Chapter 39
Rowan had zero doubts about the chosen one's luck, or the bond between a duelist and the monster spirits in his deck.
Out on the field below, Chazz had just been forced to end his turn looking miserable.
The moment it passed to Jaden, the guy slapped the card he'd just drawn straight onto his Duel Disk.
In a flash of electric light, Elemental HERO Sparkman appeared on the field -- 1600 ATK.
Six hundred more than Chazz's remaining 1000 LP.
"How -- how is that possible?!"
Chazz stared at it, refusing to process what he was seeing.
One bolt of electricity.
Chazz's last 1000 LP gone in an instant.
"Mamma mia, he had so many rare cards and still lost to a Slifer Red dropout...!"
Professor Crowler's face went long and miserable. He had spent a considerable chunk of his savings on those cards.
He consoled himself quickly enough, though.
"Ra Yellow's Bastion Misawa also received rare cards. If he can beat that dropout boy Rowan, I suppose I can live with this...!"
And honestly, Rowan's match was the more important one anyway.
"Is that what you meant by... LP management?"
Alexis looked sideways at Rowan with a vaguely baffled expression.
She was starting to get a rough sense of what the strange term actually meant.
"That was incredible, bro!"
Not far away, Syrus rushed over to greet Jaden as he returned.
Rowan gave Jaden a nod as the guy walked back over, already scratching his head and laughing it off.
"Now, for the remaining six practical duel pairings, will the students whose names are called please come down from the observation area."
Down on the field below, the golden-haired professor with the distinctive mushroom-top hair had already started announcing the next round in his very recognizable voice.
"Obelisk Blue second-year Torrey versus Obelisk Blue second-year..."
"And the final match: Ra Yellow's Bastion Misawa versus Slifer Red's Rowan!"
The moment Crowler read those names, a wave of surprised murmuring swept through the student observation area.
"Cross-dorm practical duels again?"
"The Slifer Red guy named Rowan -- isn't he the one going around in rumors lately? Supposedly drew all five Exodia components on the very first turn of his entrance exam and won on the spot?"
"Sure, he's got a decent record after beating Professor Crowler, and he did seem to hold his own in the theory lecture, but is this matchup really okay...?"
The students in the observation area buzzed with chatter. More than a few were covering their mouths and laughing, already treating it like a foregone joke.
"These Academy students..." Alexis caught the murmuring drifting around her and frowned.
She wasn't pleased.
Her two friends Mindy and Jasmine wore similarly displeased expressions.
Setting everything else aside -- Rowan had beaten Alexis in a direct duel just last night.
Every person laughing about this was indirectly implying something about her own ability, whether they knew it or not.
"Rowan..." Alexis turned to say something to him.
He was already gone.
Somewhere along the way, without her noticing, he had shoved his hands in his pockets and drifted off toward the dueling field at his own unhurried pace.
"That guy..." Alexis let out a small laugh.
He clearly hadn't spared a single thought for the opinions of people who didn't know any better.
He simply wasn't the type who needed reassurance from anyone.
"Don't even worry about it -- Rowan is seriously strong! Bastion is actually the stronger opponent Crowler hand-picked after Rowan turned down the idea of facing Chazz. And besides, he's got a partner following him around, just like Winged Kuriboh follows me!"
Jaden, having caught the tail end of the conversation, spoke up with full confidence on Rowan's behalf.
Being someone who could also see duel monster spirits, he'd spotted the small round Kuriboh perched on Rowan's shoulder the moment he'd walked back over.
"W -- who said I was worried about him!" Alexis's expression flickered and she turned her face away sharply, looking out toward the distant field.
She hadn't really registered the second half of what Jaden said -- about the partner spirit following Rowan around, and what that meant.
Jaden was left standing there, scratching his head in genuine confusion, completely unable to figure out why the upperclassman Alexis had suddenly seemed to get a little... off.
Mindy and Jasmine exchanged a slow, knowing glance.
Then both of them looked toward the dueling field below, where Rowan was now standing.
...
Across from Rowan and his Duel Disk, Bastion Misawa had taken his position with the kind of focused energy that made it clear he'd been looking forward to this.
"Funny running into you so soon after the entrance exams, Examinee 111... or rather, Rowan!" Bastion smiled over at him.
The guy had the kind of earnest, broad-featured face that matched his name perfectly -- grounded, solid, no hidden edges.
His personality wasn't the quietly bitter type that Chazz had been lately, either.
And since the two of them had already crossed paths back at the entrance exams, the air between them now was nothing like the charged standoff Chazz and Jaden had brought to the field earlier.
That said, Rowan could see plainly enough that Bastion's competitive drive wasn't lacking in the slightest.
"Then let's get started -- Quadratic Formula... ah, Bastion Misawa."
Rowan glanced at the professor standing to the side, set his deck into his Duel Disk, and shook off his usual lazy indifference, a flicker of genuine interest crossing his face at the prospect of a duel where he'd be "spreading a little joy."
"Q -- Quadratic Formula...?" Bastion's eye twitched. He immediately decided he must have misheard.
He flung open his gold trench coat with full enthusiasm, reached into the topmost of the six dynamite-bundle-looking jacket pockets lining the inside, and pulled out a deck.
"Come on then! Show me what that Dark Magician deck of yours can really do!"