"So… we actually knew long ago that the guy named Viper wasn't a good person?"
Big Eye widened it eyes and asked curiously.
"Yeah, we knew," Kira nodded while walking.
"He's planning to host a duel tournament involving the entire student body here at the academy, and use duels to steal the students' life energy. The goal is to resurrect an evil spirit that returned from space."
"Oh right, and he's targeting Jaden because that evil spirit is intricately connected to him. But I think aside from Jaden, to reach his goal, he wouldn't mind anyone else becoming a sacrifice."
Big Eye blinked several times, trying to digest the information.
Then its face changed drastically.
"Nani? That sounds pretty serious!"
"Small-time stuff, don't always overreact," Vampire Fraulein said nonchalantly. "If you'd seen what Master has been through before, you'd know how trivial this is."
Big Eye narrowed its eyes. "Why do I feel like I'm being looked down on…"
"Haha, Vampire Fraulein isn't wrong. Compared to the past, this really doesn't count for much. Still, we can't let our guard down.
After all, we've weathered major storms. If we get outmaneuvered by an opponent at this level and capsize in a ditch, that'd be laughable."
About three to five hundred meters from the Yellow Dorm, Kira suddenly stopped and looked over his shoulder.
"Isn't that right, Mr. Stein?"
Moments later, a figure in a blue uniform appeared behind him. The man was pale and sickly, looking quite weak.
"Sharp as the rumors say, Fujiki Kira… cough, cough."
He coughed twice, forcing a faint smile onto his pallid face.
"But the Duel King is really hard to meet," he said, clearing his throat and smiling at Kira. "For a small, unremarkable professor like me to meet the King—shouldn't I feel honored?"
Kira knew him—or at least had noticed him since early in his first year. This was Mr. Stein, a Duel Academy professor.
There are a lot of professors at the academy, but most are background extras—basically scenery in the anime. Mr. Stein, however, left a deep impression on Kira back when he watched as a viewer.
Not because he was some hidden boss like Professor Lyman, with shocking strength. It's that from the moment Mr. Stein appeared, the entire tone of GX seemed to shift. The early, cheerful school-comedy vibe suddenly dove headlong into a darker route, and stayed dark all the way to the finale.
"Haha, professor, I'm the honored one," Kira said. "I'm just a student at Duel Academy."
"Right, but you're a student with the title of King," Mr. Stein said calmly.
"Your light shines too brightly. Even if you merely exist over there, everyone is naturally drawn to you like moths to a flame.
"Or perhaps I should say your darkness is too deep—so deep that everyone is pulled into a hellish abyss by the gravity of a black hole."
Kira: "…"
He pondered for two seconds. "Professor, the way you say it makes me sound like a villain."
Stein ignored that and continued on his own: "If you were merely excellent, it'd be one thing. But as a King, everyone unconsciously gravitates toward you and imitates you.
"They all want to walk the same path as you, to become dazzling like you. But what they obtain is nothing but endless darkness."
Kira was speechless for a moment. "So you mean I'm misleading the students—leading them astray?"
He suddenly realized he'd unintentionally stolen Jaden's plot again.
Mr. Stein is a key turning point in Jaden's late-story transformation. He accuses Jaden, the academy's hero who defeated the Sacred Beasts and saved the world, of skipping class, not listening, sleeping during lectures, and failing exams.
So all the students followed his example, the atmosphere worsened, and students strayed off the right path.
But the reason he dumped all of this on Jaden was based on the premise that Jaden was the academy's role model the whole school idolized.
So now that the role model has been replaced, all his dissatisfaction seems to have naturally shifted onto the one who took that spot…
"But my grades in every subject are basically perfect," Kira said helplessly. "And I've never skipped class. The school allows me—"
"—allows you to take only the courses you deem useful, right?"
Mr. Stein sighed softly.
"That's the problem. You're excellent. You're a dueling prodigy—no, that's putting it too mildly. You're a monster of the dueling world.
"But when you decide which courses are useful and which are useless, you're simultaneously setting an example for everyone.
"Do you know what the result is?"
He took a deep breath and sighed.
"I used to be a professional duelist… a very talented one. I bore countless expectations—expectations heavy enough to feel like shackles.
"But my body could no longer withstand such grueling battles, nor support me moving forward in the pro scene. So I had to quit.
"Still, I believed my battle-hardened experience could be put to great use in teaching. I could guide young duelists, cultivate them, pass on everything I've learned in my life, and still accomplish something."
He narrowed his eyes. The reflection on his lenses made his gaze seem a bit sinister.
"But do you know how it is now?
"No one comes to my classes anymore."
His tone grew heavy, sounding almost accusatory.
"All those students—they're not interested in these precious experiences, the essence I distilled over half a lifetime. They don't want to know, don't want to attend, don't want to learn or absorb.
"All of this is because of one person. All because of you, Fujiki Kira.
"Because you are the noble King. You privately decided my course has no value, so everyone decided it has no value.
"You denied me, thus everyone denied me along with you—without a second of hesitation, and without a shred of their own thought.
"All because you are the supreme King!"
By now he was emotional and somewhat out of breath.
And Kira simply listened quietly.
After a long moment, he spoke slowly.
"Alright, I think I understand. You're so angry because you feel I denied you—shutting down your chance to prove your worth in the second half of your life.
"You feel I made everything you struggled for seem worthless."
He sighed, looking a bit regretful.
Mr. Stein frowned. "What?"
"No, nothing. It's just… a bit cruel."
Mr. Stein snorted heavily, adjusted his glasses, and said coldly:
"What's done is done. What can regret or guilt change? I won't accept that…"
"No, professor, you misunderstand. I don't mean I feel it's cruel to have made those choices or caused you any disadvantage."
Kira corrected him.
"I mean it's cruel… that I have to tell you what comes next."
Stein was taken aback, confused.
Kira lifted his head with a sunny smile.
"What I want to tell you is: professor, your class really is garbage."