It was a fine morning in Domino City. Home to one of the greatest duelists to ever currently still be alive and the battlefield of many history defining duels, it was chalk full of history for anyone interested in the lore of Duel Monsters. However, currently today, in a dome-shaped building in the town itself was the signups for a chance to attend one of the most prestigious schools dueling had to offer, at least for this side of the world: Duel Academia.
Owned and financed by Kaiba Seto, one of the world's strongest duelists and current owner and CEO of the aptly named KaibaCorp, it was built and made with the idea of only the best of the best of dueling could even hope to attend. Aside from the various physical dueling tests, there was also a lot of written tests as while you could have the skills to duel, you also needed the knowledge as well.
Duel Academy had three levels of hierarchy on the island in which is was built on: Slifer Red, Ra Yellow, and Obelisk Blue. Slifer Red was for those who barely passed the various tests and could barely even classified as worthy enough to attend the academy. Ra Yellow were for those who either did very well on their tests and lacked the ability to attend Obelisk Blue initially due to not having a diploma required from a duel prep school to attend or also being a first year who simply did good on their entrance exams, among other possible reasons. Lastly, Obelisk Blue was home to the best of the best duelist, those who not only aced their entrance exams, but also had the necessary paperwork's or connections to attend the academy at that ranking.
Duel Academia was basically a close thing to a college for those who wanted to make dueling a job, those who tend to graduate with high marks end up becoming famous duelers in championships or even those who graduate, even going to a job where dueling isn't the main focus such as childcare, are usually looked more favorably compared to those who might even have a degree in the subject due to Duel Academia's much higher educational difficulties.
As the crowd of those hopeful wait at the check-in tables outside the dome building that will serve as the testing grounds to see who will make it in or not, one of the hopeful entrants was staring up at the building. He adjusts his red cap, as fresh and pristine as the day he bought it, which was today conveniently, and gulps nervously. Wearing a black hoodie, denim shorts, and black tennis shoes, he was nervous about today. He spent what little he had saved up to pay for the entrance exam fees and he really needed to give it all he could. The line moves and he follows, stopping once more as the line stops moving.
His parents wanted him to study at a normal college to become a doctor. Although he did attend to humor them for a year, he really wasn't feeling both normal college and his future as some doctor and constantly argued and bickered with his family that he wanted to be a great duelist, or at least one that made enough to live comfortably. Of course, they were super against it, threating to kick him out among other things. After saving enough for the entrance fees, a bit to stay at a hotel in the city, and a decent amount of change, he traveled to Domino City with only a two bags of what he would need assuming he would pass the exams. After staying up to study one last time, here he was in line awaiting entry to the building where a long boring day of the written tests will take place.
Eventually, he's at the front of the line in front of the welcome table. A cute woman smiles at him, holding a clipboard. "Hello and welcome to the Duel Academia Entry Examination. Do you have an ID on you to confirm your identity?" The woman asks.
The boy pulls out his wallet and hands her an ID card, in which she looks at it and flips through her clipboard. After a bit, she finds what she's looking for. "Ah, Satoshi Kazuki. I have you right here." She says, handing him back his ID and a slip of paper. "Please enter and wait in the main lobby side room number three." She says.
Kazuki nods and enters the building and looks around, seeing the various other hopeful entrees talking with each other or doing some very last quick minute studying. He looks around and sees a door with a paper with a three stuck to it. He goes to it and enters the room, glancing back before shutting the door.
He sees a bunch of empty desks with already some other people sitting at them. A few were standing around, chatting with each other or on their phones. Kazuki looks at the tables and seeing that none had any sort of nameplate or specific place he had to sit down at, sat at one towards from front, second row towards the middle.
Eventually the room began to fill and after some time, most of the seats were filled. A bit of time after that, a man in a purple outfit appeared at the front of the room. He must be one of the staff attending Duel Academia, those specific style jackets that the staff and students wore were quite recognizable.
The man glances around the room, noticing a few empty seats. He glances at his watch and as soon as it hit 12:00, he looks back up at the class. "We will be starting the exams. This first one's considered basic. Every aspiring duelist should be able to answer these questions in a timely manner." He says as two women in similar style clothes walk around and begin handing out papers and pencils. "You will have thirty minutes to answer as much as you can on the test. When I say put you pencils down, I expect them to be dropped." He says, eyes narrow behind his sunglasses. "Those who don't and continue answering will fail regardless of their grade they would've gotten and be asked to leave. There will also be no glancing around or any attempts to cheat. Those who are caught or assumed by various motions will be asked to leave." He says. After everyone is giving a paper and pencil, he glances at his watch. "Begin now." He says, crossing his arms behind his back and staring at the seated people before him.
Kazuki flips the paper over and begins answering the questions. Indeed, they were easy. What are spell cards? What are counter traps? A monster who has an effect are called what? He smirks to himself. At least he wouldn't humiliate himself by failing this early on...
After some time, he shoots his hand up. A woman assistant comes by and takes his test with a small nod as soon, others begin to raise their hands to collect their tests. The assistants hand them to the test proctor, who sat at the desk at the front grading the papers. He tried to not pay too much attention, for his sake, as the proctor was shaking his head and frowning a lot while grading the various papers.
Soon the thirty minutes were up. After some quiet time finishing the grading, the proctor stands up with a small stack of papers. "When I call your names, stand up." He says. He begins to name off people in the room, who stand up either nervous or excited. Kazuki waits for his name to be called and it never does. He gulps as he and the other seated people look at those standing up. Did he... fail? No, he couldn't had...
The man looks unamused as he stares at all those who stood up, which was half the room. "Unfortunately all of you have failed the first rounds of testing. As you leave you may take your tests with you and study for the next round next year." He says.
A lot of people looked angry or annoyed while others looked sick to their stomachs or sad, but they left as the women helpers handed their tests out as they left. Soon, it was half the room left. The proctor nods and as the women begun handing the next set of papers to those left, he spoke: "Congratulation to those still here. While you passed the first test, that doesn't mean you passed to attend Duel Academia." He says. "This next test will determine if you actually pass. These ones test your knowledge on interactions between monsters, cards, and the rules of Duel Monsters itself. You will have one hour to complete the test. When finished, raise your hand."
Soon the next round of testing starts. These were definitely harder. Kazuki sweats a little as he writes with the pencil the answers to the questions are best he can. What are the name of cards that can search other cards including themselves? Which of the following cards listed are not in the same archetype? In the event of a draw game, in a tournament best of three setting where your opponent has won the first game, what happens? Harder they were, but he studied hard. He wasn't the first to raise his hand, but he was confident.
The hour is up soon and after more quiet grading, the proctor calls out names, including Kazuki's. He gulps as he stands up as he glanced at the other potential candidates.
"Those currently standing..." He says, looking up from the small stack of papers, "Passed. Those who are seated please leave the building in an orderly manner and take your test with you to review for next year." He says.
After the next group leaves, those standing sit down. Now about only a fourth of the room remained. Kazuki sighs happily. He was in. Although there might not be a lot of them left, there were a lot of rooms likely being used for testing, so there must be a lot of others who passed as well.
The woman begun handing out the next test. "Congratulation to those who managed to pass the last test." The man begins to speak. "This final test will help determine your placement in the Academia. Aside from a few of you, your placing will either be Slifer Red or Ra Yellow." He explains. "Those who pass with a high enough grade with the proper credentials will be able to attend at Obelisk Blue. Those with a lower grade with the proper credentials will attend Ra Yellow instead." He says. "You will have three hours to finish this test. When you are done, raise your hand. You will then be able to leave for the day. You will receive a text later on tonight with your grade and current placement along with the time and number of your final test tomorrow, which will be the physical duel." He says.
With a wave of his hand, the final round of the written test begins. As Kazuki begun to answer, he sweats more profusely. What even are these questions? Upon successful activation of Last Turn, if your opponent summons a monster that cannot be destroyed by battle unless it was attacked twice and you summon a monster who is strong enough to destroy it normally, what is the outcome? If you and your opponent, somehow, both draw all the pieces of Exoida via Card Destruction, what is the outcome? What creature type is the Hungry Burger ritual monster? 'Ain't that thing a fucking burger?' Kazuki thinks to himself. He noticed towards the of the test an optional question, or rather response: Feel free to leave any notes, comments, or questions here. He decides to in fact write something there: If I do good to place in Ra Yellow, please put me in Slifer Red instead.
After what felt like forever, but was close to two hours, after double, triple, quadruple checking his work, he raises his hand. After a woman comes by to collect his papers and handing him a PDA which will be used to both be contacted about his test grade and information for tomorrow and during his time at the Academia, he leaves the room. He lets out a large sigh after the door shuts. His throat was dry and he needed something to drink after after he eyes a vending machine, he decides to reward himself with an ice cold drink. After selecting a Dr. Monster, he cracks the bottle open and takes a deep swig of it, sighing happily. He watches as some of the other entries, leave the various rooms and go off to do whatever, leaving the building or chatting with the other entries who finished them exam.
He hears the vending machine make a dispense sound and he glances over to see a short woman stand up after reaching for the bottle. The woman had long blue hair and brown eyes that glanced up at him as he was checking her out. Wearing a short black skirt, an orange shirt with a lightweight black zipper jacket, she was also slender and short in height, but despite that she had quite a nice rack. He doesn't stare for long, noticing her eyes slightly narrow. "So uh, those tests huh?" He asks, trying to brush aside that fact.
The woman relaxes and cracks open her drinks and takes a sip of it. "Yeah, that last test was a doozy. Some real bullshit they cooked up to have us answer and try to explain why we think that way." She says.
"I think it's cruel to make us name every card on the forbidden and semi limited lists, but I guess we have to know that." He says with a scoff.
"True that." She says with a small chuckle. She glances up at him and checks him out as he sips on this drink, eyeing new people as they leave their testing rooms. Tall, messy brown hair, blue eyes that had dark rings from no doubt staying up all night. Not bad, she thinks to herself. "Name's Saotome Rei." She says, offering a hand.
"Satoshi Kazuki." He says, shaking her hand.
"What rank do you think you got?" Rei asks.
"Red likely." He said, not trying to sound too hopeful. "You?"
"Eh, probably red as well. I suppose all that matters is we passed the initial writing portion. Real test however is the duel tomorrow. Whatever we got today won't matter if we fail tomorrow."
Kazuki nods. Indeed that was the case. He could score perfectly on every test, but is he failed tomorrow's duel he wouldn't be able to attend.
"Well, good luck Saotome. Let's both pass the duel tomorrow." He says, a small smile on his face.
Rei smirks. "I don't need luck." She says, pulling out a deck of cards from her hip pocket. "I got raw skill. I plan on being the best duelist on the island." She says, a confident tone in her voice. "Don't score to high or I'll have to make you my rival."
He rolls his eyes. "I'll uh, try not to then. I don't need someone breathing down my neck."
She scoffs softly and puts her deck away. "Well, good 'luck' to you then Satoshi." She says, a simple wave of her hand before beginning to leave before turning back. "Actually, let's exchange PDA numbers."
He raises an eye, a small blush on his face, but allows the exchanging of numbers as they both pulled out their PDA's to add each other as contacts. "Cool, see you tomorrow." She says, actually leaving this time after tossing her empty bottle in the trash.
He watches her go, staring at her ass perhaps for a little too long as he shakes those thoughts out of his head. He looks at his PDA before shoving it in his back pocket and sipping the last of his drink. After tossing it into the garbage, he nods to himself. Now, he needed to prepare for tomorrow. One last look at his deck and make any changes if needed and try to get some rest. Tomorrow was do or die for his chance to attend Duel Academia.