As the three Kawakami siblings walked back toward the front gate of the campus, Momoyo casually handed Kazuko her badge. She really hadn't cared that much about the Genex Tournament from the beginning anyway. She only came here because she wanted some decent duels and a bit of fun while she was at it. Now that things had reached this point, she was perfectly fine letting Kazuko take over from here.
Yumi, on the other hand, had already been disqualified a long time ago for not dueling every day like the others, so there was no reason for him to stay in the tournament bracket in the first place. He didn't even care about it, either. The whole incident happening in the background had already moved past the point where the tournament actually mattered.
"AIBO, you're back!" Jaden called out cheerfully as soon as he spotted Yumi, waving with enough energy to get several people in the crowd to turn around.
A lot of people recognized both Slifer and She-Devil right away, but the girl walking between them was a face they had never seen before.
That alone made things confusing for a lot of people.
The three siblings looked so different from one another that, at a glance, nobody would ever think they were related. Momoyo had black hair and those menacing deep red eyes. Yumi had magenta hair and ominous golden eyes. Kazuko had red hair and bright amber eyes. If someone didn't know better, they would probably assume the three of them had nothing to do with each other at all.
Only Zane, who had met all three Kawakami siblings already, knew the truth. Those three really were siblings.
Momoyo let her gaze sweep over the crowd, then casually spoke up.
"So, who are the last opponents?"
That question made several people freeze in place.
A few seconds later, the crowd slowly parted.
Two young girls stepped forward, both clearly not wearing Duel Academy uniforms.
One of them had blue hair and a yellow bandana tied around her head. She looked at Momoyo with a determined expression, even though she was still clearly much younger than everyone else around her. Blair Flannigan, the middle-schooler who had once snuck onto Duel Academy before, now stood there like she was ready to prove something.
The other girl had deep pink hair that reached down to around her chin, with long bangs framing both sides of her face and giving her a quieter, more reserved appearance. Unlike Blair, she wasn't looking at Momoyo. Her yellow-brown eyes had already shifted toward Yumi, and there was a hint of hesitation in her expression.
Aki Izinski, a middle-schooler and the young heiress of the Izinski family.
"So, you two are going to be my opponents?" Kazuko asked as she stepped forward, drawing everyone's attention with the same confidence her older siblings always seemed to have.
Chazz immediately frowned. "Huh? Who let another middle-schooler into Duel Academy?"
He was still salty about losing to Aki earlier because of his own carelessness. At first, hearing that Momoyo's opponent was someone else had at least made him feel slightly better, since he thought he wouldn't have to duel with the She-Devil or Slifer. But after realizing the other opponent was also a middle-schooler, that feeling vanished very quickly.
Kazuko, meanwhile, looked completely unbothered.
Yumi crossed his arms and looked directly at Chazz. "Kazuko Kawakami. My little sister. Got a problem with that?"
"No, not at all!" Chazz answered almost instantly. Then he immediately moved behind Jaden, hoping that this idiot with a heart of gold would protect him from whatever might come next.
A few people in the crowd stared at the three in silence until realization finally hit them.
Wait a minute…
Slifer's little sister?
Their heads turned back toward the three Kawakamis again. Momoyo didn't deny it, which only made things worse for everyone trying to process what they were seeing.
That meant…
Yumi Uzushi = Momoyo's younger brother.
Kazuko Kawakami = Yumi's younger sister.
=> Momoyo Kawakami = Kazuko's eldest sister.
Which meant Momoyo Kawakami, Yumi Uzushi, and Kazuko Kawakami were all siblings.
There are three of them?
The students and duelists who had suffered under the hands of either Slifer or the She-Devil looked at Kazuko, then back at Yumi and Momoyo, then back at Kazuko again.
None of them looked alike at all.
But no matter how much they wanted to deny it, Momoyo had not denied it herself, and that was enough to shut everyone up.
"So she is Kazuko…" Celina murmured.
Yumi had mentioned his sisters before from time to time, so she at least knew there was one more sibling somewhere. Even so, actually seeing her here still felt a little surprising.
"Th-there are three of them…" Midori muttered, and her head immediately started spinning.
Just thinking about it made her feel tired.
Back when she had been in charge of Momoyo, she had to spend half her time apologizing to people Momoyo had sent to the infirmary. In only two school years, she had apologized to students, parents, and even school staff members more than five hundred times. It had only gotten easier once Momoyo moved to Blue, and then Yumi showed up and ruined her peace again.
Yumi wasn't as troublesome as his sister, but with President Kaiba taking an interest in him, Midori had still been forced to stay on guard the entire time. This job was the only reason she had money and the only thing helping her continue searching for her missing brother. If the President ever became dissatisfied with her, she knew exactly how quickly everything could fall apart.
And now there was a third one.
Midori had the strong feeling her life expectancy had just been shortened again.
At this point, making it to forty felt like it would count as a miracle.
"You're… his younger sister?" Aki asked, glaring at Kazuko.
"Yup!" Kazuko answered proudly, wrapping her arms around their hips as if there was nothing strange about this at all. "This is my beloved big brother and powerful older sister!"
"Enough already! Let's settle the winner of this tournament!" Blair snapped, sounding increasingly annoyed that everyone had spent so much time talking instead of dueling.
She was clearly done with the conversation and wanted to get to the actual match.
"Then which one of us goes first?" Aki asked, looking between the two other girls. There were three of them standing here now, so it made sense to ask.
Yumi glanced at them for a moment, then casually suggested, "How about a three-way battle royale duel?"
The crowd fell silent again. Even the people who had been arguing moments earlier stopped moving.
Before anyone else could object, Chancellor Sheppard stepped forward, looking a little lightheaded and now wearing bandages wrapped around his head. He looked like he had already given up trying to keep the day under control.
"Since there is no rejection to this offer, let the final duel of the Genex Tournament begin!" he declared.
The three girls raised their wrists at the same time, their Duel Disks activating almost in sync.
"The order of the turns will be decided based on the strongest monster's ATK that each player reveals from their deck," Yumi said.
Since no one objected, the three girls each pulled out their decks and searched for the card they wanted. A few moments later, they each chose a monster and held it up for everyone to see.
"My card is this!" Aki said as she placed hers down first.
A mature blonde woman appeared on her field, wearing a red dress decorated with golden markings. Two large wings made of red roses spread out from her back, and in her left hand she held a sharp sword with a flowering rose for a hilt and handle. The monster looked elegant and dangerous at the same time, the kind of card that made people pause for a second when they saw it.
[Queen Angel of Roses, 2400 ATK]
A few of the male students in the crowd immediately became interested after seeing it. It was hard not to notice a beautiful, elegant female monster like that, especially when it blended both the grace of an angel and the beauty of a rose so cleanly.
"Here is my monster," Blair said next, placing her chosen card down.
A young brunette girl in a large, fluffy yellow dress appeared on the field.
[Maiden in Love, 400 ATK]
A lot of the male students reacted to this one too, though for a much different reason. The monster was cute, innocent, and looked like something they wanted to protect immediately. Several of them were already staring like they had found their favorite card of the day.
Then the crowd's attention slowly shifted toward Kazuko.
Most of them had expected something impressive, but the moment her monster appeared, the entire crowd went still.
A tall purple-skinned fiend stood in front of her, its body covered in bone-like armor, its menacing skull head looking down on the two monsters standing across from it.
[Summoned Skull, 2500 ATK]
"Celi-nee, I think you have similar tastes to her," Zuzu said, turning toward Celina with a cheeky grin.
Celina just smiled back, reached over, and pinched her little sister's cheeks.
"What was that?"
"Uwaaaa! Help! Celi-nee is bullying me again!" Zuzu whined loudly, making Lulu sigh and Rin let out a small chuckle.
No one else paid them much attention though. Most of the crowd was still staring at the Summoned Skull in front of Kazuko, trying to figure out how such a cute girl could be so willing to pick a monster like that.
Then their attention slowly shifted to her older siblings standing nearby.
Momoyo, the She-Devil.
Yumi, Slifer.
The strongest menace in Duel Academy history.
The strongest menace in Duel Academy right now.
And suddenly, the choice made a lot more sense.
"Since you've all chosen your monsters," Chancellor Sheppard said after finally pulling himself away from Ms. Dorothy, "the first turn will go to Kazuko, the second to Aki, and the last to Blair. None of you are allowed to attack on your first turn."
He said it confidently, though he still looked a little off. There was also a faint red mark on his lip that hadn't been there a few minutes ago, but he didn't notice it or the looks other was giving him.
Once the order was decided, the three girls returned their chosen monsters to their decks, shuffled, and drew five cards each.
"DUEL!!"
[Kazuko, LP 4000]
[Aki, LP 4000]
[Blair, LP 4000]
"My turn. Draw!" Kazuko drew, her gaze shifting down to her hand as she quickly went through her options.
Without wasting time, she raised one card.
"I Normal Summon, Buster Whelp of the Destruction Swordman!"
She placed the card down, and a small, feathery white baby dragon appeared in front of her. It let out a tiny roar, spreading it wings and trying to act all intimidating.
[Buster Whelp of the Destruction Swordman, 400 ATK]
Almost immediately, a portion of the crowd reacted.
"Ahh, it's so cute!"
"Look at it!"
A few of the girls in the audience couldn't help but smile at the small dragon, completely ignoring the fact that it had "Destruction Swordman" in its name.
Kazuko didn't react to the noise and continued calmly.
"When this card is Normal Summoned, I get to add a Destruction Sword card from my deck to my hand."
She pulled out her deck, searched through it for a moment, then raised the card she chose.
"I'll add Destruction Swordman Fusion."
She slid the card into her hand, then immediately followed up with her next move.
"Next, I activate the Spell, Beacon of Dragon Destroyer! This lets me Special Summon a Warrior from my hand in face-up Defense Position!"
She placed another card down without hesitation.
"Show yourself, Buster Blader!"
A white light appeared on her field, and from it stepped a warrior clad in purple armor with golden trims. A massive buster sword rested on his back as he landed on the field and dropped into a kneeling position, arms crossed.
[Buster Blader, 2300 DEF]
The reaction this time was completely different.
"That is...!"
"No way!!"
"That's the legendary Buster Blader!"
Several people in the crowd widened their eyes, some even leaning forward to get a better look.
Buster Blader. A monster associated with the King of Games himself. An extremely rare card too.
Seeing it appear here, and in the hands of someone this young, was enough to catch everyone off guard.
"And since I have Buster Blader on my field," Kazuko continued, completely unfazed, "Beacon of Dragon Destroyer lets me draw two cards."
She drew two more cards smoothly, barely pausing before continuing her turn.
"Now, I set one card."
A face-down card appeared behind her monsters.
"And I activate the Spell, Red-Eyes Fusion!"
The moment she placed the card down, an ominous red and black vortex opened behind her, swirling with dark energy.
"This lets me Fusion Summon a Red-Eyes monster using monsters from my hand, deck, or field as material, but it must include Red-Eyes Black Dragon!"
That line alone caused another wave of reactions. Even Atticus, who specialized in Red-Eyes, blinked in surprise.
"Something like that exists?" he muttered.
Then he tries to recall if there were any Red-Eyes fusion monsters, but the only one that came to mind was Black Skull Dragon, a fusion between Red-Eyes Black Dragon and Summoned Skull. And Meteor Black Dragon, a fusion monster that used Meteor Dragon instead of Summoned Skull.
Behind Kazuko, a familiar black dragon appeared, its crimson eyes glowing faintly. Alongside it, another dragon formed, its body darker, sharper, almost radiating heat as it also had glowing crimson eyes.
Atticus and many were taken aback as the second dragon was clearly not Summoned Skull or Meteor Dragon, which used to summon out one of the two only Red-Eyes Fusion monsters.
The two dragons were pulled into the vortex together. For a brief moment, everything went quiet.
Then something descended.
A massive dragon crashed down from above, the impact kicking up dust as the ground trembled slightly. As the dust cleared, a towering black dragon stood on Kazuko's field, its body resembling molten rock with bright orange flames burning through its cracks.
"Fusion Summon! Meteor Black Comet Dragon!"
[Meteor Black Comet Dragon, 3500 ATK]
The field fell silent for a second.
Then the reactions came all at once.
"That thing has 3500 ATK!?"
"On the first turn!?"
"There is a new Red-Eyes fusion monster!?"
Even among the Obelisk Blue students and the teachers watching from the side, there were visible reactions now.
Only Yumi and Momoyo looked completely unsurprised, both of them watching with small smiles as if this was exactly what they expected.
Kazuko raised her hand slightly.
"I activate Meteor Black Comet Dragon's effect! Once per turn, I can send a Red-Eyes monster from my deck or hand to the graveyard and inflict damage equal to half its ATK."
She pulled a card from her deck and sent it to the grave.
"I send Red-Eyes Wyvern."
She glanced toward Aki.
"It has 1800 ATK, so you take 900 damage."
The Comet Dragon let out a low roar, its body glowing as heat gathered in front of it before releasing in a heatwave that shot straight toward Aki.
[Aki, LP 4000 -> 3100]
The attack didn't knock her back, but the pressure alone made it clear how much power was behind it.
Kazuko lowered her hand like it was nothing.
"And that's it. Turn end." She said it casually, as if she hadn't just built a field with a 3500 ATK monster in a single turn.
The crowd stayed quiet for a moment, still processing what they had just seen.
Multiple monsters on the field. A Fusion summon using materials straight from the deck. And a boss monster that surpassed even Blue-Eyes White Dragon in raw ATK.
Even without counting Buster Whelp, the field she had built in one turn was already beyond what most students could handle.
Several of the older students exchanged looks, and even some of the teachers watching couldn't help but reassess her.
After all, with the current era, summoning multiple monsters in one turn, and powerful monsters at that, is only something capable by the elites. Only the strong can pull off something like that, while many were still busy setting one monster, then past their turn.
"…Yeah," one of them muttered. "She's definitely related to them."
Any doubts about Kazuko being the younger sister of Slifer and the She-Devil were completely gone now.