Nighttime.
"Hehehe, not only is this the back of the girls' dormitory bathhouse, but it's also a perfect spot for taking pictures, non ne~!"
Wearing a pitch-black ninja outfit, Professor Chronos (Cronos) used a lock-picking tool to snip the iron chain on the gate forcefully. Then, holding his camera, he snuck around to the back of the girls' dormitory bathhouse and hid in a clump of bushes to start spying.
Everything was ready—now all he needed was that failing student to come paddling over to the girls' dormitory! Ufufufufufu…
Meanwhile, inside the girls' dormitory bathhouse—
"By the way, the boys who enrolled this year seem pretty average. None of them stand out!"
"Who said that? That jellyfish-headed guy—I think his name was Yuki Judai—not only is he a chatterbox, but he's also super arrogant!"
Junko Makurada and Momoe Hamaguchi—one with brown hair, the other with gray-black hair—were both Asuka's classmates and also her close friends.
At this moment, the two of them were soaking in the bath, casually chatting about the male students who had enrolled that year.
Although they hadn't met him many times, Judai Yuki had still left quite an impression on them. Of course, not a good one.
"Oh right! Speaking of which, Asuka, the boy who came with you yesterday to our girls' dormitory freshman welcome party—who exactly is he?"
"Yeah, I saw Dorm Leader Miss Megumi being especially welcoming to that red-hat-wearing boy! You know she normally would never let any boy—or even a man—step foot in our dorm!"
Unless it's a matter of absolute urgency, even Principal Samejima has to get Miss Megumi's approval to enter the girls' dorm.
"Him… You'll find out about him soon enough."
Asuka didn't say much more. She closed her eyes, emptied her mind, and lay quietly against the edge of the bath, soaking peacefully.
…No one knew how much time had passed…
"Oh~ That failing student finally showed up!"
After who knows how long, Professor Chronos finally spotted Judai Yuki approaching the girls' dormitory.
He picked up his camera and aimed the lens at the figure in the Osiris Red uniform. But the moment he zoomed in—
"Mamma Mia! Why?! Why is it that flunky Marufuji Sho next to that failing student?!"
He had placed the letter in Judai's locker—so why had that little shorty shown up instead?!
"Who's out there?!"
The loud commotion startled the girls in the dorm, and only then did Professor Chronos realize he was hiding right behind the bathhouse. If he were caught now, the consequences would be unimaginable!
His only option was—
Nigerundayo! (Run away!)
But he had barely taken a few steps before he slipped and fell—splash—right into the lake that separated the girls' dorm from the three boys' dorms.
"Huh?"
Caught in the chaos between those two, Sho stood frozen. By the time he came to his senses, he had already been tightly tied up and dragged by the girls' dorm students before the queen herself—Asuka.
"I wasn't peeping on girls bathing! The only reason I came to the girls' dorm… was because I got a love letter from Asuka!"
Facing three furious and glaringly beautiful faces, Sho quickly explained his reason for being there in the simplest way possible, then wriggled his body to gesture toward his pants pocket, where he had the so-called love letter tucked away.
Pulling out the letter, tearing open the envelope, and scanning the contents—within a few seconds, the three girls understood exactly what had happened.
"First of all, my handwriting is never this ugly!"
That was Asuka speaking. Don't even try to compare her elegant handwriting with the chicken scratch on that paper.
"Second, as the queen of our Obelisk Blue girls' dorm, there's no way I would write a love letter to some failing student from Osiris Red!"
This came from Momoe, Asuka's friend. In her eyes, Sho and Asuka were the perfect embodiment of that old saying—a toad lusting after swan meat.
"Third, are you seriously that dumb and clueless? You believed such an obvious scam?"
This was from Junko, Asuka's other close friend. The way she looked at Sho now was full of pity and the kind of expression one might give a mentally challenged child. Anyone with even a basic level of intelligence could tell that the so-called love letter was just part of someone's setup.
"And finally—are you blind?! No matter what the letter says or why it was written, the intended recipient wasn't you, Marufuji Sho. It was your so-called big bro—'Yuki Judai'!"
"Huh?"
That sudden male voice startled the still-bound Sho. But what shocked him even more was the realization that the letter wasn't addressed to him, but to his so-called "big bro" Judai, whom he'd only known for a day!
Ah, this...
"Daydreaming, lacking emotional and social awareness, and even half-blind... I seriously don't know how you've survived this long."
After watching the drama unfold for a while, Yuya finally stepped forward. Under Sho's dumbfounded gaze, he walked up to the three girls, took the letter from Asuka's hand, and crouched down to untie the ropes binding Sho.
"I'm letting you loose—but don't think that means you're off the hook. If you want to return to your Osiris Red dorm, you'll have to agree to one condition."
"Eh? What condition?"
Freed from the ropes, Sho sat up with a thump, stretching his limbs while curiously eyeing the strange trio of three girls and one boy who had surrounded him.
Yuya pulled out Sho's student ID booklet, which had a screen like a smartphone. After tapping a few buttons, a robotic voice chimed, "Message sent."
Only then did Sho understand what Yuya had meant by "condition."
[Bring your deck and Duel Disk. Come along to the Obelisk Blue Girls' Dormitory. —Marufuji Sho]
"Asuka, you should already know just how powerful the 'Elemental HERO' archetype can truly be."
While waiting for Judai—Sho's so-called big brother—to arrive, Yuya offered a reminder to Asuka. He didn't worry about her abilities, but the problem lay with that boy called "Judai."
As a fellow HERO deck user, Yuya could sense that Judai was full of unpredictability. Especially during duels—he always seemed to draw a lifesaving card at the most critical moment.
"Fusion!"
Asuka answered confidently.
"The Elemental HERO series centers entirely around the concept of 'Fusion'! Once a Duelist like that gets to fuse his lower-level HEROes, then…"
Before Yuya could finish, a familiar voice echoed from the lake.
"You used Sho's student ID to send that message—what exactly did he do?"
Standing on a small boat, Judai looked over at the group of five—four standing and one sitting—on the shore. He recognized Asuka and Sho. But who were those two other girls? And that red-hat guy?
"He tried to peek at the girls while they were bathing. And he thought Asuka sent him a love letter."
"Nani?!"
Hearing the two accusations casually spoken by Junko, Judai's eyes went wide as he stared in shock at Sho, who could only give a bitter smile.
Even though Judai wasn't the most emotionally intelligent person himself, he did at least know that peeping on girls was wrong—and he definitely wouldn't delude himself into thinking Asuka would write him a love letter. After all, they'd only known each other for about a day.
"If you want to take your little underling back, then have a duel with Asuka—on the lake!"
Yuya pulled down the brim of his cap slightly so Judai couldn't see his face clearly, and finally revealed the true purpose of summoning Judai here with Sho's ID.
"A lake duel? Omoshiroi!" (Interesting!)
The moment he heard there'd be a duel, Judai instantly forgot about Sho's troubles. His whole demeanor lit up with excitement.
"To be that obsessed with Dueling… I don't think there's another person like him in the world."
Watching Judai's eyes light up as he paddled the boat back to create distance, Yuya chuckled to himself silently.
Two small boats floated facing each other. As the Duelists, Asuka and Judai stood at the front of their respective ships. At the same time, they activated their Duel Disks and inserted their decks, then shouted in unison:
"Duel!"
Asuka: 4000 LP
Judai: 4000 LP