Chapter 283: Extracurricular Study

"It's true!"

In the cafeteria seats, Marufuji Sho spoke with great excitement.

"Last night I woke up in a daze, just wanting to use the restroom, but somehow I ended up at Professor Daitokuji's door."

"Why would going to the restroom lead you to Professor Daitokuji's door?" Hayato retorted. "Sho, can you be any more dazed?"

"Shut up! The important part comes next!"

Marufuji Sho lowered his voice, glancing left and right as if afraid of being overheard, before speaking mysteriously.

"When I reached the door, I found it wasn't closed. Professor Daitokuji was sitting in front of his computer, communicating with someone." He spoke in a grave tone, "I didn't hear the specifics clearly, but it sounded something like 'an ancient tomb,' and that it would be 'a pity to bury it.' There was also mention of something sleeping."

"You don't know; it sounded really scary."

"What nonsense are you spouting? You must still be half-asleep," Judai said with a chuckle.

"Ah, well, I was a bit dazed from sleep," Marufuji Sho said, scratching his head.

Fujiki You Xuan also sat at the same table, eating a Golden Egg Bun from the cafeteria without saying a word—Judai had, as usual, reliably drawn the Golden Egg Bun, but claiming he had eaten too many and was tired of them, he had given it to Fujiki You Xuan.

Hearing this, Fujiki You Xuan already had a plan in mind.

It seemed the time for the extracurricular study was approaching.

This was also a plot point from the original work. Daitokuji would arrange an extracurricular activity to visit ruins on the island, which would then trigger a mechanism leading into the Spirit World. There, they would encounter spirits of the Gravekeeper clan, and Judai would step forward to engage in a Shadow Duel.

However, that was not a life-or-death Shadow Duel; although the opponent lost, they did not die outright, merely suffering real damage during the duel.

Looking back later, this incident was most likely a trial specially arranged by Professor Daitokuji to test Judai's abilities.

It now seemed the first semester was nearing its end, so it indeed appeared to be about time for this.

As expected, during class that day, Professor Daitokuji proposed this plan.

After an entire semester had passed, Professor Daitokuji's Alchemy class had successfully driven away the vast majority of students. By now, only about ten or so students remained attending, leaving large sections of the classroom completely empty.

However, Professor Daitokuji was quite lenient; he never cared about student absences, simply lecturing on his own about content almost no one listened to, deliberately acting foolish while performing several failed alchemical experiments, and just like that, another class period successfully drifted by.

The bell signaling the end of class rang.

"What a good nap!"

Judai, who appeared to have sat upright and listened attentively the entire time—a rare occurrence—stretched and opened his eyes.

Only then did Marufuji Sho beside him realize that until just now, his big brother's eyes had been drawn onto his eyelids with a pen; in reality, he had been sleeping while sitting up the whole time.

Action director: Tom Cat.

Marufuji Sho gasped in shock: "So big brother was sleeping the whole time just now?"

"Alright, with that done, it's mealtime!" Judai said happily.

In his world, aside from dueling, there was only eating and sleeping; it was impossible for him not to be happy.

"Wait a moment, everyone. Please take these," Professor Daitokuji said, pulling out a stack of documents.

"Eh?" Judai instantly deflated. "Homework?"

"No, these are plans for Sunday's extracurricular activity," Daitokuji said. "Many ruins from the past are hidden within this school. Sunday's activity is a plan to explore one of those ruins."

"Any student who wants to go is welcome to participate."

The few students who had shown up in the first place looked at each other in confusion.

As expected, in the end, not many people came.

On one side was the iron triangle trio from the Osiris Red dormitory, led by Judai; on the other side was the research trio of Fujiki You Xuan, Misawa, and Asuka.

"By the way..." Marufuji Sho looked strangely at the trio opposite them. "We're from the Red Dorm and were forced to come by the dorm head, but why are you guys here?"

"Visiting ruins sounds quite interesting," Fujiki You Xuan smiled.

Moreover, although the Gravekeeper deck itself was somewhat lackluster, several of its individual cards were of high quality in the early game, even seeing play in World Champion decks. Furthermore, if obtained in the Spirit World, they might even be versions infused with spirits, which naturally could not be missed.

Moreover, compared to the Gravekeeper monsters, the most crucial card was actually that exclusive Field Spell.

Field Spell - Imperial Tombs of Necrovalley.

As long as this card exists in the Field Zone, all Spell, Trap, and Monster effects affecting the Graveyard for both players are negated, and neither player can banish cards from the Graveyard.

A card whose vile nature was evident from just a brief description; even in modern Yu-Gi-Oh!, it remained an extremely oppressive force against decks heavily reliant on Graveyard resources, to the point where a single card completely shutting down an entire deck was quite common.

"Actually, ruins do sound quite interesting," Hayato said. "That ruin is near the volcano and is usually off-limits. Without a teacher leading us, it would be impossible to go there."

Asuka said, "Because I heard rumors that the ruin might be related to Shadow Duels, I wanted to see it for myself."

Due to her brother's disappearance, Asuka was particularly sensitive to any rumors concerning Shadow Duels. She was always present at events related to Shadow Duels or students disappearing on the island.

"Good, then the team is complete!" Professor Daitokuji said with full enthusiasm. "Let's depart!"

The group strapped on their backpacks and gathered their gear, beginning their ascent toward the summit ruins.

"According to the data, this ruin is an ancient person's tomb," Daitokuji explained as they walked. "There are rumors calling it a forbidden tomb, but of course, those are just rumors, ahaha."

Hearing this, Asuka became even more concerned in her heart.

A forbidden tomb... It sounded like it might be related to the people missing on the island.

There might even be clues regarding her brother.

Asuka never let go of any potential clue she heard, though so far most had turned out to be dead ends. But perhaps hard work pays off; Fujiki You Xuan happened to know that this trip truly did hold some clues regarding her brother, Fubuki.

According to the spirits of the Gravekeeper clan in the anime, before Judai and the others, only one person had ever emerged victorious from their clan's Shadow Duel ritual, and that person was Fubuki.

Furthermore, in that duel, Fubuki had won half of a fragment of a certain Dark Item, and the remaining half was later handed over to Judai by the clan chief.

In the subsequent Shadow Realm arc of the anime, when Judai faced a Shadow Duel, that Dark Item, formed by piecing together the two fragments, played a crucial role.

That might be the only Dark Item for which Fujiki You Xuan currently had clear clues and the simplest method of acquisition. Therefore, while this trip might be merely an extracurricular study for the others, for Fujiki You Xuan, it had a clear objective.

Remembering the development of the plot, all he needed to do next was follow the behind-the-scenes director, Professor Daitokuji.

The group crossed mountains and ridges, climbing for most of the day, before finally arriving at their destination under Daitokuji's guidance.

The entrance to the ancient ruin was located near Duel Academy's volcano. It was said to contain a tomb ruin known as the Ancient Duel Arena; though ancient, its appearance resembled a duel arena.

Excellent, he had successfully brought the students to the planned location.

Daitokuji narrowed his eyes, chuckling inwardly.

So for the next part of the plan, he would pretend it was an accident, have his cat, Pharaoh, trigger the Dark Item buried nearby, and then take all the students to the Spirit World of the Gravekeeper clan...

No sooner had the thought crossed his mind than suddenly a beam of green light shot straight into the sky, and the entire earth seemed to tremble!

The azure sky instantly dimmed, and under the astonished gazes of the crowd, the blazing sun split into three, transforming into three suns hanging high in the sky. Seven-colored rainbow light radiated downward, as if drawing a gigantic net across the horizon, enveloping the entire area within it.

The students were immediately terrified; even the mastermind behind it all, Professor Daitokuji, was startled.

What was going on?

This was supposed to be his plan, yet he hadn't even had the chance to implement it?

In his bewilderment, Daitokuji turned his head and saw Fujiki You Xuan standing nearby, shrugging with an innocent expression.

"Professor, did I perhaps just touch something I shouldn't have?"

Daitokuji: "..."

(End of Chapter)