pair it with Moon Mirror Shield?"

"What's that?" Yukikaze asked blankly.

"When the equipped monster battles an opponent's monster, during damage calculation: the equipped monster's ATK and DEF become the higher of that opponent's monster's ATK or DEF, plus 100, until the end of the Damage Step," Hara Shichi suddenly recited from the side.

"Huh! Wouldn't that make it invincible?" Yukikaze froze. No matter how high the opponent's monster's ATK was, as long as hers was always one hundred higher, it could never be defeated!

And the opponent could only keep setting monsters, until every monster in their deck had been attacked away, defending over and over... until they were unwillingly beaten to death one thousand at a time.

"Right. That makes up for the Barrier Statue's weakness." Julie nodded. "Professional Duelists figured out this combo long ago, but many people found that the Barrier Statue used up their Normal Summon while also blocking their own Special Summon engines. And Moon Mirror Shield is actually easy enough for Professional Duelists to deal with, so it never caught on."

"But for students like us, this combo is probably an insurmountable mountain."

"Not just that," Hara Shichi interrupted. In fact, he had probably already figured out what deck this legendary girl used. "Her deck has more than just monsters like Barrier Statue, right? Tell me, what is her trump card?"

"You noticed? That's right. If she only relied on Barrier Statue and Moon Mirror Shield, its low ATK could slow the pace of the duel and create unforeseen variables. But her trump card solves that problem."

Julie swallowed as the image of that flame-like girl surfaced in her mind, along with... the giant beast beside her.

"Her trump card... is a monster blazing red from head to toe... called..."

"Crimson Beast Ta-Isha!"

Flash Draw!

Hara Shichi roughly understood.

Why Julie had said that even she did not know exactly what kind of deck it was.

And why everyone said Crimson Lotus was so strong.

Because a Revenge Deck... was genuinely powerful.

The full name of a Revenge Deck was: a deck used to take revenge on society.

Though that was a slight exaggeration, the deck's characteristics made many duelists feel irritated and even disgusted by it.

At the same time, many duelists believed that Revenge Decks were part of Yu-Gi-Oh!, and that if you didn't like them, you shouldn't play. Though Revenge Decks looked brainless, they actually required an understanding of the metagame and skillful operation—namely, precisely interrupting the opponent's plays.