It's Lee this time, starting off the intro with our ever present thanks to our beta, Eneko95. This chapter's gonna be nice and relaxing... Is that saying too much? I mean, you gotta have breather chapters from time to time, right? A denouement to all the action so the audience can catch their breath and brace themselves for whatever action the future holds, right? … I've rambled again. Please enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 29

Academy Duel

Festive Finale

Duel Arena

The explosion from the last attack died down as the entire arena's augmented reality program shut down, causing all of the audience, including the two headmasters, to take off their visors.

On the stage itself, Nick still had his visor on and Daiyu was still on her knees, looking at the floor like she wanted to disappear.

Her opponent, however, could tell she was upset and looked saddened by it as he went towards her and got down on one knee while taking off his visor.

"Hey… I know you're mad about losing, but you did your best, all right? You can be proud of that no matter what," Nick remarked with a soft smile.

"Do not try to comfort me, Xiǎo niǎo," Daiyu replied softly, not raising her eyes from the floor. "Losing is shameful and nothing changes that."

"Indeed," Chen added, walking onto the stage with an equally shamefaced Mei behind him. "I had such high hopes for you two, and it pains me to see that they were ultimately unfounded. Surely your honor means more to you than this."

Mei went to her sister, putting an arm around her and looking down in shame when their headmaster said that.

"Hey!" Nick blurted out, standing to look directly at Chen. "You can't tell them that, they did their best in those duels! Sure, they lost, but that never made anybody any less of a Duelist. A spotless win-loss record isn't even the point of being one. ...uh, with all due respect, Headmaster."

"You never fail until you stop trying," Barclay added, walking onto the stage and standing next to Nick. "And from where I was standing, it didn't look like either of them stopped trying to win."

"I see why this school has been such a disappointment to the other districts, such pitiful lessons taught here-"

"Enough!" Ward interjected. She joined the small group on stage and gently pushed Nick and Bar to one side. "Headmaster Chen, this is not what our position is supposed to embody and you know it! How can you put so much emphasis on your students' honor and display so little of it yourself?"

"You have no right to-"

"I have every right to. You shame these girls for something that happens to all of us, then insult my academy when someone comes to their defense? How is that honorable behavior, Headmaster? What does that say about the values you're instilling? What does it say when two of your students show more self-discipline and respect after a loss than you?"

"You know nothing of honor, Ward," Chen spat.

A shocked silence filled the arena. The Central students in particular had never heard someone so directly disrespect their Headmistress.

"Get off this island," Ward snapped. "You've done nothing but sneer and ooze poison since you first set foot here. I could tolerate it until you resorted to personal attacks. I will ensure the Lanying sisters get back to their classmates after they've had a moment to collect themselves. If you won't support them as their teacher is supposed to do, I'll support them as their host."

The Headmaster scoffed and looked at the two before signaling his students to get up and follow him as they all walked out of the building.

Only Daiyu and Mei stayed, both still feeling down by what they heard.

Both soon felt a hand on their shoulders as they looked up to see Nick and Barclay in front of them with gentle smiles on their faces.

"You'll be better off without an influence like that in your lives." Barclay said.

"Don't listen to that jerk, you two really are amazing Duelists and no one can say otherwise," the red-haired teen added. The twins still looked uncertain, but accepted Nick's and Bar's helping hands all the same.

"Ahem. Well, despite that unpleasantness, I'm happy to say that we witnessed a duel for the ages this year," said Ward, holding a microphone. "Let's give a big round of applause for both groups and their amazing performance!"

As she said that, all of Central Academy got up from their seats and started clapping for them, some even cheered loudly and whistled at them. The twins had looks of surprise, never imagining that despite all the crap their former headmaster said, they would be kind to offer them praise.

"Now then, with the duel finished, it is now time for the finale of our Central Academy hosting, the end festival!" Everyone cheered loudly in joy, including Nick and Barclay.

Duel Academy Campus

The sun had begun to set, turning the sky to various shades of red, orange and pink. The normally open campus grounds were now a maze of food and game stalls. Lanterns illuminated the pathways and added to the festival atmosphere of the grounds.

Most of Central Academy were at the festival, a few deciding that there was enough excitement and returned back to their dorms for the night. Those that attended were about evenly split between people just wearing casual clothes (as opposed to their uniforms) and people in traditional kimonos.

In one of the more secluded areas behind some of the stands, Daiyu and Mei were sitting down, their bags close by, and enjoying some yakisoba noodles they bought.

"This is possibly one of the nicest times we've had despite losing badly," Daiyu sighed as she stared at the mass of smiling faces around them. "Somehow... it almost feels more like mockery than consolation..."

"Oh don't be such a Cháng hào," Mei muttered through a mouthful of food.

"Do not speak with food in your mouth!" Daiyu exclaimed. "We may have lost, but we are not without manners."

Mei chuckled a bit, then slurped down her noodles with exaggerated delight. Her sister groaned in disgust.

Suddenly, the two heard a familiar voice call out to them.

"Hey you two," Nick remarked as the twins turned to see him and his friends walking to them.

Aside from Nick and Erhard, the rest of the group were now wearing kimono. Barclay wore a simple, casual kimono in a dark navy blue. It looked completely traditional and had nothing that made it stand out all that much. Takashi's black kimono was similarly basic, though the stylized red flames on the sleeves made it look closer to a martial arts gi.

Atsuko wore a light gold-yellow kimono with subtle, almost invisible light pink petals near the sleeves and more brown colored sashes around her waist. While Laura wore a light purple kimono with dark purple lining and had several blue and light green flower designs scattered across the fabric. Sera had a similarly colored kimono to Laura, but rather than blue and light green, hers had a repeating red lotus design.

"Some of our friends wanted to meet you," the red-haired teen continued. "This is Laura, Sera, Atsuko, Takashi, and Erhard. Guys, meet the Lanying sisters."

The five of them bowed in respect as the sisters did the same. "I can't believe you both have legendary dragon decks," Laura remarked in awe. "So cool!"

"Seriously, there are quite a few impressive cards that have been played here," Sera added. "But your monsters might be some of the most impressive ones I've seen."

"Yeah, Nick over there had some impressive dragons in his deck until recently too," Barclay chuckled. "Almost beat me with those monsters, but he got a little cocky and gave me an opening to win."

Hey, I was just making sure I could win," Nick added as they laughed at his remark.

"Still, they were really amazing, even if I was scared half to death," Atsuko remarked with a chuckle.

"I thought they were gonna turn around and attack us," Takashi added.

"Naw, they may seem insanely scary, but they're sweet as honey," Mei replied with a cocky grin.

They chuckled at her remark before Daiyu noticed Nick and Erhard.

"Why is it that you two aren't wearing kimonos?" She questioned.

"Well, I didn't exactly have time to buy one. Plus I grew up in the States, we don't usually dress up for street festivals there," Nick explained.

"I'm not from a wealthy home, so I cannot afford one myself," Erhard added.

"Well it doesn't matter, we love you guys anyway," Takashi said, grabbing the two in a tight hug.

Erhard and Nick gasped for air.

"Anyways, what do you two plan to do from now on?" Barclay asked. "Seems to me that Headmaster of yers is pure reekbeek. Going back to a toxic environment like that can't be good for you."

The two looked at one another, remembering how the boys and Ward defended them in front of a crowd.

"Well…I've certainly had more fun at Central than I expected to, but…I'm not sure if this school is for us," Mei replied.

"Ours is more competitive than this one. Almost like a military academy, really," Daiyu added. "And that is not how an academy is meant to be," another voice added as they all turned around to see the Headmistress behind them. The Headmistress wore a bright red kimono with a repeating six-petaled flower design in pink. Whether to attempt to make her look more youthful or friendlier and approachable, no one was entirely sure, but she seemed happy enough to be wearing it.

"Headmistress," the group remarked as they bowed in respect, including the twins.

"Now now, no need for formalities, I simply came to make sure you two were enjoying yourselves despite what happened," she said to the twins. "We are having fun," Daiyu replied. "Though we are not exactly used to this kind of atmosphere."

"Yeah, it's just been kind of a rough time for us back at that place, and it's all we know," Mei added.

"Well, we hope that we can bring some light into your life while you are here as our guests." Ward said with a warm smile. "Let our representatives and their friends show you around our festival and have some fun."

"Yeah!" Laura remarked as she went to grab the two, surprising them. "No need to be down about it, its a festival! Let's go wild!"

Both sisters couldn't reply as Laura started pulling their arms towards the stands, making others laugh as they followed her, leaving Ward alone as she smiled at the students.

"To be young again," she remarked before going on her way to see the rest of the festival.

The group went through the walkway of the festival, exploring and interacting with each of the stands along the way. Each one gave them all cheerful smiles, even the sisters couldn't help but smirk at their comradery and even started to enjoy themselves.

Soon enough, most of the group was sitting at a nearby table, enjoying a selection of food that they all brought to share. They had a selection of every grilled food item commonly available. Yakisoba, yakiniku, yakitori, takoyaki, various sweets like dango and cotton candy, pocky and plenty of different drinks like ramune and teas. Aside from the food, there was a small pile of prizes won from the stands they visited.

"Man, you'd think an academy with multiple branches would have bigger prizes," Nick remarked as he grabbed a yo-yo balloon from the pile.

"Quality over quantity, probably," Laura added through a mouthful of takoyaki.

"Aw, come on, you can't have a festival without balloons and plastic masks, they're classic prizes," Barclay said, gesturing at his own red oni mask hanging off the side of his head. "It's like those... carnival things ya got across the pond, yeah?"

"Still, this is tame compared to some of the festivals we've had back in Germany," Erhard commented. "No one's running around trying to scare anyone or pull pranks, and not a drop of bier to be seen."

"We can't drink, no one's old enough," Sera commented. "Plus, booze is gross."

"What? You mean legal drinking age isn't 16 everywhere?" Erhard asked, completely confused.

"No, and even if it was, we shouldn't be drinking." Sera sighed.

"Now now, regardless of different traditions, this is quite honestly one of the best nights I've had," Takashi responded with a joyful smile. "Especially since we're all together."

"True," Atsuko said, taking a bite of candy apple "This is probably the first time all of us have been able to just relax, especially our guests."

They all turned to Daiyu and Mei, both of whom were focused on their own individual things. Mei had won a black and red colored pendant necklace as she held it in her hand, her eyes twinkling as she kept her focus on it.

Daiyu, on the other hand, was happily patting a plush Blue-eyes Toon Dragon Nick had won from a ring toss game. Her eyes were soft, but sparkled almost as much as her sister's.

She suddenly felt eyes on her and looked up to find the group smiling at her reaction, a few even grinning.

Her face flushed red as she hurriedly grabbed her shaved ice, dyed blue with some flavor no one had heard her ask for, and began shoveling it into her mouth to try and distract from her behavior. Three bites in and her eyes widened before she groaned and buried her face into the plush and rubbed her forehead. Mei let out a noise somewhere between an annoyed sigh and a chuckle. "It won't kill you to be yourself once in a while," she remarked, passing her twin a piece of yakiniku.

Daiyu grabbed it and turned away with a huff, putting it in her mouth to relieve the headache.

The rest of the group smiled, but soon the beginning of the fireworks show grabbed their attention.

They all turned their attention upward, seeing them flying into the sky and exploding, showing perfect images of different duel monsters.

All the students were mesmerized, enjoying a fitting sendoff to a very exciting, almost perfect day.

And with that, the Academy Duel saga has come to a close, Ray here doing the outro, and we want to thank everyone that's been sticking with us. It's been a long ride, but we finally got past the way point of the first year, meaning we're about to get into the meat of this series. We again apologize if it's been slow, but we hope you'll stick with us as we continue further.

Translations:

Cháng hào - Downer

reekbeek - horrible, disgusting