Chapter 3

The meeting with Jade had not gone well, in fact, it was a disaster. Aster had been called self centered in the past but even he wasn't that dense. She was uncomfortable throughout the whole encounter, and that made him uncomfortable too. Truth to be told, up until that moment, he had completely forgotten about her. Or at least, had not thought of her. And, anybody could wonder if he had done it on purpose. He left Domino almost three months after his father's death. And no matter how much he tried, the city and his memories with Jade had been tainted by that event.

While he was preparing for his debut, D made frequent visits to Domino, yet he never mentioned her, or her family. He could have written of course, because Jade did, several times. But he never replied. Although simply saying that he was too busy was a lie.

Remembering their conversation Aster realized two things: a. that he (consciously or unconsciously) had given more information about himself than she did; and b. that she had not said anything about being pleased to see him. Considering how he had ceased contact (and later on, she as well), he was not surprised that Jade was hostile or even a bit resentful of him. The consequences of his actions, of course.

But, what did he know about Jade Trembley? She liked sweets (when she was eight), she had a dog (presumably, alive today), she lived with her parents (no indication that any tragedy had struck the family), her dad was a card designer (that was the only thing he was certain), and she had decided to study at Duel Academy (an irrefutable fact). But, she could have changed.

No, she did change. And so did he. He doubted when they talked again he would be able to completely fix the relationship, but he wondered if he could at least leave it in more favorable terms. The one sided hostility was not something he wanted.

He said he would not be attending Duel Academy, although that was a lie. Aster was only delaying the inevitable. So far he had been able to put up excuses; his arrival at Domino caused quite a commotion: he had to be present for many interviews and events. He was also debuting at the Kaiba Dome, finally participating in the World Series for the first time, as he had reached the minimum age requirement. He knew he would win, but he still needed to train and make sure he was at his best. Sitting in class being told stuff he already knew was not what he needed at the moment.

The deal with Duel Academy was quite lucrative, and the terms agreed were not half as bad: one year, a minimum of 60 percent attendance per subject, his own room, and giving a conference at the Academy at the end of the year. The last part, he would have accepted with no issue; without all the rest. Just like any public appearance: stay for a couple of days, sign some autographs, the conference, take the official picture with the Headmaster shaking hands and be done. Aster would look good, the Academy could get publicity and everyone was happy. But no. Considering his age, it was suggested that he should attend the Academy as well. With tense negotiations the regime was changed from a regular student to a "sort-of-like-exchange-student" (actual words from the contract signed). At least, completing the three years was quickly out of the table. Meaning he only had to suffer for one year.

He returned home at 9.00 PM, which was quite reasonable. No other activities had been planned for the night, meaning that after dining by himself he could finally rest. Despite the many thoughts about Jade and his childhood, he had been able to maintain peak performance in his training and that was good enough for him. When he opened the door he noticed two envelopes which had been slid to his door. Invitations for Pegasus opening party of the season. Another reason for him to rest tonight.

Jade was quickly able to adapt to her schedule at Duel Academy. She had classes everyday, Monday till Friday; while Saturday classes were only in the morning. The curriculum was quite varied: History of Dueling, Science, Language, Basics of Dueling, Maths, Practice Duels, Sports, among many others. While in the first year the classes were broad, in the Second and Third year there were many elective courses in which students were allowed to forge their own career in regards to the world of Duel Monsters. Sadly, her classes were not shared with Alexis or any of her friends. At least, throughout the Academy, schedules were pretty similar, meaning all students, from all three years, had lunch and sports at the same time, as well as most duels taking place in the main arena. With the excitement of the first week, the encounter with Aster Phoenix quickly was forgotten.

Was she proud it had been like that? Not exactly. She was overall unsure what to say. She thought he was a bit self-centered; not surprising considering he was a celebrity. He didn't ask a lot about her either. She imagined that to him, seeing her was an inconvenience, after all, he had not bothered to contact her in all those years.

Unexpected? Definitely. Had they not met by chance this once, had he bothered to contact her at least once? She had the idea that Aster hated her, or at least, was not one bit interested in her: their friendship a relic from the past. The Professional Duelist Aster Phoenix had no time for silly childhood reconnections. She would never say that their past relationship as children was fake, or that Aster didn't say what he meant. Whether it was something she genuinely believed or tried to believe, that was a whole other matter, though. She wondered if she had been too hostile towards him. Probably, but she would never say it outloud. Thankfully, Alexis did not brought again the topic.

"C'mon, Jade!" Alexis hurried her. "Chazz is opening this year." The freshman had taken longer than expected to get ready and because of that, both girls were arriving late. They walked along the hallway with a hurried step, the raven haired girl still chewing her breakfast. As they were about to find their spot, they bumped into the Headmaster, Dr. Vellian Crawler. That made Jade gulp the last remaining of her toast.

"Ah, good morning ladies." He greeted them. She had heard horror stories about Crawler for the last couple of days, especially from Syrus. Yet he greeted them kindly, engaging in small talk with both of them. Maybe because they were Obelisk students, or because Alexis Rhodes, Queen of Obelisk Blue was present.

"Miss Trembley, you are very lucky to have one of our best students as your roommate. I hope you study hard in your first year. We don't like slackers over here." As he said that word, Jaden approached the group.

"And speaking of slackers." Crowler mumbled. There was an air of disdain in his voice.

"Chazz is opening this year? Sweet!" the brown haired boy said, ignoring Crowler's words.

"Well, I do think Mr. Princeton is stuck in that dumpster of Red. He has expressed interest in going Professionally, and after being unable to bring Aster Phoenix, Chazz is sure to bring publicity to our school." He explained.

"He wants to go Pro?" Alexis asked, surprised.

"But he said-" Jade said.

"Well of course, and he is quite fit for it, don't you think?" Crowled answered both girls. The headmaster returned to his seat as Bonaparte grabbed the microphone allowing the duel to begin. Jade recognized Chazz's opponent, Reginald "Reggie" Van Howell III, a first year student just like her. While she hadn't spoken to him, she had seen him being followed around by a small crew.

Reginald opened the duel by summoning Marauding Captain (ATK 1200/DEF 400) in attack position. Because the monster was normal-summoned, the Obelisk student was allowed to special summon Warrior Lady of the Wasteland (ATK 1100/DEF 1200), also in attack position. Then he activated two equip cards: Jewel Sword and Divine Sword. The first, was equipped to Marauding Captain, whose attack had turned into 1500; while the second to Warrior Lady, her attack remaining at 1400. He set a card, ending his turn. The swords that the monsters were holding grew in size as Reggie activated each spell card.

Chazz chose to normal summon X-Head Cannon (ATK 1800/DEF 1500) in attack position. Activating the spell card, Graceful Charity, he drew three cards.

"By discarding Ojamagic to the Graveyard it allows me to add the Ojama trio to my hand!" he explained. "Now, I'll activate this, and these guys are going to the Graveyard!" he said, revealing Ojama Ride. He discarded his three Ojamas. Followed by this, he special summoned Y-Dragon Head (ATK 1500/DEF 1600) and Z-Metal Tank (ATK 1500/DEF 1300), both in defense position. Once the three monsters were on the field, he removed them from play and summoned XYZ-Dragon Cannon (ATK 2800/DEF 2600).

"Now I can do this, kid!" the black haired student said, activating his monster's effect. He discarded two cards, and both, Marauding Captain and Warrior Lady were destroyed. Reggie's field remained empty, except for one set card. His opponent drew a card.

"That was good!" Jade commented.

"Yeah!" Jaden cheered. "Keep going, Chazz!"

"Try to keep up!" Chazz challenged Reggie as he launched a direct attack. Reggie screamed as his life points were dropped from 4000 to 1200. The dark clothed student still remained with his 4000 life points.

"Ha, not bad. But now you'll see why I am in Obelisk and you are a Slifer-slacker!"

The duel ended with Chazz as winner. Jade joined in on the cheers to "Chazz it up!" along with the rest of the Slifer students, as well as Alexis and even Bastion.

"Man, what a duel!" Jaden said as they made their way back to the dorms. "You really represented us well, Chazz, I'm touched." The brunet turned to the other Slifer student.

"As if! I did it for myself!" he replied. Syrus joined in the conversation with the other two Slifer students. Meanwhile, Bastion was walking between the Obelisk girls.

"How are you finding your classes?" He suddenly spoke. Jade almost asked if he was talking to her. Since arriving at Duel Academy Bastion Misawa hadn't said a lot, in fact, she felt she only knew his name. Of course, it's not like she knew Alexis and her friends in detail, but through interactions, she could slowly piece together their personalities.

Jaden was quite extroverted. Not only that, but seemed to always be in a good mood. Besides dueling and talking about duels his second favorite topic was food. When Jade mentioned she knew how to cook, Jaden begged to try her stuff some day. Syrus mostly followed Jaden around. He was much more quiet than the brunet (and honestly, anybody looked quiet next to him), but was a rather sweet and shy kid. He had told Jade about his first year, and how scared he was and "Even if she was an Obelisk student, and perhaps would never listen to the advice of a Slifer like himself, he recommended to not pile up on homework."

Chazz, on the other hand, was prideful and competitive, but even then, as he had shown on this duel, he cared about his friends and Slifer Red. Finally Alexis was the one she was the most familiar with. Although of course, she hadn't interacted with her for long periods of time until recently. Mostly Jade had seen her at family events and considered her very quiet and polite. However, as she spent her days and nights with her, Jade began to realize she was quite the talkative type, at least, among those who she knew well. But where did Bastion Misawa fit in this group dynamic?

"The first week has been going okay. Some classes are very interesting!"

"I'm glad to hear that. It seems to me not many people are into studying here." He gave a quick glance at Jaden.

"Yeah, I really like literature and art, but I have a feeling chemistry is going to give me the most trouble."

"I didn't like it either." Alexis agreed. "I can lend you my notes from last year…but I don't think I can explain them very well."

"Oh, I can help if you have trouble." Bastion replied.

"Really? Well, thank you!" Jade smiled.

Aster sat back on his chair, tired but satisfied. He had almost finished reading his folder on Zane Truesdale. That was another reason for him to attend Pegasus' party. His next opponent was quite a promise in the Professional scene, sponsored by none other than Duel Academy's former headmaster Sheppard. Despite what Aster thought of the Academy, he could not deny Sheppard's credentials: he resurfaced the Cyber Style of dueling after it had been forgotten hundreds of years ago to the sands of time. Despite Zane being the talk of the town, he had never seen him face to face, only in video. Perhaps at the party he could kindly introduce himself. The second envelope he had received was for D, who surprisingly, accepted the invitation. Aster enjoyed parties, but he knew he could not go out every night unless he wanted his career to decline.

Sometimes, Pegasus' largest parties looked like a relic from the past: with large and puffy dresses, ballrooms and an orchestra. However, this one was more modern, more youthful, with informal clothes and a DJ. Aster was welcomed by its host pretty early on, who, of course, was wearing his red velvet suit. It was impressive how the founder of Industrial Illusions was able to keep an air of sophistication despite the electronic music that was blasting from the speakers. He extended his cup of red wine towards him in a sign of greeting.

"Aster-boy, I am delighted you could join us tonight. How is your preparation for opening this Friday at the Kaiba Dome?"

After he replied, Pegasus made a comment towards D of how he only showed up to the first and the last party of the year while ignoring him the rest of the days. However his tutor did not seem bothered by such accusations. After D and Aster entered the club, D greeted two older men, and they sat on the furthest corner to talk. The teen joined behind but placed himself a bit further from the group looking around.

The venue was middle sized with a bar at the opposite end from where he was sitting, and of course, the main attraction was the dance floor. He could not distinguish the color of the walls or any color in particular, as everything was tinted with a red color. The music was loud, even if D was next to him he could not hear what he was saying. More people were arriving and he recognized some faces. Duelists he had met throughout the years, some, which had the privilege of knowing his personal phone number. He also recognized some models, male and female from covers of magazines.

Models weren't particularly related to the world of Duel Monsters, but Pegasus' parties were glamorous and the event which any entertainment personality aspired to attend. Just like getting any sort of meeting with Seto Kaiba. Sure, some well known personalities were not into Duel Monsters, but they could not decline the privilege of being in the presence of the richest man in the city. And speaking of the CEO of Kaiba Corporation, of course, he was invited to all of these events. And Aster was aware that both men had a personal relationship that went back years, but he never showed up. Yugi Moto was also a highly anticipated guest of Pegasus, but he had shown up on very few occations. And from what he heard, while Kaiba never replied to any of the invitations, Yugi had the decency to write a letter in response, thanking, but declining the detail. Yugi was not present this time.

And much to Aster's disappointment, neither Zane Truesdale. He probably was invited, as Pegasus and Shepard knew each other. If he had indeed declined, Aster imagined the Duel Academy duelist was not someone who would last long, if he made the wrong impression. As ridiculous as it was, the social aspect was a key pillar of the life of a Professional Duelist.

In a serious tone, Alexis asked Jade to talk. They sat in front of each other in their respective beds. Jade hadn't seen the blonde all day, by the time they reunited it was already twilight.

"I want to move out of Obelisk." she said. "Crowler asked for a meeting." The Obelisk Queen rolled her eyes. She proceeded to explain that for the moment, Chazz Prienceston's professional career had been placed on hold. There was no apparent reason for that, so instead the Headmaster, pushed by Bonaparte, had moved on to his next idea: an idol duelist. Alexis said the word with disgust. Jade knew that the girl in front of her was outraged and insulted, yet she had to contain her laughter. What was even an Idol Duelist? The name wasn't catchy either. The further Alexis explained what Crowler had proposed the more difficult she found it to wrap her head around.

"He wants me to sing while I duel, or before. It doesn't matter! It 's bonkers!" she sighed, her friend's long blonde hair falling to her shoulders. Jade knew Alexis was pretty, more than that, she was the Queen of Obelisk Blue, beautiful, desired by many and a skilled duelist as well.

"I worked so hard to be taken seriously as a duelist, and this is how the Academy rewards me? If Sheppard was here this would not happen."

Sheppard was the previous Headmaster of Duel Academy, technically, he still was. He had taken a holiday leave quite suddenly and placed Vellian Crowler in the meantime. That's what she had heard, at least. It was not surprising that Crowler would be headmaster, even if in the meantime, he had worked in Duel Academy since its opening, slowly climbing the ranks until becoming Sheppard's right hand. However, because Crowler had become Headmaster, the Obelisk Dorm was left without a tutor. All dorms had a tutor as reference: for Slifer was Professor Lymann Banner, who had passed away, now unofficially that title had gone to Dorothy, for Ra, it was Professor Satir, and for the girls at Obelisk it was Dr. Fonda Fontaine. At the same time, Jade thought to herself that it was under Sheppard where Atticus had gone missing.

"This goes so against who I am as a person! I'll go to Slifer, I know they have rooms" Alexis said.

"I understand" Jade reassured her.

"And you know what's the worst part? He advised me to wear this!" She reached for a small bag that was resting at the end of the bed, and took out a puffy short red dress. "This was Atticus's idea I'm telling you." The dress looked corny.

"I feel bad, I really wanted us to be roommates but…"

The dark haired girl cut her off.

"Hey, it's okay." Jade grabbed her hand. "But I'm going to visit daily!" she joked.

Alexis looked relieved.

"Thank you, of course!"

On Sunday, two days after Alexis had left Jade thought it would be a good idea to surprise her former roommate at Slifer for breakfast. She had texted Syrus before asking him at what time they would be eating. Twelve sounded a bit late for her, which was Jaden's time for breakfast, meaning she woke up at her usual time, at 8.00, and would have lunch with all of them. Skipping the construction workers which Chazz had hired, she made her way to what was left of the cafeteria while the whole dorm was being renovated. There she found an unexpected familiar face.

'You!" she pointed at the muscular Ra student. It was the boy who had sat next to her during the entrance exam, Tyranno Hassleberry.

"Hey!" he replied back in acknowledgment waving at her as he stood up. They quickly began to catch up as if they were old friends. There is just something about the first person you meet in an unfamiliar environment which makes them memorable. Even if you never speak to them again, you can nod in agreement in the hallways acknowledging their existance. It had already been three weeks since the entrance exam and she had not seen him around. Much to her disappointment, Hassleberry explained that he had been going around stealing duel discs.

"Huh?" Jaden asked, confused. "You know each other?"

"We met on the entrance exam!" he grinned proudly.

As she sat down, the topic returned to the usual: duels, classes and gossip they had heard. The biggest news however, was that Syrus Trusdeale had been given a chance to move to Ra Yellow, if he beat Missy, a third year Obelisk Student. And of course, Aster Phoenix's duel against Zane Truesdale, which happened this friday. It was going to be an interesting week for sure.


Hii! Sorry for the unexplained hiatus. I've been dealing with a pretty bad depression which left me unmotivated to write. It does get better tho, that is something I learnt! At the same time, I began a new job, which takes up most of my time; so updates will be slower D:

But, the story is still advancing in the drafts; I just like to re-read and check a 1000 times before posting lol

Hope you all enjoy regardless the long pause.