Yu-Gi-Oh!: Starting with a Devilish Deck and Depressing the World

"That sounds kind of interesting," Jiang He said, immediately intrigued.

If he remembered correctly, the representative North Academy had sent was none other than...

That goofball Chazz Princeton, who had dropped out and left a while ago...!

Clearly, this was his chance to make a comeback and get revenge.

Jiang He could take the opportunity to finish fleecing that goofball Chazz for everything he had missed before!

"But the problem now is whether you, Jiang He, or Jaden Yuki should represent Duel Academy in the match. We in the administration are still having trouble deciding."

The bald principal spoke with some difficulty.

He absolutely couldn't let that guy from the North Branch have Aunt Dorothy's mystery prize!

"In that case, why not have Jiang He and Jaden duel to decide?"

Professor Banner, his eyes narrowed to slits, suddenly raised a finger and made the suggestion while holding his fat cat.

He was quite interested in what the outcome and spectacle would be if Jiang He, a student who seemed somewhat mysterious, dueled Jaden Yuki, who also concealed great dueling power.

He was quite interested in seeing it.

Besides, this was the best strategy.

"Good idea, Professor Banner!" The bald principal's eyes lit up, and he nodded with a smile.

Then he looked at Jiang He and asked for his opinion. "Jiang He, what do you two think?" "I don't mind either way," Jiang He said with a shrug. He was even quite interested in trying a duel with that hot-blooded idiot Jaden and spreading a little laughter to him.

Just how many Emotion Points could he earn?

"I'm completely fine with it too! I've wanted to duel Jiang He for a while now!" Jaden Yuki immediately said excitedly.

At the same time, he looked at Jiang He, raised his hand, and clenched his fist with a spirited grin.

"Besides, the deck I'll use to duel you, Jiang He, will definitely be ready by then!"

"Nobody asked your opinion, non," the blond, bowl-cut professor muttered about Jaden from the side.

One look at the face that lit up at the mention of a duel was enough to know the answer.

"In that case, I'll give you a heads-up. I'll be using a new deck when the time comes." Jiang He raised a hand and gave Jaden a thumbs-up.

Make sure you keep up that energetic attitude!

Chapter 76: Jiang He: Don't You Know Whether You Brought Oolong Tea?!

"You sure know how to find a place to laze around and enjoy yourself. Every time I see you, you're lounging about." After setting a time for his duel with Jaden Yuki and leaving the principal's office, Jiang He had brought the little Sphere Kuriboh to the spacious rooftop. He had only been sunbathing and eating the deluxe lunch bento he had ordered in advance from Aunt Dorothy at the school store for a short while.

Before long, he heard a familiar teasing voice.

Hearing it,

Jiang He turned his head slightly from where he lay lazily in a lounge chair, leisurely munching on a piece of fried shrimp tempura.

He soon spotted Alexis Rhodes, who had also come up to the rooftop, along with her two close friends and followers.

All three were carrying bento boxes.

It looked like they had come to the rooftop to enjoy their lunch break too.

"Looks like we're a step too late, Alexis. This guy already claimed the rooftop," Jasmine said, a little disgruntled. Her red hair was medium-short.

"It's rare for Alexis to suggest coming up to the rooftop to sunbathe and enjoy lunch. I didn't expect someone else to be here," her other close friend and follower, Mindy, added regretfully.

"It's fine, Jasmine, Mindy. Let's eat here together," Alexis Rhodes said, waving a hand to stop them from saying more.

"Huh?" Seeing Alexis already walking toward an empty spot not far from Jiang He, both her friends froze for a moment.

They exchanged slightly surprised glances.

The expressions on both their faces turned a little peculiar again. Could it be...

Just as they had guessed not long ago,

Alexis was interested in that infuriating guy named Jiang He?

Come to think of it, it had been Alexis who had uncharacteristically suggested coming to the rooftop to enjoy lunch today...

The two immediately exchanged gossipy looks and nodded at each other, deciding they had to keep a closer eye on things later!

Although that guy Jiang He was annoying, and the memory of watching his earlier duels still nearly gave them high blood pressure, he had just teamed up with Alexis yesterday to defeat the Paradox Brothers and make sure she wouldn't be expelled.

He did have his good points.

The two quickly followed Alexis.

"I didn't expect such a coincidence. You came here for lunch too," Jiang He said to Alexis, who was not far away, scratching his cheek in mild surprise.

By now, Alexis and her two friends had spread a soft picnic blanket a short distance from his little lounge chair, fully prepared.

They set their bento boxes on it and opened them, taking out various rice balls, sandwiches, and some girly foods like rolled omelets, fried pork cutlets, and little octopus-shaped sausages.

Then they sat down on the blanket and each picked up a rice ball or sandwich.

Jiang He was a little puzzled. Did so many people already know about this good spot he had just discovered?

As he recalled, Duel Academy was practically full of card fanatics, who were either studying their decks in the Obelisk Blue or Ra Yellow dorms or dueling at the duel field.

Normally, no one was likely to come to this rooftop for months at a time.

After all, even if they wanted to sunbathe, the Obelisk Blue and Ra Yellow dorms weren't much worse than the rooftop.

And they wouldn't have to walk all the way over here.

"I just had a sudden idea. I thought this spot was a little better than the dorms, so I happened to suggest we come here to eat."

Holding her seaweed rice ball, Alexis Rhodes promptly offered an explanation.

"That's right. You absolutely mustn't get any weird ideas!"

Beside her, Jasmine and Mindy ate their chosen rice ball and sandwich, nodding emphatically as they reiterated the point with unclear meaning.

"..." Jiang He was speechless.

What was with this weird sense of déjà vu?

He had the feeling that Alexis's two close friends and followers seemed a little strange today too.

"Jasmine, Mindy!"

Alexis Rhodes also sensed that something was a little off. Embarrassed, she hurriedly spoke up in a low voice to stop them!

What Jasmine and Mindy said made her feel like they were deliberately urging that guy Jiang He to let his thoughts wander in a strange direction...!

Flustered and annoyed, Alexis Rhodes gave each of them a bump on the head!

Then she turned away and closed her eyes, eating her rice ball with a haughty air and ignoring her two troublesome friends.

She just felt very relaxed when she was with a certain someone.

Just like that afternoon a couple of days ago.

It had been the most relaxed she had felt in all the time since her brother disappeared, with that matter weighing on her heart.

It had given her a long-awaited sense of salvation.

Although the boulder weighing on her heart was still there, someone had lifted it up for her, so it could no longer press heavily on her heart.

And that guy had given her something precious called "hope."

When she had found him interesting and started paying attention to him before, she had also wanted to distract herself from the weight of what was on her mind.

She just hadn't expected to find salvation with a certain someone...

So, after leaving the principal's office earlier and noticing Jiang He part ways with Jaden Yuki and the others, then pick up a bento and head toward the rooftop,

An inexplicable thought she hadn't expected had come to her, and she had subconsciously made the suggestion to Jasmine and Mindy...

Even she hadn't realized what that inexplicable thought was before. But now, after Jasmine and Mindy's strange remarks, Alexis Rhodes suddenly had some idea...

The realization startled her into blushing as she ate her rice ball.

She hurriedly drank some water to compose herself and suppressed the strange thought that had just arisen.

But, completely immersed in her own thoughts, she failed to notice

That Jasmine and Mindy were both staring at her in astonishment.

Even Jiang He was watching with a bewildered look.

At that moment, he only wanted to ask Alexis one thing: Girl, don't you know whether you brought oolong tea?!

Chapter 77: My Dark HEROes Are Starving for Action!

But considering how easily Alexis Rhodes got embarrassed, Jiang He merely cleared his throat and chose to keep quiet.

Ah, it was just a little over half a bottle of oolong tea.

He would just take the loss!

"Speaking of which, your duel with Jaden Yuki is tomorrow morning. Is your new deck ready?"

At that moment, Alexis Rhodes came out of her thoughts and suddenly asked Jiang He, as if she had just remembered something. Sitting beside her on the blanket, her two close friends and followers, Jasmine and Mindy, nodded and looked at Jiang He curiously. "That's right. Although the duel against the North Branch as Duel Academy's representative actually... doesn't mean much, and it doesn't matter whether you become the representative or not."

"But if you can help it, you wouldn't want to lose your duel against Jaden Yuki tomorrow, would you?" The two took turns speaking.

Clearly, as second-year students at Duel Academy, they also knew what the bald principal's so-called "mystery prize" was... "As for the deck, it's been ready for a while."

As Alexis and her two friends asked curiously, Jiang He finished the last piece of sushi in his deluxe bento.

He continued lying comfortably in his lounge chair, half-closing his eyes and nodding slightly as he answered. "It's ready already?"

Alexis Rhodes was surprised. She hadn't expected Jiang He to prepare a deck so quickly.

That made her curious about what kind of deck he had prepared this time.

Soon, Alexis Rhodes seemed to think of something and ventured a guess with a peculiar expression.

"This new deck of yours... it isn't an even more devilish deck made by combining and rebuilding your earlier Lava Golem deck and yesterday's newest Stealth Bird deck, is it...?" Hearing that, Jasmine and Mindy both shuddered and hurriedly huddled together in fright, looking at Jiang He.

It was as if they had seen something terrifying!

"Well, you'll find out when we duel tomorrow." Jiang He's eyes were half-closed. Having finished eating, he didn't feel like moving at all, so he waved a hand slightly.

As he saw it, of course he had to use Dark HEROes against HEROes!

Although he hadn't found an opportunity today to farm some Emotion Points and earn more points, so he could exchange them for Syrus Truesdale's Vehicroid Deck as well,

Now that this matter of the academy representative duel had come up,

And he was going to duel that hot-blooded idiot Jaden Yuki tomorrow,

He was naturally set on exchanging his points for the Dark HERO Deck!

As for Syrus Truesdale's Vehicroid Deck...

All Jiang He could say was, if he missed it, he missed it.