Who Let Him Play Yu-Gi-Oh!-Chapter 64: Entrance Day

The next morning, Kira got up early.

He took his packed luggage, various duel disks, several completed decks, and over a hundred backup cards.

He boarded the special plane sent by Duel Academy for new students, flying to the legendary haven for rookies—Duel Academy.

Gotta say, when Kaiba invests, he goes big. The island was huge. In Season 2 of the anime, Jaden got lost for days on the island after returning with his Neo-Spacian deck. The island also had ancient ruins, secret labs, and all sorts of facilities.

So, though it's called a school, it's at least the size of a small town.

As the plane approached, Kira looked out the window to survey the island—the lush forests and the massive volcano in the background felt oddly familiar.

A sudden thought hit him: this aerial view... why does it look so much like Fire King Island?

Fire King Island is a core field spell for the Fire King deck, but it shouldn't exist in the GX anime.

Kira had never noticed before, but now, flying over Duel Academy, he realized the island looked almost exactly like the card art.

Just a coincidence... right?

At 9 a.m., the new students gathered in the auditorium for the opening ceremony and Chancellor Sheppard's speech.

"Welcome, elite duelists."

Chancellor Sheppard stood on the stage, speaking into the mic with a smile.

"All of you fought your way through narrow gates to be here—"

"Snore... snore..."

The snores from the front row drew the students' attention.

Kira didn't even have to look to know it was Jaden Yuki—he'd already fallen asleep by the second sentence.

Kira had to admire Jaden's talent. Everyone was standing in front of the stage during the speech, and Jaden was near the front. To be able to sleep standing up, right in front of the school leadership, while ignoring the noise, was a unique skill.

Thud.

It looked like Jaden slipped up this time, falling over with a loud crash.

Professor Crowler, unable to bear it, called out, "The Chancellor Sheppard is speaking! Are you calcium-deficient?"

"Sorry, sorry," Jaden said, sitting up and scratching his head, "I slipped up a bit."

Crowler's face turned beet red like a Pot of Greed turning into a Pot of Avarice.

What kind of apology was that? Instead of being sorry for sleeping, he was just sorry for getting caught.

But before Crowler could erupt, Chancellor Sheppard smiled, "Well, it's the first day, let's not get angry. The students are tired from traveling, it's understandable."

Crowler had to swallow his anger for now.

Jaden stood up, then started dozing again, but Crowler never took his eyes off him for the rest of the speech.

Kira now understood why the professor disliked Jaden so much.

He's well-connected, doesn't pay attention, doesn't do homework, but is annoyingly strong—no wonder other students are tempted to follow his example.

Crowler's methods might be extreme, but his motives weren't unreasonable.

After the ceremony, the new students received their uniforms, student IDs, and other essentials. Senior volunteers guided them through the paperwork, and then to their dorms.

Kira, unsurprisingly, received a Ra Yellow uniform and student card.

Before arriving, he'd wondered if Kaiba would send him to Slifer Red just because he'd beaten an AI using Blue-Eyes. Kaiba is petty, after all—he never let Joey Wheeler off the hook for beating his Blue-Eyes.

But it turned out Kaiba wasn't that petty. Kira, as the top student, was assigned to Ra Yellow and was now a top candidate for Obelisk Blue.

If dorm rank were just a title, Kira wouldn't care. But high-rank dorms get priority shopping, better food, better chefs, and single rooms with great facilities—the living conditions were much better.

In contrast, Slifer Red dorm was small and old, and the cafeteria was universally disliked (except by the ever-hungry Jaden). Living there was a pain.

Ra Yellow wasn't as luxurious as Obelisk Blue, but at least it had single rooms and good facilities. Kira was satisfied with his room.

He moved his things in and spent the day cleaning and organizing.

That evening was the freshman welcome dinner—a chance to meet the dorm head teacher.

Kira remembered: in the original, Slifer Red's dorm head was Lyman Banner—a goofy guy who was a hidden shadow duelist and the school's strongest.

Obelisk Blue's head was Professor Crowler, a highly visible presence.

But who was Ra Yellow's head again?

"..."

"Wahaha!"

At the dinner, all the students stared as a man with a paper bag on his head and a "Curry" ("カ") character on his chest struck a pose like Action Mask from Crayon Shin-chan, laughing wildly.

"I am the Don Simón, your dorm head! Bow before the power of curry!"

The new students: "???"

This guy is our dorm head?

The students exchanged glances, seeing confusion and deep concern for their future in Ra Yellow.

Kira: "..."

Now he remembered—Ra Yellow's head was Professor Sartyr, a curry fanatic.

Even his deck was curry-themed—a special anime-only deck, never printed as real cards.

"Ahem, my name is Professor Sartyr, your dorm head. On behalf of Ra Yellow, welcome to each of you. As Ra Yellow students, you are all the elite of the elite.

Normally, we'd have each of you introduce yourselves or show some talent.

But! This is Duel Academy, where everything is decided by duels! So, your first trial as freshmen—"

He waved his cape dramatically.

"Let's duel!"