Over the course of five or six days, Hikaru and the others, accompanied by KaibaCorp staff, returned to the real world.
Seto Kaiba himself seemed quite satisfied with the exchange, generously announcing increased investment in Duel Academy and even awarding bonuses to everyone who had come along.
Among the recipients, Hikaru and the other chosen students received the most, as they were the ones responsible for dueling. Just roughly estimating, even if Hikaru repeated a grade at Duel Academy for seven or eight years and received scholarships every year, he probably wouldn't earn this much.
Truly worthy of being Kaiba. So magnanimous.
Although Hikaru had never met this world's Kaiba before, his impression of Seto Kaiba had skyrocketed.
With this money, he could probably clear out an entire old card shop in Neo Domino City.
But there was no longer any need for that.
After returning to the Academy, Hikaru first went to check in with Jaden and the others to ask about the current situation, and he ended up seeing Bastion stupidly drinking hot sauce.
"What's going on?"
Hikaru stood outside the Slifer Red cafeteria, asking with confusion.
"Eh..." Alexis looked a bit helpless, holding her head and shaking it. "It's my brother's fault."
"Huh?"
"Bastion got rejected in love, probably," Syrus said cautiously from the side.
"So, what exactly happened, Jaden? Chazz?"
"Hahaha, Bastion had a duel with one of the Shadow Riders, but after he lost, he's been like this ever since."
'Could it have been that Amazoness warrior, Tania?'
Hikaru asked about their recent situation out of curiosity and soon discovered that the events in the real world were a little different from what he remembered.
During this period, Jaden and the others had encountered three Shadow Riders, although there were actually quite a few people involved.
First came the "Dark Scorpion Burglars," who infiltrated the Academy disguised as teachers and staff. They tried to steal the keys, but when they discovered that three of the keys were not at the Academy and had gone to another dimension, they couldn't complete their mission and were discovered by "Detective Chazz." With no other choice, they dropped the keys' mission and ran.
While pursuing them, Jaden and the group encountered the real Shadow Rider who had been hiding: Rogue of Endymion. Off guard for a moment, Chazz lost to the Rogue, and Jaden stepped up to defeat him.
"Endymion? As in the Spellcaster deck?"
"Ah... yeah, those Spell Card tactics were pretty interesting!" Jaden tilted his head in recollection. "If Chazz hadn't dueled him first and revealed his ace, I would've had a tough time winning."
So the Shadow Riders really had leveled up?
And Chazz was playing the classic 'supporting male lead sacrifices himself' plotline!
"Then what happened?"
"Alexis defeated a Shadow Duelist named Titan? He was also a Shadow Rider, I think?"
"Titan? What kind of deck did he use?"
"Fiend deck. Dice rolls," Jaden said with a laugh.
'So, it's the same Titan from the original Shadow Riders?'
'That's... pretty weak.'
"So the one that showed up now is the fifth Shadow Rider, right?"
"Yeah." Jaden nodded.
Chazz sighed. "Who would've thought Bastion would end up like this after just one loss?"
"Even if it was to a Shadow Duelist, he shouldn't be this down." He raised his hand and explained to Hikaru what had happened these past few days.
It happened the day before yesterday.
Suddenly, a few male students went missing at the school.
Thanks to Chazz's investigation, even though he lost to the Rogue of Endymion, he was the first to notice the disappearances and immediately began investigating, counting the number of students in each class.
"That impressive?" Hikaru looked at Chazz in surprise.
"Heh." Chazz gave a casual snort.
"Chazz really is smart," Syrus added. "When the Dark Scorpion Burglars tried to steal the keys, he deduced their identities just from a few clues.
It's a shame that he got ambushed by the Rogue of Endymion. If he hadn't been unwell, he might not have lost at all."
"A loss is a loss; don't make excuses." Chazz continued speaking to Hikaru.
Through his investigation, he discovered that a coliseum had suddenly appeared in the southern part of Duel Academy Island. But he no longer had a key, so he quickly gathered the others.
Guarding the coliseum was a brawny woman. After dueling with her, Bastion lost unexpectedly, and this is what happened.
His face was red, absent-minded. Drinking hot sauce, pouring tomato juice.
'Seriously… this is the Slifer Red cafeteria!'
Bastion from Ra Yellow showing up here was already absurd!
"So what's that got to do with your brother?"
Hikaru decided to focus on the important part first, not asking when Atticus had recovered.
"That idiot..." The veins on Alexis's forehead popped when Atticus was mentioned. "He said Bastion must be in love, so he told Bastion to confess and even tricked me out of my key."
When she hadn't found her brother, she worried for his safety. But after he returned and regained consciousness, she just wanted to punch him.
"Don't tell me he lost again?"
"Eh..." Alexis sighed. "If only. That lady duelist completely ignored Bastion, thinking his behavior was immature and lowly. That made Bastion even more spaced out."
"Geez, that stupid Bastion." Hikaru shook his head. "If he loses his rank as second in the year over this, I'd be happy, but this is just embarrassing."
"Ah!" Jaden nodded vigorously. "That's why I decided, I'm gonna duel that person today!"
He looked fired up. "How about it, Hikaru! You too—"
"Mm, I have something else to do."
"?"
"Hikaru, do you have something important going on?" Alexis asked, puzzled. "You just got back from KaibaCorp. Are you feeling unwell? Want to ask the school nurse?"
"Ah, no. I've just got some personal matters these days." Hikaru waved his hand, then pointed to his clothes. "I'm quitting the Fusion Club."
"What!?"
"Huh?"
Crash!
Bastion, who had been completely out of it, fell off the bench in shock, snapping back to reality. He jumped up and ran to the door, shouting loudly, "The sky is falling!? The world is ending!?"
"Hahaha, I thought you weren't even listening to me."
"What the heck, Hikaru, are you crazy!?" Even Chazz, who had been acting cool with arms crossed, couldn't keep it up and looked at Hikaru in disbelief.
"Don't tell me, Hikaru got brainwashed in the other dimension!?" Syrus clasped his hands together and started praying. "I must be dreaming, I must be dreaming!"
"Hahaha, you guys misunderstood." Hikaru shook his head.
"Actually, I just feel like the current Fusion Club isn't very fused."
"So I want to form a new one. Let's call it the NEO Fusion Club, for now?"
"I wanted to ask if you guys were interested. Like you, Jaden?"
"Oh, oh, oh! NEO Fusion Club? Sounds so cool!" Jaden's eyes lit up. He liked the word "NEO" as it was. "I'm not in a club anyway. Since you're starting a new one, Hikaru, I'm in!"
"Interesting. I'm in too," Chazz crossed his arms again, now calmed down.
"Chazz, you have Fusion Monsters?"
"Don't tell me you forgot about VWXYZ!? You jerk!"
"Then, me too?" The others, seeing them join, wanted to join in the fun too.
After all, it was just a club, a bit of fun outside of class. Since they were familiar with Hikaru, a club he founded wouldn't be as crazy as the current Fusion Club. That was a good thing!
'Good!'
Hikaru smiled.
This was why he had come: to recruit new members! A club can't just be one person!
With Jaden and the main cast joining, how could the new Fusion Club not thrive?