Chapter 17
"Who knows."
Rowan had not expected Alexis to strike up a conversation, let alone ask something like that.
He gave a vague, noncommittal smile and answered without thinking too hard about it.
Then he rubbed his chin, remembered something from the original story, and decided to have a little fun.
"Senior Rhodes taking such a personal interest in my situation... could it be love at first sight?"
Alexis blinked.
A faint flush crossed her face, quickly replaced by a look of mild irritation as she glanced away.
This person.
If he did not want to answer, he could simply not answer.
He did not need to say something like that.
She was not trying to pry.
She was not gathering intelligence on him.
Still, Alexis did not hold the joke against him.
She assumed he had some winning strategy he preferred to keep private, and that her question had probably been a little presumptuous.
She let it go.
Though she quietly decided she would find out on her own terms, in her own time.
No secret stayed hidden for long in front of a capable woman who had taken an interest.
That reaction was a bit different from what I expected. Did she take it the wrong way?
Rowan thought to himself.
He was well aware of the weaknesses in his OTK deck.
He simply had no intention of addressing them.
If Chazz came back looking for revenge with a counter-strategy, the solution was obvious.
Use the leftover Emotion Points to buy a new underworld deck from the system and deliver Chazz an entirely different flavor of "warmth."
Problem solved. And as a bonus, another round of points to harvest.
In other words, Rowan's answer to any deck weakness was simply to switch decks.
"My turn! Draw!"
The duel on the field had moved forward while he was thinking.
Chazz had gone first, summoning a high-defense monster in Defense Position and setting a Trap Card.
Now it was Jaden's turn.
"Spell Card, Polymerization! I fuse Avian and Burstinatrix from my hand!"
"Attack Position! My favorite hero, Elemental HERO Flame Wingman!"
The tri-colored fusion vortex swirled to life.
Avian and Burstinatrix were pulled into the light and emerged as a single figure, black and green and red, one great wing spread wide, standing on the field in front of Jaden.
Rowan watched with a mildly pained expression.
So this is what they call the bond between a duelist and their Duel Spirits.
Opening hand with Avian, Burstinatrix, and Polymerization. Every single time.
It was like those three cards were glued together and the deck had never been shuffled a day in its life.
Except Rowan knew that was not true. Duel Disks shuffled automatically before every match.
Jaden absolutely could not have stacked his deck.
The simpler explanation was that nearly every card in Jaden's deck had awakened a Duel Spirit, or was close to it.
When Jaden needed a card, that card found its way to the top.
A pull that defied probability, guided by something beyond mechanics.
Rowan had experienced a faint echo of that same feeling when activating Still Water Clarity.
Just a vague, undefined sensation at the edges.
But his deck had no spirits worth speaking of.
Five immobile Exodia pieces and two library buildings. Nothing that could reach out and assist him the way Jaden's cards did.
And without Spirit Vision, he could not sense anything clearly regardless.
Jaden was the chosen one of this world, and his miraculous draws were not random. They never had been.
"..."
Footsteps.
Distant, coming from somewhere down the corridor outside the arena, growing steadily closer.
Alexis's expression shifted immediately.
"The night patrol. Everyone needs to leave now." Her voice was sharp and quiet.
"Using this arena outside permitted hours is already a violation. And those two were running card-stakes rules on top of it. That is grounds for expulsion."
The effect was instant.
Jaden and Chazz both froze.
Rowan was unsurprised. He had known this was coming.
He had also already finished his duel and collected his twenty million, so the timing suited him perfectly.
"Duel Academy has rules like that?" Syrus looked genuinely alarmed.
Most of the others wore similar expressions.
"Did none of you read the Academy regulations on your communicators?"
Alexis pulled hers out and held it up, then caught herself looking at Rowan.
His expression had not changed at all. No surprise. No alarm. He had clearly known about this already.
"Chazz-sama, the footsteps are getting closer!" one of the lackeys hissed urgently.
"Fine. We're done here."
Chazz stepped off the platform with obvious displeasure, looked at Jaden, and said stiffly, "We'll settle this another time."
Then he turned to Rowan.
"And you. Lucky fool. I will have my revenge, and I will take back what's mine."
"We're leaving!"
Chazz and his two followers disappeared through the far side of the arena at a brisk pace.
"Are you serious, I wanted to finish the duel!" Jaden stared after them with an expression of profound personal grievance, considerably more upset than Chazz had been about leaving.
He looked genuinely tempted to call Chazz back and demand they continue.
His card addiction was something else entirely.
Rowan gave him a look, then gestured toward the side exit Chazz had used.
Alexis did not linger either.
She glanced at Syrus and the others as a wordless prompt, then followed Rowan toward the door.
"Jaden-bro, if we get caught it's over, let's go!" Syrus grabbed Jaden by the arm and dragged him along.
Getting expelled on the first night of enrollment was not something anyone could reasonably recover from.