A few days before the exam, at the Academy Island's landing field, a boy with a bizarre windmill-like hairstyle jumped off the plane.
He shook his hair, took a deep breath, looked at the high tower of Duel Academy, and let out a long sigh.
"I'm back, Duel Academy..."
His name is Manjome Jun.
A first-year student at the Blue Academy of this institution.
"Good luck, Manjome! The president is always watching you. He'll be cheering for you in the exam too!" The pilot on the plane shouted to Manjome, who nodded but didn't respond.
Does the master really pay attention to me?
He was a bit doubtful.
Stepping forward, he walked toward the high tower of Duel Academy and stopped just before arriving, listening to the chirping voices around him, unable to resist falling into reminiscence.
He, Manjome Jun, is a disciple of Kaiba Seto.
By some chance, he obtained a card with a resident spirit, and thus developed the idea that he was "chosen by heaven." He started participating in various junior competitions, continuously winning from his elementary school days, and even through his family's connections, he met the president of Kaiba Company, Kaiba Seto, becoming his disciple.
After that, he successfully became a student of Obelisk Blue at Duel Academy.
But he doubted himself more and more.
Many people doubted his strength, thinking he was elevated by the power of the Manjome Group and Kaiba Company, which made him start to doubt himself even more.
Could it be that the reason I've won so many junior league victories really is due to my brothers' covert support?
Could it be that the reason I've caught my master's attention is merely that my Deck contains his coveted "Spirit"?
The power of doubt tormented him greatly—he vowed to let those who looked down on him, those who didn't recognize him, know that he, Manjome, never relied on others...
He vowed to gain others' recognition.
He vowed to remain unbeaten at Duel Academy!
Then, that day, he saw Judai, who possessed the spirit of "Winged Kuriboh," another "chosen one" who had never been to the Other Dimension yet received the spirit's recognition.
He lost, in an exchange duel, to Yuki Judai from the Red Academy, obliterating all his preparations.
In extreme pain, he chose to flee the academy, claiming to go on a journey, but ended up hiding at Kaiba Company.
Who would have thought that during his seclusion, his master, passing by, spotted him, called him an "idiot," dragged him into the simulation duel room, kicked him, and made him duel madly with an AI using a Hero Deck...
"I'm not afraid anymore, Judai!"
He secretly cheered himself on—
Now, he's terrifyingly strong!
"Wow, Hikari, can I borrow your notes?"
"Big bro, that's too sneaky, I want to look too!"
Before entering the classroom, Manjome was about to kick the door open to loudly announce his return when he heard the lively discussions inside. He stood in front of the door, blankly watching Yuki Judai, Marufuji Shou, and many students he wasn't familiar with or barely recognized, gathered around a seat and noisily chiming.
"Tenjo-san, on what page is this Alchemy Formula?"
"Tenjo-san, what does this Mercury Secret refer to?"
What the heck—
Manjome was a bit dumbfounded.
It was Winged Kuriboh that noticed him, floating by Judai's side with a "Kuri Kuri." Hearing its sound, Judai instinctively turned to look at the door and immediately saw the just-returned Manjome: "Oh! Manjome, you're back!?"
"Manjome-kun? He's back?" Marufuji Shou also looked over, politely greeting.
"What are you all doing?" Manjome, whose grand entrance got interrupted, was fuming and asked instinctively.
"Isn't it almost exam time? Ah, the cultural subjects are really troublesome." Yuki Judai rubbed the back of his head, "Especially the Alchemy Class, everyone usually doesn't understand, only Mitsuzawa and Hikari get it."
Ex... exams...
Manjome felt a bit nervous.
Unlike the naturally talented Kaiba Seto, he wasn't that versatile, missing many lessons, and even with extra classes from Kaiba Company's teachers, he might miss something. What's more, during this time, he was mostly dueling with robots every day, with little time for classes.
So, Tenjo Hikari is a really skilled classmate in Alchemy?
Had no impression of them before?
By the way, why is the school testing Alchemy!
He thought it was just for interest!
He completely didn't understand!
Not just him, actually, there weren't many students in the entire school who understood it.
Even Mitsuzawa Daichi, he completely knew nothing about Alchemy. His help with other students only stemmed from being extremely good at studying and having an excellent memory.
This was also one reason Tenjo Hikari targeted a "scholarship." Not to mention people like Judai, Shou, who sleep in other classes; even Yotsuzawa Umi tends to doze off in Alchemy Class. Therefore, he had a huge advantage in this subject as a "point-pulling" course.
Apart from this, Duel Academy didn't test literature, mathematics, chemistry, physics, etc. Their exam content was very simple: cards and rules.
After all, this is Duel Academy.
The former involved the card names and effects, while the latter was about various card and duel rules. In the original work, Professor Cronos took charge of related courses, explaining details about "Field Spell" to students.
Teachers at Duel Academy wished they could tear apart every detail of a duel to convey the "meaning" behind it.
In conclusion, asking Tenjo Hikari, who hadn't taken exams for five or six years, to take a cultural test again left him with no confidence, but he certainly had confidence to do well in a duel academy exam.
"What!? Judai lost to that guy?" After being initially bewildered, Manjome asked about recent happenings in the academy and only belatedly realized that Judai lost to Tenjo Hikari, making Tenjo Hikari the exchange representative for Duel Academy.
He first looked in shock at the seemingly gentle good-natured Tenjo Hikari, who was kindly reviewing Alchemy knowledge points with others, and then immediately turned to glare viciously at Judai: "You useless guy, how could you lose to someone else!?"
"Dueling, winning and losing is normal, isn't it?" Judai scratched his head in confusion at Manjome's words, "Besides, Hikari is really amazing!"
"Nonsense, only I can beat you!"
"But you lost to me—"
"Shut up! Don't argue!" Manjome slammed the table furiously, "It's decided, for this exam, let me defeat Tenjo Hikari on your behalf!"
"Witness my new power!"
On the other side, Tenjo Hikari was having a hard time holding it in.
Are you trying to act like a plot boss here?