After the duel, Kira and his group enjoyed a meal with the Tenma brothers at Industrial Illusion Corp. During the meal, Gekko promised to make their lab a priority for sponsorship, granting them access to rare cards through Industrial Illusion Corp's special channels, with internal discounts.
This meant Kira now had even more ways to get cards. Thanks to Gekko, he downloaded Industrial Illusion's app onto the academy terminal, so checking the new arrivals in their shop became part of his daily routine, along with the academy store.
And many of the cool cards Gekko used in today's duel were now within reach too.
Unlimited internal card access at the world's biggest card-printing company—any other duelist would be thrilled, seeing it as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
But Kira's first reaction was, "Huh? Still gotta pay?"
"I always get stuff for free from Kaiba..."
Well, whatever. He didn't lack money anyway. Just selling the rare cards he picked up from others was a nice sum—not to mention the president's rewards he hadn't even used.
Having powerful backers is comfortable.
With this fruitful trip to Industrial Illusion over, the three returned to the academy that night.
As expected, their newly founded lab quickly became famous.
It was only natural—a student research team, achieving a string of amazing results, had now secured sponsorship from the world's two biggest companies: KaibaCorp and Industrial Illusion. Just hearing that sounded crazy.
At first, it was just among the teachers, but word soon spread among the students.
"Did you hear? Fujiki Kira—you know, that big villain from Ra Yellow—set up a lab, and both Kaiba and Pegasus invested in it!"
"No way, that strong? He must have some serious connections."
"Of course. I heard he and Kaiba Seto are like blood brothers. Like, share-the-same-underwear close."
"Say what!? So he's already found a backer, and he'll have a job lined up after graduation?"
"..."
The rumors grew increasingly ridiculous.
When Kira heard these from Misawa, he was baffled. He figured he'd only met the president a handful of times, and they'd barely even spoken ten sentences—when did they become underwear buddies?
Turns out people do love gossip more than the truth—the more outrageous the story, the more it spreads.
Whatever, it helped them recruit people.
After this meeting, the academy took their project even more seriously, assigning staff from the research department to help with development.
Then the funds from KaibaCorp and Industrial Illusion arrived, and Kira's lab was officially up and running. With his knowledge of future deck trends, he could soon start producing stable results.
The duel with Gekko, while a win, had still given Kira some inspiration.
"Duel with your heart, huh..."
Kira reflected.
But he felt he'd always been passionate about dueling anyway.
Sure, he was different from most duelists in this world, but he'd always enjoyed the fun of dueling—especially sharing that joy with others.
Isn't "bringing smiles through dueling" the eternal truth of Yu-Gi-Oh!?
There are many paths to the top—no reason his way can't succeed. If Jaden can become a legend with a burning passion, why can't he do it with cunning?
So, he figured he just needed to duel and practice more and keep learning.
Kira increased his daily training even further.
His first stop for sparring was always the Duel Club. For several days, he'd pop in, each visit accompanied by laughter and fun.
Next was the student council, which he'd recently joined. As a new member, he quickly bonded with the others, and after a week, he'd dueled pretty much everyone there—building friendships through cards.
He also helped Seika handle some minor student council tasks.
Apparently, the photography club and art club both wanted to use the academy garden—the photographers wanted to shoot for the upcoming culture festival, while the art club had booked it for sketching.
Both presidents were arguing, neither willing to budge.
So, Kira stepped in as the mediator, grinning as he showed off his duel disk: "I have an idea. Why not both duel me? Whoever wins gets priority. Sound fair?"
Both presidents immediately fell silent.
After a brief pause, the photography club president said, "Actually, there's still time before the festival. Why don't you guys sketch first? We can come back later."
"No, no, you go first," the art club president replied, suddenly humble. "Sketching can happen anytime. It'd be bad if we delayed your exhibition."
"No, you first."
"You first, really."
Kira smiled, "Easy. I'll tweak the plan: you duel me, and whoever wins, the other side gets priority. Deal?"
Both presidents: "..."
They seemed to get it now.
It wasn't about the outcome—the student council ace didn't care.
He just wanted to duel.
"..."
In the end, Kira got his duel, and the conflict was peacefully resolved.
He felt earlier student council reports about both sides had been unfair. In his view, both presidents were polite and reasonable.
And from now on, any club disputes would likely be handled much more amicably.
Soon, a new rumor spread through the academy.
The student council had acquired a forbidden weapon.
If you broke the rules or disobeyed, depending on the severity, the student council might send their ace to enforce order.
Suddenly, every club felt a dark cloud hanging over them, as if the shadow of the dueling world itself had descended.
But over time, clubs realized that Kira only took cases he was interested in, not every little thing.
A subtle consensus formed: as long as violations weren't too severe, the student council promised not to unleash their ace.
But anyone who got a warning would be wise to restrain themselves.
This strange balance led to a new phrase in the latter half of the year: "the Ra Yellow Threat."
Kira only went to the student council when he felt like it. The extra credits and cards were just a bonus; mainly, he wanted to practice.
He picked tasks by one criterion: whether there was the opportunity for a duel. If not, could he create one? And was the opponent worth dueling?
After a while, Seika figured out his preferences, only bothering him with missions he might like.
Like today.
"So, Kira, how about this one?" Seika handed him a memo.
"Site inspection for a new club. You can even require the president to duel for approval."
Kira waved her off: "Anything else?"
He'd already dueled that president, no point repeating.
Seika sighed. For a moment, she couldn't tell who was really in charge anymore.
But what could she do? His lab was now sponsored by both KaibaCorp and Industrial Illusion, and highly regarded by the academy higher-ups—not to mention the rumors about his close ties to Kaiba.
And her? Just a humble student council president. What else could she do?
"Hm? What's this?"
Kira had already picked up a report he glimpsed out of the corner of his eye.
"Oh, that. Some students reported seeing a strange person wandering the academy forest late at night," Seika explained. "This person is quite strong—even Obelisk Blue students have lost to him.
And after every duel, the weirdo takes the loser's rare cards as a trophy. Sometimes, if it's serious, he even takes their duel disk."
Kira was shocked.
Taking duel disks and rare cards?
There are such vile people in the world!?
Kira: Hey, why are you looking at me?