"B–Bed?!"

Alexis's cheeks instantly turned crimson, completely hiding her dark circles. She stammered, "B–Bed as in... just... sleeping together? Like, literally sleeping, Akasha?"

"Are you a child or what~"

Akasha gave her a sly side glance. With an amused, alluring smile, she leaned close to Alexis's ear and whispered, "Once you get into bed, obviously you have to do all kinds of lewd things~"

"L–Lewd things?" Alexis's head drooped as her face turned even redder. Especially since it was during class, the shame and guilt welling inside her made it impossible to lift her head.

"It's like... you gently seal Hoshino-nee's soft lips with your mouth so she can't resist or make a sound. Then, with your left arm, you hold her slender waist tightly, while your right hand unbuttons her pajamas... and finally... (censored)."

Alexis's face was so red it looked like she might start bleeding. She had never expected Akasha—the seasoned pervert—to drive the conversation off a cliff this fast.

"Stop the car! This isn't the kindergarten bus anymore—let me off!!"

But Akasha, now fully in her element, had that look of 'the doors are welded shut—no one's leaving this ride today.' Even though everything she said came straight out of those doujin stories she'd read, seeing Alexis's adorable reactions was too much fun to resist teasing her further.

"Hey, you two lovely ladies over there," came a calm, good-natured voice from the podium. "Even though Alchemy Theory isn't a core subject, please refrain from chatting during class~"

From behind his glasses, Professor Lyman Banner's perpetually smiling eyes glinted meaningfully as he addressed them.

Clinging to the lifeline like a drowning girl to driftwood, Alexis whispered, "Please stop, Akasha—Professor will get mad."

Akasha pouted unhappily. "Tch~ I was just getting to the good part. What's with that squinty-eyed guy—he looks so nice, but he's such a killjoy."

Lyman Banner, who mainly taught the elective Alchemy Theory and also served as the dorm head of Slifer Red, was known for his gentle and kind personality. He cared deeply for his students—always adding extra helpings of their favorite food and pretending he didn't like that dish himself.

Even though he managed the academy's "lowest-tier" dorm—Red Dorm—his warmth and character had earned him the affection of students across all dorms.

Incidentally, the chubby orange cat seen at the Red Dorm's welcome party was Lyman Banner's pet, affectionately named Pharaoh. Of course, it had nothing to do with the Pharaoh.

Pushing his glasses up again, Lyman Banner continued teaching,

"Actually, the human body itself holds many mysteries of alchemy. When two people 'merge,' it's akin to two separate universes intertwining~"

"Merge... with another person?" Alexis felt like he was hinting at something and blushed even harder. "Akasha, you don't think Professor overheard what you said earlier, do you?"

Akasha looked genuinely surprised. "No way, he heard that? From this far away? I was whispering! Guess squinty-eyes really are monsters..."

Alexis had originally wanted to learn more about Hoshino through Akasha—at least find out which room she lived in. But since the teacher had noticed them, she had no choice but to drop the subject.

Although upperclass girls from Obelisk Blue stayed in the same dorm building, Alexis had never once seen Hoshino inside.

Could it be that senpai was special... and didn't live in the girls' dorm? Wait—no way! She's so cute... don't tell me she's actually a boy?!

That ridiculous thought floated briefly through Alexis's mind before she immediately squashed it. There was no way—Akasha literally called her "nee," so obviously, she wasn't a boy.

"So... could the junior Senpai likes really be Akasha after all? Otherwise, why would Akasha be having such... pervy fantasies about her...?"

Alexis's imagination betrayed her, conjuring up an image of a naked Akasha and Hoshino lying side by side in bed. The thought made her blush furiously—but also stirred a strange, sour feeling in her chest.

Three days later, in the Headmistress's Office—

"Professor Crowler, this reflection report just won't do. Every line of it feels hollow—you clearly didn't put any real emotion into it~"

Flipping through the massive stack of ten-thousand-word apologies, Hoshino didn't waste the chance to verbally poke fun at Crowler.

Besides, writing ten thousand words in just three days? What are you, a professional light-novel author? Anyone could tell this was pure filler.

Rubbing his hands together and forcing a polite grin, Crowler replied,

"No, no, Headmistress! Every word in there carries my blood, sweat, and tears! It's filled with my remorse and determination to improve!"

Outwardly cheerful but inwardly fuming, Crowler was already cursing her to hell.

"I stayed up three nights straight to crank out that thing, and you still complain about emotion?! Just wait till this afternoon when the dorm point battle starts—then we'll see who's laughing, hmph!"

"Fine, whatever." Hoshino tossed the report onto the desk like a pile of scrap paper. "It's terrible, but I'll give you a perfect attendance award for finishing ten thousand words in three days."

"Hehehe, the Headmistress truly has a generous heart, na no ne~ Then if there's nothing else, I'll take my leave, na no ne."

Shuffling sideways out of Hoshino's office like a crab, Crowler felt immense relief. At last, he could look forward to watching Hoshino's downfall in the upcoming battle.

As for why the usually reclusive gamer Hoshino was actually sitting in her office for once...

[Breaking News – A Duel for Pride! Yellow vs. Red: A Battle Waged on the Line of Professor Hakutaku and Headmistress Hoshino's Salaries!]

"Seriously, who's so bored they'd post this kind of nonsense on the school forum?"

Propping her cheek with one hand, Hoshino sighed as she scrolled through the post.

According to the schedule, the dorm team battle between Yellow and Red was indeed set for this afternoon. If a dorm lost—or if a student's points fell below zero leading to expulsion—the team's leader would have part of their salary deducted.

Of course, "salary deduction" really just meant losing their performance bonus. But the post described it very differently:

[The losing team's leader must use their entire annual salary to buy rare cards for the winning dorm!]

Everyone at Duel Academy knew that improving one's deck was just as important as honing one's skills. And the strength of a deck often depended on those incredibly rare, powerful cards.

Even if overloading your deck with such cards could sometimes ruin its balance, cards like Pot of Greed, Graceful Charity, or Mirror Force were still worth their weight in gold—add just one of them, and you were guaranteed to come out ahead.

As a result, booster packs sold in the academy's shop were always bestsellers—and a major source of school revenue.

Of course, most students weren't rich. For them, having even a single powerful rare card was a dream come true.

For all these reasons combined, this post had blown up—over eight thousand replies already, and it looked ready to hit ten thousand soon.

Naturally, most of the cheering came from the Yellow Dorm.

After all, with the elite reputation of the Ra Yellow students, there was no way they'd lose to the "bottom-feeder" Reds.

"As expected of our Headmistress—so generous!"

"Long live the Headmistress!"

"Thanks for the rare card fund, Headmistress Hoshino!"

"The students from the Yellow Dorm were moved to tears!"

Hoshino shook her head. With how viral this post had become, even if it had started as false information, it was far too late to stop it now.

Public sentiment couldn't be reversed. If she tried to deny it now, the students from Yellow Dorm would just accuse her of going back on her word, and her authority as Headmistress would take a massive hit.

Still, the idea of spending an entire year's salary on a rare card—whether for herself or for Hakutaku—was nothing short of a severe financial wound.

"I can only hope the students from Red Dorm perform well," she muttered.

Professor's Office —

"Clack-clack-clack-clack! The ultimate keyboard warrior is here! Let's make this post even hotter, na no ne!"

The mastermind behind the entire incident, Professor Crowler, didn't look like someone who had stayed up for three nights straight. Ten alt accounts were open on his computer, and his fingers flew across the keyboard, rapidly posting comments under that same viral thread—each one deliberately aimed at Hoshino.

"The Headmistress can't go back on her word, na no ne!"

"A teacher must lead by example—honor your promises, na no ne!"

"The Headmistress can't disgrace the academy, na no ne!"

And of course, every single comment ended with his signature verbal tic. Even an idiot could tell all those accounts belonged to him.

"Heeheehee! This time, I'll make that troublemaker drop out and force Hoshino to bleed her wallet dry—or maybe even destroy her reputation, na no ne!~~~"

Crowler's disgusting laughter echoed through the hallway outside his office once again.

Duel Arena — Red vs. Yellow Dorms, Before the Team Battle

Because of that viral forum post—and the fact that this was the academy's first-ever dormitory team battle—the arena's atmosphere was hotter than ever.

Not only had the Red and Yellow students shown up, but even the Blue Dorm students who had some free time came to watch, eager to see who would claim that "one-year-salary rare card." With nearly the entire school gathered, the already cramped duel arena felt even more crowded.

Hoshino and Hakutaku exchanged knowing smiles. Both of them understood—after this team battle, one of their wallets was going to take a serious hit.

Still, even though Hoshino was leading the opposing team, Hakutaku—captaining Yellow Dorm—had confidence in his side.

This team battle followed a structure similar to a judo team match. Each dorm sent five representatives: Vanguard, Second, Middle, Sub-leader, and Captain, fighting one by one. The first team to win three matches would claim victory.

Aside from the captains—Hoshino and Hakutaku, whose positions were automatically fixed—the remaining four spots were determined randomly by the event host, drawn from the student ID list.

Winning a match earned the duelist +5 points, while losing cost -5 points. At the end of the team battle, the entire four-member team would collectively gain or lose 10 points depending on whether their dorm won or lost.

Though each duel was still one-on-one, this format emphasized team balance and consistency.

"Hoshino-nee! Jaden!"

From the crowd squeezed between rows of students, a slender figure emerged—it was Akasha.

"≡٩(๑₃)۶!"

Jaden raised his Duel Disk cheerfully. "You came to cheer me on, huh, Akasha? That's what I expect from my best friend!"

"Nope," Akasha grinned mischievously. "I'm more worried about whether Hoshino-nee's one-year salary is going to survive this."

Nearby, Syrus Truesdale, who rarely got to see cute blond girls like Akasha up close, stared in envy. "As expected of Jaden… not only does he know such a cute girl, but they even call each other best friends."

Akasha laughed softly. "Rather than best friends, I'd say we're childhood friends. Jaden was clingy even back then~"

"C-Childhood friends?!" ×2

Both Syrus and Mizuki shouted in unison.

"Hey, hey, hey! This is the first I've heard about childhood friends!" Mizuki cornered Jaden against the wall, glaring seriously.

Caught off guard by her sudden intensity, Jaden scratched his cheek with an awkward smile. "Childhood friends—is that really such a big deal? I mean, it's kinda the same as being best friends, right…?"

"Com-ple-te-ly dif-fer-ent!!!"

Mizuki's teeth nearly ground together with jealousy. "Ugh, I'm so jealous! Why do you get all the good luck, Jaden? Everyone knows having a childhood friend is every guy's dream! Especially a cute, energetic girl like her!"

Syrus nodded furiously. "Yeah, Jaden, you really don't get it!"

"S-So it's that serious, huh…" Jaden chuckled awkwardly and slipped out from under Mizuki's arm pinning him to the wall.

"Hm? But wait—" Mizuki paused mid-thought as something clicked. "If she's blonde, that means she's got the 'childhood friend who always loses' flag! Which means… I still have a chance!"

Ignoring the boys' nonsense, Hoshino scanned the crowd and asked, "Akasha, where's Alexis? Didn't she come with you?"

"Now that you mention it… that's weird." Akasha tilted her head. "She told me she left early because she wanted to get a front-row seat to see the Headmistress in person."

Of course, what Akasha didn't know—was that in Alexis's mind, "Hoshino-senpai" and "Headmistress Hoshino" were still two completely different people.