"Ahh, Professor Crowler is such a pain."
Jaden grumbled as he walked, kicking a pebble.
"He wants so many words for the duel theory report, and he wants it by the day after tomorrow. Ugh, writing reports is such a headache."
He rubbed his head, messing up his jellyfish hair even more.
Then, suddenly thinking of something, he glanced at his friend: "Hey, Sy, how about helping me out?"
"Eh? But I haven’t even started my own yet, big bro..." Syrus pulled a long face.
"Yeah, true."
Jaden sighed and kept kicking the rock.
The little pebble bounced away, trailing a line of dust.
"If only I could duel instead of writing reports..."
Chumley sweated: "If it was a duel, no one could beat you, Jaden. Even Professor Crowler himself..."
"Nah, there are still some really strong guys at this school. Like Sy’s brother—the guy they call Zane. He’s amazing."
Jaden’s eyes sparkled with admiration.
"I just dueled him not long ago, but he’s really strong. I lost—he summoned Cyber End Dragon with 8000 ATK and piercing damage. I lost in one turn."
Carefree as always, Jaden didn’t seem bothered by his loss—he even looked eager for a rematch.
"If even you couldn’t beat him, that Zane must be something," Kira nodded.
"Haha, but don’t worry Kira—you’ll get a chance to duel him too! And we still haven’t dueled. How about—"
"No rush." Kira smiled. "Let’s wait for a bigger stage for our duel. I think that chance is coming soon. You should start getting ready."
"What do you mean? I’m always ready!" Jaden declared, full of confidence.
Kira nodded.
That’s true—Jaden was the type who worked best when playing freely.
During Zane’s graduation duel, he picked Jaden as his opponent. The night before, Jaden tried to strategize and adjust his deck, but that was the only time he tried to duel with his head and ended up disappointing Zane, who regretted picking him for the graduation match.
According to Zane, maybe he thought Jaden was better at improvising—just playing as he liked was when he was strongest.
"Hey, are you going to drawbread too, Kira?" Syrus asked.
"Yeah, it’s good training for drawing cards." Kira smiled.
The so-called drawbread was a special activity at the school store.
The shop’s specialty breads all looked identical from the outside, but each had a different filling. You wouldn’t know what you got until you bit into it.
The school’s lore said the Academy kept a magical golden chicken that laid a single golden egg every day. So, every day, only one bread would contain a golden egg—the rarest bread everyone wanted.
The teachers encouraged students to practice their draw luck at the shop daily, so it was always packed during the event.
Of course, there were rumors that the school’s support for the shop was due to some special relationship—like the legend that Ms. Dorothy at the shop had a history with Chancellor Sheppard.
Some even claimed there was a secret tunnel from the chancellor’s office that led right behind the shop counter.
But since that sounded ridiculous, most students dismissed it.
However, Kira, having seen the anime, knew it was true. But to this day, no one knows the real reason for the tunnel.
Even though the event hadn’t started yet, the store was already packed when they arrived. Students lined up outside, all eager and excited.
"Don’t push, everyone! One at a time!" The lady from the shop tried to keep order.
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