Who Let Him Play Yu-Gi-Oh!-Chapter 70: The Academy’s Miss Duelist

Kira had a very enjoyable and fulfilling first week at the Academy.

He got along well with his new Ra Yellow Dorm classmates, went undefeated for a whole week, earned a lot of extra credits, and answered questions actively in class for more points. By the end of the week, he'd spent all his credits on new cards.

The card stock in the Academy's store changed almost daily, with cards being bought and new ones added constantly. Checking the inventory several times a day became part of his routine.

Of course, the store's system also let students mark and favorite cards they wanted, so they'd get notified when rare cards were restocked. But if a card was in high demand, it came down to speed and luck.

This week, Kira mainly exchanged credits for two cards:

[Necro Gardna]

Level 3, ATK 600, DEF 1300

Effect: During the opponent's turn, banish this card from your graveyard. One opponent's monster attack has negated this turn.

A must-have for survival in the GX era, saving Jaden in the anime countless times, and it was so overused in real life that it was semi-banned for a while.

[Electromagnetic Turtle]

Level 4, ATK 0, DEF 1800

Effect: During the opponent's Battle Phase, banish this card from your graveyard to end the Battle Phase.

An even older card, the original king of survival from the DM era. Its effect is even stronger than Necro Gardna's; it only avoided bans because its physical release came late.

Terrified of pain, he stuffed his deck with hand and graveyard traps. After all, in this world, all sorts of death-defying cards might show up at any time, so you could never have too many lifesavers.

He spent his hard-earned credits in a flash, realizing that no matter how much he earned, it was never enough. So, he immediately set his sights on his next victim—no, a new dueling friend.

He didn't care much for other classes but was serious about card draw training. After a week, he was getting the hang of it and was eager to test his skills on someone.

Then the problem arose again. After opponent assignments for the next round, he wandered around at lunch and once more couldn't find his opponent.

Was it his imagination, or were all his assigned opponents suddenly less enthusiastic?

It didn't make sense. This was Duel Academy—wasn't everyone supposed to be card-crazy? How could anyone not want to duel?

Unable to find his opponent, he gave up for now. After all, you can't avoid the dorm forever, right?

Just as he left the cafeteria, he ran into a frantic student.

"You're Fujiki Kira, right?"

"That's me. What's up?"

"I'm Nakamura from the Student Council. Why haven't you voted yet? There are only five freshmen left who haven't voted!"

Kira was dumbfounded. "Voted for what?"

"For Miss Duel Academy, of course! The annual contest at the start of each school year—come with me to the hall right now!"

Kira: "?"

He followed Nakamura to the auditorium, which was already packed with students in red, yellow, and blue uniforms.

On the stage, several tall, beautiful girls stood under the spotlights, each one stunningly pretty. The crowd roared, and Kira thought he'd stumbled into a celebrity fan event.

After the Student Council explained, he realized that while he'd been buried in the study, the other students had gotten swept up in the Miss Duel Academy voting craze.

It sounded familiar—he vaguely remembered this storyline from the GX manga. The reigning two-time champion, upperclassman Seika Kohinata, and the new freshman Alexis Rhodes were tied in votes. Then it turned out there was one last student who hadn't voted—Jaden Yuki—so the pageant ended up being decided by a duel for Jaden's vote.

However, according to Nakamura, there were still five people who hadn't voted this time.

At this moment, the atmosphere between Seika and Alexis was tense. The event was usually biased toward upperclassmen since freshmen were mostly strangers, but this year, a new freshman girl had quickly caught up in votes, threatening Seika's goal of a three-peat—and her pride.

She couldn't accept losing.

What was worse, Alexis hadn't even wanted to come; her roommates had dragged her here.

"Forget it, I withdraw." Alexis suddenly said. "I never wanted to join; my name was entered by Jasmine and the others. If I quit, there's no controversy, right?"

Logically, this would make Seika the undisputed winner, but she turned pale.

What a joke!

If she won only because her rival surrendered, wouldn't it look like her third victory was handed to her?

"No, you can't quit," she blurted.

Alexis frowned. "So, what do you want?"

"Playing hard to get the final votes? You may be pretty, but you're devious," Seika sneered, arms folded.

Alexis frowned, but before she could reply, Kira, sitting front row thanks to the Student Council, cheerfully interjected, "Wow, senpai, you think Alexis is really pretty?"

Seika blushed and flustered, "No, that's not what I meant! Don't twist my words!"

The crowd went "Ooooh," sensing drama.

To avoid the conversation being derailed, Seika quickly changed the subject: "I've heard about you, Alexis Rhodes. Back in middle school, you were getting involved with two rich heirs at once, weren't you?"

"Idle gossip," Alexis replied flatly. "I'm a duelist, and that's all I am. I'm here to duel, not for anything else, and I have no interest in this pageant. I don't care what others say."

"Tch, you talk a good game..."

Before Seika could finish, Kira piped up again from the crowd: "Wow, senpai, you've been paying attention to Alexis since middle school? That's a long time!"

The crowd went "Ooooh" again.

Seika turned bright red. "No, I haven't! Nonsense!"

She quickly shifted her focus to Kira.

"You! Who are you? Her friend?"

Alexis: "No, I don't think we've met before."

She did remember Kira from the entrance exam, but she figured he wouldn't know her.

Nakamura hurriedly explained, "Ah, this is Kira. He's one of the five freshmen who haven't voted yet."

Seika: "!"

Crap, he holds one of the crucial last five votes. From how he just kept messing with her, he was probably going to vote for the other side.

Kira didn't care who won. He just wanted to have some fun.

He was also looking for someone to duel—if someone snapped and challenged him, all the better.

Seika scowled. "Then let's settle it with a duel. If I win, you vote for me. If I lose, you vote for her. Deal?"

As expected, a duel challenge.

He knew it—at this academy, everyone solved their problems with duels.

But before he could answer, Alexis interrupted. "Wait, I object."

Seika frowned. "Didn't you say you didn't care? What's the problem?"

"Yes, I don't care about this contest. But I can't accept letting someone else decide something that concerns me," Alexis said firmly.

Nakamura wiped his brow. "Well, how about you two duel each other, and whoever wins gets the extra vote?"

Seika glared at him.

Duel her?

Alexis Rhodes was famous in middle school—everyone said she was the strongest freshman this year, maybe even stronger than Chazz Princeton.

Wait, speaking of Chazz... Suddenly, Seika realized where she'd heard the name Fujiki Kira before.

She looked at him again and was shocked.

No way—wasn't he the new guy who beat Chazz Princeton and the legendary Rex Raptor in the Moonlight Cup before enrollment?

Who could beat that guy?

Feeling trapped, before she could say anything, Alexis shook her head. "No, if I can choose, I want to duel Kira."

Seika: "?"

Alexis continued, "If I win, then remove my name from the list, as I requested earlier. If I lose, you get another vote. Is that fair?"

Seika: "???"

What was her logic? Wasn't this a win-win for her?

Seika was delighted and wanted to make her promise not to back out, but Kira interrupted: "No, I think that's unfair. How about I duel both of you? Whoever wins gets the vote.

If I win both, I'll decide who gets it.

If I lose both, Alexis gets her wish and withdraws.

But as an extra, both duels will count for credits—the winner takes five credits from the loser. Deal?"

With two duels on offer, Kira wasn't going to pick just one—he wanted both.

Seika: "!"

She gritted her teeth at Kira.

Are you doing this just to mess with me?!