Bang! Boom! Thud!
Clank clank clank!
A spectacular crash scene—the Shadow Duelist, blown away by light, rolled dozens of times across the ground before both he and his pitch-black D-Wheel were swallowed by the fiery explosion.
Miles glanced around at the gathering crowd. "Did we... make it back from the Shadow Game?"
The flames from the explosion flickered under the night sky. With the Shadow Game dispersed, the barrier that kept ordinary passersby away from the Turbo Duel track had lost its effect.
Until now, the hidden riding barrier prevented anyone from seeing the Shadow Game where two Earthbound Immortals had manifested at once.
Otherwise, the sudden physical appearance of two Earthbound Immortals of that size within the city would have caused immeasurable chaos.
But now that the dark barrier had vanished, the explosion drew onlookers one by one.
"Was that... a traffic accident?"
"Quick, call an ambulance!"
"It's already burned that bad—better call something bigger."
Ren asked, "Is... is he dead, Miles?"
"I don't think he's quite dead yet."
After the Turbo Duel ended, Miles checked the card now sitting in his D-Wheel's card slot.
[Earthbound Immortal Aslla piscu]
The first Earthbound Immortal that appeared—the hummingbird—had become the spoils of this Shadow Game, now in Miles's possession.
Based on his experience with previous Shadow Games, Miles deduced that if the Shadow Duelist riding the D-Wheel had perished, there should have been two cards dropped instead.
Since only one Earthbound Immortal card appeared, that meant the Shadow Duelist was still alive.
He must have escaped in the instant of the explosion, using the flames as cover.
If that guy was trying to stop Turbo Duels, as long as D-Wheels existed, they were bound to cross paths again.
"Let's go, Ren. If we stay here, we'll be in trouble too."
Some kindhearted lady from Axet's Sunrise District must have already called the police; Miles could hear the wailing sirens of police D-Wheels approaching through the night.
If the Axet Security Squad questioned them, even as victims, clearing things up would take quite a while.
Following the principle of "less trouble abroad is better than more," Miles immediately started his D-Wheel and took off in reverse.
By the time they returned to Synchron Academy around dinner, the gate guards didn't even stop them—it seemed that D-Wheels coming and going had become routine for Synchro students.
However, once back, Miles noticed a distinct difference between Synchron and Fusion Academy.
There were far fewer students coming and going.
Though both were top Duel Academies on the Spirit Continent, Synchron Academy consistently ranked above Fusion… especially after winning this year's senior ranking tournament.
Logically, Synchron's student body should have been much larger than Fusion's.
After all, besides Axet's open immigration policy, many noble families from other nations devoted to Synchro summoning also sent their children here to study.
For instance, that useless son of Marquis Barrett.
Yet now, even at dinner time—when Fusion Academy's gates would be bustling—hardly any Synchron students seemed to leave campus.
"Maybe they just have different habits."
Most students at Fusion Academy were rich, noble kids with plenty of pocket money, used to going out after classes for leisure spending. That was normal.
Albeit here at Synchron... maybe everyone's just a bunch of homebodies?
Back at the exchange dorm, before they could even open the door, Ren already heard Lishia's wailing and Aisha's shrieking from inside.
"I'm starving! Why isn't Ren-senpai back yet?!"
"Lishia! Even if you're starving, don't bite my face!"
The hungry Saint was about to devour poor Mokey Mokey!
They had to stop this madness immediately!
Ren hurriedly opened the door and threw a bag full of Axet local snacks at Lishia.
The condition she had promised Lishia earlier—to bring back lots of local treats—was now fulfilled.
Miles had even stopped by a chain store on the way back, where Livorden currency was accepted, just to help her get them.
"Ren-chan, thank goodness you're back! If you'd come any later, I'd have been eaten alive!"
Aisha threw herself onto Ren, her pale cheeks faintly red and dotted with a few drops of Lishia's drool.
Ren wiped Aisha's face with a smile. "A HERO always shows up just in time to save her childhood friend!"
Lishia, mouth stuffed with energy bars, finally calmed down from her hunger frenzy and asked curiously:
"Ren-senpai, why'd you come back so late? You look so happy too! Grinning like that... did you meet someone special abroad?"
"S-someone special?!" Aisha's ahoge sprang upright in alarm. She grabbed the Millennium Puzzle from Ren's chest. "Time to give that back, Ren-chan!"
"Yes yes~ you really do get jealous easily, Little Ai."
Ren unfastened the Millennium Puzzle's chain from her neck. Even if today's outing with Miles hadn't quite been a 'date,' she was more than satisfied.
"Next time then, Miles. Let's go again."
Even if they had to part for now, Ren had already received something truly important from Miles.
The HERO card that carried the will to overcome fate… that was the miracle Miles had brought her.
"Mr. Miles! You didn't do anything weird to Ren-chan, did you? No wait… Ren-chan didn't do anything weird to you, right?!"
"Relax, we just went to check out the D-Wheel. It's parked downstairs right now."
While Miles and Ren had agreed to keep Luca's matter secret from Aisha, there was no reason to hide the D-Wheel.
After all, he had bought it on credit—150 SP points. It was the D-Wheel designated for Fusion Academy's exchange students. Paying that off would definitely be a group effort.
"By the way, Aisha… can you ride a D-Wheel?"
"Are you kidding, Mr. Miles? Of course not!"
'You say that like it's something to be proud of!'
When asked, Lishia also admitted that as a countryside girl, she'd never even had a chance to touch something so advanced, let alone ride it.
A harsh truth: of the four students from Fusion Academy on exchange, three couldn't ride a D-Wheel.
"Don't tell me the only one who can is Irena?"
After all, she was the Gray Witch who traveled the continent… surely she'd know how to handle one.
Speak of the witch, and she appears—right then, Irena walked in with a bag of doughnuts she'd picked up on the way back from handling her exchange paperwork.
"Irena-senpai, can you ride a D-Wheel?"
"Hm?"
Blinking her clear blue eyes, Irena looked at the three of them in confusion.
"Why would I need to? I already have a broom."
'…Good grief.'
They'd spent a fortune buying that D-Wheel, and out of the four of them, only Miles could ride it.
...
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