The Last Reunion The First Semester

by Nyan Nyan Soup

It's been ten years since Judai and the gang graduated from Duel Academy. Every year Judai organizes a reunion at the academy, except this year no one can attend. With the only thing he has to look forward to in life now cancelled, Judai has a tough time accepting that maybe his life needs to change. (Post canon, minor Soulshipping)

2. Bonds

Edit: Fixed a few things. And I don't know why the word count is so much higher on this chapter than it should be. I don't know what it counts as words or not.

---

Duel Academy was still located on a small island in the middle of the ocean. It still had a volcano as well, which no one ever seemed concerned about. The main school building still stood as tall and proud as ever. Although a few additions were made to accommodate the increased size of the student body. Parts of the school system had been overhauled over the years. The female students were no longer automatically placed in Obelisk Blue and instead separate girls' dorms were built for Ra Yellow and Osiris Red so they could be placed into dorms the same way as the boys. Thanks to Judai's legacy at Duel Academy, the incoming students the year after he graduated had a large amount that wanted to be placed in Osiris Red, which kept the red dorm alive. The dorm even had to be expanded upon to allow them all to stay there without overcrowding. However, the girl's dorm was much smaller since there were very few girls that belonged to Osiris Red.

Ra Yellow and Obelisk Blue stayed about the same, but most of the hierarchy feel to each dorm had been removed. Over time Osiris stopped being considered the worst and Obelisk had less restrictions for entering. Each dorm had a unique feel to it that made students get sorted by what fit them best rather than their skill level. However, that didn't mean history was completely forgotten. The occasional Obelisk student still looked down on the Osiris students simply due to its history of containing the weakest duelists.

As time marched on, so too did the standards of the world and eventually Duel Academy felt forced to make changes to the girls' uniform, which now came with a wider variety of options similar to the boys' uniform. The default girls' uniform also looked almost the same as the boys', but many students still preferred to customize their uniform however they saw fit.

The remains of the old abandoned blue dorm were eventually cleaned up and made room for a greenhouse. The former research facility that Cobra took over long ago was later converted into a planetarium. Before construction got started there were rumors on the island that a skeleton had been discovered nearby. A few students who went spying even reported that a government agent showed up in secret. Most of the students that year brushed it off as only rumors, but the kids that stayed over semester break and managed to spot the group of old students that dropped by every year would say otherwise.

Headmaster Samejima, Professor Cronos, Professor Kabayama, and Ms. Ayukawa were still members of the staff even after ten years. Plenty more teachers were brought on after all the new buildings were completed, but just about every year Judai would get to meet them, so he was already acquainted with everyone. Professor Napoleon never came back after he left with Martin during Judai's third year, but everyone was sure he was off doing better things with his life.

Judai looked out the window of the small plane to see the island below. Everything looked the same as it did last year so far, but who knows what could have changed in the past twelve months. Looking back to the rest of the passengers with him, there were only twenty or so people with him. Most of them were obviously students that were returning to the academy after spending their semester break elsewhere. The others seemed like they might be staff members.

The plane finally landed and everyone slowly unboarded, Judai being last. He stood next to the plane for a moment and just stared out at the school building. Usually coming to Duel Academy every year made him feel so excited, but it was different this time. He wasn't upset at knowing he wasn't there for the reunion, he just felt like his reason for being there was business related now rather than as a vacation. It made him feel a little more serious now that he finally arrived. He was really going through with trying to become a teacher. He wouldn't be a former student returning to reminisce on old times with friends, he would be an educator. One who helped raise up the next generation and pass on everything he knew. He had to take that role seriously.

Judai made his way up to the school building. Everything seemed fairly empty, but that was to be expected since the new semester hadn't started yet. There were still a few stray kids around though so it wasn't like a ghost town. Judai entered the building and continued on directly to Samejima's office.

Samejima himself was sitting in his office looking over the applications of next semester's students. Cronos was standing before his desk and organizing the many documents as they went from one pile to another. Samejima hadn't changed much except for the increased number of wrinkles on his face and the few extra pounds he'd gained. His beard had turned gray over the years, but that was about it. Cronos seemed visibly older as well and his hair had grown longer to the point he needed to put part of it in a bun. Other than that, the two were the same old men as always.

A knock on Samejima's office door brought their attention away from the papers. Samejima was about to tell the person to enter, but the door already opened before he could speak. Judai stepped in and closed the door behind himself before approaching the desk.

"Ah, Judai-kun. Glad to see you back. How has the year treated you?" Samejima greeted.

"The same as every other year, well, for the most part. And how have you two been?" Judai responded.

"Same as always as well." Samejima replied.

"Getting older, experiencing more back pain. You'll start feeling it too soon enough." Cronos told Judai.

The brunet simply let out a nervous chuckle, not wanting to think about getting older than he already was, which wasn't even considered old.

"So everybody will be here for the reunion I presume." Samejima stated.

"Oh, actually, about that…" Judai looked down at the floor, causing the other two to grow confused. "No one can make it. So it's just me this year."

"Oh Judai-kun, I'm sorry." Samejima apologized.

"Well, things happen." Cronos said. "You're all adults and you have families and careers and as you get older those things start to take up more time. I know I don't keep in contact with anyone from my youth anymore."

"I know, I know. I did all the thinking I could think to think on that. But, ya know, it's probably a good thing it didn't work out this year." Judai noted.

"How so? I thought the reunion was important to you." Samejima wondered.

"It is. It's really important. It just… helped me realize I need to start doing adult stuff too. No more aimlessly travelling the world for me." Judai explained.

"Then what will you do?" Cronos inquired, raising a brow at the brunet.

Judai put both his hands down on Samejima's desk. "I wanna teach at Duel Academy."

The two men stared at Judai for what felt like forever. They couldn't believe what they were hearing. Judai wanted to be a teacher. Cronos suddenly burst out laughing and the other two gave him surprised looks.

"Hahahaha! Do you- D-do you even have- hahaha! Do you even have a teaching degree!? You can't just-bwahaha! Can't just come into your old school and demand to be a teacher! No matter how good of a duelist you are! Aaahahaha!" Cronos managed to exclaim through all his laughter.

Judai looked down a bit. He was hoping that part could be skipped. He wasn't really sure what all went into becoming a teacher anyway. He didn't consider he would face any roadblock other than being told no.

"Well I think that's a splendid idea. I'm sure the director would agree as well." Samejima said.

Cronos immediately stopped laughing and Judai looked at him with wide eyes.

"R-really!? Ya mean it!?" Judai shouted.

"Y-you're not serious, are you, Headmaster!? Don't you remember all the trouble he caused while he was a student?" Cronos protested.

"Judai may have been a handful, but we could always rely on him." Samejima noted.

Judai looked taken aback for a moment.

"He was the greatest student we ever had." Samejima continued. "No one has ever been able to live up to his legacy. Even now students still talk about wanting to be like Judai Yuki. That's one of the main reasons the red dorm is still alive after all. Although, it's not exactly up to standard anymore."

"It's not? What's wrong with it?" Judai questioned.

"The teachers in charge of both the boys' and the girls' dorm quit after they suddenly got eloped together and left to go on their honeymoon. That's left both dorms with no teacher in charge. I know it was without a dorm leader for a few years after Daitokuji went missing, but things are a bit stricter nowadays. I can't leave the Osiris students unsupervised." Samejima explained.

Judai quickly leaned far over Samejima's desk. "Then that's perfect! I was in the red dorm! I was what the red dorm was so proud of! I was the last one until my legacy revived it! There's no better place to put me than in charge of the red dorms!"

"You can't be expected to watch after the female students." Cronos rebuked.

"Cronos has a point." Samejima noted.

"Ah, well… I won't go into the girls' dorm then. Yubel can keep an eye on them until you find another new female teacher to hire." Judai decided.

"Excuse me? Leave me out of this." Yubel said in Judai's head.

"A-actually, that sounds like a worse idea, nya." Daitokuji stated.

"Got a problem with me watching out for some bratty little girls? Don't think I can do it? I'll show you I can keep some kids in line. I watched over Judai more often than his own parents when he was little! I saved him from plenty of trouble!" Yubel argued.

"Eep!" Daitokuji yelped in fear at Yubel's loudness.

"Even Yubel says they're willing to do it!" Judai added, trying not to look annoyed at the talking going on in his head.

Samejima and Cronos glanced at each other. Neither of them were sure that was a good idea, especially considering the stunt Yubel pulled a decade ago. But they were aware that Judai managed to get Yubel to calm down after the whole incident and that the spirit was ultimately pretty harmless now. They couldn't let the red dorms go unsupervised after all and there wasn't enough time to find two different teachers that could fill the roles of the previous ones before the semester started.

"I think for the time being we'll just have to settle for that. Passing up the opportunity to have you as a member of the faculty would be such a waste of talent after all." Samejima finally agreed.

Judai couldn't contain the smile that began to form on his face. Even compared to the excitement he would get over the reunions, Judai had never been more excited for anything else in his entire life. He finally had a real direction to follow in life. He wasn't moving along a track set for him in terms of having to go to school as a kid. He wasn't wandering aimlessly all over the world without a care for where he was headed next. He finally chose for himself where to lead his life and he was actually getting that. Judai was going to be the teacher that he sought to be.

Samejima had to call up the director, Saiou, since the final decision on who to hire or fire wasn't his alone. Saiou was happy to hear the news that Judai wanted to teach at Duel Academy. So happy in fact, that he wanted to come to Duel Academy personally to meet with Judai the next day. In the meantime, since no reunion was happening, Judai went around the school to catch up with the rest of the staff.

He first met with Ms. Tome at the school's card shop. She had plenty of fun stories to tell Judai about last year's new students. It seemed like every year something crazy had to happen. Although, he didn't really want to hear the details of Ms. Tome and Samejima's last date unfortunately. While there, Judai was surprised to see Seiko had returned, who was originally on maternity leave before deciding to take a break from work to raise her son. She had dozens of pictures to show Judai of the young boy, who was six and busy enjoying grade school. Informing the two of them that he would be a teacher at Duel Academy netted Judai a painfully tight hug from Ms. Tome and a congratulations from Seiko.

Judai then visited Ms. Ayukawa in the nurse's office. Like everyone else, she didn't look very different outside of obvious aging, but she was still considered the most beautiful teacher at the academy. When Judai told her he would be a teacher next semester, she went on a whole spiel about informing the kids to be safe at every chance he got, easy ways to recognize when someone might be injured, basic CPR knowledge, and what to do when someone was having a seizure. Judai couldn't keep up with all of it, but he tried to remember what he could anyway since it was important information.

Judai then headed outside and spoke to a few of the staff members he passed by on the way. He stopped at the yellow dorms first to visit Kabayama and the woman in charge of the girls' yellow dorm. Kabayama talked a bit about his grandkids that would be able to attend Duel Academy in two years and looked forward to the prospect of Judai teaching them. He even promised to make some of his special curry in celebration of Judai joining the staff. The girls' dorm leader spoke of her time as a former student at Duel Academy and shared some helpful tips with Judai on how not to feel like he was still a student.

After that, Judai made his way to the greenhouse. Every time he was there it still felt a tad uncomfortable to him despite the serene beauty of the plants in the garden. The old blue dorm once stood on the same land. The place where Fubuki and other students went missing, Judai and Asuka dueled Titan, and Judai defeated Daitokuji as Amnael, among other things. Perhaps the peacefulness of the plants only made the discomfort worse. It was like it was all a cover up to hide the misfortune that surrounded the building that once stood in the same spot. Even Daitokuji, who caused a decent amount of harm in that very building, felt uncomfortable to be there.

Moving on, Judai followed the path made to reach the observatory. Like with the garden, even the observatory felt strange to him. The old lab wasn't as terrible as the abandoned dorm was, but he still faced a decent amount of struggles there. His duel with Professor Satou, helping Johan rescue the Crystal Beasts from Giese Hunt, his duel with Professor Cobra, and the moment he realized they all weren't at Duel Academy anymore. Even though Judai wasn't scared of those memories and what he became during that time anymore, it still wasn't memories he liked to think back on. Even after everything that happened to him in the other dimension, Judai was still able to become his old self again. He learned how to enjoy dueling again. He looked forward to what he would see on his travels around the world. He made amazing memories doing so many things in places he'd never seen before. He even travelled through time twice and got to duel both with and against Yugi Muto of all people.

And yet…

After a decade he stopped caring. It dawned on Judai that over time he must have been slowly spiralling back into his old depression. Places and people started getting boring. He'd seen it all and none of it impressed him anymore. He stopped enjoying where the waves took him and began just dealing it. He didn't feel the same joy at seeing a beautiful sight like he used to. He didn't even really want to see the sights anymore. He just couldn't stop travelling since he didn't think he had anywhere to stay. He got tired of what became his daily routine. It ran out of enjoyment to give him.

Judai wondered if being a teacher would do the same thing. Would he grow tired of it and want to quit? He knew he didn't want that to happen. He had a real goal now. But even then, he had a goal when he graduated too. To travel. Now his goal was to teach kids. There wasn't an end to goals like that. It would end when he quit or when he died. Maybe that was Judai's problem. He picked goals that didn't have a set end. He couldn't complete it, only continue it. That way he ended up sucking as much out of it that he could before growing bored with it. He couldn't let that happen as a teacher. Teaching was a lot more rigid than travelling. He would have far less control of things as a teacher, so maybe that would help it not get boring like travelling did. Every year would bring new students unlike travelling where there was only so much he could see and do. He knew from his own time as a student that being a teacher would be hard, but maybe that was what Judai needed. He needed to be pushed a little. He was relaxing way too much for the past decade. It was time something came around to challenge him.

Judai realized he'd been at the observatory for far longer than he expected, so he turned around and headed back to the main school building. He returned to Samejima's office, who invited Judai to have lunch with him and Ms. Tome. They shared a nice meal that Ms. Tome cooked and chatted for a while. It reminded Judai a bit of the past few days he spent with his parents, except they were probably closer in age to being his grandparents. Samejima told Judai that they would talk more about being a teacher after Judai was officially hired. After all, Judai didn't have any proper knowledge on how to be a teacher. He knew some obvious basics and learned a bit from his conversations with the other staff members, but it still wasn't something Judai was officially qualified to do.

As night fell over the island, Judai was allowed to stay in the boys' red dorm since he would be living there once the semester started anyway. Judai was always happy to see the red dorm. No matter how much it changed it was still always the same old building to him. It had a third floor added and the wall against his old room was extended out further. The area Manjoume renovated once he moved in was further renovated a few times over the years to be more modern and accommodate more people. The mess hall was expanded and upgraded as well, allowing more people to fit inside and look a little nicer. They even got a bigger kitchen. Off to the side was the girls' dorm, which was only two floors and quite smaller. Judai felt it looked like the way the red dorm originally looked when he first came to Duel Academy. It made sense though, since there were always far less Osiris girls than boys.

Walking inside, Judai headed to the room that was once Daitokuji's. It was about the same size as the rest of the dorm rooms, but looked bigger since it was only for one person. There was a bed in the middle against the wall that looked like it could fit two people though. Unfortunately, Judai could already imagine the kind of things Yubel would say in relation to that. There was a dresser on one side of the room and a desk on the other. Other than that the room was empty. If there was anything more to the room then it was likely the last teacher took it when they left. Daitokuji appeared sitting on the desk and Yubel appeared laying down on the bed.

"I must say, they did a good job renovating this room, nya." Daitokuji noted.

"I've never actually seen this room before." Judai said as he walked over to the dresser.

"Oh trust me, it's much better than it used to be, nya." Daitokuji responded.

Judai crouched down and opened one of the dresser drawers. He put down his bag and pulled out his extra pair of clothes to put them in the drawer before closing it.

"Oh Judai, do you have any idea what this bed is the perfect size for?" Yubel asked, sounding a little too cheerful.

"Why did I know you would ask?" Judai muttered under his breath as he stood up. "Not now, Yubel."

"Hmph!" Yubel pouted and turned their head away.

"You can't do that on campus, nya." Daitokuji pointed out.

"Well obviously! And I don't need to be hearing that from you!" Judai shouted.

Daitokuji quickly put his hands up by his head. "Sorry, nya! Sorry."

Yubel just chuckled as Judai let himself fall onto the bed.

"I'm really here. I'm really doing this…" Judai spoke into the mattress.

"Are you beginning to regret this decision?" Yubel inquired.

Judai lifted his head up a bit. "Nah, it's just hard to believe how much has changed in the past few days."

"Are you ready for it? Teaching can be tough, nya. I know teenagers aren't the same as toddlers, but there's a whole other set of difficulties that come with each age group." Daitokuji said.

"Hm… I dunno. Obviously when I start it'll be weird, but I'm sure over time I'll get used to it. I just… need to keep at it… I guess." Judai responded, sounding more like he was trying to convince himself than them.

"Well if anyone gives you any trouble or makes things difficult for you then I'll deal with them." Yubel assured Judai.

"Please do not do that." Judai stated.

"So do you know what you want to teach, nya?" Daitokuji asked.

"Huh? Well, dueling obviously. What else would I teach?" Judai replied, sitting up on the bed.

Daitokuji looked tense for a moment before sighing. "Everyone is capable of teaching dueling. Everyone duels, it's a duel academy, nya. That's why everyone also teaches other subjects. Like Ayukawa-san is a gym coach and also the nurse, nya. And Kabayama-san teaches art and I taught alchemy."

Judai went wide eyed. "I… I-I-I… have to actually teach… a real subject…?"

"Oh boy. Now's the time to let us know if you remember math, Judai." Yubel commented.

"Remember!? I don't even think I knew it to begin with!" Judai exclaimed and tugged at his hair.

"Okay, that concerning note aside, nya, I could probably teach for you. Or, through you really." Daitokuji suggested.

"And how the hell would you do that?!" Judai loudly questioned.

"I may be dead, but I still know alchemy! You can recommend they bring alchemy class back and I can tell you everything you're supposed to say and do, nya. Like you're a puppet basically. Give it enough years and some practice outside the classroom and you'll be able to do it all by yourself without me, nya!" Daitokuji explained.

"I'm not opposed to that, but do I even want to learn and teach alchemy in the first place?" Judai rebutted.

"I must say, just having him tell you everything seems a lot easier than you trying to become an expert in any subject other than dueling." Yubel noted.

"I mean, you have a point. But wouldn't that feel like cheating?" Judai continued to argue.

"You want to teach dueling, Judai. You can do that no matter what here, nya. And with all you've learned during your travels I know there's more than just dueling you can teach the kids. So what's the harm in being a proxy for also teaching alchemy, nya?" Daitokuji clarified.

"Yeah, I suppose it wouldn't do any harm. It's just not what I planned on doing." Judai said.

"You didn't exactly plan on becoming a teacher until a few days ago, nya." Daitokuji stated.

"Okay, I get it!" Judai shouted. "I'll teach alchemy. Or… you'll teach alchemy… through me. This is gonna be weird."

"Well, it won't be the weirdest thing you've done." Yubel commented.

"By a long shot…" Judai added and let out a sigh.

With the conversation done, Yubel and Daitokuji faded away, leaving Judai alone in the room. The brunet sat up and moved to get under the blanket. He didn't actually do much for the day, but the plane rides made him tired anyway. He felt emotionally drained too. He went from being upset at his friends to facing a lot of nostalgia over going home and seeing Duel Academy again while also being a bit nervous about changing his path in life. He'd done so much thinking that it actually managed to take a lot out of him.

Judai wondered if he would start to miss his old lifestyle. He never felt like he had anything to worry about when he was just travelling and seeing the sights. He had no responsibilities to focus on. He was free. But perhaps being free was something that became tiring over time. Judai knew by now that he had grown tired of his old lifestyle. He was certain that he wanted to move on from that, so he shouldn't worry about it. He felt like he was doing too much worrying anyway. He was nervous after all. He wanted to be a good teacher, but there were too many things that could go wrong. The kids could hate him, he could mess up on grading, he could get tired of teaching, or he end up bringing more trouble to the school. He already never stopped feeling like everything that happened while he was a student was his fault. Maybe being back at the academy for an extended period of time would cause more issues. Was he a magnet for trouble? He did end up running into lots of strange events on his travels to the point that he felt like trouble always followed him around.

Judai roughly shook his hands through his hair. He couldn't worry about all that. He had to stop letting his mind wander through all his concerns. He just had to take things one day at a time and deal with issues as they appeared rather than worrying all the time. It would end up driving him insane otherwise.

To distract himself, Judai pulled out his phone. He had more messages. This time it was dozens from Manjoume and a single missed call from Ryo. Judai wasn't sure if he ever felt like he'd want to talk to them. He needed to explain things so they would stop worrying about him, but the longer he waited the more he didn't want to say anything. He still wasn't mad or upset at anyone, he just didn't seem to have the words. Did he even want to have the words? Judai wasn't really sure. He felt bad about leaving his friends in the dark on his situation, but for the time being he also felt better without speaking to them again. Perhaps he was still associating them with the disappointment of not being able to have the reunion. At the least he wanted to get over that fully before he could have the willpower to talk to anyone.

Not wanting to think about anything anymore, Judai put his phone down beside him. He had to clear his mind and go to sleep. He would feel better tomorrow when he officially became a teacher. He was sure of it.

Morning eventually came and Saiou arrived by helicopter at Duel Academy. He immediately went to Samejima's office and the two discussed business for a bit while waiting for Judai. Samejima spoke of some promising students that would be attending the academy next semester and Saiou assured that he would look into finding another teacher for the girls' red dorm. Judai soon came bursting into the office and frantically apologizing about being late. Saiou and Samejima both simply chuckled at him and Saiou swore there was no need for Judai to worry.

Saiou held a hand out to Judai, but the brunet hugged him instead. The two hadn't seen each other in a decade so Judai was just excited about their reunion. Saiou didn't look too different actually. He wore a black suit and his hair was cut so it only reached his chin though. Judai tried not to laugh when Saiou explained he had it cut to avoid it getting caught on fire in his kitchen again. He went on to talk about how Mizuchi was doing. She lived on her own and had a small business selling talismans that she made. Saiou mentioned that he hadn't seen Edo in awhile since the new King of Games was so busy lately. Both Saiou and Judai worried if maybe Edo was working a bit too much. Or maybe a lot too much. He never seemed to have time to answer his phone and was always either at an event, doing an interview, or shooting for a commercial. They had to wonder when Edo took the time to sleep. Judai even recalled that Edo was on his phone for the vast majority of last year's reunion. Every year things seemed to get more busy for him. They hoped Edo could find the time to take a break or even go on a vacation. He definitely deserved it after all.

Getting down to what Saiou came to the academy for, he questioned why Judai decided now on becoming a teacher. The brunet stumbled around his explanation, not wanting it to sound like a sob story, but also not wanting to come off as cryptic. Either way, Judai got the feeling Saiou could tell what the truth was anyway.

Samejima brought up the issue of Judai not having a teaching degree. Saiou did agree that was a point of concern, but Judai swore he could learn. There was still a couple weeks until the new semester started and Judai really did want to put in the effort to get things right. Saiou and Samejima talked over their options as Judai just stood there and listened without much more he could do to convince them.

They were in desperate need of new teachers for the red dorm and it was on such short notice. Judai had experience at the academy, even if it was only as a student, and he did go down in academy history as the best duelist to ever come out of the school. Plenty of students every year knew his name and the number never seemed to go down as the years passed. It was like Judai was an integral part of the academy despite not being there. He was earnest about wanting to teach too. It really was like the perfect choice just fell into their laps. Without a teaching degree, hiring Judai wasn't exactly the most legal thing to do, but even Judai knew Duel Academy didn't always follow the law.

They came to an agreement that Judai could teach as long as he spent all the remaining time before the next semester to learn the ropes. Judai promised he wouldn't waste a single second… and then dropped the ball that he wanted to teach alchemy. It earned him quite the surprised stares from Saiou and Samejima. Alchemy was dropped from the curriculum after Daitokuji 'went missing' since he was the only one that taught it. Judai partially explained, and partially lied, that he wanted to teach alchemy to honor Daitokuji's memory and had learned enough about it over the years to be confident that he could teach it. Saiou and Samejima trusted him and therefore agreed to bring back alchemy as a class for Judai to teach.

There was still some paperwork that had to be done to finalize everything, but Samejima could do that himself and send it to Saiou later so the conversation was considered over. Saiou had a meeting scheduled at noon so he couldn't stay long anyway. Judai offered to walk with Saiou to the port, which he happily accepted. They reminisced a bit on old times while they walked. Judai considered it a good thing that Saiou was able to laugh at his old actions. They may have been dangerous actions, but in the end everything worked out so it was all behind them. Saiou shouldn't try to hold any of it against himself and Judai viewed Saiou as a friend now anyway. Saiou still felt the need to issue one last apology though, to which Judai frantically assured him there was no need to do that. Judai was the one that felt like he was to blame instead. If Judai never came to Duel Academy to begin with, there was so much trouble that could have been avoided for everyone.

The two reached the helicopter at the port and Judai stood by as Saiou climbed in. He stopped for a moment to turn and look at Judai.

"You're going to do fine here, Judai. I know it." Saiou said.

Judai's eyes widened a bit as the helicopter door closed. He backed up as it began taking off and he watched it fly away until it was out of his sight.

Saiou said Judai would do fine. He may not have had his powers anymore so it wasn't like that was an indisputable fact, but Judai trusted it regardless. He would do fine. He had to believe that. He would be a great teacher and the kids would love him and life at Duel Academy would be peaceful forever. He had nothing to worry about… right?

The next day Judai got started on learning how to teach. The job ended up being shafted onto Cronos, who started by taking Judai into one of the classrooms. He went through the basics for the first day, which was a lot more than Judai expected. It took him awhile to understand the grading system since math wasn't his forte. He needed a refresher on the academy rules as well, not like he took much note of them back when he was a student to begin with. Cronos dusted off the old alchemy textbooks and got Kabayama to help him explain to Judai every main point that the students needed to learn for the class in order to pass. That kind of went over Judai's head, but thankfully Daitokuji remembered exactly how to teach the subject so it wasn't like he had to worry much about that.

Getting closer to the start of the new semester, Judai joined in on the staff meetings and everyone pitched in their own advice to help him get the hang of things. Each night he made sure read a bit of the alchemy textbook and get extra help from Daitokuji so teaching the subject wouldn't be as hard as it could be at first. He finally got his class roster from Samejima and glanced over it a bit, but felt it was more appropriate to learn about the students from themselves rather than pieces of paper with not much else except statistics.

Returning to the red dorm the night before the semester started, Judai found a present waiting on his bed. He picked up the envelope sitting on top and opened it so he could read it.

'You shouldn't be wearing your old uniform so long after graduating, so we hope you enjoy this new one so you can feel like a real teacher.'

It was signed from Ms. Tome and Seiko. Judai couldn't help but smile as he opened the present. Yubel, Daitokuji, and Winged Kuriboh watched as Judai picked up a red coat the same shade as Samejima's. He took off his old uniform jacket and put on the new one. The shoulders were a bit poofy and the collar went higher up than his old jacket. The cuffs of the sleeves were a bit tight around his wrists but he could always ask to get that adjusted. The back of the coat extended down to his feet. He pulled it up just to get a look at it before turning to the three watching him.

"You definitely look like a teacher now, nya." Daitokuji commented.

"And a very dashing one at that." Yubel added.

"Kuri kuri!" Winged Kuriboh agreed.

"Thanks guys." Judai responded with a smile.

Things were finally starting to feel real to Judai. He was actually a teacher now. In the morning he would meet his first students and start his first class. He couldn't let himself start worrying again so he tried not to think about it. He just had to remember everything he learned and do the best that he could.

Judai took off the coat so he wouldn't mess it up and got ready for bed. He needed to be well rested for tomorrow after all. Winged Kuriboh sat next to Judai's head and slept beside him to keep him company, knowing how big of a day tomorrow was for Judai.

And eventually Judai found himself wide awake and walking down the hall to his classroom. The sun shone bright out the windows in the empty hallway, which didn't help Judai much since he felt like he didn't get any sleep at all last night. He was minutes, perhaps even seconds, away from officially starting his first real job. It almost seemed like everything he learned slipped right out of his head now that he really needed it. He stopped in front of the classroom door and could see through the small window that Samejima was still talking to the class. Samejima was supposed to give a speech to the new class like he did every year and that would be when he introduced Judai as a new teacher.

"And now with that out of the way, I would like to make a special announcement." Samejima began.

Most of the students didn't seem interested in Samejima's speech. They were either tired thanks to jet lag or more interested in dueling than anything else.

"We have a special person joining us this year as a teacher. I'm sure most, if not all of you, know who they are." Samejima continued.

That created murmuring among the students. They discussed who it could be and threw out any name under the sun that they could think of. A blonde girl on the left side of the classroom glanced between the two boys beside her, one with pink hair and one with dark blue hair. All three of them wore customized Obelisk Blue uniforms.

"Well I'm positive it's the Cyber Queen. Who else could be so talented that they become a teacher at the most prestigious Duel Academy?" The girl decided.

"But what about every other teacher here?" The dark blue haired boy casually wondered.

The girl elbowed him, making him wince and rub his sore arm.

"Ah, I don't care who it is. Long as they're cool an' lemme sleep in class." The pink haired boy said with a lazy smile plastered on his face.

In the middle of the classroom, a dark red haired girl in a Ra Yellow uniform couldn't help but giggle uncontrollably. The silver haired girl in an Osiris Red uniform next to her nervously glanced at her with slight concern.

"Omigosh! What if it's Fubuki Tenjoin!? Ahhh! I hope it's the Blizzard Prince! Hey! Who do you think it is!?" She excitedly shouted at the girl next to her.

The silver haired girl tensed up and let out a quiet yelp. She put a hand over her chest and her light green eyes dropped down to the table. She knew who she hoped it was, but she didn't believe it could be possible. It wasn't like her dream could unexpectedly come true just like that. Still, it would be nice if she could get taught by her idol. The thought made a tiny smile form on her face.

"Without further ado, I'd like to introduce you to your new teacher, Judai Yuki-kun." Samejima announced and motioned at the door for Judai to come in.

The whole class practically gasped. Almost all of them knew who he was and absolutely no one expected it to really be him. The door opened and Judai walked in, making the class feel like they were in the presence of a celebrity. He stopped next to Samejima and stood before his new students. They couldn't tell, but Judai's heart was racing, and so was the silver haired girl's.

It was him. It was really him. It was her idol. She never thought for a single second that it would actually be him and now there he was, right in front of her. She would get to learn so much from him. Her dream really did come true. She almost felt like her hands were shaking. It was him, but what if he didn't think she was a good duelist? What if he thought she was weak? What if he wasn't like how she thought he was?

"Aw, who's this guy? I wanted Fubuking!" The dark red haired girl whined.

The silver haired girl looked at her. She wanted to say something, but her nerves got the better of her.

"Are you kidding me!? It should be the Cyber Queen! She deserves to be here! No one is better than her! But no! We get- we get- get-"

"Judai Yuki?" The dark blue haired boy finished for the blonde girl.

"Gaaahh!" She screeched and dropped her head down to the table, banging a fist down on it.

"Ehehehe… well at least he looks friendly." The pink haired boy commented, making the blonde girl groan.

Judai himself didn't know how to react. He had so many eyes on him and he wasn't used to that. He'd gone ten years wandering around the world with most people not paying much attention to him. Apparently he really did become a recluse in a way. He knew he never used to be like that, but after so long he grew accustomed to practically being invisible to the world. And with all his other worries bubbling to the surface now, he started feeling overwhelmed.

"Well, don't you want to say something, Judai-kun?" Samejima asked.

"Huh? U-uh, right. Um well, welcome to Duel Academy everyone! I'm Judai Yuki. I guess most of you already know my name, but I went here when I was your age. Duel Academy…" Judai paused for a moment to find the right words. "Duel Academy means the world to me. This place is my home. I've been through a lot here, for better or worse, and it's changed me in certain ways. I've learned, and grown, and laughed and cried here with the closest friends I've ever had. I struggled a lot, but I always managed to pull through. And I was never alone here… even when I thought I was. So I hope all of you can realize you have each other to rely on. None of you are alone. All of you have each other, and you have me. So I want the first thing all of you to learn is how to make friends with one another. That'll be your greatest asset here 'cause even when you think you're stuck and there's nothing you can do and everything is hopeless, I want you to know your friends will be there for you. Your bonds with each other will grow strong enough that nothing can break them. They'll hang on strong through all your struggles. Through the petty arguments, through the duels you think you'll never win, through the crazy curve balls life will throw at you, and even through time. So once you have them, never let those bonds go. After all, you'll never know how much they truly meant to you until they're gone."

As his final words escaped his lips, Judai realized exactly what he was saying. He missed his friends. He missed the memories he made at Duel Academy. Through all the pain, he had a million happy moments he treasured on the island. And he wanted it all back. He never wanted those days to end, so he wanted to make sure his students would treasure their days at the academy just as much as he did. Taking everything he learned at their age, he wanted them to be sure they wouldn't take their time for granted. He wanted them to be as important to each other as Judai's friends were to him.

And that sentiment reached his students. Many of them looked at each other, the ones that knew each other from junior high knowing they would remain as close as ever. Some of them that didn't know anyone around them made eye contact with their neighbors and felt that was the first step towards a new friendship. Between the five students that stood out among the rest, the red haired girl happily turned to the silver haired girl with a big smile, but it fell from her face when she noticed the silver haired girl's green eyes were trained on Judai instead. As for the three Obelisk students, the pink haired boy flashed a half smile at the two beside him. The blonde girl looked at him for a moment before scoffing and turning away. Despite having shared history with them, the blue haired blue didn't bother to even glance at the other two. Those weren't bonds he wanted to keep anyway.

Continuing the introduction for Judai, Samejima cleared his throat before speaking. "I didn't expect you to come prepared with a speech, Judai-kun. I agree though. None of you are learning alone, you're all learning together. It's important you reach out when you can and help each other. Together, here, you're all a community and I hope you all care about and protect one another like a community should. So Judai-kun will be teaching you all alchemy, a class we're bringing back after over a decade. He'll also be in charge of the boys' Osiris Red dorm. We're still missing a teacher to watch the girls' half, but we've… ah, we've taken measures for that to be partially taken care of until we can find someone else. So I'll let you all be and Judai-kun can start the first day of class."

"Do you still have to call me Judai-kun?" Judai questioned, sounding disappointed.

"Ah, sorry. Force of habit… Yuki-sensei." Samejima corrected himself.

Judai shuttered in disgust. "Ugh, just stick with Judai-kun."

Samejima chuckled and roughly pat Judai on the back as he began to leave the classroom.

Things were silent for a moment as Judai stared at the door, then back at his students. They were quiet for the most part as they waited on him to begin since he was the teacher. He wasn't sure what to do though. How was he supposed to transition from the introduction into actually teaching? Cronos didn't exactly explain that part to him. Judai then remembered he didn't actually know who his students were. Sure, they were all in front of him, but he didn't really go over the roster he was given. That's right, he wanted to know about his students but not through just statistics. Daitokuji was about to appear to help him, but Judai stood up straight and let out a sigh, meaning he was ready to do things himself.

"Like I said, I'm Judai Yuki. You can just call me Judai-sensei, no need for anything more formal than that. So before we get down to actually learning anything, I'd love to know each of you personally. I know it can make some people nervous, so sorry about that, but why don't we go in order and have everyone introduce themselves. You just have to tell me your name and what deck you prefer using most and anything else you might want me to know. I'll go first to make it easier and then we'll start from the left. Ah-hem, for the third time now, I'm Judai Yuki. I use Elemental Heroes and Neo-Spacians. I love fried shrimp and I'm pretty good at drawing." He then motioned for the boy sitting all the way to the left on the front row to stand up.

The boy was a bit nervous since he was first, technically second, but stood up and got through it just fine. Then the girl next to him stood and introduced herself. They continued on down the row and then the first to the left on the second row stood up to speak. Once the first boy on the third row stood up, the silver haired girl started shaking again. She would have to stand up and speak not only in front of her new classmates, but also in front of her idol for the first time.

Finally the pink haired boy stood up since he was next. He was of average height, but perhaps a case could be made that he was a bit on the shorter side. His hair was very short, but it got longer in the back as it curved around his head and it just barely touched his shoulder on his right side. His bangs were straight and swept to the left a bit. His red eyes looked rather tired, but they also had a friendly feel to them. He still had a lazy smile stuck on his ivory face too. His uniform was white with the normal Obelisk shade of blue on the trim. It was left unbuttoned, revealing his black turtleneck. His sleeves were a bit loose and the cuffs were a tad over sized and blue as well. The coattails were long and curled slightly so it was reminiscent of a very fancy butler uniform. He wore simple white jeans with his hands tucked into the pockets and the uniform standard blue shoes.

"I'm Hikaru Arakawa. I guess I use Fur Hires mostly an' I like sleepin'. That's about it." Hikaru introduced himself and rubbed the back of his neck before sitting down.

He definitely talked rather casually and a bit slow too. Judai could tell he wouldn't be getting much effort out of Hikaru.

The blonde girl next to him scoffed again as she stood up to take her turn. She was of average height for a girl, but that might have been an illusion thanks to her blue knee high heels. Her blonde hair was long, but it was partially put into a bun on the right side of her head with the remainder hanging down as a ponytail that reached her waist. The hair framing her face stopped just above her chest and curled into loose ringlets. There was a bit of hair that laid flat against the pale skin between her purple eyes and she wore a black headband. She wore a black turtleneck just like Hikaru, but no one could tell if it was short-sleeved or sleeveless. Over that was a closed white uniform jacket that only covered half her torso. The sleeves were frilly and poofy around her shoulders and the blue cuffs were tight around her upper arms. Her white skirt also poofed out and had a blue trim where it stopped midway down her thighs. The skin between her skirt and shoes was covered by white tights. She wore one golden bracelet on her left wrist.

"I am Sabrina Himeno, heir to the Himeno family fortune and newest elite member of Duel Academy's most graceful Obelisk Blue ladies. I use the ever glorious Ice Barrier archetype and am already an expert at the newly introduced Synchro summoning method." Sabrina suddenly pointed a finger at Judai, surprising the brunet. "And you are in no way capable of being a teacher adequate enough for me to learn from! I only wish to be a student of the beautiful, magnificent, angelic Cyber Qu-"

"Alright, Rina sit down. Ya've said enough." Hikaru abruptly cut her off and tugged on her jacket.

She tensed up and glared at him before quickly sitting down and crossing her arms and legs. An irritated look was stuck on her face, but since she listened to Hikaru, Judai assumed the two were friends even if it was obvious Sabrina was the type to never admit that. Her speech was very formal, but definitely still rude and condescending. She spoke rather quickly too, making her seem like quite the opposite of Hikaru.

While the room was filled with awkward silence, the boy on the other side of Sabrina stood up to introduce himself next. He was certainly tall and he stood up perfectly straight. His dark blue hair was long, but it was hard to tell exactly how long since it was so curly. Most of it was pulled back into a low ponytail that fluffed out in every direction. A shorter portion was left loose and curled over his left eye, almost covering it completely. His eyes were a deep blue and a bit lighter than his hair. His skin was a sienna tone and he had a slightly wide nose, unlike his two companions, as well as thick eyebrows. His uniform jacket was primarily blue with white trim and was properly buttoned up. It looked fairly standard issue other than the fact that the sides continued down to his ankles and looked like curtains. He wore black pants with the cuffs rolled up just a bit and blue uniform shoes.

"My name is Hajime Kinozaki and I use a Chemicritter deck." Without another word Kinozaki sat back down.

His curtiness gave Judai the impression that he was the quiet type and possibly a loner as well. Still, he was soft spoken and polite, so he must have been a nice boy regardless.

The next student in the middle section stood up to introduce himself and the silver haired girl continued to grow nervous. It moved on to the next one, leaving just one student before she had to stand. Her heart practically stopped when the boy beside her stood up and every second of his introduction seemed to last forever. He finally sat down and she felt like every pair of eyes in the world was staring at her, but in reality all it was just Judai giving her a slightly concerned look. The red haired girl next to her looked a bit confused as well.

With wobbly legs, she finally stood up, revealing she was a short girl. Her silver hair was wavy and short in the back, with the hair framing her face reaching down past her shoulders. Her bangs were pushed to the right side of her face and curved around her eye. Her eyes were light green and focused on the table in front of her. Most of her peach skin was covered by her clothes, which consisted of what looked like the standard boy's Osiris Red jacket buttoned up and baggy black capris with a white belt that had a metal buckle in the shape of a flower. Her sleeves were definitely too long and almost covered her hands. She also wore the standard boy's shoes, but they were obviously sized properly for her small feet. She opened her mouth to speak, but she struggled trying to get a single word out.

"M-m-my… I-I am…" She barely muttered.

"My name is. My. Name. Is." The girl next to her whispered.

She glanced at the red haired girl who smiled and gave her a thumbs up. She let out a sigh and started over.

"My… M-my name is… Hana M-Mitarashi. I-I use an A-Aroma deck." Hana stuttered.

She had more she wanted to say, but all she could do was drop back down into her seat. Judai was proud of Hana anyway though, since it was obvious even just saying her name in front of the class was a tough hurdle to jump over. However, Sabrina couldn't help but glare at her.

Next to Hana, the red haired girl practically bounced out of her seat with a big grin. She was even shorter than Hana and had the same ivory skin tone as Hikaru. Her dark red hair was slightly longer than Hana's despite not looking like it since the back end frayed out in every direction. Her bangs parted down the middle and poked up a bit before going back down and framing her cheeks. She had a big chunk of hair that poked up on top of her head and curved forward slightly. Her eyes were a pale shade of magenta. Her yellow uniform jacket was sleeveless and extended down a bit past her hips. She wore a black long-sleeved t-shirt with a wide collar and the sleeves rolled up to her elbows. She also wore black wristbands on both her wrists. She had on yellow shorts and uniform standard yellow shoes with black kneesocks.

"The name's Kiki Arakawa and I use a Fabled deck! I'm a hundred fifty-three centimeters and my blood type is O! My birthday is February third and I graduated junior high with straight A's!" Kiki announced.

Happy with herself, she sat back down and she and Hana looked at each other. Both Hana and Judai realized she was clearly one of those cutesy types of girls and apparently pretty smart too. None of that had to do with why Sabrina seemed even more angry though. Remembering Hikaru's last name, Hana glanced over at the pink haired boy and wondered if Kiki and Hikaru were related. They looked slightly alike, but not really like siblings. Perhaps they were cousins instead.

"Hey, you did awesome Han-chan!" Kiki quietly cheered as the boy on her other side stood up to introduce himself.

Looking back at Kiki, Hana's eyes widened. Kiki was talking to her, complimenting her, and even giving her a nickname. She couldn't help but feel herself shaking again to the point that she couldn't say anything back to Kiki.

Without another word, the rest of the class introduced themselves and Judai felt like he got a good idea of who everyone was. Some names he was positive he would have trouble remembering though. He was glad to have most of the attention off of himself too, but now he had to figure out what else to do. Alchemy was a strange subject and he doubted anyone had any real knowledge of it yet so it would be best to ease them into it. After all, Judai knew he hated it when he was thrown into a topic that he knew little to nothing about.

"Alright so, anyone happen to already know something about alchemy?" Judai asked the class.

A few students hesitantly began to hold their hands up, but Kiki quickly shot her's up in the air and waved it around, startling Hana.

"Ooh, ooh! Kiki knows! Kiki knows! Ask Kiki!" She shouted.

"A-alright… Kiki, what do you know about alchemy?" Judai questioned.

"Alchemy's a form of philosophy that was practiced in Europe, Africa, and Asia and originated in Greco-Roman Egypt!" Kiki proudly giggled at herself and swayed side to side.

Everyone around her just stared at her in surprise, as did Sabrina and Kinozaki.

"Your sister is weird." Sabrina stated.

"Yeah, but that's one of her charm points." Hikaru replied.

"She's right, Judai-kun, nya." Daitokuji said in Judai's head.

"G-great… looks like I really am a weirdness magnet." Judai mumbled under his breath. "That's… exactly right, Kiki. Have you studied alchemy before?"

"Nope! Kiki really likes philosophy so I ended up looking into alchemy a bit! I don't actually know all that much about it compared to other forms of philosophy!" Kiki cheerfully responded.

"I think I found my favorite for this year, nya!" Daitokuji happily said.

"Well, it was nice knowing that girl while she lasted." Yubel commented.

"Oh don't assume she'll end up like Judai-kun. O-or that it would be my fault, nya!" Daitokuji protested.

Judai forgot he would have to hear from the peanut gallery even while teaching. He sighed and went on to give a bit more background on alchemy than just what Kiki said. Once Judai ran out of information, Daitokuji piped in to tell him what to say. He didn't want to go over too much since it was only the first day of the semester and things were just getting started. He just wanted his students to know a bit about where alchemy came from before anything else.

Hikaru tried to relax and block out all the talking so he could take a nap. Sabrina impatiently tapped her foot while she stewed in her own anger so badly that she didn't care what Judai was saying. Kinozaki simply listened and tried to actually learn something unlike the other two. Hana listened even more intently than him, making sure she caught every single word Judai said. Kiki on the other hand, just continued swaying and seemed completely spaced out.

Thankfully the end of class eventually came and Judai felt relieved. He wasn't sure how much longer he could keep up with what Daitokuji was saying, especially with most of the class focused on him. He stumbled over his words quite a few times, but fortunately no one really seemed to care. He said his goodbyes to the class and a few of them looked upset to see him go, Hana included. He was kind of famous on campus after all. The class spent the few minutes they had until their next teacher showed up to talk amongst each other. It wasn't very loud though, since not many of them knew anyone else yet.

"Hey!" Kiki suddenly called out, making Hana jump. "Are you the shy type?"

"Eh!? U-um.. yes…" Hana muttered.

"Aw, well don't worry! Kiki'll be your friend! In fact, Kiki's already your friend! Kiki and Han-chan are friends now!" Kiki decided.

Hana just stared at Kiki. "A-aren't you… Kiki, Arakawa-san?"

"Not Arakawa-san! Kiki! Or better yet, Kiki-chan! Call me Kiki-chan! Oh…" Kiki rubbed the back of her head out of embarrassment. "Heheh, you mean- right, right. I am Kiki, but I'm trying out a new thing since this is a new school. It's cute, right?"

"Um… well, I know it's supposed to be, but I couldn't possibly call you K-Kiki-chan…" Hana responded.

"Nope! Han-chan has to now! We're friends after all, and friends give each other nicknames!" Kiki declared.

Hana's eyes widened just a bit. Kiki didn't even know Hana and yet she already made Hana her friend. That wasn't exactly how Hana expected to make her first real friend, but she supposed there couldn't be any easier way to go about it.

"O-okay… H-Han-chan and Kiki-chan are… f-friends now." Hana struggled to say.

"Awesome! Oh man, now I wish we were in the same dorm together! Ya think I can switch to Osiris? It's only the first day, I bet it wouldn't be that big of a deal to ask for a dorm change!" Kiki rambled.

Hana just smiled and listened to Kiki go on and on about nonsense she didn't really understand.

Further down the row, Sabrina slammed a hand down on the table, startling Hikaru awake.

"Relax. What are you so upset about anyway." Kinozaki questioned.

"Kinozakiii! You clearly don't get it!" Sabrina shouted. "I had the chance to go to East Academy! My mother wanted me to go to East Academy! She said it was so much better there! But Central Duel Academy is where the Cyber Queen attended! The greatest, most beautiful, most glorious-"

"We get it, you idolize Asuka Tenjoin." Kinozaki interrupted her, making Hikaru chuckle behind her.

"Ugh, you two are insufferable! Listen! I got my hopes up that the amazing Cyber Queen would be our new teacher, but no! It's some no name homeless looking dude! And not only that, I'm not the only one using Synchro summoning! I should be the only one! Me! Sabrina Himeno!" She exclaimed and pointed at herself.

"Ya know, Synchro summoning's been out to the public for like, two years now. You're not special anymore just 'cause your daddy's got ties to Industrial Illusions." Hikaru lazily noted.

"And that homeless… dude… is Judai Yuki. He's considered the greatest duelist in Duel Academy history. You should realize how much of a privilege it is to be taught by him." Kinozaki added.

Sabrina grabbed both boys by the front of their jackets and yanked them close to her, but neither of them appeared very fazed by it.

"The greatest duelist in dueling history is Asuka Tenjoin, the Cyber Queen! You hear me!? I don't care who Jubei Yuka is and if I hear about it one more time I'm going to call my daddy and he'll buy the whole school just to have it demolished for a mall!" Sabrina threatened.

"It's Judai Yuki." Kinozaki corrected her.

She let out an over the top groan and shoved them both away to drop her head onto the table. Hikaru fell out of his seat and laughed, scaring the other boy next to him. Kinozaki just sighed.

"Sounds like the princess is having a temper tantruuum~" Hikaru teased as he got back into his seat.

Sabrina shoved a hand out and pushed Hikaru back, making him fall out of his seat again.

"Why did I decide to sit with you guys…?" Kinozaki muttered, mainly to himself.

He looked over at the rest of the class and spotted Hana and Kiki talking to each other. He could see Kiki suddenly grab both of Hana's hands and the Osiris Red girl visibly flinched. He turned back to the other two to see Sabrina still sitting there with her head down and now gripping at her hair while Hikaru had to be helped up by the boy beside him. Kinozaki rested his chin in his hand and let out another sigh, wishing for the school day to hurry up and end.

And after what felt like forever, it finally did. Everyone poured out of the classroom, but most of them stuck around in the hallway to decide what to do now that they properly had full reign of the island. Not even getting a moment to herself outside the classroom, Hana was attacked by Kiki grabbing ahold of her arm.

"K-K-Kiki-chan! Let go!" Hana whined.

"But we should hang out, Han-chan! What do ya wanna do? Should we go to the yellow dorm? I hear it's nicer than the red dorm! Oh, but you're shy so I guess you would prefer the red dorm, huh? Or maybe we could just explore the-"

"Kiki-chan, p-please stop." Hana interrupted Kiki, who just closed her mouth and stared at Hana. "I want to find Yuki-sensei."

"Ya mean Judai-sensei? Mmm… I bet he could be anywhere!" Kiki noticed Hikaru, Sabrina, and Kinozaki walk by. "Hey! Aniki and friends, hold up!"

Hana turned around and the three Obelisk students stopped in their tracks. Kiki ran up to them, dragging Hana along with her. The Osiris girl couldn't help but feel nervous over Sabrina glaring at her.

"Hey, Aneki! Made a new friend?" Hikaru greeted his sister.

"Yep! This is Han-chan! She's looking for Judai-sensei! Do you guys have any idea where he might be?" Kiki responded.

"Don't know, don't care." Sabrina bluntly stated before suddenly walking off.

"O-oh! N-no, no! You all don't have to help. Really!" Hana protested.

"Don't fight it, Han-chan! Kiki and the gang'll round him up for you!" Kiki declared.

"Ehehe, I hope Kiki isn't causin' ya too much trouble. Once she has an idea it's hard to stop her from goin' through with it." Hikaru said.

Hana tensed up and shook her head, unable to bring herself to use words.

"Oh hey! Kiki wants to check the cafeteria! Kiki's gonna check the cafeteria! Wait, is there a cafeteria…? Kiki's gonna find out if there's a cafeteria!" Kiki shouted.

"Cafeteria? Wouldn't that mean food? Heh, count Aniki in then." Hikaru decided.

The siblings smirked at each other and Kiki sprinted off while Hikaru walked away at a much slower pace, leaving Hana and Kinozaki by themselves in the hall.

"He was right, nothing can stop her. And apparently not him when he actually cares either." Kinozaki commented.

Hana looked up at Kinozaki, who finally glanced down at her, and she quickly looked away.

"Mitarashi-san, was it?" He questioned.

"Ah! Um, y-you can just call me Hana." She responded.

Kinozaki stared at her for a moment. "Okay, Hana-chan."

Hana tensed up and blushed a bit. "Y-you're… K-Kinozaki-kun, right?"

He nodded. "Yeah, that's me. So, you were looking for Judai-sensei?"

It was Hana's turn to nod.

"I guess you need some help with that then, huh?" Hana looked at Kinozaki with slight surprise in her eyes. "He's likely still in the school. I'd like to talk to him too, so why don't I check the lower floors and you check the upper floors? Whoever finds him first gets to talk with him."

"Ah, o-okay." Hana agreed.

She was grateful he wanted to help, but she didn't want to bother him though. Still, Kinozaki did say he wanted to talk to Judai too so it wasn't like she was shafting half the work onto him while he got nothing in return.

With a small smile flashed at Hana, Kinozaki walked away to begin his search and Hana hesitated for a moment before going in the opposite direction. She glanced into classrooms and checked out the window every once in awhile. She passed by a few teachers too and felt like asking them if they knew where Judai was, but she couldn't work up the nerve to do so. She eventually hit the end of the road, a door that led to the roof, and stopped before deciding to turn around.

"Why not check the roof? You never know if he might be up there."

Hana looked over her shoulder to see Aromaseraphy Angelica floating behind her.

"What reason could he have to be on the roof though?" Hana questioned.

"You don't know! That's why you should check!" Angelica repeated.

Hana sighed and walked past the small spirit to push open the door to the roof. She could just take a quick peek to be sure Judai wasn't there and then try to find Kinozaki to see if he found Judai instead. Walking up the stairs, she could feel the breeze from outside. As she got further up she could even see the sunlight. She finally got high enough for her head to poke out of the stairway and she could see onto the roof. She looked over to the side and suddenly froze before backing up a couple steps. Judai was laying down on the roof with his arms crossed behind the back of his head. Floating next to him was a human sized spirit with large wings. Hana put a hand over her mouth while Angelica appeared behind her shoulder.

"How much longer are you going to lay there, Judai?" Yubel questioned.

"Can't I just relax? I've had a long day. I wore myself out just from being worried." Judai responded.

"What could you possibly have been worried about?" Yubel asked.

"Well, turns out there was no real reason for me to worry, but… I dunno, I was just paranoid I'd mess up or they'd all hate me or… whatever. I haven't had that many people staring at me in years anyway. It was kinda nerve wracking." Judai explained.

"You've always been outgoing." Yubel noted.

"Yeah, but… nowadays for the most part I only ever talk to you, Daitokuji-sensei, or some of the Elemental Heroes and Neo-Spacians. And being on the phone every once in awhile with the others isn't really the same thing." Judai sat up. "I think I became a hermit."

The brunet let out a sigh and stared out at the sky. He really was relieved that his worries didn't turn out to be true. He almost felt silly for worrying at all. But it made Judai realize that he was in desperate need to rejoin society. Thankfully Duel Academy was like its own much smaller society, and one that he was most at home in as well.

Hana felt rude for eavesdropping on Judai, but she couldn't muster up the courage to say anything, especially now that she heard him say something he probably only wanted himself and the spirit with him to hear. She turned around to start walking away, but came face-to-face with a Winged Kuriboh. It startled her so badly that she screeched and turned to run away, but tripped on the stairs and fell down on the roof. Judai flinched at the sound and jolted up, completely confused at the sight behind him.

"Kuri?" Winged Kuriboh chirped.

"Wow, way to go furball! How dare you scare a defenseless little lady like that!" Angelica scolded.

Judai ran over to Hana just as she started getting up and Yubel followed behind him.

"Hey, you okay?" Judai asked her.

Hana looked over to see Judai and yelped. She scrambled to her feet and backed away.

"Hey, hey, hey! Stop it or you're gonna fall down the stairs!" Judai warned her and grabbed her by the shoulders.

Hana went wide eyed and her face turned red before she let out an ear piercing scream that made Judai flinch. Winged Kuriboh whined and Angelica covered her ears while Yubel just groaned in annoyance.

"Maybe stop touching her?" Yubel suggested, sounding irritated.

"Oh crap, right!" Judai immediately took his hands off Hana's shoulders and held them up by head.

She stopped screaming and dropped down to her knees then sat down. She put her hands over her face and let out a sigh.

"I'm so sorry! I wanted to talk to you but I couldn't find you and I looked everywhere but the only place left was the roof and I didn't expect you to be up here but you were so I freaked out and I heard you talking and I know that's rude but I didn't know what else to do and I was gonna leave but there was a Kuriboh it scared me and-"

"Okay, calm down!" Judai interrupted her muffled shouting, not even entirely sure what she was saying.

"Kuriboh!" She exclaimed as she pulled her hands from her face.

"Alright, alright! Just- everything's fine now! Just breathe! Please!" Judai said, freaking out a bit on the inside.

"Sorry about her, she's on the sensitive side." Angelica stated.

Judai looked from Hana to the small spirit and then at Winged Kuriboh, finally realizing exactly what happened. He got on his knees to be at Hana's level.

"Can you see duel spirits?" Judai asked.

Hana sighed and wiped away the tears that formed in the corner of her eyes before looking up at Judai. She didn't say anything, she just nodded and looked at Yubel.

"S-so can you." She muttered.

Judai glanced over his shoulder at Yubel. "Yeah, I can. That's Yubel."

Yubel simply crossed their arms and looked away.

"Hey, let's just start over. You're, what was it? Hana Mitarashi?" Judai asked.

Hana nodded.

"And you said you wanted to talk to me?" He added.

Hana tensed up. "Oh, it's n-nothing important. I've caused enough trouble, I shouldn't bother you further."

She stood up to walk away and Judai followed suit. He was going to stop her, but remembered touching her was probably a bad idea.

"Hana, wait!" Judai called out, making her stop. "I'm your teacher, if there's something you need me to know then it's important you tell me."

She hesitated before turning back around and staring at the ground. It was silent on the roof as Hana tried to work up the courage to speak. And finally the words managed to come out.

"You're… you're the reason I wanted to attend Duel Academy. You were put in Osiris and you stayed there until you graduated, and you were proud to be there. You became the top student and no one's ever been on the same level as you since then. You started at the bottom and you became the best, but you never left the bottom, and that's what gave me the-..." Hana let out a sigh. "That's what gave me the courage to accept that I would start at the bottom too. I'm not a good duelist, but my dream is to become one. And thanks to you, I've accepted that it's okay to start at the bottom. It's okay to stay there too. I can become the greatest duelist ever even when I'm still at the bottom. Just like you."

Judai just stared at her. He had no idea he could have such an affect on another person before even meeting them. He didn't know Hana even existed before that morning and yet the actions he took when he was her age made big changes in her life. He did manage to see the effect he had on the people around him, but he never once comprehended the effect he had on things he couldn't see. If Hana felt brave enough to come to Duel Academy thanks to him, then who else's life did he alter as well? How much did Judai change about the world just by existing?

"Hana," Judai said, causing her to look up at him. "thank you for telling me that. I've… I've made some big mistakes in my life before and I've seen the damage it's caused, so to know my actions had a positive effect on the life of someone I never knew… well, it makes me feel pretty proud of myself."

Judai smiled at her and she suddenly became overwhelmed with emotions. He was her idol, but he was thanking her. It should've been the other way around instead. Regardless, it made tears well up in her eyes and she quickly reached out to hug Judai, who froze and didn't exactly know what to do. Yubel glared at the girl and Angelica clapped her hands in joy. Judai could hear Hana crying and just nervously patted her on the back.

"Ah, it's moments like these that make all the struggles of being a teacher actually worth it." Daitokuji commented.

Judai looked over at the man who suddenly appeared beside him, then back to Hana. He realized he no longer had anything to worry about. There was at least one student that greatly admired him and who knew how many more. So Judai was certain everything would be perfectly fine. He was going to be an amazing teacher.

With Hana's little crying session finished, Judai walked with her to the red dorms. She remembered that Kinozaki was still looking for Judai. She hoped he wouldn't be upset with her for not telling him where he was. As they approached the dorms, they spotted a few of the students standing around outside. One of them noticed the two walking up and gasped.

"It really is him!" He shouted.

"It's true!? Judai Yuki is our dorm leader!?" Another boy exclaimed.

Judai tensed up as they all turned to him. Hana immediately hid behind him.

"Oh geez, now I know how the others feel when they're spotted by fans…" Judai grumbled.

The group quickly approached him and he wanted to back up, but couldn't thanks to Hana being right behind him. Each one of them had a different thing they were trying to tell Judai, but they were all shouting over each other so he couldn't make out what anyone was saying. He didn't want to be rude, but they were causing a problem.

"Okay! Stop!" Judai shouted.

They all immediately stopped talking and just stared at him, making Judai shocked that it actually worked. He realized he underestimated how much power he had as a teacher.

"Okay, just- ugh, everyone be calm. There's no need to crowd around me. Yes, I'm Judai Yuki, and yes, I'm your dorm leader." Judai said.

A few of them cheered at the confirmation.

"Hey, Sensei! What's for dinner?" One boy asked.

"Oh… that's right, I have to do that too, don't I?" Judai muttered.

"You know some of the basics, so I'm sure it won't be hard to teach you how to make a few things for the kids, nya." Daitokuji said.

Judai and Hana both glanced at the man floating nearby.

"Alright, everyone head inside and I'll take care of that, okay?" Judai announced.

They all agreed and sped off to their dorm. With them gone, Judai let out a sigh of relief.

"W-who are you, anyway?" Hana asked Daitokuji.

"Oh, me? I'm a former teacher here, nya. I've been travelling with Judai-kun ever since he graduated. I guess you could say I'm like his predecessor, nya." Daitokuji explained.

"Former teacher? W-wait… so… you're a g-g-ghost?" Hana questioned, tensing up in fear.

Daitokuji nodded and Hana screamed before latching onto Judai's arm.

"W-woah! Hana!" Judai exclaimed.

"Wow, good job." Yubel said in a very sarcastic tone.

"Aren't you supposed to be watching the girls, nya?" Daitokuji replied, coming off a bit irritated.

Yubel groaned and faded away.

"Can everybody just calm down, please?" Judai muttered.

"Sounds like someone's had a long day." Angelica commented, floating by Judai's face.

"I have…" He responded.

Hana let out a deep sigh to calm her nerves and let go of Judai's arm. She was used to duel spirits, but she never met a ghost before, at least as far as she knew. Judai looked up at the sound of footsteps and couldn't speak up in time to warn Hana as arms wrapped around her waist.

"Han-chaaan!"

Hana screeched and looked over her shoulder to see Kiki with a big grin on her face.

"K-Kiki-chan!? What are you doing here?" Hana exclaimed in surprise.

"Heeey! Kiki went to the blue dorm with Aniki, but then Kiki wanted to see Han-chan, so Kiki came to the red dorm! Oh, hi Judai-sensei!" Kiki shouted and waved at Judai, who briefly waved back.

Hana escaped Kiki's grip and backed away. "You… wanted to see me?"

"Yeah! We're friends after all! We should eat dinner together! Kiki can join, right Sensei!?" Kiki requested.

Judai stared at Kiki for a moment before smiling. There was something about the overly energetic girl that reminded him of Sho and Kenzan in a way. She only just met Hana but she already clung to her like they were childhood friends, even despite them being in different dorms. He felt a bit bad for Kabayama though, since his students were still choosing the red dorm over the yellow dorm.

"Sure, I don't see why not." Judai agreed.

"Awesome!" Kiki cheered and pumped a first up in the air.

She grabbed Hana's hand and pulled her along to the red dorm to enter the mess hall. Angelica quickly followed behind them. Yubel suddenly reappeared, making Judai and Daitokuji turn to them.

"The girls are gone." Yubel stated.

"Gone? What, like, no one's in there?" Judai asked.

"Yes." Yubel responded.

Growing worried, Judai made his way to the mess hall. Walking inside, he realized both dorms were sitting down at the tables. The boys mostly occupied the left side and the girls filled the rest of the tables on the right side. Hana and Kiki sat in the corner in the back of the room, closer to the kitchen.

"Everyone eats in the same dorm?" Judai asked.

One of the girls who was obviously a third year student nodded. "Since there's not many of us and there's room for everyone we just do it this way."

Well that answered that. Judai made his way towards the back of the room to enter the kitchen when Kiki suddenly stood up.

"I wanna help cook! Can Kiki help cook, Sensei? Let Kiki help cook!" She begged.

"Uh, sure, I guess." Judai hesitantly agreed.

"Yay! Han-chan should help too!" She suggested.

Hana yelped as Kiki pulled her out of her seat and into the kitchen. Judai started to worry for Hana a bit. He joined the two girls in the kitchen and Daitokuji told Judai and Hana what to do. Kiki seemed to be perfectly fine doing her own thing so they left her be for the most part. Hana asked Judai a few dueling related questions every once in awhile and he answered the best he could. He wasn't all that great at giving out advice since not everything that worked for him worked so easily for other people, but he definitely wanted to help Hana as much as he could. She did look up to him after all.

Once they finished cooking, Judai and Hana were pretty proud of what they made, as was Daitokuji. Kiki also turned out to be an excellent cook, which surprised the others. They wondered just how many things Kiki was good at. The food was brought out to the rest of the dorm and the trio sat back down as everyone started eating.

"Kiki-chan, wouldn't you rather eat in your own dorm?" Hana asked.

"Hm?" Kiki swallowed her food before speaking. "Why would I do that? My friend is right here in the red dorm!"

"B-but your brother is in Obelisk, right? Couldn't you eat there?" Hana wondered.

"Yeah, probably. But Kiki said Kiki's friend is right here! None of my friends have ever let me eat with them before, so Kiki can't let this opportunity slip by!" Kiki cheerfully shouted.

Hana and Judai just stared at Kiki, not really sure how to react. Kiki was definitely unique to say the least. Judai was glad they were getting along though. Back before Judai officially started attending Duel Academy he never once thought about friends. He didn't have many to begin with and he never considered himself to be close with any of them anyway. So making friends at Duel Academy never exactly crossed his mind. Sure he met Sho and Misawa at the practical exam, but he didn't expect to see much of them at the academy. It was only because Sho became immediately attached to Judai that he had at least one friend. Having met Misawa previously, Judai knew he could talk to Misawa as well, which led to them becoming friends. He knew Manjoume started off disliking him and he supposed Asuka was a weird case. Judai realized as much as he liked having friends, he never really went out of his way to find people to become friends with. He just ended up growing close with the people already around him or the ones who approached him first.

It dawned on him that he was grateful to them for that. Without them Judai wasn't sure if he would have any friends. Perhaps he would at least have Johan and maybe Edo though. Or maybe no matter what he was destined to become friends with all of them. Regardless, without them he never would have made it as far as he did. After all the times he'd fallen down he wouldn't have been able to get back up without his friends.

That's why he wanted his students to grow close. He wanted them to have friends that would be there for them just like Judai had friends that were there for him. Even after it was his fault they were gone and he felt all alone, in the end his bonds were restored and he returned to his old self. Even after a decade they were all still friends. And they would remain that way, is what Judai hoped.

"-and during breaks you can come hang out with me in Yamaguchi! Wait, you don't live far away, do you?" Kiki questioned.

"Huh? Uh, n-no. I live in Okayama." Hana responded.

Kiki suddenly let out an exaggerated gasp. "That's right next to Hyogo! My brother lives in Hyogo! That's awesome! So instead we could meet up in Okayama! You'll probably be more comfortable in your home prefecture anyway! I'll bring all my Blizzard Prince movies and my recordings of all his commercials and we can have a Blizzard Prince marathon! You have got to let me bake you a Blizzard Prince cake too! I got the recipe off his blog but my mom wouldn't let me make it at home so-"

"Hey Kiki, why don't you slow down a little. Your food'll get cold." Judai suggested, noticing Hana looked like her head was spinning.

"Oh! Right, right, right! It's too good to waste!" Kiki exclaimed as she stuffed her face.

Hana just let out a sigh of relief. She didn't mind that Kiki wanted to spend time with her, it was nice actually. But they only just met that morning and Kiki was already talking about visiting her over breaks. It was just a little too fast for Hana.

"So I take it you're a fan of Fubuki-san, Kiki?" Judai inquired.

"Oh absolutely! I've been to every single one of his movies at least five times! I've watched every show he's ever cameoed in all the way through! Well, except for the ones still airing. I have posters all over my walls back home! My mom made me leave everything at home though. Something about not wanting me to be weird, I dunno. But I also listen to everything the band he guest sang for puts out now in case they ever bring him back! I've gotten his autograph three separate times and the last time he remembered my name from before! I also follow all his social media, and his sister's but she doesn't post much, but I noticed a guy he's taken pictures with before so I scoured the internet for him and eventually found out who he is. His name is Ryo Marufuji so now I follow him and his brother too!" Kiki suddenly pulled out her phone and opened up a page for a website. "He also posted this last week and it's had me so worried ever since!"

She shoved her phone in Judai's face and he backed up a bit to see it properly. Once he realized the context, his heart dropped. It was a picture of some kind of latte with two straws in it. The caption said 'I miss my buddy too. Please be out there.' followed by a sad looking emoji. Even Fubuki was worried enough about Judai that he was posting on social media over it. It was obvious the others were talking to each other and wondering why Judai was ignoring them. Judging by Fubuki's word choice Judai hoped they didn't consider it was a worst case scenario. Kiki pulled her phone away and started messing around with it.

"So I'm thinking he's probably talking about Ryo Marufuji since it's been a long time since he posted a picture of them together and he's mentioned Ryo like this before. But the tough thing is that Ryo rarely, if ever, posts and when he does it's always about this league he runs with his brother or whatever. Like, advertisements basically. So I was wondering if he meant his sister instead, so I check her page and-"

"Yuki-sensei?" Hana cut off Kiki, noticing Judai seemed pretty down.

Kiki looked up and turned to Judai too. He was just staring down at his food. Kiki couldn't see it, but Winged Kuriboh appeared next to Judai, looking worried. He finally looked over at the two girls.

"Huh? Oh, sorry. Fubuki-san's a friend, so-"

"You're friends with the Blizzard Prince!?" Kiki shouted, startling a few people in the mess hall.

"Uh, yes. I went here with him and his sister-"

"Ahh! Omigosh! You've got to tell me everything! What room did he stay in!? What classes did he have!? What were his test scores!?" Kiki rapidly yelled.

"I don't know, I don't remember, and why would I know that?" Judai responded, almost too taken aback.

"Maybe you could… ask more about him later, Kiki-chan?" Hana suggested.

"Ah, right! Later! I've got three years to ask Sensei everything about the Blizzard Prince! I shouldn't waste all my questions on the first day!" Kiki agreed and started scarfing down her food.

Regaining his senses, Judai couldn't help but chuckle a bit. He wasn't bothered by Kiki at all, in fact, he found her to be quite fun. She just needed to learn how to slow down a bit. She did seem very passionate about her interests though, which Judai was glad about. He was even happy to know Fubuki had such a big admirer considering the celebrity loved to give his fans as much attention as possible.

The door to the mess hall then opened and the room fell silent as everyone looked over. Standing in the doorway was Kinozaki, who surveyed the room for a moment. While tension between the dorms was practically nonexistent, unlike how it used to be, they all still found it weird that someone from Obelisk would willingly visit the Osiris dorm. Kinozaki spotted Judai in the back sitting with Kiki and Hana. He closed the door behind him and walked past everyone to reach the far end table. Hana nervously looked up at him while Judai and Kiki just looked confused.

"Mind if I join you all?" He asked.

"Not at all, take a seat." Judai answered.

"Thank you." Kinozaki said as he sat down across from the other three.

"Hey, Kino-chan should eat too! Kiki made some stuff all on her own so Kino-chan should try it!" Kiki decided and got up to grab an extra plate of food before Kinozaki could properly answer her.

"Kino-chan, huh? You and Kiki already friends too?" Judai wondered.

"Oh, no. Her brother and I are close friends so we know each other, but it's nothing more than that." Kinozaki explained.

Kiki came back and slid a plate full of food in front of Kinozaki then sat back down.

"When you get back to the blue dorm you better tell Aniki what he's missing out on!" Kiki ordered.

"Depends on if it's as good as he claims your cooking is." Kinozaki said with a smile before taking a bite.

Kiki let out a groan and crossed her arms while Judai chuckled slightly at the exchange. Hana was just worried that Kinozaki was upset at her so she kept her gaze down at her plate.

"So what brings you all the way to the red dorm anyway?" Judai asked.

"That can wait until later if you don't mind." Kinozaki replied.

Judai just stared at him for a moment before nodding. Kiki may have been strange, but Kinozaki was strange in an entirely different way. He was polite, but he was also so matter of fact and assertive. Even Judai felt like he couldn't press Kinozaki for an answer until later.

Dinner continued on as usual. Kiki did most of the talking and the other three just listened to her as she rambled on and on about something they completely lost track of. Most of the students started finishing their dinner so a few went ahead and left the mess hall early. Kiki finished first out of the group and eventually so did the others. Most of the girls were ready to go back to their own dorm so Hana got up to excuse herself and go join them. Kiki followed her though, which caused Kinozaki to follow suit and Judai walked outside with him.

"Hey, Han-chan! Let's have a sleepover!" Kiki suggested.

"Huh? B-but, you're not allowed to stay the night in a dorm that isn't yours. You should go back to the yellow dorm. I'm sure your dorm leader needs to know where you are too." Hana said.

"Aww!" Kiki whined. "Han-chan's right though… Kiki'll go back."

"I'll, um… see you tomorrow though, okay?" Hana replied.

Kiki got a big smile on her face and nodded. "Right! Kiki'll see Han-chan tomorrow too!"

She then hugged Hana, who yelped, and quickly ran off to the yellow dorms. Hana sighed and turned to Kinozaki, but was too nervous to say anything.

"I guess you found him, huh?" Kinozaki said.

"I-I'm sorry! I would have told you, but…" Hana trailed off and shook her head.

"No big deal, I found him anyway. I guess waiting at the red dorm should've been the obvious choice to begin with." Kinozaki responded.

Hana nodded, glad that Kinozaki wasn't upset like she thought he would be.

"Um, see you tomorrow, Kinozaki-kun, Yuki-sensei." She said.

"Judai-sensei." Judai corrected her, causing her to stare at him. "Just call me Judai-sensei. Yuki-sensei feels way too weird."

She nodded again before walking to the girls' dorm, leaving Judai and Kinozaki by themselves.

"So, I take it it's later now?" Judai assumed.

Kinozaki turned around to face him. "Yes, I suppose it is. Judai-sensei, I want you to tutor me."

"Huh? Tutor you? What, in alchemy?" Judai asked.

"No, no. In dueling." Kinozaki clarified.

"Are ya sure? I mean, the semester only just started. Whatever I could help you with by tutoring, you'd probably end up learning throughout the year anyway." Judai said.

"I don't need help getting better at dueling though. I want to learn how to enjoy dueling. I think you're the only one that can teach me that." Kinozaki explained, making Judai stare at him in surprise. "I've been training to become a pro duelist most of my life, so I never grew up enjoying it, only thinking of it as work. I must admit, I don't think I know how to enjoy anything really. So if anything, I'd at least like to learn how to enjoy dueling."

Judai's eyes softened as he realized Kinozaki was in a similar place he once was. He forgot how to enjoy dueling after everything that happened with Yubel. It took support from his friends and a duel with Yugi to get him back to his old self, so he knew how important it was to not let go of having fun. Judai didn't want to see anyone else treating dueling so seriously like he did back then. That wasn't what it was meant to be. Dueling was supposed to be fun and a way for duelists to connect with each other. He wanted everyone to feel that way about dueling, Kinozaki included. Besides, the last time Judai truly enjoyed a duel was at last year's reunion with Johan, so Judai was sure tutoring Kinozaki would be beneficial to both of them.

"Sure then, Kinozaki. Why don't you come back here same time tomorrow and we'll get started then." Judai offered.

Kinozaki looked a bit pleasantly surprised and smiled at Judai. "Thank you, Sensei. I'll see you tomorrow."

Judai smiled back and waved as Kinozaki walked away to go to his own dorm. Once he was out of sight, Judai focused his eyes on the main school building. The sun was setting, which turned the sky orange.

"I guess it was silly of me to worry, huh?" Judai wondered aloud, but got no response.

Cronos walked into Samejima's office holding a small stack of papers and placed them down on the headmaster's desk.

"These were the ones you requested, yes?" Cronos asked.

"They are, thank you." Samejima answered as he picked them up and flipped through them. "Hm, Hana Mitarashi. She scored average on the written exam and below average on the practical. She shows a lot of promise, but it's clear she's lacking in confidence, which is holding her back. Hajime Kinozaki. He scored perfectly on both exams. He competed in several minor league tournaments and has already been considered for the major league, so I wonder why he chose to attend Duel Academy when he could've skipped attending entirely. Kiki Arakawa. She scored above average on both exams and has had perfect grades all her life. She even beat the practical exam in two turns. She could easily be in Obelisk, but she doesn't seem to have the refinement needed. Sabrina Himeno. She scored near perfect on the written exam but only average on the practical exam. She seems to know what she's doing, but isn't great at executing it. She was one of the first members of the public to have access to Synchro summoning. Probably since her father is a famous business mogul. Hikaru Arakawa. He scored below average on both exams. I'm surprised he even passed at all. It doesn't seem like he's even really a duelist. Why would he enroll in a duel academy then? Either way, it seems like Judai-kun got quite the pick from this year's students."

"I just hope him being here doesn't cause anymore issues. The past decade has been so calm and I'm too old to start having life-or-death experiences again." Cronos commented.

Samejima chuckled and turned his chair around to face the window. "Judai-kun does seem to attract some strange events, but like always, I know we can rely on him."

Cronos let out a sigh and Samejima watched out the window for a moment as the sun set on the first day of the new semester.